Everybody loves a very good thriller. From 1960’s Psycho to 2024’s Conclave, suspense films have been round for many years and can at all times discover an appreciative viewers.
The style has been in a bit of a droop recently, with fewer thrillers launched in theaters than in its heyday in the ‘90s. That decade was arguably a excessive level for thrill-seeking film followers, with a seemingly infinite provide of industrial and significant hits like Fundamental Intuition with Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone and Se7en with Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Watch With Us picks the 10 finest thrillers of the ‘90s and ranks them from the excellent to the very best. It’s a testomony to the power of ‘90s thrillers that some fan favorites like Primal Worry with Richard Gere and Distress with Kathy Bates didn’t make the minimize.
10. ‘Worry’ (1996)
David (Mark Wahlberg) is each teenage lady’s dream: he’s well mannered to mother and father, attentive to his accomplice and appears like a Calvin Klein underwear mannequin. That’s why 16-year-old Seattle highschool pupil Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) falls for him, and why most of her family and friends like him. However Nicole’s dad, Steve (William Petersen), doesn’t belief him, and shortly his instincts are confirmed proper — David is a psychopath who desires to take over his total household. Can Steven persuade Nicole she’s sleeping with the enemy?
Worry is a criminally underrated thriller that was largely ignored when it was first launched in 1996. It’s nonetheless efficient in 2025, and that’s due to the surprisingly layered performances by Witherspoon and Petersen as a father and daughter whose lack of connection is exploited by David. Worry additionally capabilities as an incredible snapshot of Seattle in the mid-’90s, when grunge music and flannel shirts nonetheless dominated popular culture.
Fear can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
9. ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ (1991)
It’s each mom’s worst nightmare — your kids are being threatened, and there’s nothing you are able to do about it. For Claire (Annabella Sciorra), the risk comes not from exterior, however from inside her house. New nanny Peyton (Rebecca De Mornay) shouldn’t be what she appears, and her nice demeanor hides a quiet rage that threatens not solely her family and friends however Claire’s life as effectively.
Typically derogatorily described as “the killer nanny film,” The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is healthier and subtler than its trashy status suggests. As Peyton, DeMornay brings actual pathos to her disturbed caretaker and pulls off the not possible trick of making her extra sympathetic than Sciorra’s frustratingly helpless Claire. The movie isn’t afraid to be pulpy, and a younger Julianne Moore energizes each scene she’s in as Claire’s chain-smoking pal Marlene, who clocks Peyton’s phony angelic act proper from the begin (and pays for it afterward).
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
8. ‘Single White Feminine’ (1992)
Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda) doesn’t like to be alone. After catching her longtime boyfriend dishonest on her, she kicks him out and locations an commercial in search of a “SWF” (Single White Feminine) roommate to share her spacious Manhattan residence. That’s how she meets Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who quickly strikes into Allie’s place and slowly takes over her life. Hedy is simply as needy as Allie, and she or he’s prepared to kill to stay in her new roommate’s life.
Single White Feminine has a lurid premise, however the two lead actresses make investments sufficient depth and conviction of their roles to make the thriller higher than others. Hedy is clearly disturbed, however Jason Leigh permits you to see the full extent of Hedy’s deadly neediness. Allie isn’t that a lot completely different from Hedy, and Fonda excels in displaying Allie’s delicate transformation from sufferer to hero by the movie’s finish. Single White Feminine is one of the extra fashionable thrillers on this record, and its blue-tinged cinematography offers the movie a singular, moody look that’s laborious to neglect.
Single White Female is streaming on Pluto TV.
7. ‘Se7en’ (1995)
“What’s in the field?” Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) desperately asks his accomplice, William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), close to the finish of Se7en. He already is aware of the reply— and so will we. The occasions main up to that devastating second are simply as nauseating and interesting, making Se7en one of the few thrillers you’re glad to have seen and by no means need to watch once more.
Two metropolis detectives, David and William, staff up to examine a collection of murders based mostly on the seven lethal sins: gluttony, lust, pleasure — you get the thought. As every homicide is more and more more odd and violent than the subsequent, the two detectives race towards time to cease him earlier than he claims extra victims.
Se7en can be rented or purchased on Amazon Prime Video.
6. ‘Malice’ (1993)
Malice gives the finest worth on this record — it’s two thrillers in a single film, and there’s little connection between the two. A serial rapist is terrorizing a small campus city, and Prof. Andy Safian (Invoice Pullman) is each a suspect and possibly the solely man who can catch the assailant. In the meantime, Andy’s spouse, Tracy (Nicole Kidman), loses the skill to have kids due to a botched emergency surgical procedure carried out by Andy’s previous pal, Jed (Alec Baldwin). Did Jed intentionally hurt Tracy due to a God complex? Or is one thing extra sinister at play?
Issues change all the time at Warner Bros. Discovery. As an illustration, the firm simply introduced that its streaming service, Max, will revert to its authentic title, HBO Max. (Most individuals nonetheless name it that anyway, so it’s not that large of a deal.) What’s notable, nevertheless, is HBO Max’s Could film lineup, which boasts […]
Malice is a curiosity — each plots don’t actually add up, and also you’re left questioning why it bothered to have two of them as an alternative of one. However that doesn’t imply it isn’t an efficient thriller full of atmospheric photographs of shadowy properties and secret seaside cabins, a creepy rating by Jerry Goldsmith and memorably nasty turns by Baldwin and Kidman. Malice additionally has one of the nice comeuppance endings in the thriller style when the unhealthy man will get a pleasant dose of karmic justice.
Malice can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
5. ‘Copycat’ (1995)
Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) is a wealthy and profitable felony psychologist who’s agoraphobic due to a previous assault by a deranged fan. Her thoughts continues to be sharp, although, and she or he’s the just one who’s noticing {that a} serial killer is stalking San Francisco and copying well-known killers like Son of Sam and Ted Bundy. She begrudgingly groups up with two detectives, MJ (Holly Hunter) and Reuben (Dermot Mulroney), to discover the killer earlier than he strikes once more.
Copycat is a uncommon thriller with two feminine leads who operate as each the damsel in misery and the hero of the story. What makes the thriller much more fascinating — and entertaining — is that Helen and MJ don’t actually like one another. Each girls get on one another’s nerves, however are sensible sufficient to understand they’re the solely ones who, collectively, can catch the copycat assassin.
Weaver and Hunter present actual dimension to their characters, and aren’t involved with making them likable and even relatable. You continue to pull for them to succeed, although, and that’s what makes Copycat one of the finest thrillers in any decade.
4. ‘Cape Worry’ (1991)
Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is a profession felony with an axe to grind. He believes his protection lawyer, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte), intentionally misplaced his case years in the past so he might spend time behind bars for the rape of a 16-year-old lady. Now free, Max enacts a revenge plan that entails seducing Sam’s daughter, Dani (Juliette Lewis), and alienating Sam from his depressed spouse, Lee (Jessica Lange). Sam might need to transcend the legislation to shield his household and cope with Max as soon as and for all.
A remake of a so-so 1962 thriller of the similar title, this model is extra nuanced, extra violent and infinitely higher. Credit score director Martin Scorsese for utilizing the bones of Cape Worry’s authentic story and crafting a superior remake that’s simply as interested by displaying how broken a seemingly typical American household actually is as he’s at scaring audiences with Max’s periodic violent outbursts.
De Niro acquired an Oscar nomination for his unsettling efficiency, however simply nearly as good are Nolte and Lange as a married couple whose love has been overwhelmed by their mutual exhaustion with each other. The nice cinematographer Freddie Francis gave the movie a dreamy, hallucinatory really feel, and Scorsese properly left Bernard Herrmann’s authentic tense rating largely intact.
Cape Fear can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
3. ‘The Proficient Mr. Ripley’ (1999)
It’s New York in the Fifties, and Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), broke and alone, is obtainable a singular job: journey to Italy to persuade a rich man’s son, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Regulation), to return to the United States. Tom accepts, however he rapidly likes Dickie’s la dolce vita an excessive amount of and decides to homicide him and assume his id. However how lengthy can Tom sustain this act earlier than being found by the authorities and Dickie’s more and more suspicious girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow)?
Some of the finest thrillers don’t make it to theaters anymore, or they solely get a handful of showings earlier than leaving simply as rapidly as they arrived. Fortuitously, the numerous streaming companies have saved thriller followers proud of a wide array of movies at their disposal. To kick off Could, Watch With Us has chosen […]
The Proficient Mr. Ripley stays the best of all the Ripley adaptations as a result of it excels as an escapist thriller that by no means loses sight of the loneliness that each fuels and cripples its lead character. Tom desires what others have, and homicide is a justifiable means to get to a desired finish. Damon was by no means higher as Ripley, and the entire movie has a heat, sunny really feel that’s deceptively welcoming and units up its brutally chilly, gut-punch of an ending.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is streaming on Paramount+.
2. “The Final Seduction’ (1994)
Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) simply is likely to be the coldest girl ever to exist in a film. That’s each a praise and a warning, as nothing can actually put together you for what she does in The Final Seduction, a modest neo-noir from 1994 that’s nonetheless as brittle and good in any case these years.
Longtime New Yorker Bridget has stolen some drug cash from her abusive dentist husband, Clay (Invoice Pullman), and she or he’s mendacity low in a small city so she will get a quickie divorce. However when she meets dumb, good-hearted Mike, she quickly concocts a plan to get wealthy fast and possibly get rid of Clay with out the assist of a lawyer.
Directed by John Dahl, The Final Seduction doesn’t get sufficient credit score for its lean, imply path (not a second is wasted) and tight story. However that is Fiorentino’s present all the method, and she or he’s hypnotic each time she’s on display. Her Bridget is at all times cool and picked up, even when issues don’t go in accordance to her plan. By the time the film ends, you’re left feeling impressed by what she pulls off — and a bit of scared at how simply she does it.
The Last Seduction is streaming on Tubi.
1. ‘Fundamental Intuition’ (1992)
When rock star Johnny Boz (Invoice Cable) is brutally murdered with an ice decide, Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) thinks his girlfriend, bestselling creator Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), is the killer. She has a factor for ice picks, writing books about murders that ultimately happen and hanging round with reformed serial killers — oh, and she or he additionally has a factor for Nick.
Nick likes to dwell dangerously, so he begins an affair along with her regardless that he’s not satisfied she’s harmless. Did Catherine kill Johnny? Or is the actual killer nearer to Nick than he realizes?
With its combine of noir, motion and even horror, Fundamental Intuition is a maximalist thriller slickly directed by Paul Verhoeven and cleverly plotted by Joe Eszterhas. It’s at all times entertaining, even when it’s usually in unhealthy style, and it’s dominated by Stone’s blonde femme fatale. It’s apparent Catherine is the killer, however the genius of her efficiency is that she convinces Nick — and also you — that she’s harmless. The principle thrill of Fundamental Intuition isn’t discovering out who did it, however piecing collectively the puzzle afterwards. It’s enormously enjoyable, too, and that’s why it’s the finest thriller of the Nineteen Nineties.
(*10*)
Led by Senior Editor and skilled critic Jason Struss, Watch With Us’ staff of writers and editors sees virtually each film and TV present from the distant previous to the current to decide what’s value your money and time. Our numerous hours of multimedia consumption — mixed with years of expertise in the leisure business — assist us decide the finest films and TV exhibits you have to be streaming proper now.
To be thought of “the finest,” these movies and collection may be visually partaking, intellectually stimulating or just simply enjoyable to watch, however the one trait they should have is that they’re all, ultimately, entertaining. We then test which platform they’re streaming on and how one can entry them as a subscriber. No algorithm nonsense or paid endorsements right here — our suggestions are based mostly purely on our love and curiosity for the movies and exhibits we love.
