The ingredients for a perfectly delicious thriller film are pretty standardised: There’s tension, suspense, cover-ups, twists, maybe a car chase or two (or twenty; we’re looking at you, Mission Impossible franchise), and fight scenes that will make your heart pound, or at least make your face scrunch up in sympathy.
When filmmakers get this recipe right, the result is our favourite thrillers. But the best thing about the thriller genre is that it complements almost every other genre. Medical thrillers, sports thrillers, crime thrillers, romance thrillers, comedy thrillers — there’s so much ground to cover.
Here is our handy guide to 5 thriller movies on Amazon Prime Video that will make you feel like you just got out of an intense car chase yourself.
A zombie flick unlike any other, The Serpent and the Rainbow has stood the test of time and emerged as one of the best thriller horror movies on Amazon Prime Video. Dennis Alan (Bill Pullman) is a pharmaceutical researcher from Harvard who has to follow up on a story about a voodoo powder that turns victims into zombies.
This thriller film was shot in Haiti. The setting lends some authenticity to even the most unnatural elements. It has everything, from evil voodoo leaders and resurrected zombies to massive spiders and live burials. This level of detail and gore is expected from Wes Craven, the director of this film and the driving force behind the iconic A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Most millennials were teenagers when this came out. If you were one of them, you will remember the joyous track ‘Hai Junoon’, which beautifully captures the vibe of hopeful youth and college friendships.
You may also have been traumatised by the visuals of Samir Shaikh (John Abraham) being tortured as an illegal detainee after the 9/11 attacks. Either way, this thriller movie is unforgettable for many.
New York is a social commentary thriller about the weaponised prejudice that swept the US after the attack on the Twin Towers. It starts with the arrest of Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) by the FBI. During interrogation by FBI Agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan), Omar realises he was framed because the FBI wants to know about Samir, his best friend in college, with whom he lost touch with and who is now a suspected terrorist. Omar discovers that his college crush, Maya (Katrina Kaif) and Samir are married.
Omar realises he needs to help Roshan prove Samir’s innocence. In doing so, he discovers heartbreaking truths about how the Muslim hatred after 9/11 has transformed the lives of the people he was once close to.
Brilliant acting by the main cast and a tight storyline that covers friendship, heartbreak, illegal detentions and false imprisonments, while weaving in touching songs about unwavering love and hope, make this a must-watch thriller film.
This is a psychological thriller movie made by and starring Joel Edgerton. As one of the producers, cast members and the director of this movie, Edgerton brings forth a masterpiece with some fun trivia attached to it. To ensure he gave his all as a director, Edgerton did not film his own scenes until after the shooting of the rest of the movie was over.
The film is about Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall), a happily married young couple living picture-perfect lives. After a chance encounter at a store, Simon’s high school friend Gordo (Edgerton) starts appearing in their lives more than they would like. Gordo sends them gifts, invites them for meals, and is generally over-familiar with them.
After this, Simon and Robyn’s life starts unravelling in mysterious ways, and you will be studying the clues as intensely as they are to put the pieces together. The trio’s stellar performances will keep you invested until the end.
You can predict the occurrence of numerous chess metaphors from the film's title. But these comparisons are dropped with subtle elegance, and you will smile at them just like the disgraced cop Daanish (Farhan Akhtar) does when Pandit (Amitabh Bachchan), a sage disabled man, inserts chess-related puns every chance he gets.
This movie has a delectable cast. The stunning Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) kicks off the film as her love story with Daanish unfolds. The intimidating government minister Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul) will give you the shivers.
The thrill begins when Pandit opens up to Daanish about how his daughter passed away under mysterious conditions at Quereshi’s house. The cop instinct embedded in his soul makes Daanish investigate, which leads to threats, violence, and attacks on both Daanish and Pandit. The rest of the movie is a fast-paced saga with a mind-boggling twist at the end.
Unserious thrillers can be surprisingly refreshing when done well. Road House is an example of this. Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a former UFC boxer who grins his way through breaking bar fights as the new bouncer of Road House, a shack-esque bar in Florida owned by Frankie (Jessica Williams).
Dalton is tasked with taking down henchmen who threaten to destroy Road House on Brandt's (Billy Magnussen) orders. After beating up the goons, he also takes them to the hospital because he’s just that sweet. With boat chases, fist fights (lots of them!), and an honest effort to protect the town from gentrification, the result is a wholesome movie with equal parts thrill and ridiculousness.
A special appearance by a real (and extremely famous) boxer makes the movie a riot to remember.