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. 2 -

    M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

    1931 — a.k.a. M, in 35 top lists Check
  2. 3 -

    Chinatown

    1974, in 31 top lists Check
  3. 4 -

    The Third Man

    1949, in 37 top lists Check
  4. 8 -

    The 39 Steps

    1935, in 16 top lists Check
  5. 10 -

    Les diaboliques

    1955 — a.k.a. Diabolique, in 21 top lists Check
  6. 12 -

    Zodiac

    2007, in 14 top lists Check
  7. 13 -

    Kiss Me Deadly

    1955, in 20 top lists Check
  8. 15 -

    Vertigo

    1958, in 42 top lists Check
  9. 16 -

    Mulholland Dr.

    2001 — a.k.a. Mulholland Drive, in 26 top lists Check
  10. 18 -

    Se7en

    1995, in 29 top lists Check
  11. 20 -

    L.A. Confidential

    1997, in 27 top lists Check
  12. 21 -

    The Conversation

    1974, in 23 top lists Check
  13. 24 -

    The Big Sleep

    1946, in 22 top lists Check
  14. 25 -

    Blue Velvet

    1986, in 27 top lists Check
  15. 26 -

    Rear Window

    1954, in 31 top lists Check
  16. 29 -

    Blow-Up

    1966, in 20 top lists Check
  17. 31 -

    Oldeuboi

    2003 — a.k.a. Oldboy, in 34 top lists Check
  18. 33 -

    Spoorloos

    1988 — a.k.a. The Vanishing, in 15 top lists Check
  19. 39 -

    Profondo rosso

    1975 — a.k.a. Deep Red, in 9 top lists Check
  20. 46 -

    Blow Out

    1981, in 8 top lists Check
  21. 47 -

    Le samouraï

    1967 — a.k.a. Le Samouraï, in 20 top lists Check
  22. 49 new

    Madeo

    2009 — a.k.a. Mother, in 9 top lists Check
  23. 54 -1

    The Lady Vanishes

    1938, in 15 top lists Check
  24. 55 -1

    Sicario

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  25. 56 -1

    Dressed to Kill

    1980, in 7 top lists Check
  26. 59 -1

    Memento

    2000, in 27 top lists Check
  27. 61 -1

    Klute

    1971, in 11 top lists Check
  28. 62 -1

    The Thin Man

    1934, in 14 top lists Check
  29. 65 -1

    In a Lonely Place

    1950, in 19 top lists Check
  30. 66 -1

    Basic Instinct

    1992, in 10 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. 80 -1

    Der amerikanische Freund

    1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check
  33. 82 -1

    Caché

    2005, in 15 top lists Check
  34. 84 -1

    Night and the City

    1950, in 12 top lists Check
  35. 85 -1

    In the Cut

    2003, in 4 top lists Check
  36. 94 -

    Gone Girl

    2014, in 12 top lists Check
  37. 97 -

    Mou gaan dou

    2002 — a.k.a. Infernal Affairs, in 13 top lists Check
  38. 98 -

    The Long Good Friday

    1980, in 12 top lists Check
  39. 100 -

    Wild Things

    1998, in 2 top lists Check
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Last updated on May 21, 2022 by Fergenaprido; source