Time Out’s The 100 Best Thrillers

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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

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  1. 54 -1

    The Lady Vanishes

    1938, in 15 top lists Check
  2. 99 -

    The Stranger

    1946, in 3 top lists Check
  3. 72 -1

    Ah-ga-ssi

    2016 — a.k.a. The Handmaiden, in 13 top lists Check
  4. 55 -1

    Sicario

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  5. 91 -1

    The Ipcress File

    1965, in 6 top lists Check
  6. 84 -1

    Night and the City

    1950, in 12 top lists Check
  7. 92 -1

    Gaslight

    1944, in 12 top lists Check
  8. 39 -

    Profondo rosso

    1975 — a.k.a. Deep Red, in 9 top lists Check
  9. 80 -1

    Der amerikanische Freund

    1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check
  10. 44 -

    Nóz w wodzie

    1962 — a.k.a. Knife in the Water, in 14 top lists Check
  11. 82 -1

    Caché

    2005, in 15 top lists Check
  12. 51 -1

    The Lady from Shanghai

    1947, in 9 top lists Check
  13. 94 -

    Gone Girl

    2014, in 12 top lists Check
  14. 23 -

    Du rififi chez les hommes

    1955 — a.k.a. Rififi, in 18 top lists Check
  15. 13 -

    Kiss Me Deadly

    1955, in 20 top lists Check
  16. 65 -1

    In a Lonely Place

    1950, in 19 top lists Check
  17. 79 -1

    Nora inu

    1949 — a.k.a. Stray Dog, in 9 top lists Check
  18. 33 -

    Spoorloos

    1988 — a.k.a. The Vanishing, in 15 top lists Check
  19. 27 -

    Dog Day Afternoon

    1975, in 23 top lists Check
  20. 71 -1

    Z

    1969, in 17 top lists Check
  21. 49 new

    Madeo

    2009 — a.k.a. Mother, in 9 top lists Check
  22. 47 -

    Le samouraï

    1967 — a.k.a. Le Samouraï, in 20 top lists Check
  23. 96 -

    The Talented Mr. Ripley

    1999, in 6 top lists Check
  24. 86 -1

    Misery

    1990, in 3 top lists Check
  25. 66 -1

    Basic Instinct

    1992, in 10 top lists Check
  26. 14 -

    The Fugitive

    1993, in 8 top lists Check
  27. 29 -

    Blow-Up

    1966, in 20 top lists Check
  28. 52 -1

    Le cercle rouge

    1970 — a.k.a. The Red Circle, in 11 top lists Check
  29. 93 -1

    Lola rennt

    1998 — a.k.a. Run Lola Run, in 9 top lists Check
  30. 68 -1

    Funny Games

    1997, in 12 top lists Check
  31. 87 -1

    King of New York

    1990, in 8 top lists Check
  32. 58 -1

    The Untouchables

    1987, in 9 top lists Check
  33. 69 -1

    Dirty Harry

    1971, in 17 top lists Check
  34. 41 -

    Shadow of a Doubt

    1943, in 15 top lists Check
  35. 45 -

    The French Connection

    1971, in 23 top lists Check
  36. 25 -

    Blue Velvet

    1986, in 27 top lists Check
  37. 12 -

    Zodiac

    2007, in 14 top lists Check
  38. 16 -

    Mulholland Dr.

    2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check
  39. 10 -

    Les diaboliques

    1955 — a.k.a. Diabolique, in 21 top lists Check
  40. 97 -

    Mou gaan dou

    2002 — a.k.a. Infernal Affairs, in 13 top lists Check
  41. 2 -

    M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

    1931 — a.k.a. M, in 35 top lists Check
  42. 3 -

    Chinatown

    1974, in 31 top lists Check
  43. 1 -

    North by Northwest

    1959, in 30 top lists Check
  44. 31 -

    Oldeuboi

    2003 — a.k.a. Oldboy, in 34 top lists Check
  45. 15 -

    Vertigo

    1958, in 42 top lists Check
  46. 37 -

    Heat

    1995, in 23 top lists Check
  47. 26 -

    Rear Window

    1954, in 31 top lists Check
  48. 20 -

    L.A. Confidential

    1997, in 27 top lists Check
  49. 32 -

    The Usual Suspects

    1995, in 24 top lists Check
  50. 57 -1

    Black Swan

    2010, in 12 top lists Check
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Last updated on May 21, 2022 by Fergenaprido; source