The more stylish and thrilling the better!
August 22, 2016 5:55 PM   Subscribe

I love the stylish psychological thriller/film noir movie genre as exemplified by The Gift, Gone Girl, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Birthday Girl. What other similarly stylish, thrilling, twisty, and not too gory movies can you suggest?
posted by orange swan to Media & Arts (37 answers total) 49 users marked this as a favorite
 
You might like the French movie "Tell No One" ( I have heard that Hollywood was going to re-make it but I don't know if that ever happened. )

The email and computer parts of the plot seem very dated now, but if you can let that ride it is a super thriller.
posted by thelonius at 6:06 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Charade is a classic, very fun faux-Hitchcock thriller involving several very stylish people—Stanley Donen directed it and Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn starred.
posted by Polycarp at 6:06 PM on August 22, 2016 [6 favorites]


I wouldn't say it's an exemplar or anything, but Side Effects came out a few years ago and it was a fun watch.
posted by stoneandstar at 6:06 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Swimming Pool; The Deep End.
posted by BibiRose at 6:06 PM on August 22, 2016


To Die For - Nicole Kidman is simply wonderful in it, too. And seconding Swimming Pool.
posted by mochapickle at 6:17 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]




Wait Until Dark - "A recently blinded woman [Audrey Hepburn] is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment"
posted by sallybrown at 6:51 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Seconding Side Effects. Stylish, fun, a little schlocky.
posted by zutalors! at 6:57 PM on August 22, 2016


One more...

zero effect (1998)
posted by askmehow at 6:59 PM on August 22, 2016


Came here to suggest Wait Until Dark - it's one of my favorites.
posted by Amanda B at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]




The Last Seduction (1994)
posted by ejs at 7:32 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


If you don't mind subtitles, Nine Queens.
posted by Bromius at 7:37 PM on August 22, 2016


Body Heat
posted by carmicha at 7:42 PM on August 22, 2016 [2 favorites]


Also: Body Double
posted by carmicha at 7:46 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


The Thomas Crown Affair - both versions.
posted by Jubey at 8:38 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Frantic. Gosh how I love that film.
posted by jbenben at 9:20 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


And maybe a little outside the box, but Run, Lola, Run really fits this genre - and then some!! It's the best!!
posted by jbenben at 9:23 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Seconding Tell No One.

Another French one in a similar vein: With a Friend Like Harry (apparently now called Harry, He's Here to Help).
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:33 PM on August 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Oh, and another: Caché.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:35 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]


Out of Sight. Its fantastic. Hugely underrated.
posted by fshgrl at 11:40 PM on August 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


Anatomy of a Murder
posted by rhizome at 12:58 AM on August 23, 2016


Also: Body Double
...and others by Brian De Palma, like "Dressed To Kill" and "Blow Out" which was inspired by Antonioni's Blow Up - swingin' London in 1966.
posted by Rash at 2:22 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


ejs already recommended The Last Seduction. That was one of a great run of thrillers written and directed by John Dahl in the late 80s/early 90s, and they're all worth seeing. So I second ejs's nomination, and also advise you to check out Kill Me Again and Red Rock West.

Also, if you like Modesty.Blaise's excellent suggestion of Diabolique, check out another incredibly suspenseful film by the same director: Wages of Fear. (Note that it was remade in 1977 as Sorcerer. I've never seen the remake but I've heard it was excellent as well.)

Also: Bound, the first film by the Wachowskis. Just as stylish as their later films, but with a tight thriller plot.
posted by yankeefog at 3:41 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


"Arabesque" I'd say Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren are pretty stylish.
posted by james33 at 4:21 AM on August 23, 2016


Some may not consider it a thriller but I do, and it's ultrastyllish: Last Year at Marienbad
posted by mmw at 5:54 AM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Also, I haven't seen it, but this seems Hitchcockian and stylish: Midnight Lace (1960), with Doris Day, Rex Harrison, John Gavin, Myrna Loy.
posted by mmw at 5:57 AM on August 23, 2016


Dark City is full of style and noire, with a bit of sci-fi/mind fuck thrown in. Jennifer Conelly plays a singer.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:29 AM on August 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


More recently, DRIVE.

Do a double feature viewing with TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA.

You're welcome!
posted by jbenben at 9:42 AM on August 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


The Game, an earlier film from the director of Gone Girl.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 12:51 PM on August 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
posted by bendy at 5:14 PM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Sleuth (the original. The remake totally didn't work for me).
Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

I used to watch that movie over and over.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:10 PM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dial M For Murder and A Perfect Murder back to back. A Perfect Murder got really low average reviews but Roger Ebert (as often) nails what is good about it.
posted by BibiRose at 7:23 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Nthing Sleuth (1972)

Others:
Laura (it inspired Twin Peaks, among other things)
Strangers on a Train
The Postman Always Rights Twice
LA Confidential
Mulholland Drive
The Big Sleep
posted by veery at 10:33 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Insomnia (1997) and Insomnia (2002). A *wee* bit gory, but very noir, very stylish, and since you mentioned Gone Girl, which, if I recall has a particularly gory scene featuring NPH, I think you can handle it.
posted by BeBoth at 3:34 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I am very fond of the quirky and stylish highschool gumshoe noir, "Brick."
posted by baseballpajamas at 3:49 PM on August 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


Deathtrap (1982) is really good fun.
posted by Jonathan Harford at 5:51 PM on August 25, 2016


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