10 Great Thrillers You Might Have Overlooked

Thrillers are everywhere you look, from big budget Hollywood cinema to indie fare served in different flavors all over the world. The quest to shock, scare and unsettle audiences has driven writers and directors on an endless quest to improve their work, but as the good ideas are mined and recycled, it's becoming harder to be truly original. In an era of reboots, remakes and endless sequels, it's the perfect opportunity then to crawl the archives and ask one simple question: are there any thrillers out there that have been overlooked with the passing of time? We decided to find an answer, compiling a list of 10 films which many of you won't have ever laid eyes on yet. From the early works of visionary directors to well-known actors in roles you wouldn't expect, this list has you well and truly covered if you're in search of some chilling thrillers to spend your time with. 10) Cube (1997) Before Saw there was Cube, a cold-blooded thriller about a group of strangers who wake up inside a cuboid room with no knowledge of how they got there. The exit is hidden between a maze of cubed rooms, each with potential booby traps. But there's a catch. An unseen machine is switching the cubes at specific intervals like a Rubix moving of its own accord. Terrified and confused, the strangers decide to work together to get out. But Cube cleverly plays on our fears, our selfish interests, and provides a forensic examination of the human condition. It's a cat-and-mouse game of the highest order with a story refreshingly resistant to the idea of explaining itself. Cube is from the show not tell school of storytelling, and as the characters work out the magnitude of their situation, the stakes are heightened while forks in the tale keep you guessing. Before you watch this one, make sure you don't catch a trailer online as that'll no doubt put you off. Cube looks perilously close to a B-movie and some of its acting is admittedly ham-fisted. But for whatever reason, that only adds to its bootstrapping charm. This is one thriller you won't soon forget. 9) One Hour Photo Of all the roles Robin Williams brought to life on the silver screen, germ-phobic Sy must rank as one of the best. One Hour Photo marks a dramatic departure for the comedic powerhouse, seen here playing a lonely photo technician in the most unsettling performance of his abridged career. With peroxide-blonde hair and neutered clothing, Sy is living a suppressed existence, but is at once charming and chilling. His life gains a modicum of color when he grows obsessed with a local family whose photos he develops. Struck by a desire to become "uncle Sy," he begins to stalk them, growing increasingly fixated with the pretty young wife and her young son. The obsession soon turns unhealthy though, with unforeseen consequences. Ultimately, One Hour Photo was hampered by strict studio intrusion and the end product never quite matched Williams' performance. But if you want to see a chameleon change his spots, give this a try. 8) Exam (2009) Exam won't be to everyone's tastes, but this directorial debut from London filmmaker Stuart Hazeldine has serious bite, and any fan of the single-room setting will immediately be at home. In an alternate reality Britain, eight strangers sit down for an exam that could land them the job of a lifetime. The exam is 80 minutes long and consists of a single question. But when the timer starts, none of the participants know what the question is. Nor are they allowed to scribble on the piece of paper before them. Talking to the invigilator is grounds for disqualification, as is making contact with the guard at the door. As the timer begins running down, the candidates realize they can talk to one another and that this is the key to solving the mystery. Much like Cube before it, Exam revels in the peculiarities of our personalities under duress. And when things go nasty, Hazeldine lets the action unfold with unflinching honesty. 7) Hard Candy This hard-hitting indie flick made a modest return on its million dollar budget in 2005 but has since gone on to cult status. All right, so you've likely seen it then, but on the off chance you haven't, I'd be mad to leave it off this list. It stars the pint-sized Ellen Page as pre-teen Hayley Stark (no relation to Tony) who meets 32-year-old photographer Jeff on an internet chatroom. Jeff's curiously attracted to Hayley, despite her age, and invites her to his plush bachelor pad. Hayley has a hunch about Jeff and is ready to turn the tables on him. Clad in signature red hoodie, she gives the Big Bad Wolf more than he bargained for, turning in a virtuoso vigilante performance. Hard Candy is Red Riding Hood for modern times and a cautionary tale to kids who spill their guts on anonymous forums. 6) The Minus Man (1999) Before Owen Wilson was typecast as the all-charming romantic comedy foil to Vince Vaughn, he was tackling riskier roles, like 1999's The Minus Man. In this thoroughly oddball thriller, Wilson plays a drifter (Vann) with an appetite for murder who makes a habit of poisoning his victims and walking away scot-free. Vann's methods are simple: he doesn't kill people he knows, and he doesn't kill people near home. But when he violates the second important rule he implicates his neighbors in his web of destruction, one of whom is played by the inimitable Brian Cox. With stellar writing and a great cast (Dwight Yoakam is one of many awesome actors), The Minus Man is an ensemble showing and a rare opportunity for Wilson to display a different set of skills. Granted, he's the same laid-back guy we see in his romantic comedies, but with an added edge. Ironically, Wilson is perfect for the part, as his unassuming demeanor and softly-spoken character mark him out as a chilling sociopath. 5) The Machinist (2004) Six months before bulking up for the role of a lifetime as the Caped Crusader, Christian Bale underwent the most extreme weight cut imaginable, dropping to a jaw-dropping 120 pounds to portray a disturbed machinery operator, Trevor Reznik. The Machinist is a work of art and has gained cult status in the years since its release, notably for Bale's transformation and the shockingly skeletal body he shows off in the film. But it's also a darn good yarn, with a Memento-esque riddle to solve. Reznik hasn't slept in a year and he's rightly beginning to lose his grip on sanity. He's disturbed by visions and can't seem to lose a stalker who no one else recognizes. An unfortunate accident at the factory where he works sets off a chain of events that sends Reznik down the rabbit hole in search of answers. Twisty, windy and revealing to the last minute, The Machinist is a satisfying yarn told with real cinematic flair and Bale is every bit his best beginning to end. 4) The Hole (2001) I've watched The Hole three times now and it never lets me down. There are slicker thrillers out there with bigger budgets and perhaps bigger ambition, but not many have the delicious set up, or the ability to sustain the run time. The premise? Four friends decide they want to enjoy a weekend in solitude, away from the school camp they're supposed be attending. The venue for their drug-fueled party is an abandoned war bunker, which a friend of a friend holds the key to. But then disaster strikes and the hole becomes a nightmare, leaving the young cast to confront their worst fears. Led by Thora Birch of American Beauty fame, the cast is fantastic, and includes a teenage Keira Knightley, a bedeviling Desmond Harrington and Daniel Brocklebank, who's perfect in his role of the upper crust English bad boy. I like my thrillers taut, and with its four leading characters and supporting act, The Hole is as taut as they come. Fans of the twist ending will be in for a treat and even if you don't like this one as much as me, chances are you won't regret digging it out of the DVD archives. 3) 12 Angry Men (1957) Though not technically a thriller, 12 Angry Men is nonetheless a thrilling watch and the best courtroom drama ever made. In it, twelve jurors decide the fate of a man accused of murdering his father. Eleven of the twelve are convinced of his guilt, but the lone dissenting voice demands more deliberation, believing they can't prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. You'd think a 1950s production set exclusively inside a courtroom (and a juror's room at that) would be slow viewing, but 12 Angry Men sparkles. It's the razor-sharp dialogue, the absorbing characters, the prejudices on display. Soon, the jurors begin to waver as the film brings their foibles to light. Juror 7, for instance, wants to conclude the case so he can catch his beloved Yankees play live. And Juror 3 has a strained relationship with own son, tainting the way he sees the case. Like any good film, 12 Angry Men is a parable to the human condition. The dialogue is Tarantino-esque, and this is 90 minutes of your life you won't want back. 2) Duel While every filmgoer in the world knows Steven Spielberg, how many of you have seen his full-length film debut, Duel? Based on a Richard Matheson short story of the same name (author of I Am Legend, The Thing, Hell House and many more), Duel pits an everyday car salesman (David Mann) against a rather unusual foe: a mountainous tanker on an empty Californian highway. Mann's minding his own business on his cross-country trip and that includes overt-taking a sl0w-moving truck in the middle of the desert. But he's in for a shock when the tanker races up behind him and retakes its position in front, before slowing again. Mann over-takes it again, setting a cat-and-mouse race in motion that could end disastrously. Who is the driver of the antagonizing tanker? That's one of the central questions at the heart of Duel and it's the fear of unknown that drives this flick forward. Even in his early days, Spielberg had a masterful understanding of cinematic tension; of layering the story with peaks and troughs; lulls before the impending storm. If you haven't seen it, Duel has aged surprisingly well, and is an example of what a top-rate director can do on even a shoestring budget. 1) The Interview (1998) Number one on this list was set in stone before I even began compiling this article, and it goes to 1998's The Interview. It's not only the most underground entry of the 10, but it's also the most surprisingly gripping story, and I only hope you go into it blind like I did. In fact, even writing about it in these pages risks spoiling one of the most subversive thrillers I've ever seen. And what's amazing is that so few people seem to have ever seen it, or are talking about it. Here's the synopsis, courtesy of Wikipedia: "Eddie Rodney Fleming is a quiet, nervous man who recently lost his job and family. One morning, Eddie is seized from his apartment for unknown reasons by two cops. They take him to headquarters and question him about a stolen car. But as tempers rise and the truth is slowly unraveled, it is revealed there is more to this interview than meets the eye." That's all you need to know. The rest you can discover during 100 minutes of exceptional filmmaking, led by the quite brilliant Hugo Weaving and the equally compelling Tony Martin, who plays the senior cop assigned to the case.