Rentals

Thriller

Who Can You Trust?

Trust few and fear all in a collection of films packed with paranoia and conspiracy.

BFI's Thriller season also explores erotic thrillers, racial politics, espionage, the British thriller tradition, fake news, queer characters and femmes fatales.

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The Lives of Others The Lives of Others

Drama 2006 138 mins Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The winner of Best Foreign Language Film at the 2007 Academy Awards is a rich and intriguing political mystery.

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Elle Elle

Drama 2015 131 mins Director: Paul Verhoeven

Isabelle Huppert gives an unforgettable performance in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative thriller about one woman’s response to a violent attack.

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The Wages of Fear The Wages of Fear

Crime 1953 153 mins Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic, nail-biting suspense thriller won both The Golden Bear and the Palme d'Or in 1953.

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Revenge Revenge

Thriller 2017 108 mins Director: Coralie Fargeat

Coralie Fargeat's gloriously bloody tale of one woman's retribution; a razor-sharp feminist subversion of the revenge-thriller.

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You Were Never Really Here You Were Never Really Here

Thriller 2017 90 mins Director: Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay journeys with Joaquin Phoenix into the mind of an ex-soldier gun-for-hire whose own demons are as brutal as the actions of his adversaries.

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Iceman Iceman

Thriller 2017 96 mins Director: Felix Randau

Revenge is served ice-cold in this visceral thriller, in which a neolithic hunter seeks vengeance against those who decimated his tribe.

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Funny Games U.S. Funny Games U.S.

Horror 2008 107 mins Director: Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke’s English-language remake of his earlier, Austrian film is both a shocking home-invasion thriller and a potent commentary on cinematic violence.

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United 93 United 93

Drama 2006 111 mins Director: Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass' thrilling, chilling and deeply moving real-time drama about the heroes who derailed the terrorists' plans for the fourth jet on 9/11.

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Touch of Evil Touch of Evil

Film noir 1958 111 mins Director: Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ final Hollywood film and the last great Film Noir, a sweat-drenched Mexican border saga with one of cinema’s most celebrated openings.

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Beast Beast

Drama 2018 106 mins Director: Michael Pearce

The hunt for a Jersey serial killer sparks a dangerous awakening in a young woman in this astonishing psycho-sexual thriller.

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Locke Locke

Drama 2014 85 mins Director: Steven Knight

Tom Hardy commands the screen as the only star of Steven Knight’s bold, mesmeric drama, which is set entirely in a car and unfolds in real time.

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Green Room Green Room

Thriller 2015 95 mins Director: Jeremy Saulnier

A punk band becomes besieged in the backstage hideaway of a hideous neo-Nazi club, in this gloriously tense shocker from the director of Blue Ruin.

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The Game The Game

Crime 1997 129 mins Director: David Fincher

David Fincher's disorienting thriller posits Michael Douglas' complacent yuppie in the midst of an elaborate game that may or may not be staged.

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American Psycho American Psycho

Drama 2000 102 mins Director: Mary Harron

Christian Bale slays his competition in this chilling satire set in ‘80s Wall Street.

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Pi Pi

Science Fiction 1997 84 mins Director: Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky’s magisterial monochrome mystery concerns a mathematician whose discovery of a powerful number leads to the dark side.

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The Handmaiden The Handmaiden

Period drama 2016 146 mins Director: Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) channels Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, to create a sumptuous twisty psychological thriller full of erotic intrigue.

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Lust, Caution Lust, Caution

Drama 2007 158 mins Director: Ang Lee

Esteemed Taiwanese director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Life of Pi) returned to Asia once more for this startlingly erotic tale of espionage and obsession.

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The Third Murder The Third Murder

Crime 2017 125 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

A clear-cut murder case is revealed to be much more layered than it first appears, in this gripping and intelligent crime drama from Palme d'Or-winning director Hirokazu Koreeda.

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A Most Wanted Man A Most Wanted Man

Thriller 2014 122 mins Director: Anton Corbijn

In one of his final roles, Philip Seymour Hoffman excels as a German spy attempting to recruit Islamic informants, in Anton Corbijn’s sophisticated John le Carré adaptation.

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Thriller 2011 127 mins Director: Tomas Alfredson

Gary Oldman leads an all-star cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy, in this acclaimed adaptation of John Le Carré's esteemed spy novel.

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Dare I Weep Dare I Mourn Dare I Weep Dare I Mourn

1966 49 mins Director: Ted Kotcheff

James Mason plays a middle-aged businessman in this East-West Berlin thriller, based on a story by John Le Carre.

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Hard Candy Hard Candy

2005 100 mins Director: David Slade

Elliot Page became an indie sensation as the teenage vigilante trying to trap a predatory older man, in David Slade's smart psychological thriller.

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Hanna Hanna

Thriller 2011 111 mins Director: Joe Wright

Joe Wright's electric tale of a female assassin (Saoirse Ronan) trying to escape her destiny rocks to a propulsive Chemical Brothers soundtrack.

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The New Girlfriend The New Girlfriend

Melodrama 2014 108 mins Director: François Ozon

Ruth Rendell provides the source novel for this delicious tale of deception and identity, from the master of mischievous melodrama, François Ozon.

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Double Indemnity Double Indemnity

Crime 1944 108 mins Director: Billy Wilder

Barbara Stanwyck is the housewife who dupes an insurance salesman into a devious murder plot, in this giant of American cinema - the archetypal Film Noir.

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Phantom Lady Phantom Lady

Film noir 1944 87 mins Director: Robert Siodmak

Robert Siodmak’s first Hollywood noir about an innocent man sentenced to death when the woman who can verify his alibi mysteriously vanishes.

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The Killers The Killers

Crime 1946 102 mins Director: Robert Siodmak

Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner star in Robert Siodmak’s gritty and muscular film noir, adapted from Hemingway’s short story.

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Zero Dark Thirty Zero Dark Thirty

Action and Adventure 2012 157 mins Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow's masterful, meticulous account of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden is a thrilling account of contemporary history.

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Detroit Detroit

Drama 2017 143 mins Director: Kathryn Bigelow

John Boyega excels as the security guard caught up in a violent conflagration during the riots of 1967, in Kathryn Bigelow's blistering thriller.

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The Hurt Locker The Hurt Locker

War 2008 131 mins Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director Academy Award in 2010 for this visceral, thrilling story of an American maverick bomb disarmer in Iraq.

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'71 '71

Thriller 2014 99 mins Director: Yann Demange

A young British squaddie is caught behind enemy lines in bomb-torn Belfast, in Yann Demange’s riveting suspense thriller.

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Harry Brown Harry Brown

Crime 2009 103 mins Director: Daniel Barber

Michael Caine’s storming return to an action role finds him as a retired marine confronting local hoodlums on his housing estate.

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Kill List Kill List

Crime 2011 92 mins Director: Ben Wheatley

Ben Wheatley’s ultra-violent second feature, invoking both The Wicker Man and Apocalypse Now.

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Disorder Disorder

Thriller 2015 98 mins Director: Alice Winocour

A broken soldier guards a tycoon's family in this involving thriller with hints of Taxi Driver, starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger.

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A Prophet [Un prophète] A Prophet [Un prophète]

Crime 2009 156 mins Director: Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard’s award-winning crime drama chronicles the rites of passage and eventual rise to power of a young French Arab. Tough, taut, truthful.

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Dheepan Dheepan

Drama 2015 115 mins Director: Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard’s soul-stirring Palme d’Or winner tells of a veteran Tamil Tiger guerrilla who finds fresh violence in his new life in Paris.

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Nightcrawler Nightcrawler

Crime 2014 118 mins Director: Dan Gilroy

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a crime journalist scouring the streets of after-dark LA in a stylish thriller that examines the morals of mass media.

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Arlington Road Arlington Road

Crime 1998 118 mins Director: Mark Pellington

Jeff Bridges suspects his neighbour of being a terrorist in this twitchy, paranoid thriller.

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Eye in the Sky Eye in the Sky

Thriller 2016 102 mins Director: Gavin Hood

Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman (in his last role) play the military commanders caught in the ethical crosshairs of drone warfare, in Gavin Hood’s gripping military thriller.

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Sicario Sicario

Crime 2015 121 mins Director: Denis Villeneuve

Emily Blunt plays the FBI agent enlisted for a special operation against Mexican cartels, in this pulsatingly tense thriller from Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Prisoners).

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Sicario 2: Soldado Sicario 2: Soldado

Action and Adventure 2018 122 mins Director: Stefano Sollima

Pulsating sequel to the acclaimed drug-cartel thriller, which sees federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) re-teaming with the enigmatic Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro).

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Triple 9 Triple 9

Crime 2015 115 mins Director: John Hillcoat

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet and Woody Harrelson make up the heavyweight cast for John Hillcoat’s (The Proposition) stunning heist thriller.

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The Bourne Identity The Bourne Identity

Crime 2002 118 mins Director: Doug Liman

The spy thriller that overturned the genre stars Matt Damon as the amnesiac searching for his true identity.

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The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Supremacy

Crime 2004 108 mins Director: Paul Greengrass

Britain’s Paul Greengrass takes the helms for the spy sequel, shaping the series with his penchant for documentary-style realism.

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The Bourne Ultimatum The Bourne Ultimatum

Thriller 2007 115 mins Director: Paul Greengrass

Director Paul Greengrass returns for the third Bourne film, famed for its incredibly tense opening sequence in London Waterloo station.

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Jackie Brown Jackie Brown

Crime 1997 154 mins Director: Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino's third film is arguably his most serious and studied; a soulful crime saga with Pam Grier as the flight attendant in the midst of a money-laundering scam.

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Kill Bill Vol. 1 Kill Bill Vol. 1

Martial arts 2003 111 mins Director: Quentin Tarantino

The first instalment of Tarantino's epic, blood-soaked opus sees Uma Thurman's betrayed bride set out for revenge against her former assassination crew.

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Kill Bill Vol. 2 Kill Bill Vol. 2

Action and Adventure 2004 137 mins Director: Quentin Tarantino

The conclusion of Tarantino's kung fu epic follows the Bride's (Uma Thurman) fateful encounter with her former fiance (David Carradine).

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The Man Between The Man Between

Drama 1953 102 mins Director: Carol Reed

Carol Reed follows Odd Man Out and The Third Man with this thriller starring James Mason and Claire Bloom set in post-war Berlin.

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Mine Own Executioner Mine Own Executioner

Drama 1948 109 mins Director: Anthony Kimmins

Burgess Meredith stars in this powerful psychological drama, as a psychiatrist struggling with his own inner demons who's enlisted to treat a traumatised WWII veteran.

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The Glass Cage The Glass Cage

Thriller 1955 59 mins Director: Montgomery Tully

Like a 1950s David Blaine, The Great Sepolio starves in a glass tomb while a murderer is on the loose.

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Vertigo Vertigo

Thriller 1958 128 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s timeless thriller about a former detective with a fear of heights who is hired to follow a woman who seems possessed by the past.

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Rear Window Rear Window

Thriller 1954 112 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterly thriller stars James Stewart as an invalided photographer who spots something fishy outside his rear window.

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The Birds The Birds

Horror 1963 119 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Birds inexplicably turn against man and begin attacking the small community of Bodega Bay, in Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense classic.

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Saboteur Saboteur

War 1942 109 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

A factory worker is framed for sabotage and forced on the run in Hitchcock’s fast-moving thriller, with its famous finale atop the Statue of Liberty.

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Shadow of a Doubt Shadow of a Doubt

Drama 1943 108 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s personal favourite from his own films is a brilliantly suspenseful drama about a teenage girl whose uncle may be a murderer.

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Torn Curtain Torn Curtain

1966 128 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Paul Newman stars in Hitchcock’s spy thriller, as a scientist who pretends to defect to East Germany in order to steal a secret formula.

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Psycho Psycho

Horror 1960 109 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Blood! Blood! Hitchcock’s masterpiece was his most successful film; a sensation in its time that continues to terrify.

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78/52 78/52

Documentary 2017 92 mins Director: Alexandre O. Philippe

This superb, in-depth documentary devotes 90 minutes to analysing one of cinema’s most famous sequences – the shower scene in Psycho.

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Rope Rope

Crime 1948 81 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s stage adaptation about two murderers who hide a body during a dinner party is famously constructed from 10 unbroken ten-minute takes.

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The Wave The Wave

Disaster 2015 105 mins Director: Roar Uthaug

Seismic rumblings in the Norwegian fjords threaten to start a chain reaction that will destroy the local area. Can it be stopped in time?

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Deepwater Horizon Deepwater Horizon

Action and Adventure 2016 107 mins Director: Peter Berg

Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell and John Malkovich bring to life the devastating oil-rig disaster in this intelligent and incendiary eco-thriller.

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Patriots Day Patriots Day

Thriller 2016 133 mins Director: Peter Berg

A nerve-shreddingly intense, multi-stranded account of the Boston marathon bombings of 2013 and the race-against-time to find the perpetrators.

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Swimming Pool Swimming Pool

Drama 2003 102 mins Director: François Ozon

A crime novelist seeks peace but gets a dangerous muse in this twisted bilingual thriller from François Ozon.

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The Skin I Live In The Skin I Live In

Drama 2011 120 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Pedro Almodóvar's excursion into hysterical horror is a perverse and unsettling drama about a disturbed surgeon who keeps a woman hostage.

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Phoenix Phoenix

Drama 2014 98 mins Director: Christian Petzold

Nina Hoss is superb as concentration camp survivor who assumes a new identity, in Christian Petzold’s intricate post-WWII thriller.

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Tom at the Farm Tom at the Farm

Drama 2013 103 mins Director: Xavier Dolan-Tadros

Dark psychosexual thriller from prodigious Canadian director Xavier Dolan, following a young man who finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of deception.

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Stranger by the Lake Stranger by the Lake

Drama 2013 100 mins Director: Alain Guiraudie

A young man witnesses a violent crime at a gay cruising ground and becomes obsessed with the killer in Alain Guiraudie’s acclaimed mystery-thriller.

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Eastern Boys Eastern Boys

Drama 2012 124 mins Director: Robin Campillo

A gay pick-up turns into a dangerous game of betrayal and violence in this slyly subversive and compelling thriller.

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The Ghoul The Ghoul

Thriller 2017 82 mins Director: Gareth Tunley

A British indie crime film of great style and ingenuity, executive produced by Ben Wheatley and starring Tom Meeten and Alice Lowe.

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Remainder Remainder

Drama 2016 103 mins Director: Omer Fast

Omer Fast’s gripping puzzle-box thriller about an amnesiac reconstructing his elusive past.

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Heartless Heartless

Horror 2010 114 mins Director: Philip Ridley

Philip Ridley’s stunning comeback film charts a lonely photographer’s battles with demons amid a haunting East London.

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The Small World of Sammy Lee The Small World of Sammy Lee

Drama 1963 107 mins Director: Ken Hughes

Seedy Soho strip-club compere Sammy (Anthony Newley) races to escape the heavies who hunt him in this gritty, engrossing 1960s London thriller.

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The Green Cockatoo The Green Cockatoo

Action and Adventure 1940 64 mins Director: William Cameron Menzies

From an original scenario by Graham Greene, this is a neat crime thriller about a girl (René Ray) who witnesses a murder, becomes a suspect herself, and gets mixed up with a sleazy Soho gangster (John Mills).

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Poison Pen Poison Pen

Drama 1939 79 mins Director: Paul L. Stein

The rural idyll of a small English village is torn apart by slanderous letters

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Hyena Hyena

Crime 2015 112 mins Director: Gerard Johnson

In this stylish, dark crime thriller, a policeman’s complex web of underworld relationships is threatened by an internal affairs investigator.

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Parker Parker

Crime 1985 97 mins Director: Jim Goddard

Thrilling crime drama about a businessman who survives a kidnapping and seeks out those who captured him.

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Play Misty for Me Play Misty for Me

Drama 1971 102 mins Director: Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood's directorial debut is tautly wound psycho-thriller about a DJ tormented by an obsessive fan.

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The October Man The October Man

Drama 1947 95 mins Director: Roy Ward Baker

Roy Ward Baker directs John Mills and Joan Greenwood in this mystery noir about an amnesiac implicated in the murder of a young woman.

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Kill Me Kill Me

1965 46 mins Silent Director: Marc Miller

A man tries to arrange his own murder in a tense episode from the Blackmail series

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The Long Dark Hall The Long Dark Hall

Crime 1951 88 mins Director: Anthony Bushell and Reginald Beck

This British noir delivers a disquieting story of obsession and manipulation, with Rex Harrison as a man accused of murdering his mistress.

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The Blue Lamp The Blue Lamp

Police drama 1950 85 mins Director: Basil Dearden

Dirk Bogarde stars as a loose-cannon crook with Dixon of Dock Green (Jack Warner) on his tail, in the classic Ealing policier.

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The Riverside Murder The Riverside Murder

Police drama 1935 65 mins Director: Albert Parker

Ingeniously plotted and twisting whodunit that leaves Alastair Sim baffled as to the identity of the killer.

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Temptation Harbour Temptation Harbour

Crime 1947 102 mins Director: Lance Comfort

Dark thriller based on a novel by Georges Simenon

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Mask of Dust Mask of Dust

Drama 1954 79 mins Director: Terence Fisher

Rev up your engines for high-octane thrills and spills with this oil-spattered motor racing drama from Hammer Films

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Hidden City Hidden City

Thriller 1987 108 mins Director: Stephen Poliakoff

Charles Dance stars in Stephen Poliakoff’s debut feature film about a writer whose research uncovers a conspiracy of hidden artefacts.

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Hummingbird Hummingbird

Thriller 2013 100 mins

An alcoholic ex-special forces soldier (Jason Statham), down on his luck, assumes another man’s identity and pursues redemption.

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Catch Me Daddy Catch Me Daddy

Thriller 2015 112 mins Director: Daniel Wolfe and Matthew Wolfe

A young couple whose relationship has divided a community are forced on the run through the streets and moors of nocturnal Yorkshire.

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Champagne Rose Is Dead Champagne Rose Is Dead

Thriller 1968 88 mins Director: Calvin Floyd

This far-out late 60s international espionage sci-fi oddity will exhilarate all connoisseurs of strange cinema

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Get Out Get Out

Horror 2017 104 mins Director: Jordan Peele

Satirical horror and astute social commentary combine in Jordan Peele’s seat-gripping suspense thriller, starring Daniel Kaaluuya.

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The Day of the Jackal The Day of the Jackal

Police drama 1973 142 mins Director: Fred Zinnemann

The race is on to find ‘the Jackal’ before he undertakes a momentous political assassination, in this compelling adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s bestseller.

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The Crying Game The Crying Game

Drama 1992 112 mins Director: Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan's acclaimed 1992 drama-mystery tells the story of Fergus (Stephen Rea), who looks after the lover (Jaye Davidson) of a British soldier he once knew. But what is Dil hiding?

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Torment Torment

Drama 1950 68 mins Director: John Guillermin

A mad mystery novelist decides to murder his long-suffering secretary in this macabre British B Picture from distinguished director John Guillermin.

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Brighton Rock Brighton Rock

Thriller 1948 93 mins Director: John Boulting

Richard Attenborough’s unforgettably sinister turn as ‘Pinkie’ pervades this classic adaptation of the Graham Greene novel.

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Discreet Discreet

Crime 2017 80 mins Director: Travis Mathews

From the director of Interior. Leather Bar. comes this eerie and powerful psychological thriller that offers a disturbing insight into the dark heart of Trump’s America.

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B&B B&B

Thriller 2017 87 mins Director: Joe Ahearne

In this deliciously entertaining thriller, a gay couple return to a B&B to bait its Christian owner, only to run into trouble when an altogether more imposing guest arrives.

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The Villainess The Villainess

Thriller 2017 124 mins Director: Jung Byung-gil

Jung Byung-gil's superb, hyper-kinetic action thriller follows a female assassin who takes a new identity but finds her past life inescapable.

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The Age of Shadows The Age of Shadows

Action and Adventure 2016 140 mins Director: Kim Jee-woon

Kim Jee-woon’s stunning, seductive and serpentine action thriller set during Japan’s occupation of Korea.

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Racer and the Jailbird Racer and the Jailbird

Thriller 2017 130 mins Director: Michaël R. Roskam

Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) and Matthias Schoenaerts (A Bigger Splash) are lovers entangled in a world of crime in this tough, twisty thriller-romance

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Cape Fear Cape Fear

Horror 1991 128 mins

Scorsese’s remake of J Lee Thompson’s 1962 thriller stars Robert De Niro as a psychotic rapist out to avenge the lawyer he blames for his conviction (Nick Nolte).

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Hounds of Love Hounds of Love

Horror 2016 108 mins Director: Ben Young

A young woman tries to escape her sadistic kidnappers, in this bold and brutal Australian thriller.

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The Nile Hilton Incident The Nile Hilton Incident

Crime 2017 111 mins Director: Tarik Saleh

A murder investigation is mired by bureaucratic corruption in this dark Egyptian thriller, where everyone is on the make.

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