Thriller

  • Roland Kibbee – The Midnight Man (1974)

    1971-1980DramaRoland KibbeeThrillerUSA

    The Midnight Man is one of the eerier and more startling mystery films of its period, sustaining for nearly two hours a mood that veers very carefully between seductive, quiet lyricism and lurking violence and despair. It was something of a tour de force for Burt Lancaster, who not only starred in it, but also co-directed the movie (with Roland Kibbee, who did most of the directing) and co-authored the screenplay, also with Kibbee. The plot is one of the more violent and complex in a mystery of this era, hinged around a series of seemingly unrelated events, starting with a robbery that turns more vicious than it needs to for no good reason, and leading to a series of shootings, bludgeonings, and other mayhem that leaves a bloody stain across its small border-state college-town setting.Read More »

  • Orson Welles – The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

    2011-2020DramaOrson WellesThrillerUSA

    The story of a legendary director named J.J. “Jake” Hannaford, who returns to Hollywood from years of semi-exile in Europe, with plans to complete work on his own innovative comeback movie, also titled “The Other Side of the Wind”.

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    It’s a film about an unfinished film – and it looks as if it may never be finished. The Other Side Of The Wind was made by Orson Welles in the early 1970s. The New York Times published a story in late 2014 suggesting that the film would soon be ready. In 2015, a crowdfunding campaign raised more than $400,000 (£304,000) for the project. Earlier this year, there were reports that Netflix was ready to put up $5m to fund the completion of the movie and to distribute it worldwide.Read More »

  • Yesim Ustaoglu – Iz AKA The Track (1994)

    1991-2000ThrillerTurkeyYesim Ustaoglu

    Kemal is a plainclothes policeman investigating a suicide whose face has been obliterated. He becomes obsessed with the real appearance of the dead man.Read More »

  • Sam Peckinpah – The Killer Elite (1975)

    USA1971-1980ActionSam PeckinpahThriller

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    Mike Locken is one of the principal members of a group of freelance spies. A significant portion of their work is for the C.I.A. and while on a case for them, one of his friends turns on him and shoots him in the elbow and knee. His assignment, to protect someone, goes down in flames. He is nearly crippled, but with braces is able to again become mobile. For revenge as much as anything else, Mike goes after his ex-friend.Read More »

  • Mouly Surya – Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)

    2011-2020DramaIndonesiaMouly SuryaThriller

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    In the deserted hills of an Indonesian island, Marlina (Marsha Timothy), a young widow, is attacked and robbed of all her livestock by a gang of seven bandits. She then defends herself, setting out on a journey to find justice, empowerment, retribution and redemption. But the road is long, especially when she begins to be haunted by the ghost of her victim. A stunning Scope western set to a Morricone-inspired score, this unique tale of female cinematic revenge takes no prisoners.Read More »

  • Olivier Assayas – Boarding Gate (2007)

    2001-2010FranceOlivier AssayasThriller

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    Quote:
    Assayas has a fondness for casting striking leading ladies, such as Maggie Cheung (IRMA VEP, CLEAN) and Connie Nielsen (DEMONLOVER), and Argento’s role in BOARDING GATE fits neatly alongside these in the director’s oeuvre. The early, dialogue-heavy scenes give Argento and Madsen plenty of time to establish their tawdry relationship, but when Assayas transports the action to Hong Kong, the movie takes a different turn as the director sets up some nerve-jarring chase sequences. The director infuses the movie with all his usual visual flair–the shaky, hand-held camera work and dimly lit sets perfectly reflect the seedy nature of Assayas’s subject matter–but BOARDING GATE will mostly be remembered for Argento’ s supremely confident performance.Read More »

  • Adrián Caetano – Crónica de una fuga aka Chronicle of an Escape (2006)

    2011-2020Adrián CaetanoArgentinaArthouseThriller

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

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    The goalkeeper of a little-known soccer team is kidnapped by a Argentinean government squad and sent to a detention center. After months of torture, he plots his escape with three other young men.

    Quote:
    If American moviegoers have plenty of reasons to feel icky about government-sponsored kidnappings and hidden prisons, “Chronicle of an Escape” gives them another good one, by viewing a fact-based Argentinean story through the stylized lens of a horror film. Laced with dread that builds to a thoroughly gripping third act, it should do well with art house audiences who like their history lessons to come with a shot of adrenaline.Read More »

  • Alan Parker – Angel Heart (1987)

    1981-1990Alan ParkerCrimeThrillerUSA

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    Quote:
    Alan Parker paints a picture that is rich, dark and dank. While his flashy visual style may seem like sloppy editing, it poetically leaves a viewer with an odd, disorienting series of partial memories that blur in and out of one another. His script is equally as clever, if at times in need of tightening. Many small snippets of dialogue including the metaphorical rhetoric of Cyphre and the constant self-contradiction of Angel are easy to overlook in a single viewing. The dialogue gives lots of clues just like the ones Harry Angel has to work with: some subtle, some glaringly obvious.Read More »

  • Ti West – The House of the Devil (2009)

    USA2001-2010HorrorThrillerTi West

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret; they plan to use her in a satanic ritual.Read More »

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