1. Rear Window
It would be too easy to assemble an entire list of Hitchcock movies alone for this thriller sub-genre. Rear Window is a 1954 thriller that boasts James Stewart and Grace Kelly as leads in its cast. Hitchcock plays on our voyeuristic tendencies by unfolding a murder mystery drama through the fixed position of James Stewart's character Jeff, who is wheelchair bound while recovering from an accident. The use of long range shots that pan and zoom in for sudden glimpses of what could be unfolding across the street keeps the audience in a constant state of tension. The disbelief of Grace Kelly's Lisa, the girlfriend, and those around him only heightens the drama, whiel also adding to the personal drama of the characters as we become familiar with their love life. Kelly provides the glamour, and is an understated reactionary sound off for Stewart, but this is not to undermine her performance's importance as a lead. Hitchcock was all too familiar with the public's obsession with what goes on behind closed curtains, right across the street.
2. Chinatown
This Polanski thriller has been plaudited as the first neo-noir film. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private detective in 1930s California, hired by Faye Dunaway's Evelyn Mulwray, or so he thinks, to track her husband. From here an entirely different set of affairs is slowly disclosed for Gittes - and therefore the audience - to find. Every reveal is met with nihilism and another secret chain of events that needs to be decoded. Not only is the main context burgeoning with lightbulb moments, but so too are the sideplots, background details scattered throughout the tale such as Evelyn's misfortunate past.
3. The Secret in their eyes
Not many Argentinian thrillers make a large blockbuster splash but this is one that really deserved to, winning an oscar for best foreign film. In many ways it's like the sprawl of Scandanavian bleak thrillers that have come out in recent years thanks to writers like Jo Nesbo, but it is by no means a copy and paste job to satisfy the large South American audience it was made to play to before reaching a wider audience than it anticipated. Ricardo Darin makes the fim with his world weary expression and average Joe nature as the main character.
4. Se7en
Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey star in this neo-noir, urbane grime flick directed by David Fincher. For once Gwyneth Paltrow's wain persona fits the role, so that's an added benefit. A serial killer is leaving his clues behind on his victims only, with a running theme throughout the killings of the seven deadly sins. Taut, cut throat and with a sturdy blend of good actors, Se7en is a film with shock factor as well as a strong plot.
5. Oldboy
The fact that it's being remade is a signal there is something pretty reliably good within the original film. Realistically, it will be hard to beat no matter who they call in to make the Western version that is set to come out this year, a decade later than its predecessor. This orginal will hurtle the audience through unrelenting violence, but it is the psychlogical breakdown of its characters that will stick with watchers. Unlike a lot of western films, this South Korean movie has no qualms slowing down the pace in order to increase the tension and place you in the seat of its characters.
6. North by Northwest
Cary Grant and Eva Saint Marie pair up for another Hitchcock film in North by Northwest, one of his most beloved movies of all time. This is the one with the airplane chase. Nothing beats the old-school Cary Grant charm by any measures. Like all Hitchcock films, the macabre becomes a thrilling and often funny source of entertainment, even if the main character is on the brink of murder or being murdered. The director's power of manipulation extends to every small detail of how the audience perceives the scene, keeping them in the loop about the characters' circumstances in order to build suspense rather than a once-off shock moment that qickly fades. In other words, if the audience knows why or how the character is in trouble, every detail in the scene becomes relevant in relation to those reasons, something to watch out for or fear, even if it is as menial as a ticking clock.
7. Les Diaboliques
Don't let the subtitles or date of the fim (1955) put you off, it's as as fixating as it was on the day of its release. A stifling setting, a love triangle and authority all fuse together to form something pretty perturbing - a murder and a set up. Two teachers take solace in each other's company while boarded up in the school, sharing the same man, the principal. However, his closed fist approach leads to dissent within the school, not among the students but with his lovers who agree to plan his murder. However, as you can imagine, not everything goes to plan and a game of loyalty and lies is set into play. Don't watch the remake with Sharon Stone.
8. The Usual Suspects
For the first watch, The Usual Suspects can lead to a bit of a headache, with all the elaborate switches and suppositions it takes, it tries as much as possible to shake the foundations of the story and turn it on its head just as the audience feels secure. The set up has often, and accurately, been compared to a Tarantino film due to its switching of the norms when it comes to perspective. When the film begins, five men are led into a police hold for a line up. None of them have committed this particular crime, but their collective records are thick enough to use as weapons, which you could say they do. Honing in on the irony, director Singer emphasises how this meeting leads them to think they would make an excellent gang, one with a plan to undertake a dangerous heist.The turnarounds in the plot will become mesmirising, once you get used to the fast paced switches.You are left to work your way through a maze of 'who did what?' hanging questions.
9. Memento
Again, this film does take you on a bit of a mindbender, but it's well worth it. Christopher Nolan was a master of dark storytelling long before Batman Begins, and Memento is a prime example. The genre of thrillers and the 'whodunnit' subgenre has been covered so much many directors such as Tarentino, Nolan and Singer have recognised that changing everything the audience has come to expect in how the story is told can really make it as good as a new story. In this case, the order of events is reversed. To make matters more complicated, the main character is given an internal battle as well as tracking who the villain is; he has anterograde amnesia, meaning he cannot store new memories. With everything so up in the air, you will feel like a detective yourself piecing it all together.
10. Tell No One
The French film - originally called Ne Le Dis a Personne - picked up four Cesar awards, French film awards considered the equivalent of Oscars. Some of France's best actors are put together in the genre the French pull off with routine ease. Dr Alex Beck (Francois Cluzet) has his wife Margot (Marie-Josee Croze) snatched from him by a serial killer. Years later he is implicated in a double homicide and has no way to prove his innocence until he receives a video that shows his wife alive and well, sent by her seemingly. The only corresponding message attached: tell no one. If you haven't laid your hands on many French films you may be under the misconception they are all lovey-dovey or arthouse films, Tell No One will dispel this for good.
