image from Vertigo

Top 25 Thrillers

This is a list of the top 25 thrillers of all time. Included in the mix are suspense, mystery, horror, and film noir. The list was created by aggregating the resources at the bottom of this page.

1. Vertigo (1958)
2. Rear Window (1954)
3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
4. Psycho (1960)
5. North by Northwest (1959)

6. Chinatown (1974)
7. Se7en (1995)
8. Memento (2001)
9. L.A. Confidential (1997)
10. No Country for Old Men (2007)

11. The Third Man (1949)
12. Blue Velvet (1986)
13. The Usual Suspects (1995)
14. Zodiac (2007)
15. Dial M for Murder (1954)

16. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
17. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
18. The Sixth Sense (1999)
19. Strangers on a Train (1951)
20. Double Indemnity (1944)

21. The Conversation (1974)
22. Rebecca (1940)
23. Shutter Island (2010)
24. The French Connection (1971)
25. The Shining (1980)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists
ABC News/People Magazine (3/22/2011). “Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time” (includes top 5 suspense/thriller movies)
American Film Institute (2016). “Top 10 Mystery”
American Film Institute (6/12/2001). “100 Most Thrilling American Films”
TheCinemaholic.com (8/11/2019). “20 Best Suspense and Mystery Movies of All Time”
Esquire.com (6/12/2018). “The Best Thriller Films Ever Made”
Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 thrillers)
HiConsumption.com (8/27/2019). “The 25 Best Thrillers & Suspense Movies of All Time”
Internet Movie Database (3/27/2013). “Best Suspense/Thriller Movies Ever”
Norman, Barry (1993). “100 Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 10 thrillers)
Ranker.com “The Best Psychological Thrillers of All Time”
ScoopWhoop.com (5/5/2016). “21 Intriguing Hollywood Suspense Thriller Movies That Will Keep You Guessing Till the End”
Taschen (July 2014). “Film Noir: 100 All-Time Favorites”
TasteOfCinema.com (12/7/2018). “The 20 Best Suspense Thrillers of All Time”

Originally posted 8/31/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

The Silence of the Lambs

Released: January 30, 1991

Studio: Orion

Genre: crime drama/thriller

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 130.73 Worldwide: 272.73

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 261.80 Worldwide: 604.09

Directing: Jonathan Demme

Screenwriting: Ted Tally

Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Brooke Smith, Lawrence A. Bonney

Review:

The Silence of the Lambs is an “incredibly suspenseful story” ^VD and “genuinely-frightening, violent, psychological thriller” ^FS based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 best-selling novel of the same name. The FBI is on the hunt for a serial killer known as “Buffalo Bill” (Levine) who skins his victims. In an effort to uncover his identity and methods, senior agent Jack Crawford (Glenn) sends novice Clarice Starling to interview Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Hopkins). The “imprisoned legendary serial killer…earned his nickname from turning his victims into meals.” ^VD

From his “claustrophobic, underground prison cell” ^FS Lecter probes Starling’s “haunting, deepest secrets and memories about her childhood and the slaughter of lambs.” ^FS “Hopkins’ incredible performance” ^VD and memorable lines like “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti” “turned the twisted character into a cult figure.” ^VD On the set, Foster deemed his improvisational mocking of her southern accent to be “a personal attack, later realizing her reaction was what he sought.” ^MSN

The movie is one of only three (the others being It Happened One Night in 1934 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975) to win the top five categories of Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. It is also the only horror movie to ever win Best Picture.