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326 films

Thriller

Thrillers run on anticipation: a threat the audience can feel before the characters do. Hitchcock defined the form with wrong-man chases, voyeurism and the famous distinction between surprise and suspense. Later filmmakers added political paranoia (Pakula, Costa-Gavras), psychological unease (Polanski, De Palma) and global versions from Korea, France and Scandinavia. Camera placement, editing rhythm and sound do most of the work.

Where
The United States, Britain, France, Italy, South Korea
When
From the 1920s; classical peak 1940s to 1960s
Key figures
Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Brian De Palma, David Fincher, Bong Joon-ho
Landmark films
The 39 Steps (1935), Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Legacy
Established the grammar of suspense that horror, action and crime films still borrow

What to look for

  • Information withheld from characters, or from the audience
  • Ordinary people pulled into danger
  • Ticking clocks and tightening spaces
  • Point-of-view shots and long takes
  • Twists that recast what came before

Directors with the most films in this genre

Alfred Hitchcock7 filmsDario Argento7 filmsFritz Lang7 filmsBrian De Palma6 filmsCosta-Gavras6 filmsRoman Polanski6 filmsChristopher Nolan5 filmsClaude Chabrol5 filmsDavid Cronenberg5 filmsPark Chan-wook5 filmsQuentin Tarantino5 filmsAbel Ferrara4 filmsDavid Fincher4 filmsGeorge A. Romero4 filmsJean-Pierre Melville4 filmsJoseph Losey4 filmsKathryn Bigelow4 filmsPedro Almodóvar4 filmsThe Coen Brothers4 filmsAkira Kurosawa3 filmsAlan J. Pakula3 filmsDavid Lynch3 filmsHiroshi Teshigahara3 filmsIngmar Bergman3 films
See all 194 directors
Jerzy Skolimowski3 filmsJohnnie To3 filmsJoseph L. Mankiewicz3 filmsKim Ki-duk3 filmsKunle Afolayan3 filmsLars von Trier3 filmsMario Bava3 filmsMartin Scorsese3 filmsMichael Haneke3 filmsPowell & Pressburger3 filmsSteven Soderbergh3 filmsSteven Spielberg3 filmsWes Craven3 filmsAlejandro G. Iñárritu2 filmsAlfonso Cuarón2 filmsAnurag Kashyap2 filmsBahram Beyzaie2 filmsBertrand Tavernier2 filmsBrillante Mendoza2 filmsChristian Petzold2 filmsClaire Denis2 filmsDennis Hopper2 filmsDerviş Zaim2 filmsDon Siegel2 filmsEmin Alper2 filmsErich von Stroheim2 filmsFred Zinnemann2 filmsGavin Hood2 filmsGiuseppe Tornatore2 filmsGuru Dutt2 filmsHenri-Georges Clouzot2 filmsHirokazu Kore-eda2 filmsJohn Carpenter2 filmsJohn Woo2 filmsJordan Peele2 filmsKelly Reichardt2 filmsKleber Mendonça Filho2 filmsLynne Ramsay2 filmsMichelangelo Antonioni2 filmsMohammad Rasoulof2 filmsNicolas Roeg2 filmsOlivier Assayas2 filmsRené Clément2 filmsSam Mendes2 filmsSam Peckinpah2 filmsSerdar Akar2 filmsSidney Lumet2 filmsStanley Kubrick2 filmsStephen Frears2 filmsTed Kotcheff2 filmsTobe Hooper2 filmsVishal Bhardwaj2 filmsAdoor Gopalakrishnan1 filmAgnieszka Holland1 filmAlberto Lattuada1 filmAlejandro Jodorowsky1 filmAli Abbasi1 filmAndrea Arnold1 filmAndrey Zvyagintsev1 filmArnaud Desplechin1 filmArthur Penn1 filmAsghar Farhadi1 filmAtom Egoyan1 filmBen Affleck1 filmBenjamin Christensen1 filmBille August1 filmBilly Wilder1 filmBob Rafelson1 filmBong Joon-ho1 filmBuster Keaton1 filmCarlos Saura1 filmCarol Reed1 filmCatherine Breillat1 filmCristi Puiu1 filmDalibor Matanić1 filmDamián Szifron1 filmDanny Boyle1 filmDarren Aronofsky1 filmDavid Hare1 filmDeepa Mehta1 filmDiao Yinan1 filmEdward Berger1 filmElem Klimov1 filmElio Petri1 filmEric Rohmer1 filmFernando Meirelles1 filmFernando Pérez1 filmFrancesco Rosi1 filmFrancis Ford Coppola1 filmFrank Capra1 filmFranklin J. Schaffner1 filmG.W. Pabst1 filmGeorge Lucas1 filmGillian Armstrong1 filmGillo Pontecorvo1 filmGovind Nihalani1 filmGuillermo del Toro1 filmGus Van Sant1 filmGuy Ritchie1 filmHal Hartley1 filmHany Abu-Assad1 filmHarmony Korine1 filmJacques Becker1 filmJacques Rivette1 filmJafar Panahi1 filmJane Campion1 filmJean-Luc Godard1 filmJean-Pierre Bekolo1 filmJim Sheridan1 filmJohn Cassavetes1 filmJohn Schlesinger1 filmJoseph Cedar1 filmKaneto Shindo1 filmKaouther Ben Hania1 filmKarim Aïnouz1 filmLadj Ly1 filmLau Lauritzen Jr.1 filmLina Wertmüller1 filmLois Weber1 filmLouis Feuillade1 filmLucian Pintilie1 filmLucrecia Martel1 filmMasahiro Shinoda1 filmMatteo Garrone1 filmMetin Erksan1 filmMira Nair1 filmMohamed Diab1 filmNagisa Oshima1 filmNeill Blomkamp1 filmNikita Mikhalkov1 filmNuri Bilge Ceylan1 filmOliver Stone1 filmOrson Welles1 filmOscar Micheaux1 filmPablo Larraín1 filmPatrice Chéreau1 filmPaul Greengrass1 filmPaul Leni1 filmPaweł Pawlikowski1 filmPeter Bogdanovich1 filmRadu Jude1 filmRainer Werner Fassbinder1 filmRaoul Walsh1 filmRaúl Ruiz1 filmRobert Altman1 filmRobert Bresson1 filmRobert Wiene1 filmRoberto Rossellini1 filmSamuel Fuller1 filmSeijun Suzuki1 filmSergei Eisenstein1 filmSergio Sollima1 filmSofia Coppola1 filmStanley Kramer1 filmSteve McQueen1 filmTakeshi Kitano1 filmTayfun Pirselimoğlu1 filmTeinosuke Kinugasa1 filmTodd Phillips1 filmTomás Muñoz1 filmUğur Yücel1 filmVictor Sjöström1 filmWilliam Friedkin1 filmWilliam Wyler1 filmWoody Allen1 filmXavier Dolan1 filmYorgos Lanthimos1 filmYoussef Chahine1 filmÖmer Kavur1 filmİlker Çatak1 film

Often combined with

Drama Crime Mystery Horror Action Romance

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  6. The Departed 2006 · Martin Scorsese · IMDb 8.5
  7. Memento 2000 · Christopher Nolan · IMDb 8.4
  8. Rear Window 1954 · Alfred Hitchcock · IMDb 8.4
  9. Woman in the Dunes 1964 · Hiroshi Teshigahara · IMDb 8.4
  10. Come and See 1985 · Elem Klimov · IMDb 8.3
  11. M 1931 · Fritz Lang · IMDb 8.3
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  13. No Country for Old Men 2007 · The Coen Brothers · IMDb 8.2
  14. Reservoir Dogs 1992 · Quentin Tarantino · IMDb 8.2
  15. Vertigo 1958 · Alfred Hitchcock · IMDb 8.2
  16. Yojimbo 1961 · Akira Kurosawa · IMDb 8.2
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  24. Z 1969 · Costa-Gavras · IMDb 8.1
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  70. Miller's Crossing 1990 · The Coen Brothers · IMDb 7.7
  71. Ocean's Eleven 2001 · Steven Soderbergh · IMDb 7.7
  72. Our Hospitality 1923 · Buster Keaton · IMDb 7.7
  73. Purple Noon 1960 · René Clément · IMDb 7.7
  74. Sorcerer 1977 · William Friedkin · IMDb 7.7
  75. The Bourne Supremacy 2004 · Paul Greengrass · IMDb 7.7
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  81. Barton Fink 1991 · The Coen Brothers · IMDb 7.6
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