The Testament of Dr Mabuse (Lang, 1932)

The Killing (Kubrick, 1956)

The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer, 1962 - and the remake isn't bad either, just not nearly on par with [u]this[/u])

Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1956) - narrowly beating out Vertigo, which is more of a sick romantic tragedy, and Psycho, which has slightly more sensational material to extract thrills from)

The Third Man (Reed, 1949)

The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)

Parallax View (Pakula, 1974)

Se7en (Fincher, 1995 - I do love The Game as well)

Insomnia (Nolan, 2002 - some films work better the second time around, so it was with this remake)

Cache (Haneke, 2006 - even though it is, it doesn't feel like - comes across more as an experiment in tension from a time when people were still figuring out how cinema worked)

AND TWO ALSO-RANS...

Touch of Evil (Welles, 1959) - not for what it is, but for how it feels.

Collateral (Mann, 2004 - with Mann, as far as visceral thrills are concerned, it comes down to this or Manhunter... Manhunt----- EDIT, forget this ----
Heat (Mann, 1995) - because Southall said so.

The dates may be woolly, but the films most certainly are not.

So what am I missing? This is the fun part.

* Note: HEAT doesn't count as a thriller.

quote:

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Is that really a thriller though? It seems a bit more like THE GODFATHER in the sense that there's a strong dramatic emphasis.

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And I haven't seen BLOWOUT. Is it good?

I often visit IMDB's top movies section for ideas: http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

I also think these are real classics, which have not been duplicated over the years:

Cool Hand Luke and the great score by Schifrin

Fury with Spencer Tracy and the great camera work in that, Waxmans score is good too

Caine Mutiny and Bogarts great insanity in it

Bedlam with Boris Karloff-one of the best of its kind, Karloff is great in this role, woman goes in to clean up the aslyum and she cant get out

Papillon-great film and score

For me, does the film hold up well many years later and still have that punch. Every so often I see one like this that does.

I see a film after many years and it is still very powerful. That is the test of a good or great film.

There are many more like this.
J>

quote:

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Originally posted by Stargate:
Now, would Silence of the Lambs and The Usual Suspects qualify as thrillers? If so, they're at the top of my list.

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Forced to pick one modern serial killer film, I went with SEVEN over MANHUNTER and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, though all three are good.

I supppose THE USUAL SUSPECTS is a thriller. I guess it fits more of a whodunnit mode for me, but that's splitting hairs.

quote:

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Originally posted by joan hue:
If you watch Dressed To Kill again, you'll see that it is probably more closely related to Vertigo, but I do see the Psycho references too.

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I was about 16 at the time... I remember not liking VERTIGO much in those days either.