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The Best New Thriller Movies Of The Last Few Years

Updated November 2, 2020 6.1k votes 937 voters 19.8k views117 items

List RulesVote up the best thrillers released on or after January, 1 2018.

It's time to vote on the best new thriller films. Audiences have long enjoyed the pleasure of going to a movie for suspense and excitement. Modern thriller movies have raised the bar on doing just that. The past few years have delivered some of the most original, groundbreaking entries the genre has ever known. Thrillers work for a very primal reason. They put us into a state of tension for two hours. We tense up. We hold our breath. We grip the armrests. Then, in the end, there's typically some kind of big catharsis that allows us to relax. You get a bit of a rush from that, and modern thriller movies know how to play the audience like a violin.

Current thrillers come in many forms. Some are entirely plausible. Some make use of historical events. Others mesh the entire thriller concept with another genre. Some are part top thriller and part horror movie. That kind of flexibility has allowed the genre to grow in compelling, heart-pounding ways. It's no wonder these movies are more popular than ever.

Vote up your favorites from this list of recent thriller movies. If there's one particularly pulse-pounding film you don't see here, feel free to rerank the list to adjust the ranking. Don't forget to check back to see how other users rank your picks. Then, check out our list of the best crime thriller movies.

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155
A Quiet Place
John Krasinski, Emily Blunt
Released: 2018
Directed by: John Krasinski
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Joker
Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro
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Directed by: Todd Phillips
3
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Us
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Released: 2019
Directed by: Jordan Peele
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Searching
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Hereditary
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne
Released: 2018
Directed by: Ari Aster
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A Simple Favor
Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively
Released: 2018
Directed by: Paul Feig
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Midsommar
Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor
Released: 2019
Directed by: Ari Aster
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Escape Room
Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll
Released: 2019
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Bad Times at the El Royale
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Annihilation
Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh
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The Equalizer 2
Denzel Washington, Ashton Sanders
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Glass
Bruce Willis, James McAvoy
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Ready or Not
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The Commuter
Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga
Released: 2018
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
17
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The Invisible Man
Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Released: 2020
Directed by: Leigh Whannell
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The Good Liar
Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen
Released: 2019
Directed by: Bill Condon
19
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Bird Box
Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson
Released: 2018
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The Hunt
Ike Barinholtz, Betty Gilpin
Released: 2020
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The Foreigner
Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan
Released: 2017
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22
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Unsane
Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard
Released: 2018
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The First Purge
Y'Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis
Released: 2018
Directed by: Gerard McMurray
24
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Velvet Buzzsaw
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo
Released: 2019
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The Nun
Taissa Farmiga, Demián Bichir
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