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When audiences want something exciting, they often turn to thrillers, a genre that can be just as thought-provoking as it is exciting, with twists and turns up until the very end, and sometimes, that ending can be left up to interpretation. And when done well, a thriller can provide an immensely satisfying viewing experience, no matter the plot or how it ends.
But thrillers can also be convoluted, leaving audiences wondering what they just watched. From non-linear narratives to blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, some thrillers are anything but straightforward. While some of them are easier to digest upon rewatch—even as they offer up new hints each time—others have kept audiences guessing for years and have been the subject of countless theories as to what they’re actually about.
12 ‘American Pyscho’ (2000)
Directed by Mary Harron
Successful young professional Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) lives a double life in American Psycho—by day, he’s a banking executive in New York, and by night, he’s a serial killer. But by the end, it’s suggested Bateman may not be a killer at all and that all of the violence depicted in the movie was in his head. The movie was based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis.
Although the overall plot is straightforward, the ambiguous ending of American Psycho calls the whole thing into question—it suggests it was all just Bateman’s fantasy and never happened at all. But most importantly, the film is a satirization of wealth and greed that’s still relevant and acclaimed to this day. Bale also delivers a fantastic yet disturbing portrayal of the self-obsessed Bateman, especially as the character becomes more deranged as the film progresses.
American Psycho
In New York City in 1987, a handsome, young urban professional, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer by night. The cast is filled by the detective (Willem Dafoe), the fiance (Reese Witherspoon), the mistress (Samantha Mathis), the coworker (Jared Leto), and the secretary (Chloë Sevigny). This is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.
- Director
- Mary Harron
- Main Genre
- Crime
- Writers
- Bret Easton Ellis , Mary Harron , Guinevere Turner
11 ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (2016)
Directed by Tom Ford
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In Nocturnal Animals, art-gallery owner Susan’s (Amy Adams) second husband is often traveling for work, and one day, while he’s gone, Susan receives the manuscript of a novel written by her first husband, and as she reads it, she begins to note similarities between it and their relationship. The movie features a dual narrative—the first takes place in the real world, while the second takes place within a novel.
The dual-narrative structure complicates things in Nocturnal Animals, and the added flashbacks of Susan’s first marriage plus the ambiguous ending can make things even tougher to follow—but all taken together, this also makes for a fascinating movie, as all are compelling, entertaining and, most importantly, crucial for the movie to work. It’s a story about the ways art and real life are closely intertwined, but above all, it’s a story about revenge.
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Nocturnal Animals
A wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband’s novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale.
- Director
- Tom Ford
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Writers
- Tom Ford , Austin Wright
Directed by Robert Eggers
While working on a remote island, two lighthouse keepers struggle to keep their sanity and grate on each other in The Lighthouse, set in New England in the 1890s. The elder of the two, Thomas (Willem Dafoe) forbids the younger, Ephraim (Robert Pattinson), from entering the room where the light is kept, leading Ephraim to become increasingly obsessed with what’s in there—and to have visions of what he thinks Thomas is doing.
The Lighthouse is presented in black and white, making its nightmarish feel even more effective. The film deals with the themes of loneliness, isolation and identity, and its disturbing ending makes it difficult to determine how much of what transpired in the film was real. It’s also difficult to pin to a single genre. Still, both actors deliver impressive performances, and the film is yet another great release from A24.
The Lighthouse
Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
- Director
- Robert Eggers
- Writers
- Max Eggers , Robert Eggers
7 ‘Les Diaboliques’ (1955)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
In the French film Les Diaboliques, the abusive headmaster of a boarding school is murdered by his wife (Vera Clouzot)—who also owns the school—and mistress (Simone Signoret)—a seemingly surprising pairing, but the two women had bonded over their hatred for the man. They drown him in the bathtub, then dump his body in the swimming pool, but when the pool is drained, his body is gone and strange occurrences follow.
“While its premise is simple, things gradually become more complicated, culminating in a delightful twist ending…”
Like many thrillers, the less said about the plot beyond the basics, the better. Les Diaboliques is a classic and a testament to how compelling older films can be—especially thrillers. While its premise is simple, things gradually become more complicated, culminating in a delightful twist ending, with a final scene which makes the audience question everything they’ve just seen. In addition to being a fantastic movie, it was also very influential, as it inspired horror classic Psycho.
6 ‘Inception’ (2010)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief capable of entering people’s dreams, a skill he uses for corporate espionage in Inception. He’s asked to do the opposite—plant an idea in a CEO’s dream—and if he succeeds, he’ll be reunited with his wife and children. He does just that and returns to his family as promised. Throughout the film, Cobb and his associates rely on small items called totems to help them distinguish between reality and dreams.
Cobb’s totem was a top, and as long as it continued spinning, he knew he was in a dream. The film’s final moments show the top spinning and wobbling slightly as Cobb ignores it to greet his family instead, leaving the possibility open that he was actually in a dream. Inception is among Nolan’s best known and most acclaimed films. The premise of the movie is a bit convoluted as is, but the ambiguous ending only served to make things more confusing.
Inception
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
5 ‘Donnie Darko’ (2001)
Directed by Richard Kelly
In Donnie Darko, the titular Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has paranoid schizophrenia, narrowly escapes death when he sleepwalks into his yard just before an airplane engine falls seemingly out of nowhere and crashes into his bed. Shortly after the incident, Donnie begins hallucinating a man dressed as a large, menacing rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds and convinces him to commit crimes.
Donnie Darko has become an acclaimed and beloved cult classic, and with concepts including time travel and parallel universes introduced pretty early in the film, it lends itself well to multiple viewings. The movie combines elements of sci-fi and teenage coming-of-age dramas for something entirely different, fascinating and thrilling to watch. It also boasts great performances from its star-studded cast, especially Gyllenhaal in one of his earliest yet most memorable roles.
Donnie Darko
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- Director
- Richard Kelly
- Cast
- Jake Gyllenhaal , Holmes Osborne , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Daveigh Chase , Mary McDonnell , James Duval
- Main Genre
- Drama
4 ‘Mulholland Drive’ (2001)
Directed by David Lynch
In the surreal mystery Mulholland Drive, after losing her memory in a car accident, a dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) wanders Los Angeles and ends up in the apartment of an aspiring actress named Betty (Naomi Watts). The woman’s only belongings are a purse full of cash and a blue key, and together, the two women try to piece together who the woman really is—but not all is at it seems.
While some consider Mulholland Drive to be a masterpiece, others aren’t sure what to make of it at all. Its surrealist style is very much in line with Lynch’s other work, and the plot blurs the lines between reality and dreams. Fans have plenty of theories as to what exactly is happening—a widely accepted one is that the first half or so of the film is a fantasy and the remainder is reality.
Mulholland Drive
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
- Director
- David Lynch
- Main Genre
- Crime
- Writers
- David Lynch
3 ‘Memento’ (2000)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Leonard (Guy Pearce) suffers from untreatable anterograde amnesia, or short-term memory loss, in Memento and is searching for the man who raped and murdered his wife during a break-in—the last thing he remembers before being hit in the head. He uses notes and even tattoos serving as memos to help remember what’s happened since. The movie was based on the short story “Memento Mori” by Jonathan Nolan, the brother of director Christopher Nolan.
Nolan has become known for making films with less than straightforward narratives, and Memento was one of his first, helping to launch his career and solidify his reputation as a talented filmmaker. The film follows a non-linear narrative structure with two timelines, and it isn’t just thrilling the first time—it holds up upon rewatch, with plenty to discover each time. Its themes of identity and lying also make it a fascinating movie.
Memento
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife’s murderer.
2 ‘Enemy’ (2013)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
In Enemy, college professor Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers an actor who looks exactly like him, Anthony, (also played by Gyllenhaal) and seeks him out after becoming obsessed with him. He begins stalking the actor and is also mistaken for him, and when the two meet, they discover they are perfectly identical. Their roles are then reversed, with Anthony stalking Adam, and the two agree to switch places for one night.
Enemy presents a different take on the familiar dopplegänger story, and Gyllenhaal impresses in the roles of both men, each very different from the other. It’s unclear exactly what is going on and whether both men are real or if they represent different aspects of the same person. Despite the ambiguity, the film has received praise from critics, and it has been compared to the work of David Lynch, also known for bizarre, confusing films.
Enemy
A man seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie.
- Director
- Denis Villeneuve
- Main Genre
- Mystery
1 ‘Tenet’ (2020)
Directed by Christopher Nolan
With the threat of World War III looming, a former CIA agent known only as the Protagonist is recruited to stop it, armed with just a single word, “tenet.” He discovers a facility with the technology to move objects backwards through time—for example, he sees a bullet return to the gun from which it was fired. The first half of the movie unfolds like a typical spy story, but in the second half, time reverses, making things much more complicated.
The initial premise of Tenet is fairly straightforward, but things get muddled in the movie’s execution—it’s not technically about time travel but rather time manipulation, which can get just as confusing as a typical time-travel story. The movie has been criticized for just how confusing it is, with some going so far as to say it’s practically impossible to follow, due to sequences in which some characters and objects move backwards in time while everything and everyone else proceeds normally.
Tenet
Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
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