The Best Thrillers of 2023

Thrillers have had a long and monumental history over the years, yet the genre continues to have exceptional and iconic entries created in the modern era. 2023 showed more than any other year just how emphatic and powerful a good thriller can be, providing some of the most celebrated examples in recent memory.

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30 The Royal Hotel

Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture, but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that rapidly leaps out of their control.

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29 Hypnotic

Determined to find his missing daughter, Detective Danny Rourke finds himself spiraling down a rabbit hole while investigating a series of reality-bending crimes. Aided by Diana Cruz, a gifted psychic, Rourke simultaneously pursues and is pursued by a lethal specter, the one man he believes holds the key to finding the girl.

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28 Superposition

The creative couple Stine and Teit and their young son Nemo leave their urban life in Copenhagen behind in favour of an isolated forest in Sweden, where they hope to find themselves as individuals while documenting their new lifestyle in an ongoing podcast series. Regretfully, they realise there’s another couple across the lake, which is surprisingly alike themselves. Soon, old grudges and selfish desires begin to take over, forcing them to confront their own egos. The psychological thriller deals with the fundamental split between self realisation and being present in life. Most of us have immense ambitions for our lives and self-expression, as well as for our happiness and our partner. SUPERPOSITION sheds a light on the modern day relationship and investigates whether we are in fact too self-absorbed to be together.

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27 Master Gardener

Deep within the lush grounds of Gracewood Gardens, horticulturist Narvel Roth tends to more than just plants. With a meticulous hand and unwavering devotion, he’s created an idyllic sanctuary for his demanding employer, Mrs. Haverhill. But when troubled great-niece Maya arrives seeking apprenticeship, Narvel’s perfectly cultivated life begins to unravel, unearthing secrets from a violent past that threaten to destroy everything he holds dear.

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26 Marlowe

In 1939 Los Angeles, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy heiress Clare Cavendish to find her missing lover, Nico Peterson, a prop master at Pacific Film Studios. Marlowe discovers that Peterson is believed to be dead after allegedly falling down drunk and being run over by a car outside an exclusive club. However, Marlowe is skeptical of the circumstances surrounding Peterson’s supposed death and begins to investigate further, despite lack of interest from his friend, homicide detective Joe Green. Marlowe delves deeper into the case, uncovering a web of deceit and corruption among the city’s elite.

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25 Sanctuary

Hal attempts to end his secret relationship with dominatrix Rebecca. A battle of wills ensues over the course of one incredibly fraught night, with both struggling to keep the upper hand as the power dynamics swing wildly back and forth.

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24 Infinity Pool

While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror.

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23 Reality

A former American intelligence specialist was given the longest sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation.

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22 Luther: The Fallen Sun

Brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther breaks out of prison to hunt down a sadistic serial killer who is terrorising London.

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21 Saw X

John Kramer is back. The most chilling installment of the SAW franchise yet explores the untold chapter of Jigsaw’s most personal game. Set between the events of SAW I and II, a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer – only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, John returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through a series of ingenious and terrifying traps.

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20 Nowhere

Set in a dystopian future, Spain has been turned into a dictatorship, where its government plans to eradicate children, pregnant women, and the elderly to deal with the lack of resources. The plot follows a pregnant woman separated from her husband while trying to flee the country to Ireland. She then finds herself trying to survive inside a shipping container in the heart of the sea.

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19 Fair Play

Hot off the heels of their new engagement, thriving New York couple Emily and Luke can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition.

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18 May December

Middle aged Gracie lives a happy, well settled life with her husband. Some years ago she was involved in an unsavory scandal but for her it is all in the past. Movie actress Elizabeth is on a visit to this home and she is on a mission. This visit is a part of her preparation to play the role of Gracie in a movie being made. As she goes about talking to the family members Gracie wonders whether Elizabeth will uncover some secrets from her past and will some skeletons be revealed.

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17 Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges)

The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.

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16 A Haunting in Venice

In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

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15 Reptile

Tom Nichols is a hardened New England detective, unflinching in his pursuit of a case where nothing is as it seems and it begins to dismantle the illusions in his own life.

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14 Sharper

Tom owns an antiquarian bookstore in New York. One day, when he finds the courage to ask out Sandra, a student who asked about a book for her professor, he is refused. But when the hero of the film closes the doors in the evening, Sandra suddenly appears in front of him again – before, she simply would not have dared to say “yes.”

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13 Beshenstvo (Бешенство)

An unprecedented epidemic of rabies is breaking out in the taiga. Infected wolves become more and more ferocious, and even the slightest bite brings certain death. At the same time, a desperate father decides to forcibly isolate his son in one of the hunting lodges in order to save him from addiction. Soon, he and several local residents will have to fight not only with a rabid pack, but also with the most dangerous predator of the forest.

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12 Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute)

The story begins when Samuel is found dead in the snow outside the isolated chalet where he lived with his wife Sandra, a German writer, and their partially-sighted 11-year-old son Daniel. An investigation leads to a conclusion of “suspicious death”: it’s impossible to know for sure whether he took his own life or was killed. Sandra is indicted, and we follow her trial which pulls the couple’s relationship apart. Daniel is caught in the middle: between the trial and their home life, doubts take their toll on the mother-son relationship.

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11 Tetris

An enterprising game developer risks everything in a race to outmaneuver duplicitous insiders to negotiate a deal with Soviet Union bureaucrats for the international licensing rights to what would eventually become one of the most recognizable and widely played games in history.

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10 Centaur (Кентавр)

Liza works at night, a taxi ride for her is a moment of much-desired peace. The driver Sasha inspires confidence, he knows the approach to the most demanding client. There are many unexpected turns in the lights of the big city, behind each of which lies a terrible threat. And perhaps the main danger is closer than it seems.

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9 Leave the World Behind

A family’s getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.

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8 The Killer

A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.

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7 To Catch A Killer

Baltimore. New Year’s Eve. A talented but troubled police officer is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator to help profile and track down a disturbed individual terrorizing the city.

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6 Society of the Snow (La sociedad de la nieve)

In 1972, the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, catastrophically crashes on a glacier in the heart of the Andes. Only 16 of the 40 passengers survived the crash, and finding themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments, they are forced to resort to extreme measures to stay alive.

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5 John Wick: Chapter 4

John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

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4 Missing

From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try to find her before it’s too late. But, as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers,… and, when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.

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3 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Ethan Hunt and the IMF team must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

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2 Sound of Freedom

“Sound of Freedom”, based on the incredible true story, shines a light on even the darkest of places. After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child-traffickers, a federal agent learns that the boy’s sister is still a captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.

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1 Killers of the Flower Moon

The story takes place in the 1920s around the Osage Indian tribe living in Oklahoma. Native Americans are being killed one by one after the tribe becomes rich by discovering oil. The Osage massacre attracts the attention of the FBI, which begins an investigation.

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