Time Out’s The 100 Best Thrillers

As seen by outdoorcats

You are viewing outdoorcats's version of this list. You can view your version too.

Time Out’s The 100 Best Thrillers's icon

An official iCheckMovies list (adopted from Panunzio).

Favorited 29 times, disliked 3 times, added to 47 watchlists.

Everyone has their favourite genre but we can surely all agree that thrillers are the best. And if you don’t believe us, there’s a suspicious figure in that darkened doorway who’d like a word. From the early classics, like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger or Fritz Lang’s M, to the films of David Fincher and Martin Scorsese, they’re rich in nerve-shredding, adrenaline-pumping rides into the darker recesses of the psyche. Thrillers show us horrors and weave in human dramas, but they use those raw materials to forge something particular: a sense of unease and suspense.

With masterful control of those elements, Hitchcock could manipulate his audiences like puppets on a string, delivering shocks that reverberate through cinema history. Fincher’s Seven and Zodiac have carried on the legacy, while films like Pig, Nightmare Alley and The Card Counter show that the thriller is the genre for all eras. Even superhero flicks, like Captain America: Civil War and The Batman, have been borrowing liberally from the crime thriller. It is, unlike many of its ill-fated characters, alive and well.

But what are the very best of them? As we’ve done with science fiction, horror films, romances, comedies, westerns and war films, we’ve dusted cinema for prints and taken a magnifying glass to its finest thrillers to boil them down to a tonne of all-timers. On the list? Murder, political intrigue, espionage, conspiracy, manipulation, gaslighting and, of course, crime. Lots of crime. Enjoy – and hold on tight.

Written by Abbey Bender, Joshua Rothkopf, Phil de Semlyen, Tom Huddleston, Andy Kryza & Tomris Laffly

List created in June 2018 (updated June 2021)
Last Updated: March 23, 2022

Source

Remove ads

Filter

  1. 100 -

    Wild Things

    1998, in 2 top lists Check
  2. 99 -

    The Stranger

    1946, in 3 top lists Check
  3. 98 -

    The Long Good Friday

    1980, in 12 top lists Check
  4. 97 -

    Mou gaan dou

    2002 — a.k.a. Infernal Affairs, in 13 top lists Check
  5. 96 -

    The Talented Mr. Ripley

    1999, in 6 top lists Check
  6. 95 -

    Thief

    1981, in 5 top lists Check
  7. 94 -

    Gone Girl

    2014, in 12 top lists Check
  8. 93 -1

    Lola rennt

    1998 — a.k.a. Run Lola Run, in 9 top lists Check
  9. 92 -1

    Gaslight

    1944, in 12 top lists Check
  10. 91 -1

    The Ipcress File

    1965, in 6 top lists Check
  11. 90 -1

    Play Misty for Me

    1971, in 4 top lists Check
  12. 89 -1

    Animal Kingdom

    2010, in 2 top lists Check
  13. 88 -1

    The Spy Who Loved Me

    1977, in 4 top lists Check
  14. 87 -1

    King of New York

    1990, in 8 top lists Check
  15. 86 -1

    Misery

    1990, in 3 top lists Check
  16. 85 -1

    In the Cut

    2003, in 4 top lists Check
  17. 84 -1

    Night and the City

    1950, in 12 top lists Check
  18. 83 -1

    Kill List

    2011, in 4 top lists Check
  19. 82 -1

    Caché

    2005, in 15 top lists Check
  20. 81 -1

    Dead Man's Shoes

    2004, in 4 top lists Check
  21. 80 -1

    Der amerikanische Freund

    1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check
  22. 79 -1

    Nora inu

    1949 — a.k.a. Stray Dog, in 9 top lists Check
  23. 78 -1

    Plein soleil

    1960 — a.k.a. Purple Noon, in 10 top lists Check
  24. 77 -1

    The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

    1974, in 6 top lists Check
  25. 76 -1

    Coup de torchon

    1981 — a.k.a. Coup de Torchon, in 6 top lists Check
  26. 75 -1

    Strangers on a Train

    1951, in 17 top lists Check
  27. 74 -1

    The Parallax View

    1974, in 10 top lists Check
  28. 73 -1

    Where Eagles Dare

    1968, in 7 top lists Check
  29. 72 -1

    Ah-ga-ssi

    2016 — a.k.a. The Handmaiden, in 13 top lists Check
  30. 71 -1

    Z

    1969, in 17 top lists Check
  31. 70 -1

    Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse

    1960 — a.k.a. The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, in 5 top lists Check
  32. 69 -1

    Dirty Harry

    1971, in 17 top lists Check
  33. 68 -1

    Funny Games

    1997, in 12 top lists Check
  34. 67 -1

    Dead Calm

    1989, in 4 top lists Check
  35. 66 -1

    Basic Instinct

    1992, in 10 top lists Check
  36. 65 -1

    In a Lonely Place

    1950, in 19 top lists Check
  37. 64 -1

    Cape Fear

    1962, in 6 top lists Check
  38. 63 -1

    Deliverance

    1972, in 15 top lists Check
  39. 62 -1

    The Thin Man

    1934, in 14 top lists Check
  40. 61 -1

    Klute

    1971, in 11 top lists Check
  41. 60 -1

    The Last Seduction

    1994, in 10 top lists Check
  42. 59 -1

    Memento

    2000, in 27 top lists Check
  43. 58 -1

    The Untouchables

    1987, in 9 top lists Check
  44. 57 -1

    Black Swan

    2010, in 12 top lists Check
  45. 56 -1

    Dressed to Kill

    1980, in 7 top lists Check
  46. 55 -1

    Sicario

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  47. 54 -1

    The Lady Vanishes

    1938, in 15 top lists Check
  48. 53 -1

    The Big Heat

    1953, in 18 top lists Check
  49. 52 -1

    Le cercle rouge

    1970 — a.k.a. The Red Circle, in 11 top lists Check
  50. 51 -1

    The Lady from Shanghai

    1947, in 9 top lists Check
Remove ads
Show all 100 movies

Last updated on May 21, 2022 by Fergenaprido; source