In the mood for a good thrill? There’s plenty of them on Stan. Critic Eliza Janssen has combed the archives and picked the top 25 thrillers currently available on the streaming platform.
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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Watch on StanOh John Goodman; so utterly loveable in most projects (his name is literally good man!), so unexpectedly bone-chilling in this surprise prequel. The connection between Dan Trachtenberg’s minimalistic thriller and the sci-fi apocalypse franchise to which it contributes are best set aside, when it comes to enjoying this movie’s big existential questions. Has poor Mary Elizabeth Winstead merely been kidnapped by a madman, or could his conspiracy theories about the outside world’s poisoned air prove true?
Basic Instinct (1992)
Watch on StanPerhaps the greatest existing example of an erotic thriller, Paul Verhoeven’s hyper-sleazy murder mystery does not do subtle. What it achieves instead is a libidinal neo-noir plot that keeps you constantly guessing. Sharon Stone’s best-known femme fatale role sees her accused of her husband’s murder—done in exactly the same manner as a slaying in one of her best-selling crime novels.
Bound (1996)
Watch on StanThis iconic queer neo-noir recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, but it’s always been ahead of its time. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly keep us on our toes as a sensuous pair of lovers, caught up in Tilly’s BF Joe Pantoliano’s mob dealings. The Wachowskis’ direction is hyper-stylised, wringing every drop of blood and sweat from a relatively simple set-up.
Bug (2007)
Watch on StanThe director of The Exorcist traps us in another claustrophobic, almost documentary-style tale of possession. But this time, all the supernatural elements could very well be in our oddball couple’s heads: Ashley Judd, as a woman escaping an abusive relationship, and Michael Shannon, as the unhinged drifter with whom she falls in love. Well, love or folie à deux, as their paranoid delusions of “bugs” infiltrating their aluminium-foil-clad room begin to take over.
Chinatown (1974)
Watch on StanOne of the finest film scripts in the medium’s history, acted out by some of the 1970s greatest actors. LA noir doesn’t get better than this, with an unforgettable plot turn taking place when Jack Nicholson slaps the truth out of Faye Dunaway. Disgraced director Polanski even makes a cameo, as one of the thugs who slices Jake’s nose.
Chopper (2000)
Watch on StanEric Bana packed on pounds and lost some body parts as Aussie crook Chopper Read, in controversial director Andrew Dominik’s debut feature. The film is surprisingly experimental, with a sick streak of black comedy making the entire biopic an uncomfortable experience for even the most true-crime-loving viewers.
Collateral (2004)
Watch on StanBoy this would’ve been a different film if Russell Crowe and Adam Sandler went ahead as its leads instead of a slickly sociopathic Tom Cruise and reluctant cab driver Jamie Foxx. Michael Mann keeps things feeling dangerous with unvarnished digital cinematography, and the LA car chase scenes maintain a pulse-pounding momentum as the story unravels.
The Descent (2005)
Watch on StanTechnically more of a horror joint than a thriller, this nerve-shredding movie from British director Neil Marshall will have you sleeping with every light in the house switched on. An all-female cast of badass adrenaline junkie characters reunite for a spelunking adventure inside a foreboding, claustrophobic cave system—perfect way for our hero to decompress after the brutal deaths of her husband and daughter, right? The underground-dwelling, inhuman cave critters the women encounter are captured in terrifying blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glances—masterfully disturbing stuff.
Drive (2011)
Watch on StanAdored amongst film bros for its iconic soundtrack and an aspirationally stoic lead performance from Ryan Gosling, Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 cult hit combines elements of action, crime and noir. These elements are familiar—romance with a gangster’s girl (Carey Mulligan), nimble chase scenes, sinister crimelords (Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks)—but delivered with a sense of infernal cool and psychological emptiness that leaves an impression.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Watch on StanThe film that propelled Glenn Close to international stardom, and added the phrase “bunny-boiler” into the cultural lexicon. Michael Douglas doesn’t have to stretch much to achieve his usual mode of slimy suspense, but Close’s spurned mistress is an unforgettable presence—rewatching this 1980s phenomenon, you might even feel a touch more sympathy towards her than audiences of the heated-up erotic thriller’s heyday once did. Director Adrian Lyne, the genre’s biggest trendsetter, coats everything in sinister steam and frosted glass.
Get Out (2017)
Watch on StanWatching this movie for the first time, at a crowded preview screening full of screaming uni students, remains one of my favourite cinema experiences of all time. Boy does Jordan Peele know how to orchestrate a scare, and his frightening interpretation of liberal, “benevolent” racism feeds into every aspect of his directorial debut’s greatness. Daniel Kaluuya is magnetically empathetic as a young Black man on the worst meet-the-parents trip ever.
The Gift (2015)
Watch on StanJoel Edgerton has played plenty of grizzled types: Jason Bateman has not. Directing and starring in this bleak psychological thriller, Edgerton made the most of both men’s screen personae, throwing in Rebecca Hall’s talents too as a wife wondering why her husband is so suspicious of his old schoolmate, who’s resurfaced and wants to get creepily close to Bateman’s family.
It Comes At Night (2017)
Watch on StanA sparse zombie-apocalypse movie where the horrors are far more social than they are supernatural. It all kicks off when parents Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo reluctantly welcome a family of strangers, Christopher Abbott and Riley Keough, into their routine-driven fortress of an old house. The homeowner’s son, played by Kelvin Harrison Jr, is our eyes and ears in this fragile and devastating environment: no good or generous deed goes unpunished here.
JFK (1991)
Watch on StanA seminal text for any proud tin-foil-hat-wearer, and still the best edited film of all time. Oliver Stone packs his three-hour-long political epic with conspiracy theories both harebrained and chillingly plausible, counting on Kevin Costner’s climactic and patriotic monologue to act as the final nail in the Warren Commission’s coffin. Zapruder footage, recreated flashbacks, and a barnstorming Donald Sutherland cameo build into a menacing and maddening collage.
Logan Lucky (2017)
Watch on StanAnd here’s Craig again, in a more minor part alongside Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as bumbling NASCAR-robbing brothers. Steven Soderbergh brings a low-key and deeply Southern atmosphere to their bungled heist, which of course goes wrong in the most chaotic and entertaining of ways.
Mystery Road (2013)
Watch on StanDirector Ivan Sen is a jack of all trades, and so is his greatest character Jay Swan. Sen writes, directs, scripts, and often composes the music for entries in his meat pie western series, whereas Swan (a gimlet-eyed Aaron Pedersen) has the challenge of working between his native First Nations culture and the long arm of the law. A rightly celebrated modern Australian classic.
Nightcrawler (2014)
Watch on Stan“My motto is if you want to win the lottery you’ve got to make money to buy a ticket.” That’s the advice of paparazzo freak Lou Bloom, who’s not typically a solid source of good guidance. As played by an electrifying Jake Gyllenhaal, the character’s a wonderfully chaotic anti-hero in this LA underworld odyssey.
Personal Shopper (2016)
WATCH ON STANA dreamy, confounding and often bone-chillingly scary sort-of thriller, French director Olivier Assayas and his muse Kristen Stewart concoct a ghost story with serious style. Stewart is pure ennui as a wealthy
model’s assistant who starts an unsettling text exchange with someone who may or may not be her dead brother. I’m happy to not understand every minute detail of the story, when it’s told with this much atmosphere.
Primal Fear (1996)
Watch on StanDissociative Identity Disorder has been misunderstood and exploited by plenty of crime thrillers, but Edward Norton’s split turn in this legal drama is one of the better ones, at least. Richard Gere plays the defence attorney trying to reconcile Norton’s meek altar boy Aaron with “Roy”, the malevolent personality within him who apparently killed an abusive archbishop.
Sicario (2015)
Watch on StanAn anti-tourism campaign for Mexico. Emily Blunt’s virtuous agent makes the journey down south to the dangers of cartel-run Tijuana in Taylor Sheridan’s most celebrated thriller, which shows the violence of authorities and corrupt gangs with equal heft and savagery. I still can’t forget the discovery of plastic-wrapped bodies within walls.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Watch on StanM. Night Shyamalan’s breakout film is most fondly remembered for its brain-wringing twist, but that really does the precise direction and heartfelt storytelling a disservice. Death and the grace it can bring are wonderfully conveyed, with Haley Joel Osment giving one of the all-time great child acting performances as a delicate boy suffering for his ability as a conduit between the living and the dead.
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
Watch on StanTom Ripley can mimic anybody, meaning he’s really nobody—so the depths of his ambition and cruelty are unknown. A star-studded cast brings that sociopathic blankness to life with glamorous flair. Matt Damon is uncharacteristically creepy as Patricia Highsmith’s most chilling character, while Jude Law and Gwen Paltrow play the pretty objects of his envy.
Training Day (2001)
Watch on StanWe love a thriller that contains all of its chaos and violence to the structure of a single day. Especially when that day begins with Denzel Washington’s bad cop forcing newbie Ethan Hawke to smoke weed laced with PCP. Antoine Fuqua had actual LA gang members and former cops help out behind the scenes to make this tale of corruption as real as possible.
Widows (2018)
WATCH ON STANBased on a 1980s British TV series, Steve McQueen chose to make this tense and substantial heist thriller right after his breakout Best Picture win for 12 Years a Slave. The ensemble cast is terrific, with Viola Davis leading a gang of Chicago women trying to make up for their late husbands’ mistakes—by stealing $5 million from a local politician. The performances stun, and one twist in particular will leave you breathless.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)
Watch on StanI’ll stay silent on whether or not this small-town creepfest actually features a supernatural werewolf baddie or not: that question is somewhat secondary to the movie’s hefty themes of toxic masculinity and repressed rage. It’s directed by indie wunderkind Jim Cummings, who also stars as the somewhat useless young sheriff of a town plagued by a mysterious furry killer. Better yet, the late, great Robert Forster plays his gruff dad.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Watch on StanSince Kathryn Bigelow’s stern drama about the hunt for Bin Laden premiered, critics and viewers have been in constant disagreement about whether the film’s pro-torture US propaganda, or a striking critique of the lengths nations will go to in defending their pride. Everyone can agree that the film is expertly crafted, and that Jessica Chastain is a strikingly emotive lead.
Titles are added and removed from his page to reflect changes to Stan’s catalogue. The reviews no longer available on this page can be read here.
