thrillers The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked  

Ranker Film
412 votes 84 voters 3.1k views 35 items

List Rules Only thriller films in language other than English. Vote up the best foreign action movies.

If you love a good adrenaline rush, check out some of these superb foreign thriller movies to get your heart rate pumping. Thriller films are always enticing, with that mix of action, adventure, and larger-than-life characters. Foreign thriller films add an extra layer of excitement as they simultaneously offer you the opportunity to broaden your horizon and learn more about other cultures. From new foreign action movies to long beloved classics, you'll find films to satiate your craving for action and adventure in the list below. 

What are some great foreign language action films? Tom Tykwe'rs 1998 German film Run Lola Run follows the title character as she tries to save her boyfriend's life. The film is set in three parts each, with a small variance that changes the plot immensely. The Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is also a great foreign thriller. The Hunt – a 2012 Danish film – is a slow-burner, full of psychological suspense. Other good foreign thrillers include Oldboy, The Lives of Others, and I Saw the Devil.

Do you have a favorite foreign thriller? Give the best movies a thumbs up and please add any good films we may have missed.

list ordered by

1
23 7
Oldboy is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Oldboy Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Oh Dal-su Oldboy is a 2003 South Korean mystery thriller neo-noir film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is based on the Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. ...more

2
17 5
I Saw the Devil is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
I Saw the Devil Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Cheon Ho-Jin I Saw the Devil is a 2010 South Korean psychological thriller/horror film directed by Kim Ji-woon, written by Park Hoon-jung, and starring Choi Min-sik and Lee Byung-hun. The film introduces the ...more

3
14 3
The Hunt is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Hunt Mads Mikkelsen, Alexandra Rapaport, Thomas Bo Larsen The Hunt is a 2012 Danish drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen. The story is set in a small Danish village around Christmas, and follows a man who becomes the ...more

4
15 6
The Girl with the Dragon Tatto... is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Noomi Rapace, Marika Lagercrantz, Lena Endre The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2009 Swedish drama thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Swedish author/journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as ...more

5
15 7
The Lives of Others is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Lives of Others Ulrich Tukur, Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, about the monitoring of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the ...more

6
12 5
Headhunters is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Headhunters Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aksel Hennie, Baard Owe Headhunters is a 2011 Norwegian-Swedish action thriller film, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø. The film was directed by Morten Tyldum and stars Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj ...more

7
12 5
Tell No One is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Tell No One Kristin Scott Thomas, Harlan Coben, Guillaume Canet Tell No One is a 2006 French thriller film directed by Guillaume Canet and based on the novel of the same name by Harlan Coben. Written by Canet and Philippe Lefebvre and starring ...more

8
13 6
The Secret in Their Eyes is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Secret in Their Eyes Ricardo Darín, Mariano Argento, Soledad Villamil The Secret in Their Eyes is a 2009 Argentine crime thriller film directed, produced and edited by Juan José Campanella and written by Eduardo Sacheri and Campanella, based on Sacheri's ...more

9
14 7
The Man from Nowhere is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Man from Nowhere Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Young-chang Song "Won Bin’s heartthrob’s pretty boy image is shattered, tossed out, and forever lost buried under the pile of blood splattered bodies in his latest film “The Man from Nowhere” (Korean title ...more

10
16 9
Run Lola Run is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Run Lola Run Franka Potente, Armin Rohde, Moritz Bleibtreu Run Lola Run is a 1998 German thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain ...more

11
9 3
The Skin I Live In is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Skin I Live In Antonio Banderas, Blanca Suárez, Elena Anaya The Skin I Live In is a 2011 Spanish psychological thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, and Roberto ...more

12
8 3
Dead Man's Shoes is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Dead Man's Shoes Paddy Constantine, Toby Kebbell, Gary Stretch Dead Man's Shoes is a 2004 British psychological thriller film written and directed by Shane Meadows, and co-written by Paddy Considine, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Toby ...more

14 Celebrities Who Are Heirs

13
11 6
Audition is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Audition Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi, Ren Osugi Audition is a 1999 Japanese psychological horror-drama film, directed by Takashi Miike and starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina. It is based on a Ryu Murakami novel of the same title, from a ...more

14
5 1
Lady Vengeance is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Lady Vengeance

15
10 7
Animal Kingdom is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Animal Kingdom Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver "Welcome to the jungle known as the Melbourne underworld. Animal Kingdom uses this edgy locale to unspool a gripping tale of survival and revenge. Pope Cody, an armed robber on the run from ...more

16
4 1
I'm Not Scared is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
I'm Not Scared Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Diego Abatantuono, Dino Abbrescia I'm Not Scared is a 2003 film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Francesa Marciano and Niccolò Ammaniti wrote the script, basing it on Niccolò Ammaniti's successful 2001 Italian ...more

17
9 7
Funny Games is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Funny Games Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Wolfgang Glück Written and directed by German-born Michael Haneke, FUNNY GAMES combines thriller conventions "with a number of Brechtian devices that catch audiences in a voyeuristic trance" (Stephen ...more

The Best Foreign Fantasy Movies, Ranked

18
9 7
Timecrimes is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Timecrimes Karra Elejalde, Nacho Vigalondo, Barbara Goenaga Timecrimes is a 2007 Spanish science-fiction thriller film directed by Nacho Vigalondo. A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour, starting a series f ...more

19
6 4
The Chaser is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Chaser Kim Yoo-jung, Ha Jung-woo, In-gi Jeong The Chaser is a 2008 South Korean film starring Kim Yoon-seok and Ha Jung-woo. It was directed by Na Hong-jin in his directorial debut. Inspired by real-life Korean serial killer Yoo Young-chul, ...more

20
5 3
The Body is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Body Belén Rueda, José Coronado, Pere Brasó The Body is a 2012 thriller film written by Oriol Paulo and Lara Sendim; and directed by Oriol Paulo.

21
5 3
Nine Queens is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Nine Queens Ricardo Darín, Oscar Nunez, Alejandro Awada Nine Queens is a 2000 Argentine crime drama film written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky and starring Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice, Tomás ...more

22
5 3
The Hidden Face is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Hidden Face Clara Lago, Alexandra Stewart, Martina García The Hidden Face is a 2011 Colombian thriller film directed by Andrés Baiz. An official Bollywood remake of the film, titled Murder 3, was made in 2013.

The Best R-Rated Drama Movies

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4 2
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Nig... is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a 2014 American film directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Tagged as "The first Iranian vampire Western", it was chosen to show in the "Next" ...more

24
3 2
Jar City is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Jar City Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Erlendur Eiriksson Jar City is a 2006 Icelandic film directed by Baltasar Kormákur. It is based on Mýrin, a novel written by Arnaldur Indriðason and released in English as Jar City. ...more

25
2 2
No Mercy is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
No Mercy Kim Basinger, Richard Gere, Charles S. Dutton No Mercy is a 1986 film starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger about a cop who accepts an offer to kill a Cajun gangster.

26
2 2
Confessions is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Confessions Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada, Ai Hashimoto Confessions is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, based on housewife-turned-author Kanae Minato's 2008 debut mystery novel that won the 2009 Honya Taisho award.

27
4 5
The Silence is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Silence Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten The Silence is a 1963 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Ingrid Thulin and Gunnel Lindblom. The plot focuses on two sisters – the younger a sensuous woman with a ...more

28
1 2
Cold Fish is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Cold Fish Taro Suwa, Denden, Megumi Kagurazaka Cold Fish is a 2010 Japanese serial killer film directed by Sion Sono. The film is about a quiet and unambitious owner of a tropical fish shop whose life and family are taken over by a fellow ...more

29
4 6
The Experiment is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Experiment Fatih Akın, Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel Das Experiment is a 2001 German thriller film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, about a social experiment, based on Mario Giordano's novel Black Box, which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford ...more

30
1 3
Loft is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Loft Rachael Taylor, Veerle Baetens, Jan Decleir Loft is a 2008 Belgian thriller directed by Erik Van Looy and written by Bart De Pauw, starring an ensemble cast of notable Flemish actors.

31
1 3
Sound of Noise is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Sound of Noise Ralph Carlsson, Anders Jansson, Peter Schildt Sound of Noise is a 2010 film written and directed by Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson. "The revival of the musical takes a dramatic turn as the directors and musicians from ...more

32
0 2
Paradise Now is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Paradise Now Lubna Azabal, Hiam Abbass, Ashraf Barhom Paradise Now is a 2005 film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film and was nominated ...more

33
1 4
The Wave is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
The Wave Jacob Matschenz, Christiane Paul, Jürgen Vogel Die Welle is a 2008 German sociopolitical thriller film directed by Dennis Gansel and starring Jürgen Vogel, Frederick Lau, Jennifer Ulrich and Max Riemelt in the leads. It is based on Ron ...more

34
0 3
Who Am I is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Who Am I

35
2 6
Sleep Tight is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
Sleep Tight Luis Tosar, Alberto San Juan, Marta Etura Sleep Tight is a 2011 horror and thriller film written by Alberto Marini and directed by Jaume Balagueró.