The most talented filmmakers in the industry are often drawn to suspense and thrillers because of their intricate plots and potential for powerful performances. Thrillers also have the advantage of being able to shock without the bad associations with horror movies, which are wrongly believed to be too “base” to be considered art.

1. The Sixth Sense (1999)

M. Night Shyamalan is the writer and director of the 1999 American psychological thriller film titled The Sixth Sense. In the film, Haley Joel Osment, the patient of child psychologist Bruce Willis, asserts that he can see and communicate with the dead.

August 6, 1999 saw the release of The Sixth Sense by Buena Vista Pictures under its Hollywood Pictures imprint. The film was well-received by critics who praised the directing, atmosphere, and surprising ending of the film, as well as the performances of Toni Collette, Willis, and Osment. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Osment), and Best Supporting Actress (Collette) were among the six Academy Awards for which it was nominated. The movie made Shyamalan a well-known thriller screenwriter and filmmaker and exposed the general audience to his qualities, most notably his penchant for surprising conclusions.

After Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace, it was the second-highest grossing movie of 1999, taking in about $293 million in the US and $379 million abroad.

2. Silent Night (2023)

John Woo makes his Hollywood comeback with the 2023 action thriller Silent Night, which he directed after Paycheck (2003). Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Harold Torres are among its stars. In the movie, Brian Godluck goes on a mission to get revenge for his son’s murder on Christmas Eve, when he was shot and killed by members of a local gang.

Very little dialogue was shot during the April–May 2022 filming in Mexico City.

On December 1, 2023, Lionsgate released Silent Night in the US. Critics have given the film largely negative reviews.

3. Inception (2010)

The 2010 science fiction action movie Inception was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also co-produced it with his wife, Emma Thomas. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a professional burglar in the movie who collects information by breaking into his victims’ minds. In exchange for implanting someone else’s notion into a target’s brain, he is given the opportunity to have his criminal history removed from record. Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine are among the ensemble cast members.

The film Inception debuted on July 8, 2010, in London, and on July 16, 2010, it was distributed in regular and IMAX theaters. With a global box office total of approximately $837 million, Inception ranked fourth among all movies released in 2010. One of the greatest movies of the decade, Inception was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score) and took home four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects).

4. The Departed (2006)

Martin Scorsese and William Monahan wrote and directed the 2006 American criminal thriller The Departed. In addition to being a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, it is also partially based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang; the corrupt FBI agent John Connolly is the model for the character Colin Sullivan, and the Irish-American gangster and crime boss Whitey Bulger is the model for the character Frank Costello. With Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale, and Martin Sheen in supporting parts, the picture stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg.

The majority of the movie is set in the South Boston neighborhood of Boston and the surrounding metro area. Irish mob leader Frank Costello (Nicholson) infiltrates the Massachusetts State Police by planting Colin Sullivan (Damon) as a spy; at the same time, the police designate Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), an undercover state trooper, to infiltrate Costello’s gang. Once everyone is aware of the circumstances, Sullivan and Costigan try to figure out who the other is before they are both discovered.

5. Shutter Island (2010)

Based on Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel of the same name, Shutter Island is an American neo-noir psychological thriller film from 2010 that was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Laeta Kalogridis. In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Edward “Teddy” Daniels, Deputy U.S. Marshal, who looks into a mental health facility on Shutter Island when one of its patients disappears. Ben Kingsley portrays the facility’s chief psychiatrist, Max von Sydow portrays a German physician, Michelle Williams plays Daniels’ spouse, and Mark Ruffalo plays his partner and another deputy marshal.

Shutter Island, which debuted on February 19, 2010, made $295 million in total revenue after earning mostly favorable reviews from critics and being selected as one of the top ten movies of the year by the National Board of Review. The soundtrack of the movie is well-known and has a lot of classical music by artists including Max Richter, Ingram Marshall, György Ligeti, John Cage, and Gustav Mahler.

6. The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Usual Suspects is a 1995 thriller written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer. Starring are Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Benicio del Toro, Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak, and Kevin Spacey.

The story revolves around the interrogation of a small-time con artist named Roger “Verbal” Kint, one of only two people who survived a fire and carnage on a ship that was docked at the Port of Los Angeles. Kint describes to an interrogator, through narration and flashbacks, the complicated series of events that brought him and his fellow criminals to the boat and the enigmatic Keyser Söze, the crime lord who was in charge of them. The $6 million picture was originally titled The Usual Suspects, after one of Claude Rains’ most famous quotes from the iconic Casablanca movie. Singer thought this would be a fitting title for a movie. The film was originally intended to be a six million dollar production.

After premiering outside of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the movie was first played in a small number of theaters. It was later released to a larger audience after receiving positive reviews. The storyline, Spacey’s performance, the twist in the plot, and the mystery components all received appreciation. Spacey’s performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while McQuarrie’s winning script was recognized as the best original screenplay. According to the Writers Guild of America, the movie’s screenplay is the 35th best ever.

7. The Killer (2023)

David Fincher is the director of the 2023 American action movie The Killer, which is based on an Andrew Kevin Walker script. The French graphic novel series The Killer, authored by Alexis “Matz” Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon, serves as its inspiration. Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton play supporting parts to Michael Fassbender in the movie. Fassbender portrays an assassin who, after a hit goes wrong, sets out on a global vendetta.

With Fincher attached as director and Alessandro Camon as screenwriter, Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment started work on the graphic novel adaptation in 2007. Fincher later transferred the film to Netflix in 2021, and Andrew Kevin Walker took Camon’s post as writer.

On September 3, 2023, The Killer had its debut at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. On October 27, 2023, it was given a limited theatrical release; on November 10, 2023, Netflix started offering it for streaming. Critics gave the movie favorable reviews.

8. Memento (2000)

Christopher Nolan wrote and directed the 2000 American neo-noir mystery psychological thriller Memento, which is based on his brother Jonathan Nolan’s 2001 publication of the short tale “Memento Mori”. The movie, which stars Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jorja Fox, and Joe Pantoliano, centers on Leonard Shelby (Pearce), a man with anterograde amnesia, which causes him to lose short-term memory and be unable to create new memories. He employs a complex system of handwritten notes, tattoos, and photos to try and find the person who killed his wife and gave him the condition.

The film’s non-linear narrative is presented as two distinct sequences of events intercut throughout the film: a sequence of scenes displayed in black and white in chronological order, and a sequence of scenes shown in color in reverse order, which simulates the protagonist’s mental state for the audience. When the two scenes come together at the end of the movie, a single, well-rounded story is created.

9. Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Robert Downey Jr. plays Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes in the 2009 period mystery action movie Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie was the film’s director, and Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey, and Dan Lin were its producers. The story by Wigram and Johnson served as the basis for the screenplay written by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg. Not only does Jude Law play Dr. John Watson, but Downey Jr. plays Sherlock Holmes. The 1890s movie centers on the wacky detective Holmes and his sidekick Watson as they try to thwart a mysticist’s plan to take over Britain by ostensibly paranormal means. Irene Adler, a past foe of Holmes, is portrayed by Rachel McAdams, while Lord Henry Blackwood, the antagonist, is portrayed by Mark Strong.

On December 25, 2009, the movie received a wide release in North America. On December 26, 2009, it was distributed in the UK, Ireland, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. Reviews of Sherlock Holmes were largely favorable. With a $524 million global box office haul, the movie ranked eighth overall in 2009. The Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy went to Downey. Additionally, the movie received two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction. A third movie, which will be helmed by Dexter Fletcher, is currently in development. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the sequel, was released in 2011.

10. The Prestige (2006)

Based on Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel, The Prestige is a psychological thriller film from 2006 that was directed by Christopher Nolan. It was written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan. In the film, Christian Bale plays Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman plays Robert Angier, two competitive stage magicians in Victorian London who compete to perform the best teleportation performance.

Along with David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, the cast also includes Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, and Andy Serkis. Actors Bale and Caine from Batman Begins, along with returning production designers Nathan Crowley and Lee Smith as editors, reunite with director Christopher Nolan for the movie.

Despite having a $40 million production budget, The Prestige earned $109 million worldwide when movie was released on October 20, 2006, to overwhelmingly good reviews. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.