12 top thrillers inspirations towards my A2 media coursework.

1. My Top 12 Thriller Movies

2. Silence of the lambs (1991)
• Description: A psychopath nicknamed
Buffalo Bill is murdering women across the
Midwest. Believing it takes one to know one,
the FBI sends Agent Clarice Starling to
interview a demented prisoner who may
provide clues to the killer's actions. That
prisoner is psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a
brilliant, diabolical cannibal who agrees to
help Starling only if she'll feed his morbid
curiosity with details of her own
complicated life. As their relationship
develops, Starling is forced to confront not
only her own hidden demons, but also an
evil so powerful that she may not have the
courage - or strength - to stop it!
• Director: Jonathan Demme

3. Psycho (1960)
• Description: When a woman is
discovered as missing--last seen at
the infamous Bates Motel in the
desert--her sister and boyfriend
visit the place only to find it run by
a voyeuristic, taxidermist loner
whose possessed by his dead
mother and dresses himself up like
her, adopting her personality.
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock

4. The Shining (1980)
• Description: Frustrated writer
Jack Torrance takes a job as the
winter caretaker at the ominous,
mountain-locked Overlook Hotel
so that he can write in peace.
When he arrives there with his
wife and son, they learn that the
previous caretaker had gone mad.
Slowly Jack becomes possessed by
the evil, demonic presence in the
hotel.
• Director: Stanley Kubrick

5. The Usual Suspects (1995)
• Description: The interrogation of
Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con
man who is one of only two survivors
of a massacre and fire on a ship
docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He
tells an interrogator a convoluted
story about events that led him and
four other criminals to the boat, and
of a mysterious mob boss known as
Keyser Söze who commissioned their
work. Using flashback and narration,
Kint's story becomes increasingly
complex.
• Director: Bryan Singer

6. Strangers on a train (1951)
• Description: The story concerns two
strangers who meet on a train, a
young tennis player and a charming
psychopath. The psychopath suggests
that because they each want to "get
rid" of someone, they should
"exchange" murders, and that way
neither will get caught. The first
murder is committed; then the
psychopath tries to force the tennis
player to complete the bargain.
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock

7. Rear Window (1954)
• Description: A magazine
photographer, housebound on
account of a broken leg, becomes
voyeur to the apartment building
facing his rear window for lack of
anything to do. Soon, he draws his
visiting girlfriend in on the thrill and
eventually they witness a murder in
progress that gets them into hot
water.
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock

8. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Description: They were six perfect
strangers assembled to pull off the
perfect crime, but when their simple
robbery explodes into bloody
ambush, the ruthless killers realize
one of them is a police informer. But
which one?
• Director: Quentin Tarantino

9. The Sixth Sense (1992)
• Description: The film tells the story
of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated
boy who is able to see and talk to
the dead, and an equally troubled
child psychologist who tries to help
him.
• Director: M. Night Shyamalan

10. Seven (1995)
• Description: The newly
transferred David Mills and the
soon-to-retire William Somerset
homicide detectives who become
deeply involved in the case of a
sadistic serial killer whose
meticulously planned murders
correspond to the seven deadly
sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath,
pride, lust and envy.
• Director: David Fincher

11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Description: Prize-fighter Butch Coolidge
has decided to stop payment on a deal
he's made with the devil. Honey Bunny
and Pumpkin are young lovers and small
time thieves who decide they need a
change of venue. Meanwhile, two career
criminals, Vincent Vega and Jules, go
about their daily business of shooting up
other crooks that are late on payments
to their boss. While one is asked to baby
sit their boss' dangerously pretty young
wife, the other suddenly realizes that he
must give up his life of crime.
• Director: Quentin Tarantino

12. Shutter (2010)
• Description: In 1954, U.S. Marshal
Teddy Daniels is investigating the
disappearance of a murderess
who escaped from a hospital for
the criminally insane and is
presumed to be hiding nearby.
• Director: Martin Scorsese

13. Black Swan (2010)
• Description: The plot revolves around
a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan
Lake ballet by a prestigious New York
City company. The production requires
a ballerina to play the innocent and
fragile White Swan, for which the
committed dancer Nina is a perfect fit,
as well as the dark and sensual Black
Swan, which are qualities embodied by
the new arrival Lily. Nina is
overwhelmed by a feeling of immense
pressure when she finds herself
competing for the part, causing her to
lose her tenuous grip on reality and
descend into a living nightmare.
• Director: Darren Aronofsky