The hardest part of making any list from 1999 is accepting that it was a quarter of a century ago. The second hardest part is boiling down one of the best movie years in history to just ten titles. 1999 was truly a spectacular year for film.
There are so many movies that are still referenced, discussed, debated, and celebrated today. They still pack as much of a punch twenty-five years later as they did when they were released. Some have grown even more powerful and important as time has gone by.
While 1999 is so deep that you can make pretty compelling top-ten lists of most genres, thrillers are the crown jewel of this renowned film year.
Nineties cinema is most notably characterized by gritty stories and dark subject matter, such as snuff films, obsession, and impersonation.
Through the use of well written scripts, brilliant acting performances, and other great storytelling tactics, the best films of the decade handled these subject matters deftly, none more so than these ten gems from 1999!
Double Jeopardy
Whenever a movie poster features the tagline “Murder isn’t always a crime” you know it is going to take some big swings. Ashley Judd stars as a wife and mother wrongfully accused of killing her husband, played by Bruce Greenwood.
When she discovers he may still be alive she aims to exploit the legal loophole that prevents you from being convicted of the same crime twice.
Like many good movies, they ask you to suspend disbelief for much of the movie, but it is still a very fun watch!
8MM
8MM stars Nicolas Cage as a private investigator hired to authenticate a snuff film. It is a jarring look at a deeply unsettling underground industry that requires Cage’s character to incur deep psychological costs in order to get to the bottom of the case he’s investigating.
It is a polarizing film (6.6 IMDb rating vs. a paltry 21 Metascore) that begs the viewer to make up their own mind. It is a very uncomfortable watch that makes critiquing the filmmaking and storytelling somewhat challenging!
Instinct
Anthony Hopkins as a deeply disturbed, yet brilliant and respected, academic? Where have we heard that before?
While Instinct is a far cry from Anthony Hopkins’s best film, it is still a compelling look at an interesting and well-rounded character.
Hopkins plays an anthropologist living in the jungle. After he gets arrested for murder we see Cuba Gooding Jr. as a bright young psychiatrist trying to figure this guy out.
The General’s Daughter
The General’s Daughter checks a lot of nineties thriller boxes. It is a murder investigation, a legal thriller, a military thriller, and a deep-rooted conspiracy all wrapped up into one.
A deep cast featuring John Travolta, James Cromwell, and James Woods carry us through a fast-paced thrill ride after the murder of a general’s daughter uncovers a bunch of other dangerous secrets being covered up at West Point.
The Insider
Russell Crowe and Al Pacino going head to head about the dangers of cigarettes, with Michael Mann at the helm is a recipe for success.
Whether it is about cigarettes, pollution, plastics, or any other number of infractions, a movie about the ramifications a scientist faces when he speaks out against large corporations who put profits over people is a timeless rewatch.
The Insider will thrill, terrify, and infuriate you every single time.
The Bone Collector
A well-done serial killer investigation is the pinnacle of thrillers. Hopefully, we continue to get them as long as we get movies. In this one, Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie are partners looking for a serial killer in New York City.
The twist: Denzel is a quadriplegic. As the two work the case, often from the bedside of Washington’s Detective Lincoln Rhyme, we learn some grizzly details about the killer at large. Jolie does a lot of heavy lifting as the detective who does all of the fieldwork.
Summer of Sam
Few movies capture the collective buzz of an entire community being terrorized by a serial killer quite like Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam. Lee perfectly depicts the vice grip David Berkowitz and his killing spree had on the Bronx in the late 70’s.
We see several storylines about drugs, partying, relationships, murder investigations, and so much more play out against the backdrop of building tension and taut fear.
Every scene in this film feels more tense than the last.
The Matrix
Few visuals resonated with audiences, in the nineties or otherwise, as profoundly as Neo bending over backward to avoid the bullet. That move is just one of the million reasons this sci-fi/technological thriller is one of the best from the entire decade, let alone 1999.
Keanu Reeves stuns as an underground hacker who discovers some terrifying secrets about the world he lives in. The influence of this movie can still be seen all around us, in pop culture, in memes, in film, and everywhere else!
The Sixth Sense
M. Night Shyamalan can be hit or miss, but it doesn’t get more hit than The Sixth Sense. It is tense, dramatic, and often sad. It also features the Shyamalan twist to rule them all.
What makes The Sixth Sense so good, however, is that it is just as thrilling on rewatches when you know the twist is coming.
Each rewatch reveals new easter eggs and hints that will have you saying “I should have seen that coming.”
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The best thriller from the very deep crop of 1999 thrillers is also, perhaps, its most stylish and, in many ways, disturbing.
Matt Damon gives a brilliant performance as a young con artist who develops a crazy obsession with the son of an incredibly rich shipbuilding titan in the 1950s. He travels from the United States to Italy to get the son to return home, however, his obsession gets in the way of this task and things take a turn for the worst.
