Image via Lionsgate Films
Published Apr 13, 2026, 5:53 PM EDT
Writing from the Chicagoland area in Illinois, Robert is an avid movie watcher and will take just about any excuse to find time to go to his local movie theaters. Robert graduated from Bradley University with degrees in Journalism and Game Design with a minor in Film Studies. Robert tries his best to keep up with all the latest movie releases, from those released in theaters to those released on streaming. While he doesn't always keep up with the latest TV shows, he makes it a goal to watch nearly every major new release possible. He has been honing his craft and following any and all movie news all his life, leading up to now, where he has a vast knowledge of film and film history. He also logs every movie that he watches on his Letterboxd page, and has hosted a weekly online movie night with his closest friends for over 6 years.
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The thriller is one of the more versatile and widely expressive genres in cinema, with its expressive exploration of grittier, more adult, and tense topics. Each era of cinematic history has an ingrained selection of classic thrillers that have elevated the genre, from all-time classics like Heat to hidden gems like Miracle Mile. This has, in turn, continued into the modern era of cinema, with the past 6 years having a great selection of well-crafted thrillers to choose from.
With cinema itself being more experimental and diverse than ever before, thriller filmmaking is at an all-time high, offering banger after banger. From classic action thrillers that bring audiences to the edge of their seat to striking psychological thrillers that delve deep into their themes and messages, several of these thrillers are among the absolute best films of the modern era.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
10 'Nightmare Alley' (2021)
Image via Searchlight PicturesWhile visionary director Guillermo del Toro is more often celebrated for his fantasy filmmaking, his signature gothic style lends itself seamlessly to the neo-noir crime thriller of Nightmare Alley. The film stars Bradley Cooper as an ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulation, using his silver tongue to hook up with and form a partnership with a female psychologist (Cate Blanchett) who proves herself to be even more dangerous than he is.
The film features a stacked cast and a lot of del Toro's classic filmmaking strengths, such as top-notch visual design and worldbuilding, to concoct an exceptional story of greed and humanity amidst the dangerous underground of crime, manipulation, and carnies. Despite a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards, Nightmare Alley is wildly underrated compared to the rest of del Toro's filmography, a genuine shame considering just how impactful and striking its story and characters are.
9 'Bugonia' (2025)
Image via ©Focus Features / Courtesy Everett CollectionAdapting and remaking a cult classic South Korean sci-fi black comedy to achieve worldwide mass appeal, Bugonia ramps up the thriller potential of this premise to make a highly tense yet simultaneously endearing and hilarious take on psychotic conspiracy mindsets. The film follows a duo of conspiracy-obsessed young men (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company (Emma Stone), believing her to be an alien queen with a secret agenda of destroying the Earth.
Much like many of Yorgos Lanthimos's previous films, Bugonia strikes a fine balance between the ruthless, bleak nature of its premise and a striking and unrestrained sense of humor that never lets up, even in the darkest of moments. The film is further elevated by some great performances, constantly having the audience guessing as to the logistical truth of the conspiracy as a whole and the ramifications of whether it is or isn't true.
8 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' (2023)
Image via NeonCombining the heightened tension of a heist film with the weight and emotional prospects of its eco-terrorism premise, How to Blow Up a Pipeline fully lives up to its exceptional, instantly engaging title. The film follows a crew of young environmental activists, who, believing there to be no other option in a world where corporations continue to destroy the Earth, take it upon themselves to execute a daring mission to sabotage and destroy an oil pipeline.
Despite being a massively overlooked thriller, How to Blow Up a Pipeline does an exceptional job not just with its central message but in executing a fast-paced, incredibly tense rendition of the classic heist film setup. It sees a wide cast of distinct and memorable characters, each adding their own strengths and personality quirks to this overarching goal, almost acting like a renegade revolutionary version of Ocean's Eleven.
7 'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2023)
Since its release in 2014, the original John Wick has stood as a defining pillar of action thriller filmmaking that pushed the genre forward with its stylish and well-crafted choreography. While many other attempted action franchises simply lose steam with subsequent entries, John Wick is one of the rare cases where each sequel manages to be better than the last, with John Wick: Chapter 4 being one of the absolute best action thrillers of the 21st century.
The action is more bombastic and enthralling, the setpieces are highly memorable and each more expressive than the last, and the story does an exceptional job of wrapping up Wick's long journey of bloodshed and fighting for freedom. Chapter 4 acts as a glorious display of everything that director Chad Stahelski and the rest of the John Wick production team have learned about action filmmaking over the series. It doesn't lose a second of impact in its nearly 3-hour runtime and is a must-watch for all action thriller fans.
6 'Juror #2' (2024)
Image via Warner Bros.Clint Eastwood has been at the forefront of compelling thriller filmmaking for his entire career, whether it be as a leading man in the likes of Dirty Harry or behind the camera for films like Mystic River. However, this Hollywood legend proved that he still has what it takes to create a layered and intelligent thriller in the modern day with Juror #2. This powerful courtroom drama follows a juror who, in the middle of a high-profile murder case, begins to realize that the man on trial is not only innocent, but that he himself is guilty of the murder.
Eastwood's timeless craft and finesse behind the camera work wonders for this exceptional story of philosophical pain, forcing the audience to question if they themselves would be comfortable condemning an innocent man to save their own life. Juror #2 is not only Eastwood's best film in decades, but it speaks volumes that his style of thriller filmmaking can still have a sizable impact, being about as perfect a final film as a filmmaking legend could ask for.
5 'No Other Choice' (2025)
Image via NEONA black comedy thriller about the difficulties of self-worth in a seemingly impossible job market, No Other Choice sees a desperate family man going to massive extremes to secure a job so that his family can return to their previous luxurious life. Park Chan-wook's exceptional class thriller is filled with many of his trademark strengths as one of South Korea's best thriller directors, further amplified by some striking comedy and a near-perfect lead performance from Lee Byung-hun.
No other thriller in recent memory has been this exceptionally entertaining while still feeling wholly important, striking at the heart of painful experiences caused by the current state of capitalism and impossible-to-navigate job markets. It goes to not only comedic satirical extremes, but also moments of pure tension as the snowball of crimes committed goes well past the point of no return. It's an exceptional feat of South Korean cinema and arguably the best thriller to come out of the region since Parasite.
4 'Oppenheimer' (2023)
Image via Universal PicturesBuilding upon decades' worth of exceptional thriller filmmaking and standing as what could arguably be considered Christopher Nolan's magnum opus, Oppenheimer took the world by storm, becoming one of the most iconic and revered blockbuster thrillers ever. The Oscar-winning biopic amplifies Nolan's strengths to new heights, utilizing a massive cast of talent at every corner and fully delivering on its promise of mesmerizing, breathtaking visuals.
However, the real strength of the film comes from its pacing and use of tension, not losing any impact despite being a dialogue-focused dramatic thriller with an over 3-hour runtime. It's a feat of cinematic beauty and perfect pacing that Oppenheimer can maintain its strengths and interest for the entire runtime, keeping audiences captivated and enthralled in its story of power and its looming ramifications. Oppenheimer will only continue to be celebrated more and more in the coming years as one of the defining cinematic achievements of the 2020s.
3 'Conclave' (2024)
Image via Focus FeaturesAn insightful and well-paced political thriller about the infighting and battle for power within the upper ranks of the Catholic Church, Conclave follows the world's topmost bishops converging in Vatican City following the death of the Pope, vying for the spot to be elected as the next pontiff. However, as drama and infighting begin to consume the election process, the ritual's mediator (Ralph Fiennes) uncovers more and more dirt on his fellow bishops.
Conclave sets itself up with the utmost gravitas and weight for its election and its consequences, which makes it all the more satisfying and effective when this election quickly devolves into maddening infighting and catty gossip from these elderly gentlemen. With a wide array of compelling twists and one of the most shocking yet effective final twists in a recent thriller, Conclave keeps the audience guessing and has them wholly satisfied by its ending.
2 'Anatomy of a Fall' (2023)
Image via NeonA murder-mystery film that places much more emphasis and importance on the process of uncovering the murder over the actual murder itself, Anatomy of a Fall is one of the most intelligent and insightful takes on a murder-mystery thriller to date. The film follows the fallout and court case surrounding the mysterious murder of a man who fell out of his attic window, with his wife (Sandra Hüller) being the prime suspect of this supposed murder. At the center of this case, their blind son is faced with a painful moral dilemma as the sole witness.
Anatomy of a Fall certainly gets a great deal of mileage out of the intricacies and questions surrounding its central death. However, the real strength and brilliance come from how the investigation uncovers the painful difficulties of a relationship where every little thing is picked apart as motivation for murder. It's not only one of the best murder mystery films in recent memory, but an exceptionally layered thriller that grows more compelling with each rewatch.
1 'One Battle After Another' (2025)
Image via Warner Bros. PicturesDespite the film coming out last year, it's difficult to look back at the last 6 years of thriller filmmaking and award any film other than One Battle After Another as the absolute best that the genre has had to offer. This exceptional tour de force from Paul Thomas Anderson does just about everything one wants out of a great modern thriller, featuring compelling characters, high tension, and electrifying sequences that completely overwhelm the audience.
It's the type of modern-day masterpiece that only grows more impressive in its scope and execution with each passing day, the type of film that will be reflected upon and studied for generations as one of the new pillarstones of thriller filmmaking. Even as it balances a wide variety of different genres and tones, One Battle After Another remains a compelling thriller through the entire runtime, culminating in one of the all-time great finales in the genre's history.
English (US) ·