The Best Thrillers of 2022

What a good year it has been for the world of movies. One particular area that did especially well was the realm of intense thriller movies. From slow thrillers like The Stranger to fun and sexy thrillers like Don’t Worry Darling, there are a lot of different options to look at.

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30 Deep Water

Melinda and Vic Van Allen live with their young daughter Trixie in Little Wesley, Louisiana. Vic has retired early after developing guidance chips for combat drones, and his complicated relationship with Melinda is held together by a precarious arrangement: they sleep apart and Melinda takes lovers openly, even in their family home, while Vic finds solace in raising his large collection of snails. Their open marriage is no secret to their concerned friends, and Vic grows increasingly jealous, while Melinda laments his lack of passion.

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29 Orphan: First Kill

On January 26, 2007, Estonian psychiatric patient Leena Klammer, a 31-year-old woman with a rare hormonal disorder called hypopituitarism that gives her the appearance of a 9-year-old child, orchestrates an escape from the Saarne Institute by seducing and killing a guard and hiding in the car of Anna, an art therapist. After breaking into Anna’s house and killing her, Leena looks up missing American girls and finds that she bears resemblance to a girl named Esther Albright, who went missing in 2003. Later, posing as a lost girl, Leena is approached by a Russian police officer and introduces herself as “Esther”, claiming that her parents are in the United States.

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28 Ambulance

Former Marine and Afghanistan veteran Will Sharp is desperately in need of $231,000 for his wife Amy’s experimental cancer surgery. He reaches out to Danny, his adoptive brother and a life-long criminal, who talks him into taking part in a $32 million bank heist. Though initially hesitant, Will agrees after Danny reaffirms that he is doing this for Amy. The plan nearly succeeds until Officer Zach Parker, who goes to the bank to ask out a bank teller, discovers the situation and is held hostage by Danny.

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27 Watcher

American couple Julia and Francis relocate to Bucharest, moving into an apartment building with a large picture window. Julia notices a man looming in a window from the building across the street. While Francis works long hours, Julia grows unnerved by the man in the window, who watches her on a daily basis.

Julia’s fear heightens when she learns of a serial killer, dubbed “the Spider” by local media, who is decapitating young women. While walking through the city one day, she senses a man is following her. She manages to flee from a nearby market but when Francis and Julia visit the market to review the security footage, it proves inconclusive.

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26 The Contractor

SFC James Harper, a decorated Green Beret, is involuntarily discharged from the army due to his use of illegal steroids to treat a debilitating knee injury. Facing financial ruin, he contacts his friend Mike who works with a private military company under the command of fellow veteran Rusty Jennings.

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25 Emancipation

Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.

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24 Don’t Worry, Darling

A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.

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23 The Wonder

In 1862, Elizabeth “Lib” Wright, an English nurse who served in the Crimean War, is sent to a rural village in Ireland where she is tasked with closely watching Anna O’Donnell, a fasting girl who according to her family has not eaten for four months. She is to be assisted by a nun, Sister Michael, and the two are to report their findings independently to a council of local dignitaries.

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22 The Stranger

The police suspect Henry Teague of the abduction and murder of a young teen but lack proof. They use the Mr. Big procedure to elicit a confession while continuing to search for evidence. Undercover police officer Paul Emery introduces himself to Teague during a long bus ride and strikes up a friendship with him. After gaining Teague’s confidence and sympathy, Emery introduces him to a criminal acquaintance, Mark Frame. Frame, who is also an undercover police officer, offers Teague low-level work in a supposed criminal organisation. Frame and Emery emphasise that the organisation values honesty above all, and they push Teague to reveal any criminal history that could jeopardise it. Teague admits to having been in and out of jail, culminating in a two-year sentence for assault, but claims to be otherwise clean…

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21 Fresh

Noa, a woman from Portland, is increasingly disillusioned with online dating and the rude men she interacts with. One day at the supermarket, a man named Steve flirts with her and they exchange numbers. On their first date, the two quickly hit it off and have sex. After several dates, Steve invites Noa for a weekend break away alone with him. Against the advice of her best friend Mollie, Noa agrees to the trip. Planning to travel early the following day, Noa spends the evening at Steve’s luxury home. Steve drugs Noa’s cocktail and she falls unconscious.

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20 The Pale Blue Eye

A world-weary detective is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe.

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19 Death on the Nile

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this dramatic tale of love gone wrong features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.

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18 The Good Nurse

Suspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth in this gripping thriller based on true events.

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17 The Gray Man

When the CIA’s most skilled operative, whose true identity is known to none, accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.

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16 The Black Phone

Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.

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15 Fall

For best friends Becky and Hunter, life is all about conquering fears and pushing limits. But after they climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now Becky and Hunter’s expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights in this adrenaline-fueled thriller.

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14 Mnogoetazhka (Многоэтажка)

The film is about a firefighter named Anton Kalashnikov who is raising a 14-year-old daughter. She goes to dances and every Saturday he meets her, after which he watches TV with her and has dinner. But one Saturday things turned out differently. She rings the intercom and Anton opens the door, but she doesn’t get up.

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13 Toxic (공기살인 | Gonggisalin)

Jung Tae-Hun is the chief doctor of a trauma center in a hospital. His son suddenly collapses with a lung disease. Soon, his wife Han Gil-Ju suddenly dies because of the same lung disease. Jung Tae-Hun tries to find a common link between their illnesses. Jung Tae-Hun learns that for several years, many people have visited hospitals and complained of similar symptoms as his wife and son. He finally finds a common link between all of these people. They all used a humidifier disinfectant. Meanwhile, Han Gil-Ju’s sister Han Young-Ju works as a prosecutor. She also investigates the case with Jung Tae-Hun, but her office doesn’t let her investigate the case. Han Young-Ju quits her job as a prosecutor and begins to work as a lawyer. She continues to investigate the lung disease case with Jung Tae-Hun. As they visit victims and collect materials, they uncover the secret of the acute lung disease.

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12 The Last Client (Klienten)

Susanne Hartmann is a top psychologist, told by police a quote from her diary has been found at a murder scene. The next day, just as she‘s about to leave her office, Mark appears begging for a last minute therapy session. Soon it become clear that he’s the serial killer and unless Susanne cures him in one hour, her own darkest secrets will be revealed.

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11 Ray Donovan: The Movie

A showdown decades in the making brings the Donovan family legacy full circle as they find themselves drawn back to Boston. Struggling to overcome their violent upbringing, their fierce love for each other keeps them in the fight.

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10 The Menu

A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

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9 Like a Man (По-мужски)

The film tells about a 35-year-old man named Gleb, who has everything he needs to be happy: a beautiful wife, a successful business and a luxurious country house. But as a result of a showdown with a drunken neighbor who hit his wife, his life changes dramatically.

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8 The Outfit

Chicago, 1956. Leonard is a master English tailor who makes beautiful clothes for the only people around who can afford them: a family of vicious gangsters. One night, two killers knock on his door in need of a favour, and Leonard is thrust into a deadly game of deception and murder.

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7 Bandit

After escaping a Michigan prison, a charming career criminal assumes a new identity in Canada and goes on to rob a record 59 banks and jewellery stores while being hunted by a police task force. Based on the story of The Flying Bandit.

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6 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

During the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Miles Bron, the billionaire co-founder of technology company Alpha, hosts a murder mystery game at the Glass Onion, his mansion on a private island in Greece. He invites five friends: Alpha head scientist Lionel Toussaint, Connecticut governor Claire Debella, controversial fashion designer and model Birdie Jay, men’s rights streamer Duke Cody, and ousted Alpha co-founder Cassandra “Andi” Brand. The five friends are delivered a wooden puzzle box to decipher to find the invitation inside. The five travel to Miles’s island, along with Birdie’s assistant Peg and Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey. Famous detective Benoit Blanc joins them; although Miles says he did not invite Blanc, he allows Blanc to stay, assuming another guest sent him an invitation as a joke.

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5 Decision to Leave (헤어질 결심 | Hyeeojil gyeolsim)

From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.

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4 Where the Crawdads Sing

From the best-selling novel comes a captivating mystery. Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya, an abandoned girl who raised herself to adulthood in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world; but when one of them is found dead, she is immediately cast by the community as the main suspect. As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what actually happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal the many secrets that lay within the marsh.

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3 A Thursday

Naina, a playschool teacher, takes 16 students hostage. Rattling the police and the leaders, her demands send shockwaves through the country.

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2 Thirteen Lives

In the true story of Thirteen Lives, twelve boys and the coach of a Thai soccer team explore the Tham Luang cave when an unexpected rainstorm traps them in a chamber inside the mountain. Entombed behind a maze of flooded cave tunnels, they face impossible odds. A team of world-class divers navigate through miles of dangerous cave networks to discover that finding the boys is only the beginning.

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1 The Batman

Batman ventures into Gotham City’s underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.

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