Good Thriller Movies

The phone rings. The babysitter rushes in to answer it. As soon as she picks it up, a raspy voice says, "I'm up for some mincemeat - are you?" The girl nervously asks, "Who is this? Is this some kind of a..."

Before she can complete the sentence, the screen goes red, you hear her scream and you spill all that popcorn as you start! Look at your knuckles - I bet they have gone white, considering how tightly you've been grabbing the edge of your couch. Familiar with this sort of reaction? You must be if you are a die-hard fan of thriller films! Here, I am enlisting some good thriller movies of all time which have gained a cult status and have received rave reviews over the decades and have justly occupied the lion's share of any thriller movie buff's DVD collection!

Best Thriller Movies of All Time

Below is a list of 10 great movies that are undisputedly the best thrillers of all time. Make sure to check the ones out which you may have missed, though it is most unlikely for any thriller movie fan to have missed out on any of the below given best thriller films.

The Silence of the Lambs
It is almost disrespectful to not mention this movie at the top of any list of thrillers. With brilliant performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, this crime horror thriller follows the trail of an FBI agent who seeks assistance from a confined psycho killer to catch another kidnapper and serial killer. Needless to say, Anthony Hopkins outshone the rest of the cast and this masterpiece of a thriller bagged the 5 top Academy Awards - the awards for best actor, best actress, best director, best adapted screenplay and best picture.

Jaws
As the movie opens, the viewer can almost sense something fishy in the waters around Amity Island. The blood lust of the antagonist great white shark has been shown in graphic detail and the scenes where it appears out of nowhere and captures and tears its victims to shreds never fail to startle and turn my stomach even to this day!

Rear Window
Among very good thrillers to watch, this movie follows an injured professional photographer who is confined to a wheelchair owing to have broken his leg during a dangerous assignment. To kill time, he spies on his neighbors through the rear window of his house and in the process, starts suspecting a salesman of murdering his wife and another neighbor's dog. James Stewart and Grace Kelley put up stellar performances and the movie follows along a well-bound script.

Psycho
Spell Psycho and the next name that pops up is that of Alfred Hitchcock! These two names are inseparable and unforgettable. Psycho was one of the most brilliant creations of master of nightmares with the influence for the antagonist, Norman Bates (who displays bold streaks of Oedipus Complex), being borrowed from the real life crimes of the Wisconsin serial killer, Ed Gein.

Rebecca
This psychological thriller, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (yet again! Oh Al, what would we do without you!!), is based on a novel of the same name by Daphne Du Maurier. The story follows the complex and fearful psychological and emotional upheavals a young woman undergoes due to the strong and negatively potent memories of her husband's first wife which remain preserved in every corner of their mansion, Manderley, by the first wife's nanny, Mrs. Danvers.

The Bourne Trilogy
Directed by Doug Liman, and Paul Greengrass, all three movies of the Bourne film series add up to be crowned among the best thrillers of the decade. All three movies are spy action thrillers and follow the trysts and tribulations of the protagonist, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), a former CIA assassin who happens to suffer from psychogenic amnesia. The first of the trilogy, The Bourne Identity, follows Jason Bourne's hunt for his identity after being found floating in the Mediterranean with two bullet wounds in his back and a device carrying the number of a Swiss safe deposit box. The next two movies follow the trail of his journey to set things right after his memories resurface.

Wait Until Dark
A brilliant suspense thriller directed by Terence Young, starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna, Wait Until Dark is a nerve tensing suspense thriller which masterfully makes the viewer bear witness to a young blind woman's attempts to save herself from some criminals who keep attempting to enter her house in search of hidden drugs.

Se7en
This brilliant crime and psychological thriller follows two detectives who are on the trail of a serial killer who chooses his victims relying upon the guidance of the seven deadly sins - Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Envy and Wrath. Starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, this movie is a gritty thriller which is worth a mention among all great thriller movies of the decade.

Untraceable
Another serial killer fare but a good one! This crime thriller follows the FBI's cyber crime division's trail of a cyber killer who holds live telecasts of the killings of his victims and devices their death traps in such way as to increase their pain and suffering with every single visit to the fictitious killer website killwithme.com.

Inception
The top grosser among good thrillers of this decade, with an innovative storyline and brilliant special effects, Inception is a sci-fi thriller to reckon with. Revolving around industrial espionage, Inception follows the adventures of Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an extractor of information from the subconscious, to perform a last job before returning to his previous life - perform inception, which means planting an idea into the subconscious mind of the client's rival by entering his dreams.

Other Great Thriller Movies

Besides the above, the following list consist of some esteemed inclusions without which no thriller movies list would be complete. Check it out!

• Signs
• The Sixth Sense
• The Usual Suspects
• The French Connection
• Fatal Attraction
• Deliverance
• Laura
• The Taxi Driver
• Phone Booth
• Klute
• What Lies Beneath
• Taken
• Primal Fear
• Basic Instinct
• Metropolis
• Disturbia
• North by Northwest
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Memento
• Vertigo
• The Third Man
• Diabolique
• Sin City
• Strangers on a Train
• Hotel Rwanda
• Pulp Fiction
• Double Indemnity
• Yojimbo
• SALT
• The Ghost Writer
• Frozen
• From Paris with Love
• Predators
• Repo Man
• Legion
• My Soul to Take
• Shutter Island
• Green Zone
• The Book of Eli
• Dreamkiller
• Collateral
• Zodiac

Check out these jolly good thriller movies when ruminating on how to pass those languorous afternoons and creepily quite nights! Get the creeps and feel the hair on your neck bristle every time one of those people in the movies say, "I'll be right back." They won't - you know that don't you?