8 Most Suspenseful Thrillers of the Last 100 Years

The roots of the thriller genre go back hundreds and hundreds of years, but it didn’t start becoming a fully-formed genre with a style all of its own until the late-19th and early-20th centuries—part of that evolution coming in the form of some of the most suspenseful movies the world has ever seen. Over the course of the last century, thriller filmmakers around the world have offered some of the most nail-biting movies one can ever possibly find.

Tension, sky-high stakes, and the mystery of what will happen next are all at the heart of what makes suspense work as well as it does on the big screen. From 1926 until the present, there have been a few key cinematic masterpieces, from classics like M to modern hits like Uncut Gems, which have completely re-defined the way thrills and suspense work in the Seventh Art.

8

‘M’ (1931)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Fritz Lang is one of the most important and groundbreaking European filmmakers in history, which should make it entirely unsurprising that he directed and co-wrote (with his wife, Thea von Harbou) one of the most foundational thrillers in cinema’s history: M, which also happens to be one of the most important films made during cinema’s transition to sound.

M is an undisputed masterpiece, one of those psychological thrillers that helped define the genre. Bolstered by Peter Lorre‘s powerhouse lead performance and some of the best camerawork of the 1930s, this classic built an atmosphere of urban paranoia and psychological dread that was unlike anything cinema had ever seen before. Over 90 years later, it’s still awfully effective, making the movie a must-see for all those interested in learning about the genre’s evolution.

7

‘The Departed’ (2006)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

A remake of the 2002 Hong Kong masterpiece Infernal Affairs, The Departed was the movie that finally earned Martin Scorsese his long-overdue Best Director Academy Award, as well as his first film ever to win Best Picture. Whether it’s superior to the original or not is beside the point; the fact of the matter is that it’s one of the most perfect gangster movies since 2000, a modern classic that has only gotten better with age.

By this point in the 21st century, Scorsese had already become such a master of the crime thriller genre that it’s no surprise that he made in The Departed his most suspenseful movie to date. Full of delicious dramatic irony and jaw-dropping plot twists, this relentlessly-paced gem is one of the most foundational crime thrillers of the 21st century as a whole. Scorsese mafia movies are always immensely entertaining, but never had they been more tension-filled than this—and they never have since then.

6

‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)

Image via Orion Pictures

Jonathan Demme‘s The Silence of the Lambs is the latest film to have won all Big Five Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, and Screenplay), and very deservedly so. There are some thrillers so terrifyingly suspenseful and darkly atmospheric that some go so far as to consider them horror thrillers, and Silence of the Lambs is perhaps the quintessential example of that.

Several R-rated psychological thrillers can be called masterpieces, but few more clearly so than Demme’s magnum opus. Adapted from Thomas Harris‘ massively influential novel, this essential ’90s classic is a masterclass in filmmaking so suspenseful that it’s downright horrifying. Violent, twisty, and psychologically complex, Silence of the Lambs is made all the more powerful by Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins‘ powerhouse performances.

5

‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)

Image via The Weinstein Company

Quentin Tarantino proved admirably soon into his career that he was a voice to look out for going forward; and indeed, by this point, one could confidently call him one of the most acclaimed filmmakers currently working in Hollywood. The question of what his greatest movie ever is can elicit many responses, but it’s likelier than not that Inglourious Basterds will come up more than most.

It’s one of the most intense World War II movies of all time for a wide variety of reasons. There’s the presence of Christoph Waltz‘s Hans Landa, one of the most intimidating villains in the genre’s history; there’s the pure entertainment value of Tarantino’s historical revisionism; and, of course, there’s also the pure suspense of the whole thing. From the opening scene to the infamous bar sequence, Inglourious Basterds basically consists of two-and-a-half hours of Tarantino delivering masterclasses in how to build high-stakes tension and suspense.

4

‘Misery’ (1990)

Misery is one of the greatest horror thriller movies of all time, based on one of the best horror thriller books ever written. One of the best Stephen King adaptations the big screen has ever seen, this Rob Reiner classic is one of the most suspenseful single-location movies of all time, bolstered by James Caan and Kathy Bates‘ downright-flawless performances. Movies with premises as minimalistic as this are tough to truly nail, but Reiner had such a spotless understanding of the bare essentials of suspense that he did as marvelous a job as anyone possibly could have.

Like all the most exciting movies based on great books, Misery seems to perfectly understand how to best lift the tension from King’s printed page right to the screen. It’s character-driven suspense through and through, permeated by an atmosphere of pure dread and survival that’s fueled mostly by Bates’ performance, arguably the best Oscar-winning horror movie performance of all time.

3

‘Psycho’ (1960)

Image via William Creamer – © MPTV

Alfred Hitchcock is often given the moniker of the Master of Suspense, and that’s for good reason. Since his early days in British silent cinema, the director began to revolutionize suspense and the thriller genre as a whole, completely changing the way movies create tension and deliver twists and surprises. Even though he made several of the most suspenseful thrillers of the last 100 years, there’s one that stands tall above all the others: the chilling horror thriller Psycho.

One of the best psychological thriller movies in history, Psycho is packed with twists and turns that broke new ground in the thriller genre, bridging the gap between its Golden-Age-Hollywood form and the experimental years right after its conclusion. Though the years have made it so that some of Psycho‘s surprises aren’t all that shocking anymore, the whole film’s atmosphere of fear and suspense is still entirely effective.

2

‘Se7en’ (1995)

Image via New Line Cinema

There’s a solid number of filmmakers worthy of being considered today’s Masters of Suspense, worthy spiritual successors to Alfred Hitchcock. One of those filmmakers is undoubtedly David Fincher, and there’s no better way to understand why than watching Se7en. All in all, it’s arguably the darkest and most cynical movie ever to make over $300 million dollars at the worldwide box office.

It’s one of the most perfect cat-and-mouse thrillers ever made, one so unapologetically pessimistic and grim that it can also be counted as psychological horror. In any case, one thing is certain, and that is that it’s the sort of hyper-suspenseful big-budget studio film so dark that it could only possibly come from post-’90s Hollywood. There are those who would argue that it’s Fincher’s most suspenseful film, and talking about a director who’s such a master of cinematic tension, that’s high praise.

1

‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)

Image via A24

Josh and Benny Safdie are masters of anxiety-inducing cinema, and never have either of them made a film more anxiety-inducing than what some may rightfully call the single most suspenseful feature film ever shot: Uncut Gems. Anchored by the most admirable acting performance of Adam Sandler‘s career, it’s one of the best thriller movies since 2010, a masterpiece that makes it easy to run out of nails to bite if you’re not paying attention.

Every single element of Uncut Gems works in perfect conjunction with all the others to generate an atmosphere of suspense as stressful as humanly possible. Sandler’s performance, the Safdies’ perfect sense of pacing, the overlapping naturalistic dialogue, Daniel Lopatin‘s score—it’s all meant to keep the audience at the edge of their seats for 135 straight minutes, and it works flawlessly. Uncut Gems is by no means an easy film to get through, since it definitely demands a strong stomach from its viewers; but no thriller movie fans’ bucket list can be complete without it.

Uncut Gems

Release Date

December 25, 2019

Runtime

136 minutes

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