More a “blanc” than a noir, this a really great thriller in which a big city detective finds himself investigating a murder in a small town north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun is out 24 hours a day and keeps him from sleeping. Is his gradual insanity caused by the lack of sleep, the case, or both?
Category Archives: Thriller/Suspense
FUNNY GAMES (1997)
Our entry from Austria is a sadistically violent movie that challenges the viewers as to why they like violent movies in the first place.
DR. MABUSE, DER SPIELER (1922)
You might not expect a movie from 1922 to actually work as an action movie with actual suspense and car chases and things, but somehow it does? This is the story of the prototype supervillain.
TARGETS (1968)
A prescient thriller (sort of) about a mass shooter and also an aging movie star played by Boris Karloff, which happened to be the directorial debut of Peter Bogdanovich.
NOTORIOUS (1946)
Alfred Hitchcock takes some very standard materials and somehow makes an amazing movie out of them… a great performance by Ingrid Bergman at the center helps, too.
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
A classic of Cold War paranoia that still rings true today, about our friends, loved ones, and neighbors turning out not to be who they seem. Also there are giant plant pods from outer space.
CAT PEOPLE (1942)
Definitely the best movie ever made about were-panthers, it is remarkably effective at building tension using mostly shadows, sound design, and weird sexual undertones.
DAS CABINET DES DR.CALIGARI (1920)
This was one of the earliest horror movies and depicted a world like the dream of an insane person.
THE HITCH-HIKER (1953)
A surprisingly tense thriller about two guys who pick up a hitch-hiker only to quickly discover he’s actually a serial killer, that is considered the only “classic” film noir directed by a woman.
JURASSIC PARK (1993)
Perhaps the best of the Steven Spielberg popcorn movies, with dinosaur effects that incredibly still hold up 28 years later.
Movie Valhalla 