Entertainment
10 Praiseworthy Thrillers That No One Remembers
The broad versatility and nail-biting tension of the thriller have helped it become one of the most acclaimed and celebrated genres in film history. Several of the greatest films of all time are a part of this timeless genre, ranging from classic films like Psycho to recent masterpieces like Parasite. However, the inherent greatness of the thriller genre goes well beyond the confines of the most recognizable films. Indeed, many truly praiseworthy thrillers have been largely forgotten by the majority of people.
Whether it’s films that were initially celebrated but have become less accessible in the digital era or those that were overlooked since their initial release, there are many ways a thriller of genuine, well-crafted quality can end up forgotten by modern audiences. One can only hope that, through a list like this and continued conversation about the strengths of these films, their notoriety can spread by word of mouth, and they can become as notable and recognizable as they deserve to be.
‘Emergency’ (2022)
Emergency is a clear example of how to translate the classic college coming-of-age film into an effective comedic thriller, not holding back in terms of either its comedy or some extremely dark, heavy themes. The film is rife with social commentary and importance to the modern day, following a trio of college students tasked with weighing the pros and cons of calling the police when they find a mysterious, unconscious, white teenage girl in their living room.
While it certainly has its moments of fun poking at the absurdity of this classic college comedy concept, it doesn’t take long before the gravitas and impact of this previously silly concept latch onto the characters and add tension to the film. It takes a step back from the goofiness of Hollywood plots and tackles this story from a more grounded, bleak reality. While it received a positive reception when it premiered at Sundance in 2022, its lukewarm debut on Amazon Prime Video held back its potential as a true icon of 2020s thrillers.
‘New Jack City’ (1991)
New Jack City is simply a victim of overwhelming competition when it comes to telling stories of African American gangsters and underground crime of the modern age. Its dynamic story and memorable characters were massively acclaimed when it debuted at Sundance, even more so when it was released only a few months later in March and made a box-office killing on its relatively small budget. It has a sleek style that gives it an edge even among other crime thrillers of the ’90s.
However, when people think back on Black-directed crime movies from 1991, New Jack City always comes in 2nd place to John Singleton‘s masterpiece, Boyz n the Hood, which was released only a few months later in July. This constant point of comparison has largely impacted the film’s legacy and strengths in the decades since its release. Nowadays, New Jack City is sadly only really remembered as the film that features the iconic meme of Wesley Snipes crying while pointing a gun.
‘The Stanford Prison Experiment’ (2015)
Adapting the grueling reality of one of the most sickening and controversial psychological experiments ever conducted, The Stanford Prison Experiment was always going to be a painful and uncomfortable watch. However, the unrelenting levels that the film reaches in order to accurately portray the painful experiences of these students make it such a difficult watch; in some ways, it even halted its legacy beyond initial viewings.
A great, challenging thriller can find great success, and while The Stanford Prison Experiment is certainly worthy of praise and notoriety, it’s not polished enough to warrant multiple watches, and its relentless cruelty makes it an even tougher sell. Its usage of some poorly aged stars at its center, like Ezra Miller, has only further diluted its potential to be truly appreciated in the modern age, even if it stands as the definitive portrayal of this important moment in psychological history.
‘Operation Avalanche’ (2016)
Director Matt Johnson has been on an absolute roll lately with critically acclaimed fan-favorites like BlackBerry and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, as well as exciting upcoming releases like Tony. However, long before his recent explosion in cinematic popularity, he was defying notions and actively breaking rules to bring to life a striking portrayal of conspiracy and its consequences in Operation Avalanche. The film sees a group of undercover CIA agents in 1967 forging a plan to fake the moon landing after realizing they won’t make it to the moon in time.
While the film saw some recent discourse and discussion due to its premise being loosely copied by the box-office bomb Fly Me to the Moon a few years back, it massively does a disservice to the symbolic brilliance and compelling thrills that Johnson creates in Operation Avalanche. So many other thrillers are quick to glorify and draw excitement at the concepts of conspiracy and government secrets, and while Operation Avalanche begins with such enthusiasm, it eventually becomes a harrowing story of dread as all loose ends are inevitably tied up.
‘D.O.A.’ (1988)
Placing the main character on a looming clock and racing against time is one of the quickest ways to continuously ramp up tension and raise stakes over the course of the film, a prospect expertly utilized by forgotten ’80s thriller D.O.A. The film sees Dennis Quaid as a college professor who finds himself at the center of various murders. His quest for the culprit becomes a race against time when he is given a deadly poison with only 24 hours to get the antidote.
Between the overarching mystery of the entire night, the wild chaos and tension of the poison coursing through the protagonist’s body, and a great supporting performance from Meg Ryan, D.O.A. delivers exactly what one wants out of an ’80s mystery thriller. Sadly, reception to the film from critics and audiences of the era was largely middling, despite its insightful and self-aware execution of classic noir themes and mystery thriller conventions.
‘White Dog’ (1982)
One of the inherent difficulties of an ever-growing appreciation towards dynamic and difficult themes is that a well-crafted film can take decades before being truly appreciated. It’s exactly what hindered White Dog from being celebrated as the powerful horror thriller melodrama that it is. The film follows a Black dog trainer attempting to retrain a stray dog that has been trained specifically to attack Black people.
The painful and uncomfortable exploration of racism and its disheartening impact on one’s perception made White Dog wildly controversial, with a string of negative press coverage causing many to believe that the film itself was racist, leading to Paramount shelving the theatrical release, limiting the film’s availability, as it wouldn’t get a true home video release until December 2008, thanks to the Criterion Collection. While people are now beginning to witness its greatness, it’s still massively niche as far as ’80s horror thrillers are concerned.
‘Yes, Madam!’ (1986)
Michelle Yeoh‘s first leading role, which helped establish her strengths as an icon of the action thriller genre, was Yes, Madam, which has largely been forgotten by audiences aside from its relation and importance to Yeoh’s early career. However, the film has so many exceptional strengths that go beyond the all-star lead performance from Yeoh. Its entertaining story of thievery, tension, and underground crime that makes it an absolute blast that has aged gracefully to the modern age of action thrillers.
The martial arts film may have 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but outside the highly dedicated die-hard fans of the kung fu genre, many thriller fans are completely unaware of the brilliance of this all-time classic. The film follows a duo of unlucky thieves breaking into the hotel room of a recently murdered man, stealing his passport, and unknowingly also stealing a hidden microfilm desired by a powerful triad crime boss.
‘The Butcher’ (1970)
Thrillers, as a genre, are already subject to more striking and polarizing stories compared to other genres. Thus, the prospect of international thrillers that don’t have to adhere to Hollywood guidelines often results in more unrestrained and dynamic filmmaking. One of the most exceptional examples of such is the French psychological thriller The Butcher, which follows a butcher falling in love with a school teacher while a murder spree shakes their town.
There’s an inherent brilliance to The Butcher in how it approaches tension and uneasiness with its storytelling and filmmaking, setting the stage for unnerving distrust even when the truth doesn’t require such worrying. It stands as an insightful and effective reflection on trust and acceptance of the world’s cruelty, making it a hidden gem of a French film that deserves far more appreciation in the modern era.
‘Bullet Ballet’ (1998)
Bullet Ballet has the kind of wild, immediately striking concept that hooks the audience from the first scene and has them latching onto the dynamics and psyches of its intricate characters. The wild Japanese crime thriller follows a depressed man who, after his girlfriend commits suicide, finds himself caught up in an ongoing gang struggle while he attempts to retrieve a gun so that he can end his life. The film utilizes exceptional imagery and painful emotional moments to create an unrestrained masterclass of independent cinema that feels massively ahead of its time.
It’s an absolutely brutal story that makes every second in its relatively short runtime feel impactful, culminating in an extremely memorable ending that forever sticks in the minds of the audience. The film has been an underrated gem for many years, although it has slowly been garnering more appreciation and interest through word of mouth in the social media era, combined with the notoriety of director Shinya Tsukamoto‘s previous works, Tetsuo the Iron Man and Tokyo Fist.
‘Avengement’ (2019)
While people may not immediately recognize his name, Scott Adkins has been having an exceptional run with his talent in action thrillers, with his work in John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Rip being highly entertaining and show-stealing. Avengement is a massively underrated action thriller that expertly utilizes Adkin’s strengths in a raw, unrelenting story of carnage and revenge. The film sees Adkins as a criminal who, after escaping prison, returns to his old stomping ground to take revenge on the people who put him in prison and transformed him into a ruthless killer.
Avengement stands out from other action revenge thrillers because of the raw brutality on display, not shying away from some absolutely guttural and ruthless violence and action. It does a great job of building up its lead character as a raw, destructive force, not afraid to fight dirty and perform underhanded tactics in order to achieve his goals.
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