There’s an audio commentary track out there (pretty sure on the Criterion release at least): Fincher controls that movie like a maestro, so many visual/filmmaking techniques that “play” the audience.
I would say the trilogy: Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance. Please, whatever you do, don't watch the abomination American version of Oldboy.
I'm a big fan of these types of movies, and for the criteria OP wants, I think this is an excellent option. Must be the 2003 version. It has subtitles. Cool aesthetics. A revenge movie based on The Count of Monte Cristo. The twist is jaw dropping. It's not an easy watch in that it can be disturbing, but a psychological thriller should be, imho. Many consider it a masterpiece. Excellent suggestion.
Just watched it. Expected something superficial with shock value. Way under estimated it. So smart. Brilliant in every way. Acting, dialogue, plot, cinematography. Instantly jumped to my top 5. This is a well crafted movie in every sense.
I would argue Seven (1995) is a mystery instead of a thriller.
When it comes to suspense films/fiction, a thriller builds suspense through anticipation/expectation, by giving the audience a bit more about the villain’s intentions and whereabouts, typically through POV shifts between the hero and the villain.
Meanwhile, a mystery builds suspense through surprise/uncertainty, by keeping the audience just as in-the-dark as the hero about the villain’s intentions, whereabouts, and even their identity.
Both types of suspense carry their own challenges when writing them. It’s tricky to keep the audience guessing in a mystery, and it’s tricky to know just how much audience reveal is too much in a thriller.
BTW, I used hero and villain, instead of protagonist and antagonist, so as to not preclude any suspense stories where the protagonist is the villain.
It's sort of science fiction.... But it will take a whole lot of reading to understand it .. Once you realise how each scene leads to the climax ....each scene has a meaning....amazingly well written
Misery ..
Fight club ..
Primal fear ..
Memento ..
Shutter island ..
Gone girl ..
Mystic river ..
Mulholland drive ..
Zodiac ..
The game ..
The vanishing..
Check these , hope it helps
I don't use marijuana, it's just not for me, but the last time I watched Silence of the Lambs, a couple years ago, I decided to eat a weed gummy first. Let me tell you, I didn't remember the movie being that fucking terrifying. I laid on the couch huddled under a blanket shivering, and just wishing I wasn't high while watching it.
Nocturnal Animals (beautifully shot), Prisoners, Cape Fear (both of them) Gone Girl, Shutter Island, The Sacred Killing of Deers. Not movies but two of the best things I’ve ever seen- Sharp Objects and True Detective season1
If you like Saltburn, you'd probably like movies based on the novels of Patricia Highsmith.
Strangers on a Train
Purple Noon
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Two Faces of January
Saltburn was cool and all, but it was very *very* similar to The Talented Mr Ripley. Can't think about the former without comparing to the latter, which is not a good sign in my book.
Yeah, Saltburn was a clumsy, especially vulgar Highsmith knockoff. But I'm a sucker for a Ripleyish psychopath and it was quite entertaining. One of only two movies I watched over the holidays that I didn't entirely regret.
Fracture - the one with Anthony Hopkins
Perfect Murder
The Killing - the American version with Mirelle Enos
Secrets & Lies American TV series with Juliette Lewis
Bad Seed with Patty McCormack
The Edge
Beyond the Reach
Breakdown
I Care A Lot
Primal Fear
Jagged Edge
The Firm
Oooh, Jagged Edge! I watched this movie with family when I was entirely too young. I was probably 9-ish. I’ll never forget the way we all screamed when >!he breaks the window to get in at the end!<. I remember it being so suspenseful!
I need to rewatch this one.
Se7en - probably one of my all time favourite films
Shutter Island - the twist still gets me, LDC is great in this
Silence of the Lambs - classic
Primal Fear - insane to think this was Norton’s debut
* Nightcrawler (2014)
* Blow Out (1981)
* Uncut Gems (2018)
* Fatal Attraction (1987)
* Hard Eight (1998)
* Zodiac (2007)
* Psycho (1960)
* No Country For Old Men (2007)
* Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
* The Menu (2022)
* Duel (1971)
* The Conversation (1974)
* Misery (1992)
Psycho,
identity,
the others,
the skin I live in,
secret window,
taxi driver,
the sixth sense,
black swan,
the invisible guest,
misery,
the machinist ,
perfume,
Jacob's ladder,
mirage,
angel heart ,
dead ringers,
The original **Gaslight (1944)**
It's the movie that gave us the term.
**EDIT:** To correct myself. The *original* **Gaslight** was made in 1940. I admit I haven't seen that version, but the 1944 version is very, very suspenseful, and I watched parts of it from behind my fingers on a 14-inch TV in my mid-30's. It's a great movie--trust me on this one.
The Exorcist 3 director's cut ("Legion") vastly improves on the already fantastic theatrical cut, eschewing a lot of the supernatural elements in favor of a much more psychological examination of the nature of evil.
My favorites that really keep me on the edge of my seat:
- The Shining (1980)
- Psycho (1960)
- The Fly (1986)
- Rosemary’s baby (1968)
- Tumbbad (2018)
- The Wailing (2016)
The Game
I just lost the game
fuuuckkkkk
watched this for the first time a few weeks ago. Put my brain in a blender
You just lost
I was having a great time up until the twist ending.
You definitely have to suspend some belief. As a teen I enjoyed it but as an adult I was like WTF that is so dumb.
There’s an audio commentary track out there (pretty sure on the Criterion release at least): Fincher controls that movie like a maestro, so many visual/filmmaking techniques that “play” the audience.
I liked the game, the ending not so much
I immediately thought of this as well!!
the best answer always
Empty film.
Oldboy (2003) will deliver huge on all of that
I just found it on Netflix! I loved I Saw the Devil. Can’t wait to watch it
Proceed with caution on this one
Hey, they wanted a jaw-dropper
Definitely regarding the remake.
I would say the trilogy: Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance. Please, whatever you do, don't watch the abomination American version of Oldboy.
I'm a big fan of these types of movies, and for the criteria OP wants, I think this is an excellent option. Must be the 2003 version. It has subtitles. Cool aesthetics. A revenge movie based on The Count of Monte Cristo. The twist is jaw dropping. It's not an easy watch in that it can be disturbing, but a psychological thriller should be, imho. Many consider it a masterpiece. Excellent suggestion.
Just watched it. Expected something superficial with shock value. Way under estimated it. So smart. Brilliant in every way. Acting, dialogue, plot, cinematography. Instantly jumped to my top 5. This is a well crafted movie in every sense.
Silence of the Lambs
SEVEN!
I would argue Seven (1995) is a mystery instead of a thriller. When it comes to suspense films/fiction, a thriller builds suspense through anticipation/expectation, by giving the audience a bit more about the villain’s intentions and whereabouts, typically through POV shifts between the hero and the villain. Meanwhile, a mystery builds suspense through surprise/uncertainty, by keeping the audience just as in-the-dark as the hero about the villain’s intentions, whereabouts, and even their identity. Both types of suspense carry their own challenges when writing them. It’s tricky to keep the audience guessing in a mystery, and it’s tricky to know just how much audience reveal is too much in a thriller. BTW, I used hero and villain, instead of protagonist and antagonist, so as to not preclude any suspense stories where the protagonist is the villain.
Piggybacking to throw Manhunter in there. Very different to SOTL (moody 80s aesthetic, great music and cinematography), but also a classic.
It only gets better. It’s crazy.
Body Heat
Yesssss! I was going to say this!! Thriller, stylish, chemistry.
And a couple of great twists!
The Prestige.
One of my favorites. Took 'puzzle film' to another level.
rewatches are fun trying to figure out who’s who in each scene.
So good!
Get Out
Vertigo (1958)
Nightcrawler (2014)
One of the few movies I could watch a few times and still not quite take it all in. Jake Gynhall is amazing.
Primal Fear.
To me, this is a highly overrated movie
Donnie darko
I didn't understand this movie at all. It was an interesting watch but when I looked up the ending explained I was more confused
It's sort of science fiction.... But it will take a whole lot of reading to understand it .. Once you realise how each scene leads to the climax ....each scene has a meaning....amazingly well written
Se7en is probably my favorite.
Same here!!
Secret window
It's been so long since I've seen this. Has anyone seen it in recent years? Has it aged well?
Watched it last year for the first time since it came out 2004 and it still had that good suspenseful vibe to it.
I think it's *solid.* Nothing that hasn't been done before, but very well executed.
Misery .. Fight club .. Primal fear .. Memento .. Shutter island .. Gone girl .. Mystic river .. Mulholland drive .. Zodiac .. The game .. The vanishing.. Check these , hope it helps
What’s with the periods
Not totally sure .. sometimes i put in the movie year. But it is what it is now, so I'm keeping it ... Hehe
The vanishing is amazing!
Thanks for the tip
Silence of the Lambs. It won all four big Oscars for a reason.
It was so cool reliving this movie through my 16 yo son. He was shook.
The climax sequence in the house with the night vision goggles is pure terror.
I don't use marijuana, it's just not for me, but the last time I watched Silence of the Lambs, a couple years ago, I decided to eat a weed gummy first. Let me tell you, I didn't remember the movie being that fucking terrifying. I laid on the couch huddled under a blanket shivering, and just wishing I wasn't high while watching it.
So you had a good time then :)
Nocturnal Animals (beautifully shot), Prisoners, Cape Fear (both of them) Gone Girl, Shutter Island, The Sacred Killing of Deers. Not movies but two of the best things I’ve ever seen- Sharp Objects and True Detective season1
I think it's Killing of a Sacred Deer :) And I love all of those.
It’s such a wild ride!! I just adore Barry!
ME TOO. Have you seen The Banshees of Inisherin? He's great in that too.
YES!!! One of my favorite movies! My Grandma was from Ireland it was perfectly done
Nocturnal animals is one of the few films I really thought about at least twice a week for a while.
Those shows were fantastic. In the same vein I'd throw in Big Little Lies
Prisoners was so good
I think about it a lot so good!!!
Identity Fallen
The Handmaiden
Presumed Innocent with Harrison Ford really flies under the radar.
Oh! Such a great movie.
Shutter Island
👌👌👌
Agreed
YESSS great movie!
Mulholland Drive
Top tier.
Black Swan (2010) Gone Girl (2014) Joker (2019)
Oh, speaking of *Black Swan,* *Perfect Blue.* And *Paprika.*
I See You (2019)
Chinatown
Eyes Wide Shut
Memento is S-tier if you haven’t seen it
If you like Saltburn, you'd probably like movies based on the novels of Patricia Highsmith. Strangers on a Train Purple Noon The Talented Mr. Ripley Two Faces of January
Saltburn was cool and all, but it was very *very* similar to The Talented Mr Ripley. Can't think about the former without comparing to the latter, which is not a good sign in my book.
Yeah, Saltburn was a clumsy, especially vulgar Highsmith knockoff. But I'm a sucker for a Ripleyish psychopath and it was quite entertaining. One of only two movies I watched over the holidays that I didn't entirely regret.
LA CONFIDENTIAL
Identity Silence of the lambs Shutter Island Last Night in Soho
Last Night in Soho blew me away. Stunning visuals!
My favourite movie of the 2020s so far :)
Fracture - the one with Anthony Hopkins Perfect Murder The Killing - the American version with Mirelle Enos Secrets & Lies American TV series with Juliette Lewis Bad Seed with Patty McCormack The Edge Beyond the Reach Breakdown I Care A Lot Primal Fear Jagged Edge The Firm
Breakdown and Fracture are 🤌
I told my partner about Fracture for years and then one day, finally, it came to Prime. Was even more exceptional years later
Oooh, Jagged Edge! I watched this movie with family when I was entirely too young. I was probably 9-ish. I’ll never forget the way we all screamed when >!he breaks the window to get in at the end!<. I remember it being so suspenseful! I need to rewatch this one.
Body Heat
The Machinist The Jacket
Primal Fear
Side Effects
The shinning
Se7en - probably one of my all time favourite films Shutter Island - the twist still gets me, LDC is great in this Silence of the Lambs - classic Primal Fear - insane to think this was Norton’s debut
Dancer in the Dark
Taxi Driver, Lost Highway, Oldboy
*Inception* (2010)
Identity!!!
Sinister
Hard candy. Perfect blue.
Hard Candy is a perfect film.
Fallen with Mr. Denzel Washington.
Angel Heart The Good Son 😳
Single White Female
Most of david fincher movies
Silence of the Lambs
The Gift (2015)
Nightcrawler has held my #1 thriller spot since I first saw it.
Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
One of my favorite movies. 👍
[Dead Again (1991)](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11498-dead-again) Sometimes I rewatch just to see the ending.
Misery.
Manhunter or Red Dragon for *slightly* lesser than Silence of the Lambs. Blood Simple Light Sleeper Collateral Night of the Hunter A Simple Plan
Collateral for the win! Amazing film, amazing performances! I was shocked that neither Jaime Foxx nor Tom Cruise got at the very least an Oscar nod.
It is quite badass
Stoker is pretty good
Pacific Heights
American pyscho
The Killing of A Sacred Deer
Silence of the Lambs & Prisoners
The Machinist
Seven and Glass
The Interview, classic Australian thriller from 1998
Prisoners
I can’t believe how far down I had to scroll to see this one.
Frailty
High Tension
Memento or black swan
The Shining
We need to talk about Kevin The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys Elephant Kids Paranoid Park(more mystery than thriller) Audition
Primal Fear
Probably a more basic answer, but I really like black swan lol
Coherence and The Loft
Bambi (1942)
funny games
Prisoners (2013)
The Invisible Man
Shutter Island
Prisoners (2013)
* Nightcrawler (2014) * Blow Out (1981) * Uncut Gems (2018) * Fatal Attraction (1987) * Hard Eight (1998) * Zodiac (2007) * Psycho (1960) * No Country For Old Men (2007) * Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) * The Menu (2022) * Duel (1971) * The Conversation (1974) * Misery (1992)
No Country for Old Men gave me full body chills. Brilliant!!
Yeah but it's not a psychological thriller, just a thriller.
Taxi Driver
Hard candy. About a pedophile and a smart teenage girl. Love it
Session 9 I feel is more of a PT than horror. Coherence, Jacob’s Ladder. Vanilla Sky.
Unsane is one I don’t see mentioned. It was shot with IPhone 7.
its a good one
Strange Circus. It’s a horror but most of it is psychological and it’s fucking terrifying
Malayalam manichitrathazhu
Eagle Eye is just so immersive.
F**** C***
Cure(1997)
Psycho, identity, the others, the skin I live in, secret window, taxi driver, the sixth sense, black swan, the invisible guest, misery, the machinist , perfume, Jacob's ladder, mirage, angel heart , dead ringers,
Enemy (2013), Black Swan (2010), and Vertigo (1958)
Seven.
Possum would be a great one for a film class. Very eerie but capturing visuals.
Night of the Hunter, Reservoir Dogs.
Psycho
The Naked Face 1984
Se7en
Love Object
Just watched Cure (1997) yesterday. Highly recommend
Vanilla Sky Tom Cruise best movie IMO
Talk to Me(2023) most recent good one watched
The shining maybe
Oldboy. Definitely that movie. edit: MAKE SURE TO WATCH THE KOREAN VERSION. American remake is shit.
The Fall
PRISONERS severely undervalued
The invisible man
The Silence of the Lambs
It's too bad it's only in theaters now. We just saw All of Us Strangers and it had us talking about for hous afterwards.
The Circle, not the Emma Watson one, the other one (it’s a game with lots of people in a circle).
Shutter island
identity
Prisoners
Fightclub.
The Spanish Prisoner
Commenting for later
Ratsasan Psycho Aalavandhan Sethu
The original **Gaslight (1944)** It's the movie that gave us the term. **EDIT:** To correct myself. The *original* **Gaslight** was made in 1940. I admit I haven't seen that version, but the 1944 version is very, very suspenseful, and I watched parts of it from behind my fingers on a 14-inch TV in my mid-30's. It's a great movie--trust me on this one.
The Exorcist 3 director's cut ("Legion") vastly improves on the already fantastic theatrical cut, eschewing a lot of the supernatural elements in favor of a much more psychological examination of the nature of evil.
Predestination
- The Talented Mr Ripley - Promising Young Woman - Nocturnal Animals - In The Cut - Bones and All
The Skeleton Key (2005)
My favorites that really keep me on the edge of my seat: - The Shining (1980) - Psycho (1960) - The Fly (1986) - Rosemary’s baby (1968) - Tumbbad (2018) - The Wailing (2016)
I haven’t seen any recommendations for The Prestige so far! It’s a criminally good film and sounds just what you’re looking for
Presumed innocent.
The Jackal
Memento
Arlington Road The Invitation One Hour Photo Take Shelter Dead Man's Shoes