Thrillers have been part of movie culture as long as there have been movies. They’ve gone through many different phases over the years, but the constant is that the best thrillers reflect what makes us anxious about real life, even if they go about telling the story in different ways.
At some points in time, this was the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war, at other times it was the prospect of a serial killer who couldn’t be caught.
We’ve experienced thrillers about everything from government conspiracy to sex trafficking to breaking and entering — and everything in between. What made thrillers of the past fun was that they were a bit of an exercise in escapism.
Even thrillers based on real events didn’t feel like they were possible for everyday people. The modern thriller has flipped that on its head.
In 2026, what makes a great thriller? What types of films capture what has society on edge well enough to make for a great thriller?
Art is at its most effective when it holds a mirror to society. Whether it is showing us the best parts of ourselves or the worst, seeing a bit of truth or a bit of ourselves in stories makes them resonate so much more.
What the modern thriller does so well, perhaps better than any other genre, is tap into the concepts and issues that we are already worried about. They use our existing fears to create stories that feel as real as they do exciting.
Here are the main issues that modern thrillers tap into in order to strike a chord with audiences in the present day.
Grounded Artificial Intelligence and Technology
Photo Credit: Universal PicturesThere have been movies about artificial intelligence for years but they always felt futuristic. They featured inexplicable technology and were more science fiction than thriller. Today however, movies about artificial intelligence don’t require the suspension of disbelief in quite the same way.
2022’s M3gan may have taken some creative liberties with what we’re capable of, technologically speaking. However, it is much easier to envision a world where smart toys put our kids in danger than it was to imagine the events of iRobot unfolding in our lifetime.
The modern artificial intelligence thrillers of the past few years feel more like whens than ifs. They take place in worlds that resemble ours, as opposed to futuristic utopias gone wrong.
Another way in which modern thrillers tap into our collective paranoia is with stories about people using advanced technology in ways that make us uncomfortable. One needs only to look at David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds to understand that the creative, yet unsettling, ways movie characters are using technology are not all that different from the ways in which nefarious figures in real life are doing so.
Conspiracy Theories, Shady Data Collection, and Corporate Malpractice
Photo Credit: Focus Features2025 was full of thrillers centered on conspiracy theorists taking radical steps to address what they think is happening. Bugonia was about two men who believed that a tech CEO was an alien out to destroy the earth, so they kidnap her in order to broker a meeting with this alien race.
While the movie itself was not great, 2024’s The Beekeeper centered around a malevolent corporation using data they gathered about elderly victims to trick them into giving away all their assets.
Watching this movie, it wasn’t hard to imagine this happening to the gullible folks you see sharing AI posts on Facebook. The difference is your granny doesn’t have Jason Statham to avenge her.
Perhaps the most grounded conspiracy-based thriller was Ari Aster’s Eddington from 2025. Taking place in a small southwestern town, Eddington takes aim at everything in the news over the past several years: COVID-19, political corruption, data centers/server farms, and the way in which we all processed those things.
It was a masterclass in discomfort and the poster child for the modern thriller.
Unconventional Wars
Photo Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesA new type of thriller has emerged in the modern era about fighting wars against unconventional enemies. This isn’t your standard aliens or anthropomorphic animals either. You can find perfect examples of this in 2024’s Civil War or 2025’s One Battle After Another.
In the past, movies like Red Dawn tried striking fear in our hearts by bringing warfare to our backyards. However, the enemy was a common one: The Soviets. They were easy to identify and, morally speaking, easy to hate.
Alex Garland’s Civil War brings war to our backyards, but we are our own enemy. It adds a layer of intensity and profound moral quandaries when you’re fighting other Americans. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another could have been mentioned here or under conspiracy theories.
The protagonists are fighting an unconventional war against a shadowy group of white supremacists. The secrecy and conspiratorial nature of this organization, right down to their recruiting tactics and member lists, could have been plucked right from a conspiracy theory subreddit.
Of course, many of the classic tropes and setups will still be used, such as last year’s spy thriller Black Bag. However, these are throwbacks to a bygone era of movies. They offer their viewers an escape from reality with the use of extremely sexy casts, fancy wardrobes, stylish homes, and a lot of Hollywood glamour.
The modern thriller offers none of that. The modern thriller puts the viewer in the middle of the story and makes it relatable. The modern thriller makes the viewer uncomfortable as a standard practice.
Featured stills via Universal Studios, Warner Bros, Focus Features.
