Thrillers must be one of the most popular genres in cinemas out there. There’s probably one playing at your local multiplex right now, and on VOD services and streaming platforms, there’s enough of an offer to prove our point. Yes, we like to be scared during horror, but the thrills provided by solidly written psychological thrillers are incomparable.
Then again, we need those to be well-written. Logic has to be part of the plot, character motivations have to be present, and villains should be compelling enough. Perhaps, it seems like an easy job, but the genre auteurs would beg to differ. The master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, didn’t usually write his own scripts. It takes talent, and such talent is often shown in slow-burn thrillers.
They’re the films that take the necessary time to present, develop and reveal. All of those parts of the structure require screen time, and progress. In slow-burn films, and especially in thrillers, plot and action slowly progress towards a payoff. The water will boil at some point, and usually, it’s too late. But it’s all about the process. One great example of this, and one that’s not part of the subgenre we’re considering today, is the introduction of There Will Be Blood; there’s something ominous that silently lurks in the film’s first 15 minutes. It’s a preparation that develops a character and scenario. It’s a great preamble for Hell.
Considering how popular the genre is, we dug around the catalogs and bins and put together a list for you. We hope you take the time and patience to see each one of these and simmer in the thick, murky waters of the best slow-burn psychological thrillers of all time.
15 Nocturnal Animals (2016)
At first, Nocturnal Animals seems like a weird film with Hollywood megastars that will not go anywhere. However, Tom Ford’s thriller gets the audience inside a dark, fable-like setting, and it does so very slowly. At some point, you will be confused because you won’t know what’s real and what’s not. And it’s OK. It’s that kind of movie.
The film tells the story of a writer who presents a manuscript to his ex-wife. Upon reading it, she realizes that the jarring story in the book is actually her ex trying to communicate something. And it’s horrific enough to give you the chills.
14 Memories of Murder (2003)
In Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, a country is in turmoil because of a political situation that’s always left in a secondary plane. The real story here is that of police detectives trying to solve a series of murders that shook a small South Korean community. They’re not perfect lawmen. They’re flawed, and their mistakes will cost them.
Memories of Murder is grisly, emotionally daunting and dramatically sharp. The narrative in one of South Korea’s best films of all time isn’t quite traditional, and the rules of happy endings don’t apply. This one will stay with you for a while, and not for the good reasons.
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13 Taxi Driver (1976)
The classic thriller Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese feels like a ticking time bomb. What’s worse is that every second it gets louder, sharper, and more tense. It starts like a grim depiction of the dynamics in New York City’s underbelly. In an almost poetic fashion, the essence of such an iconic city is deconstructed through a character’s fall into his darkest and most intimate state of mind.
Travis Bickle has done everything for his country. And now he wants to do something for it. Cleanse the city of its corruption, monsters and everything else staining the American dream. Scorsese’s slow buildup is remarkable in setting the groundwork for an explosive final scene that will leave you breathless.
12 Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
In Martha Marcy May Marlene, we are going through an effect. The worst thing has apparently already happened, and all we are left with, are the remains of Martha, a woman who has managed to escape a cult, but whose mind still feels overpowered by the claws of its charismatic but abusive leader.
Sean Durkin’s film is slowly paced, and follows Martha’s slow reconsideration of her reality, and why she escaped. There are no big set pieces or revelatory scenes. This is a contemplative film about emotional damage and the drive to fix what at first seems to be completely shattered. Few films about cults feel this authentic.
11 The Vanishing (1988)
1988’s The Vanishing is a superb European import that definitely takes its time to deliver its blunt narrative statement: there’s no place for hope in the vast and sunny French countryside. It’s a great exercise in realistic dread.
The Vanishing tells the story of a man obsessed with his girlfriend’s disappearance during a road trip. Years later, he finds the abductor and thus begins a further descent into the twisted mind of a man with nothing but pure nihilism as a mindset. Not to be confused with the American remake, The Vanishing is a cat-and-mouse game that never features a chase. This is a slow-burn thriller that will forever stay with you, like a great reminder to never stop to pump gas in the middle of nowhere.
10 Blood Simple (1984)
What’s still impressive about Blood Simple is that it was the first work for many of those involved with it, and they did exceedingly well in their departments. This was Frances McDormand’s first film, the debut of the Coens, Barry Sonnenfeld’s first Hollywood work as a cinematographer. Talk about a stroke of a luck.
Critics classically loveBlood Simple. And no, it’s not a coincidence. This slow-burn classic is more of a modern neo-noir that takes its time to deliver, but in the end, it’s all worth it. It tells the story of a bar owner who hires a man to murder one of his bartenders because he’s having an affair with his wife. But then, the hitman comes up with another plan.
9 Caché (2005)
In Michael Haneke’s Caché, a family is taken to the brink of self-destruction. They aren’t exactly rich, but they’re wealthy enough to not be concerned about money. The problem is one day someone starts leaving VHS tapes on their doorstep. They include random footage of the family, which means someone is watching them. However, the tapes also include hints that the stalker may know more about the father’s past.
Nothing seems dangerous enough in Haneke’s film. But there’s an eerie sensation in how the director models the plot through a disorienting manipulation of images and footage. For some viewers, the film is dreadfully slow, but you might want to stick around for what happens.
8 Prisoners (2013)
Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is a gut punch of a film that grabs you from the beginning and pinches you until the end. It’s a character-driven thriller that plays like a slowly-paced nightmare about parental desperation and intuition. Not often do these films have authenticity, but Villeneuve insists on a dramatic pace with no signs of a thriller.
It tells the story of a couple of fathers whose daughters have been kidnapped. In their hearts, they know the man the police caught is the culprit, but somehow he gets released without much questioning. The fathers take it upon themselves to… get some information out of the man, and things don’t exactly go well.
7 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Yorgos Lanthimos’ best attempt at horror is a fascinating film that not many people saw and understood, regardless of the film stars associated with it. However, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a great genre exercise where unanswered questions are just as important as the ones already revealed.
The film tells the story of Steven, a surgeon with a perfect family and a not-so perfect patient named Martin. Steven weirdly follows Martin’s demands, who for some reason is enamored of Steven and his family. When Steven rejects Martin’s call to have an affair with his mother, Steven’s family starts getting ill with a strange disease. The Killing of a Sacred Deer takes a bit of time to clarify some things, but in the end, you will be satisfied. Just open your mind, as this is Lanthimos Land, where anything is possible.
6 Burning (2018)
Another South Korean import that will leave you breathless. In Burning, Jong-su feels joy when he reunites with his childhood friend, Hae-mi. He appears to have a crush on her, and he intends to show it. The problem is that someone else enters the scenario. A young, apparently successful man called Ben, becomes friends with Hae-mi and Jong-su, only Jong-su doesn’t really trust him. When Hae-mi disappears, Jong-su starts desperately looking for her, and all clues point to Ben and his questionable practices of arson.
Before Parasite, Burning was the potential film that had a huge impact on Western audiences. It won some awards, and critics loved it enough to put it on the “top ten” lists.
5 Rear Window (1954)
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Arguably, the best film Hitchcock ever made. This psychological thriller starts off as friendly as the rules of the period indicate. However, the 1954 film slowly turns into a horrific nightmare for Jeff, a professional photographer with a broken leg who can’t leave his house. He’s clumsy in the wheelchair, and all he can do is watch the building right next to his apartment. The angle is good enough to let him shoot with his camera.
Jeff becomes a peeping tom, and one day he watches something he shouldn’t have: a murder. At least that’s what he thinks he saw. No one really believes him. Not even his nurse or girlfriend. But when he intends to investigate, he goes too far and puts himself in peril. Hitchcock’s film playfully juggles between drama and thriller, and delivers a solid experience in slow-burn cinema that may feel outdated from an aesthetic perspective, but is definitely effective plot-wise.
4 Drive (2011)
In​​​​​​​ Drive, a getaway driver is adamant about following the rules. Any change is unacceptable and will result in the mission being aborted. His cold, serious glance is unstirred even at the sight of violence. But then, love enters the picture. However, the Driver doesn’t sacrifice his integrity. He just keeps playing for the right side, as a failed heist puts everyone in danger, including Irene and her son, both of whom the Driver has become emotionally connected to.
Drive is an action film, but it features little to no action. It’s a tense feature that always makes you feel like something’s about to burst. And sometimes it does, with the cinematic beauty of Nicolas Winding Refn’s unique style.
3 The Lives of Others (2006)
The Lives of Others tells the story of Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler as he sets up a surveillance scheme and spies on a playwright suspected of communism in ’80s East Germany. Wiesley complies with his orders, but then he gets too deep into the plot and finds it impossible to disconnect from the characters he has just discovered.
In 2007, The Lives of Others won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s still regarded as one of the best German films ever made, and it’s an example of an exceptional political thriller that everyone should see at any given chance.
2 The Conversation (1974)
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is a gripping classic thriller that tells the story of a surveillance expert who accepts a case he never should have. The 1974 is constantly evaluated besides The Godfather and Apocalypse Now as the best film in Coppola’s career. We won’t argue there.
In The Conversation, Harry Caul records and listens a relationship. He becomes fascinated with a couple. But then he hears… something. Or at least he thinks he does. And he gets the courage to do something about it as he becomes obsessed with perhaps being a witness to a horrible crime.
1 Blue Ruin (2013)
The 2013 thriller Blue Ruin is a realistic thriller directed by Jeremy Saulnier, a feat made possible through crowdfunding. The result was an inspiring accomplishment in filmmaking that has all the traits of a big Hollywood film.
In Blue Ruin, Dwight swears revenge on the man who killed his parents. The thing is, he’s not a killer, and doesn’t know anything about shooting a gun. This causes Dwight’s journey to be a little bit… rough. Saulnier’s gritty, ’70s-inspired, psychological thriller is a compelling ride progresses at a slow pace, but then arrives at an explosive, noteworthy third act.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
