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The Best New Thriller Movies Of The Last Few Years

Updated November 2, 2020 6.6k votes 980 voters 20.3k 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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A Quiet Place
John Krasinski, Emily Blunt
Released: 2018
Directed by: John Krasinski
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2
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Joker
Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro
Released: 2019
Directed by: Todd Phillips
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251
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Us
Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke
Released: 2019
Directed by: Jordan Peele
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Searching
John Cho, Debra Messing
Released: 2018
Directed by: Aneesh Chaganty
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5
101
48
Hereditary
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne
Released: 2018
Directed by: Ari Aster
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104
Midsommar
Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor
Released: 2019
Directed by: Ari Aster
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A Simple Favor
Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively
Released: 2018
Directed by: Paul Feig
8
31
2
Parasite
Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun
Released: 2019
Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
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Burning
Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun
Released: 2018
Directed by: Lee Chang-dong
10
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Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield
Released: 2019
Directed by: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
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11
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Bad Times at the El Royale
Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo
Released: 2018
Directed by: Drew Goddard
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Escape Room
Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll
Released: 2019
Directed by: Adam Robitel
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13
95
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Crawl
Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper
Released: 2019
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
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110
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Annihilation
Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Released: 2018
Directed by: Alex Garland
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15
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The Equalizer 2
Denzel Washington, Ashton Sanders
Released: 2018
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
16
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5
The Invisible Man
Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Released: 2020
Directed by: Leigh Whannell
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17
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#Alive
Yoo Ah-in, Park Shin-hye
Released: 2020
Directed by: Cho Il-hyung
18
107
111
Glass
Bruce Willis, James McAvoy
Released: 2019
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
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Ready or Not
Samara Weaving, Adam Brody
Released: 2019
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
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The Commuter
Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga
Released: 2018
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
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5
Bird Box
Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson
Released: 2018
Directed by: Susanne Bier
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The Good Liar
Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen
Released: 2019
Directed by: Bill Condon
23
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The Hunt
Ike Barinholtz, Betty Gilpin
Released: 2020
Directed by: Craig Zobel

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Unsane
Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard
Released: 2018
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
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The Foreigner
Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan
Released: 2017
Directed by: Martin Campbell