30). The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011, David Fincher) – AFI Ranking: N/A
A Fincher-directed movie about a decades-old murder mystery on a rich Swedish family’s snowy island compound? I’m in.
Although there is traveling involved in the movie, a large chunk of it is spent isolated from much of the outside world on the compound. The Vanger family is cagey around outsiders and are suspicious of Mikael’s (Daniel Craig) questions about the time of the murder of Harriett Vanger. This leads to a difficult investigation since he has to uncover something new in a case that was poured over from every angle many years ago.
The film splits off at points to follow Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo. She is a brilliant investigator in her own right, though in a less “official” capacity; more the type of person a billionaire brings in to find out where they can tear down their enemies. Lisbeth is also a ward of the state and therefore is not in control of her own finances. She has to meet with a new caseworker who forces her to perform sexual favors in order to receive her own money. The first time this happens it’s more about the suggestion, which gives the audience a sinking feeling as the caseworker starts to allude to the potential arrangement. As bad as that feeling is, it sets up the next time, where Lisbeth is invited to the caseworker’s home, and we have to watch more of the encounter, which is “thrilling” in all of the worst ways.
Eventually, Lisbeth gets her revenge and is invited up to the compound to work with Mikael. Things get more dangerous, Mikael is shot at from a distance and ultimately has a confrontation with the killer.
The movie has an edge. The cold conditions of the setting and the mysterious elements of the case make for enjoyable viewing.
This movie ended up replacing Frankenstein from the AFI list (#56). There’s no thematic overlap between the two, but we could spin it and say both stories are about someone putting a bunch of old, lifeless parts together.
29) Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock) – AFI Ranking: 18th
Among Hitchcock’s multiple masterpieces, and the #1 mystery movie on the AFI’s 10 Top 10. Vertigo is probably the most hypnotic movie ever made. The score, one of the most recognizable and iconic in movie history, and the visual effects make for a dizzying experience for the audience, simulating what it would be like to have vertigo (sort of like what Memento did with amnesia). That’s one of the many great things about this movie, it’s a viewing experience.
The movie starts with a terrific chase sequence that is homaged (is that a word?) in the first sequence of The Matrix, and we see the protagonist, SFPD’s Scottie (James Stewart) develop vertigo while hanging off the edge of a building.
Scottie retires from the police department and takes a job he is initially skeptical of when an old school friend asks him to follow his wife, Madeline (Kim Novak). He is sucked in and takes the case. The movie is a slow unraveling that is always interesting to watch.
The above video does an excellent job distinguishing between plot contrivances and plot holes. Yes, Vertigo has some contrivances, but the video also does an excellent job outlining why they don’t matter. Not that Hitchcock needs any additional praise from me, but that’s what makes him an all-time great – I can watch a movie of his from 1958 that has a few major contrivances of the plot, but I still get sucked in, and I can still find new things to appreciate each time I watch it.
28) It (2017, Andy Muschietti) – AFI Ranking: N/A
It was a delightfully frightening remake/reimagining from a few years ago. One of the great things about it was that it was basically from a child’s perspective. The interactions between the kids felt real and one of the scary things is that every adult in the movie is evil, for one reason other another. There’s a sexually abusive father, a physically abusive father, there’s a case of Munchausen by Proxy, etc. And then…there’s Pennywise, a shape-shifting, child-murdering, soul-stealing entity who feeds off of people being scared of him. If you’re not scared of Pennywise, he has no power over you, but you won’t not be scared of Pennywise, so don’t worry about that.
There are several thrilling scenes. Any time one of the kids is in danger. But the opening scene where he talks to Georgie from a sewer drain is a masterclass in tension. His eyes appear in the drain, with a sound effect, and they get you with a jump scare, but the rest of the time, we’re just watching a predator whose mouth is literally watering over a child. We’re waiting for it to go wrong for Georgie. Spoiler alert, it all goes wrong for Georgie.
I have this movie replacing Carrie (AFI #46) because similar to Carrie, everyone who’s not with these kids seems to be evil. Also, the villain is able to move things with his mind, just like Carrie. So, there’s that.
27). Prisoners (2013, Denis Villenueve) – AFI Ranking: N/A
Prisoners is a tough watch, but a great thriller. Two children are abducted and the movie is about trying to find them. It brings up questions of morality, with the parents of these two children going to increasingly immoral lengths to find them.
It’s a slow burn about a horrible topic. The movie is very well-made, though I’m not sure I’ll watch it again.
26). Inside Man (2006, Spike Lee) – AFI Ranking: N/A
I have this movie replacing Dog Day Afternoon (AFI #70) because I think it’s the best bank heist movie ever made. I certainly haven’t seen all of them, but this movie stands out. It compares well with Dog Day Afternoon because unlike The Town, where most of the movie is spent away from the heists, these criminals are robbing the bank and keep people hostage inside the bank for much of the movie.
Unlike Dog Day Afternoon, where the robbers are generally kind to their hostages, the robbers in Inside Man are all about disorientation. They make them all dress the same. They’re moved periodically to different rooms in the bank. There are occasional moments of violence, more to set a tone than because the robbers are cold-blooded.
The lead robber, Dalton (Clive Owen) plays cat and mouse with the lead negotiator, Keith Frazier (Denzel), and later with the bank owner’s fixer (Jodie Foster).
Everything about this movie feels disorienting for the viewer because it runs contrary to every heist movie we’ve seen to this point. The criminals are in no rush to get out of the bank. They start a DIY construction project in one of the rooms. They make everyone dress the same. And though their motive is money, they have an insurance policy, which is unusual. It’s always a fun ride when the movie can keep you guessing.
25). Gone Girl (2014, David Fincher) – AFI Ranking: N/A
Picture the premise of The Fugitive, but “brought down to our level”. Rather than the joy of watching Harrison Ford prove his innocence, we’re not totally sure the husband (Ben Affleck) wasn’t involved his wife’s disappearance. We think he’s probably not guilty, but the evidence against him is mounting.
I have this movie replacing The Third Man (AFI #75), as a more intense version of a story of people trying to figure out what happened to a person who has disappeared. In The Third Man, Harry Lime is dead, but they can’t find the body. Though it’s a wonderful movie that deals with dark subjects, it feels slightly more whimsical and less threatening than Gone Girl.
The funny thing with a list this long is that inevitably great movies get pushed down the list in favor of other great movies and it can be surprising to me, even though I made the list. Gone Girl ending up at #25 on a list of thrillers is surprising.
24). Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock) – AFI Ranking: 1st
The AFI’s #1 thriller. It’s hard to argue. As I said, sometimes great movies just fall down the list. I’ve written about Psycho before. It’s not only a great movie in and of itself, but it has influenced so many other movies. It technically kicked off the slasher genre by inspiring Halloween, which in turn, inspired all other slashers. It’s referenced in Scream, and Identity, and entirely remade in 1998’s Psycho. The shrieking score from the shower scene is used in Jaws. Arguably Game of Thrones is borrowing from Psycho when it kills off main characters.
I knew the twists ahead of time, and it took a few watches over the course of many years to be able to watch the movie with fresher eyes. The enormity of those twists overshadows my favorite thing about this movie, which is that it starts out as a typical Hitchcock thriller. A woman (Janet Leigh) absconds with her boss’s money and flees from Arizona to California. She’s followed by the police and changes cars. While stuck in a rainstorm she pulls into a motel off the side of the road and has a meal with the shy, quirky guy working there (Anthony Perkins).
What follows is arguably the most famous scene in movie history, and an insane twist in 1960, both in terms of how ballsy it was to kill a main character in the middle of a movie, but also in how shocking the murder was, a woman repeatedly stabbed in the shower, which pushed the boundaries of sex and violence.
Then the back half of the movie functions as a detective movie, trying to figure out what the heck happened. There’s another tension-filled murder with a detective on the premises at the Bates Motel. And then the final confrontation.
Similar to Vertigo, Psycho has an odd contrivance where we (and Marion Crane) hear Norman’s mother berating him from down at the motel. By the letter of the law, this plot point doesn’t really hold up, and it isn’t incidental, as it plays a big role in making the twists more effective. Also, the ending is kind of…meh.
However, none of that matters. Psycho is a blueprint in creating tension that changed how thrillers are made.
23). Heat (1995, Michael Mann) – AFI Ranking: N/A
The most grandiose cops and robbers movie of them all is somehow under-appreciated. It was a loud, exhilarating tornado that reminded everyone why you need to see these movies in a theater. The opening bank robbery above influenced the opening of The Dark Knight.
In some ways, it’s a rivalry movie. De Niro and Pacino were two legends on opposite sides of the law. Both were respectable characters because they were good at their jobs. You had to pick a side. Also, adding to the thrills is the coffee shop scene where they have a chat. They had never shared the screen at this point (all of their Godfather II scenes happened apart from one another). So, the thrill of their head-to-head was also exhilarating. Their conversation drips with subtext.
I have this movie replacing Bullitt (AFI #36), largely because the airport chase scene at the end was clearly an homage to the Steve McQueen cop drama. Though Bullitt was largely about how cool and smart the hero cop was, Heat presented dual leads, both flawed, and both admirable.
22) Misery (1990, Rob Reiner) – AFI Ranking: N/A
Misery’s exclusion from the AFI list is kind of astonishing to me. It came out in 1990, so there was plenty of time for the list makers to appreciate the movie’s impact. Even the Oscars gave Misery a little love. It’s another underrated thriller that is textbook for how it builds from scene to scene. Each step gets progressively darker and worse.
It’s a largely contained thriller, which is an underrated sub-genre. Not as sexy as a murder mystery or a police procedural. I don’t want to say too much about the movie, but it’s the second entry in this post to come from the brilliantly twisted mind of Stephen King.
Misery replaces What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (AFI #63) on my list as a slightly updated version of the movie about a person who torments a wheelchair-bound victim in their house. Just go (re)watch it.
21). Scream (1996, Wes Craven) – AFI Ranking: N/A
I’ve written about Scream a couple of times because it was a movie that just hit me at the perfect time to scare the daylights out of me. Actually, it wasn’t even the whole movie, I couldn’t make it through the opening scene.
Like all great opening scenes, the beginning of Scream sets the tone for the rest movie. The reason it can be scary while also having moments of meta-spoofery, could not be effective if the opening scene wasn’t a suburban nightmare. I’m 98% sure this movie was the reason caller ID was invented.
I have Scream replacing Close Encounters of the Third Kind (AFI #31) because both of them involve an invasion of the home. Scream may be too high on the list, from an objective standpoint, but, it’ll always be my first scare, and therefore I’ll always push it toward the top.
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