The 7 Most Suspenseful Thrillers On Amazon Prime This Weekend
There’s something so satisfying about a worthwhile thriller.
Toying with audiences’ emotions and keeping us constantly wondering about the direction of their respective stories, truly memorable thrillers can gauge our attention in a way few film genres can. Whether depicting a global epidemic or the creation of the first nuclear bomb, these films get our hearts racing for a variety of reasons, roping us in with their strong stories and maintaining our interest through their buoyant sense of suspense.
From gripping biographical dramas to intriguing murder mysteries, here are some of the greatest thrillers currently streaming on Prime Video, each of which we wholeheartedly recommend checking out.
Crimson Tide (1995)
With the recent passing of the late, great Gene Hackman, now seems like the perfect opportunity to revisit some of the Oscar winner’s most iconic past performances. Appearing alongside the equally capable Denzel Washington, Crimson Tide outfits Hackman with one of his most memorable dramatic roles. Embroiled in an intense game of cat and mouse aboard a U.S. Navy submarine, Crimson Tide sees the two veteran actors butting heads over control of their undersea vessel, the fate of the world hanging in the balance as they argue whether or not to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against a foreign nation. It’s an intense, claustrophobic, thoroughly gripping thriller that makes endless use of its all-star cast, never failing to gauge audiences’ interest with its electric plot and taut performances.
Contagion (2011)
It’s a strange experience to rewatch 2011’s Contagion in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bearing a shocking number of similarities to global events in the early 2020s, Contagion illustrates the precarious structure of contemporary society, as well as how susceptible we are to widespread panic as a mysterious illness wreaks havoc across the globe. Incorporating a first-rate cast that includes the likes of Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston, it’s a breathtaking medical thriller of surprising grace and elegance – as well as a film guaranteed to leave you furiously washing your hands weeks after the fact.
Blink Twice (2024)
Proving herself as capable a filmmaker as she is an actor, Zoë Kravitz makes her directorial debut with 2024’s extraordinarily underrated psychological thriller, Blink Twice. Delivering plenty of tantalizing chills in its hour and 40-minute runtime, Kravitz conjures up a gripping story about wealth, power, and the misuse and abuse of trust amidst seemingly idyllic settings. Relying on an ensemble cast that includes the likes of Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat, Blink Twice appears as an intriguing mystery of almost Hitchcockian proportions, forcing audiences to constantly guess what’s real, what’s fake, and what secrets the men of the island are keeping from their unfortunate female companions.
Monkey Man (2024)
After a lengthy career as a world-class dramatic actor, Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with 2024’s awe-inspiring action film, Monkey Man. Focusing just as much on its eclectic action as it does on its sociopolitical story, Monkey Man treads a fine balance between its headier themes and outstanding main story, providing Patel a remarkable first project that shows off his prodigious filmmaking skills. A deep-dive into the social hierarchy that characterizes modern-day India, it’s a wonderfully suspenseful thriller that also happens to rank among the best, most underappreciated action movies of 2024.
Saltburn (2023)
As with director Emerald Fennell’s previous work on Promising Young Woman, Saltburn finds the filmmaker skewering a disturbing aspect of contemporary society, paving the way to a sardonic dark comedy that’s as funny as it is genuinely sobering. Equipped with blistering performances from Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, and Carey Mulligan, Saltburn analyzes the gross disparity between the social classes in the 2000s-era United Kingdom. In contrast to the refined presentation of Victorian high-class society, Saltburn explores the seedier underbelly of the UK’s upper crust population, eloquently illustrating how lust, excess, and avarice have rotted away the higher reaches of Britain’s contemporary culture.
Knives Out (2019)
Though it possesses a crisp sense of humor, Knives Out boasts an unexpectedly suspenseful take on a traditional Agatha Christie-style whodunit. The first act in Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc-centered trilogy, Knives Out finds Daniel Craig’s Southern detective investigating the death of a best-selling novelist as his family vyes for control of his massive estate. Mixing humor with a genuinely engaging mystery, Knives Out is the ultimate comedic whodunit, establishing itself as the long-awaited successor to Clue, Death on the Nile, and Murder on the Orient Express before it.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Like every great director, Christopher Nolan has helmed a variety of unforgettable projects in the course of his career, from early fan-favorites like Memento and The Dark Knight to more recent endeavors like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. With the latter film, Nolan presents a nuanced view of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s overarching attempts to build the world’s first nuclear bomb – a weapon that would shape the future course of history well into the 21st century. At once a first-rate biographical drama, Oppenheimer also succeeds as a riveting thriller that underscores the polarizing nature of Oppenheimer’s accomplishments, from its impact on the Second World War to the looming threat of eventual nuclear armageddon.
