Back in September of 2000, audiences at the Venice Film Festival were treated to Christopher Nolan's sophomore directing effort. This was before the filmmaker became the king of modern Hollywood blockbusters; back then, he was still very much an up-and-coming indie director. But this story, told in reverse chronological order, about an amnesiac tracking down his wife's mysterious killer made something abundantly clear: Nolan was a voice to look out for going forward.
It instantly became one of the strongest thrillers of the 20th century, and since then, we've gotten a wide range of equally exceptional thrillers. Suspenseful, mysterious, and awfully entertaining, these masterful examples of the genre have proved that thrillers are alive and well in the modern day, just as much as they were back when Nolan set a new gold standard with Memento.
10 'Monster' (2023)
Image via TohoA master of naturalistic, minimalistic, almost documentary-like cinema, Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of the greatest Japanese filmmakers currently working. He's made plenty of exceptional movies over the course of his carer, and his latest masterpiece is the coming-of-age mystery thriller Monster, where a mother confronts a teach after noticing unusual changes in her son's behavior.
Only a handful of 2020s thrillers can be considered true masterpieces, and this one's definitely among them. Compassionate, deeply humanistic, and psychologically complex, it's a beautifully made gem about queer childhood innocence and the weight of societal pressures on LGBTQ+ children. Poignant and sweet in equal measure, it's a must-see for thriller fans.
9 'Children of Men' (2006)
Image via Universal PicturesAlfonso Cuarón made the jump from his native Mexico to the United States in 1995, but it would take another eleven years for him to make his Hollywood magnum opus: Children of Men, where two decades of complete infertility have left human civilization on the brink of collapse. It's one of the greatest movie masterpieces of the last 20 years, as well as one of the best dystopian sci-fi movies ever made.
People who loved Memento and tend to enjoy science fiction are pretty much guaranteed to enjoy Children of Men, too. The consistently jaw-dropping cinematography, richly detailed world-building, exceptional acting performances, and flawless sense of nail-biting suspense are only a few of the qualities that Cuarón's masterpiece has in common with Nolan's.
8 'The Dark Knight' (2008)
Image via Warner Bros. PicturesIt should be rather unsurprising that it was Nolan himself who was responsible for one of the best thrillers made after Memento. The Dark Knight is regarded by many as the single greatest comic book movie ever made, but at its core, this is more than a superhero story: It's a gripping action thriller with a political edge, excellent visuals, and one of the best villains of 21st-century cinema in the form of Heath Ledger's Joker.
There are only a handful of superhero movies better than The Dark Knight—and even that is a stretch. This truly is one of the most perfect thriller films of the 2000s, every bit as exciting, twist-filled, well-acted, and impressively filmed as Memento. Nolan set a new gold standard for superhero cinema going forward, and rarely has that standard ever been met again after 2008.
7 'Oldboy' (2003)
Image via Show EastNo one does thrillers quite like the South Koreans, and there's a strong argument to be made that Park Chan-wook (perhaps the greatest Korean auteur currently working) is the modern master of the genre over in Asia. No movie better demonstrates that than Oldboy, a loose adaptation of the Japanese manga Old Boy by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.
This is an action thriller that's definitely not for the faint of heart. It's one of the heaviest movies of the 2000s, an absolutely brutal and relentless thriller full of cleverly employed shock value and with one of the most disturbing plot twists of any film ever made. But while it may be challenging to stomach, Oldboy is utterly enthralling and full of adrenaline-pumping moments of action and brutality, making it essential viewing for all those who love the genre.
6 'Memories of Murder' (2003)
Image via CJ EntertainmentIf there's one director who constantly competes with Park Chan-wook as the leading voice in contemporary South Korean cinema, it's definitely Bong Joon Ho. He showed his tremendous talent as a filmmaker from the moment he made his first splash with the cult classic Barking Dogs Never Bite, but it was his sophomore directing effort, Memories of Murder, that really put him on the map.
One of the best thrillers of the 2000s, this murder mystery was based on the real-life killings carried out by Lee Choon-jae—though the case was still unsolved at the time, and the killer's identity a mystery. This lends Memories of Murder an air of tension and mystery that it wouldn't have possessed otherwise, and watching it today, seven years after Lee's confession to the murders, puts a whole new spin on how one experiences the film. Grim, masterfully structured, and with a twisted sense of humor, Memories of Murder is one of the most masterful international thrillers of the 21st century.
5 'Whiplash' (2014)
Image via Sony Pictures ClassicsMuch like Christopher Nolan himself, Damien Chazelle is a man who established himself as one of the most exciting new voices in Hollywood with his sophomore directing effort. In his case, it was the psychological drama and thriller Whiplash, a film that does for big band jazz what Jaws did for the ocean. It's one of the best movies of the 21st century, and it still remains Chazelle's best.
The music is great, the script is fantastic, and Chazelle's direction is intensely kinetic and vibrant.
With a level of intensity sustained over the course of two hours by Miles Teller and an Oscar-winning J. K. Simmons at the top of their games, Whiplash is one of the most compelling films ever made about artistic obsession. The music is great, the script is fantastic, and Chazelle's direction is intensely kinetic and vibrant, but the film's real strength comes from how psychologically layered and realistic its characters feel.
4 'One Battle After Another' (2025)
Image via Warner Bros. PicturesPaul Thomas Anderson has been delivering banger after banger after banger (with Inherent Vice thrown into the mix) over the course of his whole career, but he has never been better than in One Battle After Another. The auteur's most recent outing made him a three-time Oscar winner after a whopping eleven losses at the Academy Awards, and very deservedly so.
The film is as sharp in its political and social messaging as it is heartwarming in its family drama elements and nail-biting in its thriller aspect. It's one of the best crime thrillers of the last 10 years, and proof that no one does it quite like PTA. Excellent music, performances, camerawork, and pacing all help make this one of the most perfect and stunning films of the 2020s so far.
3 'Parasite' (2019)
Image via NEONEver since Bong Joon Ho's Parasite made history by becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Best Picture Academy Award, we haven't gone a single year without at least one non-English-language movie being nominated for the biggest award in the film industry. That's the tremendous pop-cultural impact that this undeniable masterpiece has had, and it's only the tip of the iceberg.
Parasite is one of the most perfect movies of the last 11 years, a genre-juggling gem that feels like it constantly metamorphosizes into an entirely different kind of movie. A thriller with the distinct sense of humor that characterizes Bong's work, it may not be a particularly subtle metaphor for socioeconomic differences in Korean society, but it sure is a hard-hitting one that doesn't really make any significant mistakes.
2 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)
Image via Miramax FilmsThe Coen brothers, before they split off into separate directions relatively recently, directed some of the greatest films of modern times together. Their joint careers, however, peaked in 2007, when they made the neo-Western/neo-noir hybrid No Country for Old Men. Based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel, the film juxtaposes the symbols and syntax of both its genres to deliver a powerful story about progress, aging, and the inevitability of death.
Where to even begin praising the brilliance of what's surely one of the most perfect action thrillers of the 21st century? The performances, for one, are amazing, Javier Bardem's Oscar-winning turn as the terrifying villain Anton Chigurh being particularly memorable. Then there's the Coens' perfect sense of pacing and stunning use of the camera, the endlessly inventive ways in which they play with genre conventions to elevate their story, and the action scenes that are often so suspenseful that they feel more like moments from a horror movie.
1 'Mulholland Drive' (2001)
Image via Universal PicturesThe late David Lynch was a master of his craft, an unparalleled auteur who was perhaps the most important voice in cinematic surrealism since Luis Buñuel. His work is, by its very nature, divisive; but it's pretty difficult to watch Mulholland Drive and not think that you're watching one of the most genius movies ever made. Part neo-noir mystery, part psychological thriller, and all surrealistic bliss, it's one of the most chaotic thriller movies of all time.
Through a head-scratchingly bizarre narrative that completely twists itself on its head right before the third act (if one can even dare to divide Mulholland into acts), Lynch offers a deconstruction of identity and the Hollywood Dream that's impossible to look away from. The brilliant performances, the exceptional script, the endless moments of surrealist brilliance—it's all designed to mess with your head, just like Memento. And just like Memento, that results in an unforgettable experience that's easily among the greatest thrillers in the history of cinema.
Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?
Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
🪜Parasite
🌀Everything Everywhere
☢️Oppenheimer
🐦Birdman
🪙No Country for Old Men
FIND YOUR FILM →
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind.
ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.
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02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours?
AClass, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. BIdentity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. CGenius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. DEgo, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. EEvil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does.
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03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
AGenre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. BMaximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. CEpic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. DA single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. ESpare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
AA system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. BThe self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. CHistory — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. DThe industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. EPure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical.
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05
What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
AShock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. BEarned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. CDevastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. DAmbiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. EBleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is.
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06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible.
AA gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. BA collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. CThe corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. DThe grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. EVast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason.
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07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
AProduction design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. BEditing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. CScore and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. DCinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. ESilence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could.
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08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
ASomeone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. BSomeone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. CA brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. DA self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. EA quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense.
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09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
AI love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. BGive me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. CEpic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. DI want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. EDeliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action.
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10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
AUnsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. BMoved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. CHumbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. DExhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. EHaunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days.
REVEAL MY FILM →
The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about.
Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
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Mulholland Drive
Release Date October 19, 2001
Runtime 147 minutes
Director David Lynch
Writers David Lynch
English (US) ·