Thriller movies are exciting because they make you feel nervous, curious or scared, but in a playful manner. The movies in the list below are most suspenseful, because they’ll put you in a position where you doubt the end result. They can be about anything from solving a mystery or catching the bad guy or solving a scary thing.
Many thrillers do not show the horror on screen; instead, they do things to make you nervous, like an actual character. So, read on to learn about the best thriller movies as we have created a list for you.
Top 20 Best Thriller Movies of All Time
The best thriller movies are here:
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
- Release Date: July 18, 2008
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
- Runtime: 152 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 9.0/10
The first one of the list of the best thriller movies is The Dark Knight. It revolves around Batman, who has to face his most dangerous enemy yet: The Joker, somebody whom the world of DC believes is a criminal who loves disorder. Batman and the police must work together to prevent the Joker from blowing up the whole of Gotham city.
Joker is intelligent, which makes things even worse for Batman to handle. What makes this movie a great superhero thriller is the unpredictability of the Joker’s actions throughout the entire film.
2. Inception (2010)
- Release Date: July 15, 2010
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
- Runtime: 148 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.8/10
This is one of the best thriller movies about going into people’s dreams to steal from them. Dom Cobb and his team attempt something even more challenging. They try to implant an idea into somebody’s head. The more one jumps into dreams, the deeper it becomes as far as reality is concerned.
Inception is a film with lots of stunts and complex scenes that make you think all the time but simultaneously. Because it’s a film about dreams, anything is possible.
3. Se7en (1995)
- Release Date: September 22, 1995
- Director: David Fincher
- Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey
- Runtime: 127 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
One of the best crime thriller movies as the story revolves around two detectives. They are on pursuit of a hazardous man who selects his victims according to the seven sins, including greed or envy. Every crime they investigate is shocking, and the detectives must do their best to arrest him.
They do not allow you to guess the killer’s next move; this makes the movie very interesting and has a very shocking climax.
4. Parasite (2019)
- Release Date: May 8, 2019
- Director: Bong Joon-ho
- Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
- Runtime: 132 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
The story of this movie revolves around a poor family who deceives another family to make them execute various tasks. It’s okay to begin with, but then the thing becomes tense when the secrets of the two families spill out.
You never know what will happen next, so you cannot remove your eyes from the screen while watching Parasite. It is entertaining and puts your mind into how some people live compared to those with a lot of money. It is known to be one of the best psychological thriller movies.
5. The Departed (2006)
- Release Date: October 5, 2006
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
- Runtime: 150 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
In this thrilling movie, two men are playing a dangerous game: One performer is an undercover police officer, while the other one is a mobster in police uniform.
As the start of the competition begins, both teams realize that the other side has a spy among them, and now the question is who will be able to uncover the other first. This is one of the best action thriller movies to watch because of the suspense and the twist that the act is expected in the middle of the film.
6. The Prestige (2006)
- Release Date: October 20, 2006
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson
- Runtime: 130 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
This movie tells the story of two magicians who, for some reason, turn into rivals competing with each other with more risky stunts. The competition gets worse and reaches a point where it endangers not only people’s job but also their life.
Like the title, it reveals the best trick at the end; the movie is all about how far people will go to be at the top.
7. Psycho (1960)
- Release Date: June 22, 1960
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
- Runtime: 109 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
A young blonde, Marion Crane, takes money and goes to terrorists like a motel. However, the motel’s owner is Norman Bates, who has a deadly secret.
The movie is intense as you understand who Norman is and what he does in the hotel. Some of those are so brilliantly done, as the now classical scene involving suspense when there are reveals in the movie. This is the reason it is one of the best suspense thriller movies.
8. Léon: The Professional (1994)
- Release Date: November 18, 1994
- Director: Luc Besson
- Cast: Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman
- Runtime: 110 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
When her family is killed, an eleven-year-old girl named Mathilda gets together with a professional ‘cleaner’ named Léon to take revenge.
When they get closer, Léon begins to show her the way how to take care of herself one day, but both end up in trouble. This is a humorous movie because you are on the edge of your seat, waiting for them to get caught or kiss.
9. The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Release Date: July 19, 1995
- Director: Bryan Singer
- Cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro
- Runtime: 106 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
It is a crime thriller that details a set of criminals who are interrogated about a big sin. As the story proceeds, uncertainty increases, primarily when the character referring to the crime boss, Keyser Soze, appears on the scene.
It is a mysterious movie that keeps the suspense until the end; its twist is one of the most famous in the cinema.
10. Rear Window (1954)
- Release Date: September 1, 1954
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey
- Runtime: 112 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.5/10
Jeff is a man who lives in an apartment, and he broke his leg; as a result, he passes his time observing his neighbors through a window. When he believes he witnesses a murder, he becomes a detective and tries to solve the crime in his house.
This movie creates suspense because the viewer hears and sees only what Jeff sees, and one can never know if he is right or if he has a sick mind.
11. Joker (2019)
- Release Date: October 2, 2019
- Director: Todd Phillips
- Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz
- Runtime: 122 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
This dramatic, character-driven film is a violent and dark story about the life of Arthur Fleck, a man suffering from mental illness living in society. Under these conditions, he loses control over his life and becomes the Joker.
The movie is hard and there are scenes with some thrills proving how low a man can get.
12. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Release Date: February 14, 1991
- Director: Jonathan Demme
- Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine
- Runtime: 118 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
Clarice Starling is an FBI agent searching for assistance from the imprisoned creature, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, in catching a serial killer. The dialogues between the main character of the movie, Starling and the psychopath Lecter raise suspense.
Another thing of the film is the high level of the thriller, and due to the repeated shocking scenes, it is worth watching.
13. Come and See (1985)
- Release Date: September 3, 1985
- Director: Elem Klimov
- Cast: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Vladas Bagdonas
- Runtime: 142 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
This one is a war thriller that describes the nightmare of a boy who loses his village to the Second World War. This movie is a great visual showing the horrors. The suspense arises as the boy’s surroundings begin collapsing.
14. Aliens (1986)
- Release Date: July 18, 1986
- Director: James Cameron
- Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton
- Runtime: 137 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
The sequel of this thrilling sci-fi adventure finds Ripley back on a planet full of such terrifying creatures. She has to take a group of military personnel to fight against these space creatures.
The movie is full of intense action and nonstop suspense, and there is always something deadly waiting for the main characters.
15. Memento (2000)
- Release Date: May 25, 2001
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
- Runtime: 113 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
Leonard Shelby is a man with short-term memory loss who is searching for the man who murdered his wife. In this way, he employs writing notes, takes Polaroid photos and refers to the tattoos on his skin to recall the pieces of evidence.
It is an exceptional type of thriller.
16. The Lives of Others (2006)
- Release Date: March 30, 2007
- Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
- Cast: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch
- Runtime: 137 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
This movie is a story of a spy controlling a couple during the time of the Cold War in East Germany. But as he eavesdrops on their conversations, he develops empathy with them, which causes inner conflict.
The Lives of Others is a suspenseful political drama that shows the conflict between surveillance and an individual reporter’s conscience.
17. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
- Release Date: December 17, 1957
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Cast: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton
- Runtime: 116 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
The story includes plenty of unexpected turns, at the end of which the police arrest the dissatisfied American. It is engaging, witty and display fantastic performances, and stands tall as one of the best legal thrillers ever made.
18. High and Low (1963)
- Release Date: November 26, 1963
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa
- Runtime: 143 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
In this powerful crime suspense, the daughter of a businessman is abducted while his father is the actual target. It follows the investigative aspect along with the ethical questions that are in question. High and Low, directed by the great Akira Kurosawa, is a thrilling movie when the police begin the chase of the kidnapper.
19. Oldboy (2003)
- Release Date: November 21, 2003
- Director: Park Chan-wook
- Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
A man is arrested and spends 15 years in jail, and then no one knows why, and the man has to learn why he ended up in jail. Oldboy is full of power and action, with an exciting plot and unpredictable plot twists, which makes Oldboy a perfect example of a thriller.
It is still exciting because the main character avenges those who killed his family while solving mysteries about his life.
20. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
- Release Date: July 16, 2012
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway
- Runtime: 164 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
In The Dark Knight Rises, the third film from Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, true crusader Bruce Wayne comes out of the veins of hiding to save Gotham from the unspeakable terror of Bane.
Given a muscle, Bane is a very dangerous, physically and clever foe, making Batman fight against all odds.
With this movie the list of the best thriller movies end here. However, if you’ve watched all of these movies then check out the list of movies releasing in 2025.
Conclusion
Thriller movies are exciting because they keep you guessing and make you nervous. The best thriller movies can be about solving dark mysteries, escaping danger, or fighting some dangerous villains.
These movies contain a lot of unexpected moments, stunts and scenes that make your heartbeat. It can be a crime story, a dangerous chase, or a tricky puzzle. With thrillers, you will never feel bored and could calm down before the very end of the movie. If you like a film that really raises your anxiety level, then these are just for you!
Also Read: Top 10 Movies to Watch on New Year’s Eve
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