Entertainment
The Best Foreign Thriller Movies, Ranked
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Vote up your favorite foreign thrillers.
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 Tykwer's 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.
Ranked by
- 1Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, Jose Coronado
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: Oriol Paulo
The Invisible Guest is a 2016 Spanish mystery thriller film directed by Oriol Paulo. A Spanish businessman (Mario Casas) is out on bail after being arrested for the murder of his lover (Bárbara ...more - 2Manuela Velasco, Javier Botet, Ana Isabel Velásquez
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Paco Plaza, Jaume Balagueró
REC is a 2007 Spanish horror film, co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film was shot in Barcelona, Spain and the title is an abbreviation of the word "record", as it ...more - 3Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Park Chan-wook
Dae-Su is an obnoxious drunk bailed from the police station yet again by a friend. However, he's abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell, where he remains for the next 15 years, drugged ...more - 4Song Kang-ho, Jo Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. - 5Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Jennifer Kent
Clare, a young Irish convict, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness and is bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence the man committed against her family. On the way, ...more - 6Belén Rueda, José Coronado, Pere Brasó
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Oriol Paulo
The Body is a 2012 thriller film written by Oriol Paulo and Lara Sendim; and directed by Oriol Paulo. - 7Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Yu-mi
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: Yeon Sang-ho
Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean zombie apocalypse action thriller film directed by Yeon Sang-ho. A man, his estranged daughter and other passengers become trapped on a speeding train during a ...more - 8Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Gustav Möller
The Guilty is a 2018 Danish thriller film directed by Gustav Möller. A police officer (Jakob Cedergren) assigned alarm dispatch duty enters a race against time when he answers an emergency call from ...more - 9Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Kim Jee-woon
On a dark road, taxi driver Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) comes across a scared female motorist stranded in a broken-down vehicle. He pulls over -- but not to help her. When the woman's head is ...more - 10Ricardo Darín, Mariano Argento, Soledad Villamil
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Juan José Campanella
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 novel La ...more - 11Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Young-hee
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Na Hong-jin
The Chaser is a 2008 South Korean action thriller film directed by Na Hong-jin. A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of escorts finds himself in a cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer. - 12Noomi Rapace, Marika Lagercrantz, Lena Endre
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev
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 the ...more - 13Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aksel Hennie, Baard Owe
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Morten Tyldum
Headhunters is a 2011 Norwegian-Swedish action thriller film directed by Morten Tyldum and based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø. Aksel Hennie portrays the successful but insecure ...more - 14Lee Young-ae, Song Kang-Ho, Choi Min-sik
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Park Chan-wook
Lady Vengeance is a 2005 South Korean psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook, and the third installment in the Vengeance Trilogy. After being wrongfully imprisoned for thirteen years ...more - 15Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roi-ha
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
In 1986, Park (Song Kang-ho) and Cho (Kim Roi-ha) are two simple-minded detectives assigned to a double murder investigation in a South Korean province. But when the murderer strikes several more ...more - 16Ulrich Tukur, Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
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 GDR's ...more - 17Clara Lago, Alexandra Stewart, Martina García
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Andrés Baiz
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. - 18Kristin Scott Thomas, Harlan Coben, Guillaume Canet
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: 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 François Cluzet, ...more - 19Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Young-chang Song
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Lee Jung-beom
The Man from Nowhere is a 2010 South Korean action thriller film directed by Lee Jeong-beom. When a young girl (Kim Sae-ron) is kidnapped, a mysterious man (Won Bin) embarks on a bloody rampage to ...more - 20Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: Park Chan-wook
The Handmaiden is a 2016 South Korean erotic psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook. A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to ...more - 21Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada, Ai Hashimoto
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Tetsuya Nakashima
Confessions is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, based on Kanae Minato's 2008 novel of the same name. The story follows a grieving mother turned cold-blooded avenger with a ...more - 22Ricardo Darín, Oscar Nunez, Alejandro Awada
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Fabián Bielinsky
Nine Queens is a 2002 Argentine crime drama film written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky and starring Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice, Tomás Fonzi and Alejandro Awada. The story centers ...more - 23Ricardo Darín, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas
- Released: 2014
- Directed by: Damián Szifron
Wild Tales is a 2014 Argentine-Spanish black comedy film directed by Damián Szifron. The film is composed of six short segments, all exploring the extremities of human behavior involving people in ...more - 24Antonio Banderas, Blanca Suárez, Elena Anaya
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
The Skin I Live In is a 2011 Spanish psychological thriller film directed by Pedro Almodóvar and based on Thierry Jonquet's novel Mygale. A brilliant plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas), haunted by ...more - 25Mads Mikkelsen, Alexandra Rapaport, Thomas Bo Larsen
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
The Hunt is a 2012 Danish drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg. The story is set in a small Danish village around Christmas, and follows a man (Mads Mikkelsen) who becomes the target of mass ...more
