When it came out, Knives Out scanned like a lightweight palate cleanser for Rian Johnson after shouldering the high stakes of the Star Wars franchise. Not to mention that its themes of urban isolation and voyeurism hit even harder in the post-pandemic world, now that we’ve all had our own experiences being confined to our homes, with little more to do for entertainment than stare a bit too long out the window. Hitchcock had dabbled in minimalist, play-like setups before – see 1948’s Rope – but all things considered, Rear Window just might be his greatest achievement, as he proved he could achieve almost queasy levels of stress and tension even while working within the barest narrative constrictions.

Homebound due to a broken leg, photojournalist LB Jefferies begins taking an interest in the lives of the folks in the neighbouring apartment complex – and eventually becomes convinced one of them has committed a grisly crime.

🔪 The best true crime documentaries on Netflix in the USĬonstructing a heart-palpitating thriller that takes place almost entirely in one room and from a single point of view is no easy task, but then, they don’t call Alfred Hitchcock the master of suspense for nothing. 🕵️ The 100 best thriller films of all time

Here are 40 of the best.Ĭontributors: Phil de Semlyen, Matthew Singer, Annette Richardson, Ashanti Omkar With a renaissance now in full swing, we felt it was time to round up some of the genre’s classics, along with its hidden gems. Also, in the age of streaming, when most of us struggle to pay full attention to whatever’s on television while doomscrolling on Twitter, movies that force us to engage, follow clues and essentially become a participation serve as an ideal antidote to distracted viewing. For one thing, murder-mystery movies are one of cinema’s foundational genres, and having them back in style has a way of reconnecting viewers with film history. Now, it seems like you can’t look through a magnifying glass without seeing a dead body that’s turned up under suspicious circumstances, either in cinemas (the recent remakes of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile ) or on television ( Only Murders in the Building, Poker Face ). After decades of being woefully out of fashion, the classic whodunnit has returned to cultural prominence, thanks in large part to the leftfield success of 2019’s Knives Out and its even bigger follow-up, Glass Onion. It’s safe to say that the murder-mystery is back.

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