The thriller genre is one of the best in the world of movies. Filled to the brim with some of the most exciting scenes to have ever made their way to the big screen, twists to keep us guessing the entire length of every feature, and moments of tension sure to raise our heart rate more than any run.
Some say that the golden age of the thriller genre is in the past, but 2018 still delivered a fair few greats.
Updated on March 16th, 2021 by Mark Birrell: Thriller is a word that realistically encompasses a number of distinct genres that range from action to drama and horror, meaning that the best thriller movies of any given year represent one of the widest, and best, subsections of that year’s releases. We’ve updated this list to give a full accounting of the very best thriller movies from 2018, according to film fans that have been making their voices heard on IMDb. From the conventionally action-packed to the intimately small-scale, these great thrillers represent some of the funniest and most engaging movies of 2018.
Death Wish (6.4)
A remake of the classic Michael Winner movie starring Charles Bronson from 1974, this much more conventionally action-packed version from director Eli Roth was savaged by critics but received a much more enthusiastic response from general audiences.
Amping up the firepower and gore from the original by a considerable margin, this version is lead by Bruce Willis playing a man who becomes a violent vigilante in the wake of a home invasion that leaves his wife dead and his daughter comatose, seeking revenge against the criminals responsible.
Unsane (6.4)
A low-key but effective thriller from renowned director Steven Soderbergh, Unsane follows a young woman who is institutionalized against her will only to begin seeing her stalker roaming the halls as an employee with total access to her.
The audience is always kept on the edge of their seat throughout the movie, wondering just how much of the story that they’re seeing is really happening.
Peppermint (6.5)
Jennifer Garner plays a grieving mother who witnesses her family murdered in a gang shooting only to end up feeling betrayed by the system when the killers walk free.
After training herself into a remorseless vigilante assassin, she exacts her revenge in this crowd-pleasing thriller from original Taken director Pierre Morel.
Red Sparrow (6.6)
Far removed from the relative warmth of the Hunger Games movies, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence stars in this much more adult espionage thriller.
Lawrence shines as the central character in Red Sparrow, a ballerina trapped in the life of a highly-trained Russian spy who must seduce a CIA agent and find a way to survive her precarious ordeal.
Bird Box (6.6)
Bird Box was one of the biggest hits on Netflix in 2018. As soon as it appeared on the streaming service, its existence seemed to go viral and everyone around the world was talking about it.
It’s sort of the vision-based version of the premise from a later movie on our list, A Quiet Place. If you allow yourself to see the movie’s mysterious monsters, you’ll be driven to suicide.
Hunter Killer (6.6)
Action star Gerard Butler leads a strong cast as a submarine commander in this military thriller about an attempted military coup at the highest levels of the Russian executive, prompting a daring rescue mission and a game of cat and mouse between dueling subs.
Slick and explosive throughout, Hunter Killer may not exactly be a cerebral movie but, as its score reflects, it has considerably more brainpower than some of the less restrained action thrillers that Butler is recognized for.
The Clovehitch Killer (6.6)
A young man from an upstanding and strictly conservative household begins to believe that his loving father could in fact be a notorious serial killer who has escaped justice for many years.
A very tense and atmospheric chiller, The Clovehitch Killer is elevated by great performances from Charlie Plummer and Dylan McDermott as the father and son, respectively. All of it building towards a darkly unique take on the typical coming-of-age story.
The Equalizer 2 (6.7)
Denzel Washington returns as former black-ops handyman Robert McCall in this sequel to Antoine Fuqua’s smash hit reimagining of the classic 80s TV show.
Also directed by Fuqua, The Equalizer 2 ups the action factor of the original by pitting Washington’s hero against Pedro Pascal’s former friend turned mercenary but also allows for Washington’s more emotional and dramatic talents to get a work out too.
Summer of 84 (6.7)
An even darker take on the macabre coming-of-age story going on in The Clovehitch Killer, Summer of 84 follows a teenage boy who convinces a group of friends that their local police officer is behind the disappearances of several young boys from the area.
Clearly inspired by the kids-on-bikes format that informs movies and shows like Stranger Things, this bittersweet thriller is beholden to nostalgia a lot less than it may appear to be and is full of plenty of shocking twists that have stuck with audiences since its release.
Widows (6.9)
A heist thriller with an incredible pedigree, Widows was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen from a screenplay from McQueen and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, with an astonishing cast of heavy hitters and a score by Hans Zimmer to boot.
Adapted from a British TV series of the same name, the story follows the widows of the men of a recently deceased criminal gang, killed in the midst of a big score, who plan an ambitious heist of their own to help reclaim their own lives from the vicious underworld they live in.
Den of Thieves (7)
Another example of a movie on this list that did far better with general audiences than it did with critics, Den of Thieves resonated with crime movie fans thanks to a genuinely gritty personality and some great performances from its ensemble.
Gerard Butler plays a mercilessly hardnosed cop on the trail of a gang of armored car robbers with clear military training and, as simple as things may seem sometimes, there are plenty of twists that keep the plot interesting in-between gunfights.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (7.1)
This sequel to the 2015 Denis Villeneuve thriller Sicario keeps stars Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro from the original and expands their secretive black-ops world of taking on drug cartels from a bloody, personal, revenge to all-out war.
A much more sprawling story than the original, with a much slower and more character-driven approach, Day of the Soldado, was experienced similar success with both critics and audiences to the original.
Bad Times At The El Royale (7.1)
Bad Times at the El Royale earned an impressive rating through an incredible series of twists and thought-provoking moments that really make you question what you know.
It was also boosted by a highly talented cast including a great villain turn from Chris Hemsworth and unconventional heroes in the form of Jeff Bridges and Cynthia Erivo.
Hereditary (7.3)
This stunning debut from writer and director Ari Aster quickly became one of the most talked-about movies of 2018 and was seen as a game-changing force in the psychological horror-thriller genre.
Following a somewhat dysfunctional family that’s given plenty to grieve about, Hereditary is full of supernatural frights but it’s the standout performances, particularly the lead role taken on by Toni Collette, that make it so gripping and so unforgettable.
The Spy Gone North (7.3)
A taut thriller about a South Korean agent sent to infiltrate the North Korean nuclear program in the mid-1990s, The Spy Gone North may initially seem like a relatively simple story of espionage and infiltration but transforms more into something much larger, incorporating the politics of the time period to paint a wider picture of shifting attitudes in modern Korean history.
Hwang Jung-min shines in the lead role as the constantly embattled spy and his experiences in North Korea are not only nail-bitingly tense but ultimately quite emotionally moving also.
A Quiet Place (7.5)
Despite being best-known for playing the much-loved Jim Halpert in The Office, John Krasinski took on the impressive task of directing and co-starring in A Quiet Place, alongside his wife Emily Blunt and the sci-fi-horror thriller was an instant success.
The idea of the movie grabbed audiences the world over, as it effectively created a silent movie in the non-silent era by forcing a family to live in silence in order to avoid a monstrous alien race that hunts by sound.
The Guilty (7.5)
The Danish thriller is, with the possible exception of our number one movie on the list, the most simplistic movie featured here in terms of overall setup but easily one of the most gripping.
A headstrong cop awaiting a disciplinary investigation into his conduct is stuck answering emergency calls when he’s put on with a kidnapped woman being driven to her presumed doom. Barely changing locations at all, The Guilty is a captivating experience thanks to its believable lead performance and intelligent writing, which both take you right inside the complex headspace of the main character through this nerve-racking ordeal.
Burning (7.5)
An adaptation of a short story by acclaimed author Haruki Murakami from revered director Lee Chang-dong, Burning is a fittingly slow but intense mystery drama-thriller about a young man who becomes steadily obsessed with a strange and inexplicably wealthy acquaintance, who he meets through a mutual friend that goes missing.
With beautiful cinematography and a unique atmosphere cultivated by the terrific performances of the entire cast, the movie stands out as one of the great psychological thrillers of the 2010s, not just 2018.
Searching (7.6)
John Cho plays David Kim, a father who must work out where his missing daughter is by first working out who she really is after using her laptop to figure out her whereabouts and delve into her secretive life.
The movie had an incredible box office response after being made for less than a million dollars and has received very impressive critical reception thanks to its twist-heavy and exciting story.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (7.7)
The sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible movie franchise was its biggest to date, breaking new ground at the box office and behind the camera with some widely-praised stuntwork and the series’ first recurring director, with Christopher McQuarrie’s sophomore effort after the previous chapter, Rogue Nation, in 2015.
In a familiar plot for the movies, Tom Cruise’s superteam of spies battles against a shadowy plot to incite nuclear armageddon, and the production team’s dedication to keeping things as practical as possible certainly paid off, not just with critics but general moviegoing audiences too.
