In the mood for a scary thriller? You're not alone. But with so many pulse-pounding, nerve-jangling movies available to stream, it may be difficult to figure out which one is right for you. That's why we did the dirty work for you by tracking down the best scary thrillers you can watch tonight. From The Silence of the Lambs to Zodiac and beyond, these intense flicks will leave you on the edge of your seat. Don't say we didn't warn you...
A Quiet Place
In this strange post-apocalyptic world, a father (John Krasinski) and mother (Emily Blunt) strive to protect their family. The world has been invaded by blind aliens with exceptional hearing, so the family has adapted to tiptoe through their lives in acute silence—no speaking, door slamming, or any noises of any kind. But since the mother is pregnant with another child, maintaining such an intensely quiet life is about to prove ... difficult. In this film, the stakes are high and the tension is palpable.
Malignant
Madison (Annabelle Wallace) begins to have visions of people being murdered—and then those events actually occur. As she tries to uncover this strange new power, she begins to hear the voice of someone named Gabriel. First, she believes him to be her childhood imaginary friend, but as she undergoes hypnotic therapy the truth emerges—and it's far more frightening than anyone could have suspected.
The Silence of the Lambs
Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is a young FBI agent looking to make her mark on the agency. Soon, she's assigned to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant and profoundly violent psychopath housed at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Starling hopes Lecter can help her track down Buffalo Bill, a ghoulish serial killer on the loose. Lecter, of course, has other thoughts on his mind. Released in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs remains as intense and unsettling as it was when it was first released. Ready some fava beans and a nice chianti and strap in.
Misery
Starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, this 1990 psychological thriller is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name and features an obsessive fan who traps her favorite author. Annie Wilkes (Bates) kidnaps Paul Sheldon (Caan) and imprisons him in a secluded cabin in the woods. Her plan? Force her beloved scribe to write the perfect follow-up to one of his novels. After all, she's his number one fan. You'll never look at a sledgehammer quite the same way again after watching this nerve-rattling flick.
Psycho
Starring Janet Leigh as Marion Crane and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, this timeless thriller features a disturbed man whose relationship with his mother leads him to kill. Alfred Hitchcock is a master at building suspense and unsettling his viewers. With a thrilling score and a number of frightening scenes that still shock today, you’ll want to put Psycho at the top of your list for a night of thrills.
Seven
David Fincher’s neo-noir thriller Seven stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as two detectives who are tracking down a deeply disturbed serial killer. With a growing number of mutilated victims and a dearth of clues, these detectives certainly have their work cut out for them. Nevertheless, a pattern is emerging; the killer appears to be guided by the seven deadly sins when selecting his victims. Can the detectives catch the killer before he completes his twisted plan? For fans of the thrilling and the gory, Seven is filled to the brim with disturbing murders and with a shocking ending.
Shutter Island
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island takes supernatural elements and weaves them into a neo-noir narrative. U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels believes he’s sent to investigate a patient named Rachel Solando at Ashecliffe Hospital. But reality soon begins to tear at the seams when Teddy begins to suffer from intense migraines and discovers bizarre notes in his notepad. Nothing is as it seems, and Shutter Island will have you second-guessing every step.
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Get Out
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out became a wild success upon release, and for good reason: few filmmakers have so expertly threaded themes of race and prejudice through the horror and thriller genres. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black man, sets out to visit his white girlfriend's family. On the surface, the Armitages seem pleasant enough, though tensions bubble below. It isn't long, however, before their visit home transforms into a terrifying ordeal of violence and hatred. Now, Chris must escape before it's too late.
Gone Girl
David Fincher has mastered the art of leveraging fear and uncertainty in a thriller movie. In Gone Girl, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) discovers that his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has gone missing. As Nick searches for her, the story unravels to reveal infidelity, coercion, deceit, lies, and even murder. Sometimes people disappear without a trace to never be found again, but Gone Girl tells a much different story, with a sour marriage and a plot for revenge that will give you goosebumps.
Fatal Attraction
Released in 1987, Fatal Attraction is a scary thriller for the ages. A married man named Daniel (Michael Douglas) has an affair with a publishing editor named Alex (Glenn Close). Daniel believes it was a one-off encounter. Yet Alex's obsession with Daniel grows at an alarming rate. Daniel attempts to escape the torment and strain Alex puts on his family, but nothing proves successful in stopping her. Fatal Attraction brilliantly ratchets up the suspense and will demand your attention from beginning to end.
The Girl on the Train
After Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) uncovers her ex-husband’s new wife’s secret, she takes matters into her own hands. While it seemed like a good idea at the time, the results are less than favorable. The Girl on the Train tells the thrilling story of infidelity, manipulation, and violence. With each new death comes an additional discovery about a presumably innocent character. This psychological thriller offers a terrifying story of one of the most inconspicuous people you may see on a daily basis; a person taking public transportation.
Related: 8 Books Like The Girl on the Train
Zodiac
Zodiac is based on the 1986 true crime book of the same name by Robert Graysmith. Graysmith was a cartoonist with the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 when the Zodiac killer case came to prominence and began sending cryptic letters to news outlets. In the movie, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Graysmith, a cartoonist who grows obsessed with the killer’s coded letters. Based on a real-life true crime horror story, Zodiac makes for a chilling watch. If you’re a fan of true crime thrillers, Zodiac is the perfect movie for you.
The Clovehitch Killer
After a serial killer's twisted rampage suddenly goes cold, the residents of Clarksville, Kentucky believe that they are finally safe from the man who bound and strangled multiple young women. But when 16-year-old Tyler Burnside (Charlie Plummer) uncovers a bizarre photograph in his father’s car, his devoutly Christian family takes on an entirely new and malevolent identity. With questions burrowing into his mind about his father and the photo, The Clovehitch Killer takes viewers on a whirlwind ride of paranoia and doubt, asking whether the serial killer was involved with the Burnside family.
Rear Window
The 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window is known for its intensity. When L. B. Jeffries (James Stewart) returns home after breaking both of his legs, he finds that he has no form of entertainment other than looking out of his rear window and into the apartments that face his building. So he observes his neighbors and learns of their deepest darkest secrets. But his voyeurism soon turns terrifying when he finds himself in the midst of a real-life crime that involves sex, lies, and murder.
Flightplan
Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) has one goal and that’s returning her deceased husband’s body to the United States. So Kyle and her six-year-old daughter Julia board a flight to bring him home—only for Julia to go missing mid-flight. The harrowing ordeal takes a turn for the nightmarish when the flight crew informs Kyle that her child never boarded the plane, despite physical evidence to the contrary. Now Kyle's in a desperate race to prove her sanity and find her daughter before it's too late. This movie will have your heart racing with every second that passes.
Featured still from "Shutter Island" via Paramount Pictures.
