Underrated and obscure thrillers

FATAL ATTRACTION

ROSEMARY'S BABY

DON'T LOOK NOW

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

THE STEPFORD WIVES

Thanks, r1. I've seen those a few times, but I haven't watched FATAL ATTRACTION in a few years, so I might give that a go.

STILL OF THE NIGHT ..... from 1982 with MERYL STREEP, ROY SCHEIDER & JESSICA TANDY

People around STREEP are being horribly slashed to death and she may or may not be the killer.

Three I recently saw and enjoyed were NIGHTMARE ALLEY with Tyrone Power and two Roy Scheider films: THE LAST EMBRACE, directed by Jonathan Demme and STILL OF THE NIGHT, alongside La Streep. I read that it's her least favorite of her own films, but I thought it was pretty great. Another one I saw was Henri Georges Clouzot's LE CORBEAU, which is one of the best I've ever seen. You always read about his most famous films, WAGES OF FEAR and LES DIABOLIQUES but I rarely hear about that one.

We posted at the same time, r3! I may watch that again. It is a great film. Thanks.

R4 R5 I saw that. Funny !

The Orphanage/El Orfanato is great.

[italic]Undercurrent[/italic] with Kate Hepburn, Roberts Taylor and Mitchum. Kate is miscast as a damsel in distress, but it does have some interesting moments, thanks to Vincente Minelli's direction. He was even able to get a decent performance out of the beautifully wooden Taylor.

Session 9

Devil's Baclkbone and Thesis (Spanish) and the original Diabolique (French, but not sure . how obscure this is).

Blow Out

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Blood Simple

Identity (not so obscure I guess).

I second SESSION 9. Very creepy.

Thanks, guys. I haven't seen SESSION 9, UNDERCURRENT or THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED, so I'll watch all three tonight!

I ended up watching John Frankenheimer's RONIN last night, which I hadn't seen before. The cast is great, but the script is one of the worst I've ever seen. No attempt is made to conceal the cogs of the plot and the dialogue is atrocious. Great action and car chases, though.

OP, check out a film called The Conspiracy. A couple of filmmakers who are making a documentary about a local tinhat conspiracy theorist end up going undercover at a secret gathering that is obviously intended to be Bohemian Grove. It's edge of your seat stuff, and very intelligently done.

A few of my favorite noirish thrillers that aren't super well-known:

Sudden Fear (1952) with Joan Crawford

Act of Violence (1949) with Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh

The Window (1949) with Bobby Driscoll

My Name is Julia Ross (1945) with Nina Foch

Cause for Alarm (1951) with Loretta Young

D.O.A. (1950) with Edmond O'Brien

"The Possession of Joel Delaney" is a cool voodoo possession thriller starring Shirley MacLaine, it's predating the Exorcist and just as good imo, only more subtle. Also regarding "The Exorcist", there is a seldom heard of or talked about official follow up called "The Ninth Configuration", Stacy Keach is WONDERFUL in it.

Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. I've seen it several times since it was released. It's so over the top, ludicrous and very enjoyable.

Some great French Thrillers

Point Blank (Netflix)

Sleepless Night (available to rent on Amazon)

13 Tzameti

The Lookout (available to rent on Amazon)

There's also an American film called The Lookout with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels. It's not related to the french one but also a good thriller.

Just watched The Quiller Memorandum on YouTube and thought it was very good, but a lot of critics at the time loathed it.

These probably don't count but there are a ton of 1970s made-for-TV mysteries and thrillers on YouTube which are pretty good, too.

Orphan.

The Vanishing. Make sure to get the 1988 Dutch version, not the Hollywood remake.

"The Silent Partner," a nearly forgotten 1978 thriller written by Curtis (L.A. Confidential) Hanson and starting Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, and a very young John Candy. A great nail-biter about a bank robber and the lowly teller who outsmarts him. Just watch out for the aquarium scene.

"The Hunger," with Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, and David Bowie. A beautiful, stylish, scary vampire story.

"Torn Curtain," one of Hitchcock's underrated thrillers with Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, about an American physics professor who defects to East Germany to give bomb making secrets to the enemy.

Thank you so much for that recommendation, r22. I watched it last night and thought it was an absolutely fantastic film. Exactly the sort of film that I love to watch and one of the best I've seen. It's interesting that Curtis Hanson wrote it, as it shares a few plot points with THE BEDROOM WINDOW, the film he wrote and directed in the late-80s. I thought THE SILENT PARTNER was the better film, though. Elliott Gould is such a likeable personality. Many thanks.

R25 Glad you had a chance to see it and that you liked it. It's great, isn't it? It's on my top 20 list of favorite films. I was scared to death of Christopher Plummer for years after seeing that movie. Yes, there's some similarity to "The Bedroom Window," but I agree that "The Silent Partner" is better. Great performances, great script, great directing that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Well, now I know what I want to get you all for Christmas: DICTIONARIES, so you can look up the words "underrated" and "obscure".

R27 I know what I'm gonna get you - FORCEPS, so you can remove that giant dildo that's been stuck up your ass.

The Secret In Their Eyes. Not the fucking American remake. The Argentinian original. My god - that soccer scene is one of the most breathtaking sequences ever committed to film. Yes, it was a critical darling but it has subtitles -which means in America it is obscure.

Obsession - early DePalma with a ravishing Bernard Herrmann score. Yes, it is Hitchcock derivative but it is beautifully done.

Sorcerer - William Friedkin's remake of Wages of Fear. Unbearably tense with a great score by Tangerine Dream.

Near Dark - Kathryn Bigelow's vampire western. A marvel to behold visually (its in MoMA's permanent collection). And another genius Tangerine Dream score.

Blast of Silence - bleak late noir with grit that just oozes off the screen.

Suture - twisty, innovative thriller with a bit of a gimmick: Dennis Haysbert (black) and Michael Harris (white) play biological siblings. One good, one evil. Inspired by Teshigahara's The Face of Another.

The Deep End - again, this was critically acclaimed but many seem not to have seen it. Tilda Swinton plays a middle class woman who must protect her young gay son after he gets caught up with a violent, sleazy club owner.

The Skeleton Key

Vacancy

Transsiberian

[quote] The Deep End - again, this was critically acclaimed but many seem not to have seen it. Tilda Swinton plays a middle class woman who must protect her young gay son after he gets caught up with a violent, sleazy club owner.

I haven't seen that one. It sounds a little like Max Ophuls' THE RECKLESS MOMENT, which is one of my absolute favorite films of all-time. Many thanks!

"It sounds a little like Max Ophuls' THE RECKLESS MOMENT, which is one of my absolute favorite films of all-time. Many thanks!"

You are right on the money. The filmmakers said they used TRM as their inspiration. And hot Goran Visnic is in it playing a menacing henchman who starts to feel connected to Tilda's character. It really is a superb movie.

Not obscure but old: "Night of the Hunter," with Robert Mitchum.

"Topaz," with John Forsythe.

And here's a great episode of the show "Thriller": Season 1 Episode 28 1961--- "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper." Warning: Don't read the Spoiler comments!

Surveillance

Big Bad Wolves - great thriller with a really disturbing end. It's available on Netflix.

I watched this a few weeks ago on Netflix. I had never heard of it before and I watched it right through ( something rare for me these days).

Thank you R29 for mentioning "Obsession" and the original "Secrets in Their Eyes". Both of these are high on my own personal best thrillers list, along with the above-mentioned "Still of the Night".

I can't count the number of times I've re-watched Obsession.

Shallow Grave, starring Kerry Fox and Ewan McGregor.

Two thriller films where Robin Williams played a serious role to good effect: "Dead Again" where he had a supporting role as a shrink stripped of his license to practice . Second is "The Night Listener", this time in the lead role based on Armistead Maupin's screenplay as a gay psychologist with a radio show.

I saw this in a small theater when It came out. I thought it was fantastic.

The recent "Midnight Special" is excellent. You definitely can't figure out where the film is going at first. Very different story.

"The Secret Fury" an oldie with Claudette Colbert and a small but pivotal role for our own Vivian Vance just before she became Ethel Mertz.

"Hangover Square" (1945) - Creepy Laird Cregar as a psychotic composer, who's breaks and compulsively murders people, with a macabre score by the great Bernard Herrmann, including Cregar performing Herrmann's "Concerto Macabre."

"The Spiral Staircase" (1946) - Dorothy McGuire as a mute companion to old lady Ethel Barrymore, stuck in a spooky house, with a serial killer on the loose.

"The 4th Man" (1983) - Really wild Paul Verhoeven thriller, with all kinds of implications: symbolic., thriller, gay, you name it. Wild. And the ending is incredible!

"In the Flesh" (1998) - Young gay hustler gets involved with older gay detective, as well as police corruption. Not all that well directed, but affecting nonetheless.

"Hard" (2004) - Closeted cop on the trail of a serial killer, ends up getting involved with him. Strange, but compelling.

"Dragon Tattoo Trilogy" - Swedish-made, extended versions of the Stieg Larson trilogy: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played with Fire," and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." The Swedish "Dragon Tattoo" is much better, more graphic, than the watered down David Fincher version. All 3 of these films are marvelous, and the Blu-Ray can be cheaply obtained on Amazon as a trilogy.

I really loved the German thriller "Goodnight Mommy", although I've heard that it's very similar to a 1970s film (which I did not end up watching).

It was very creepy.

Homebodies......

Seconds directed by John Franenheimer and starring Rock Hudson, 1966.

Frankenheimer.

Loved Goodnight, Mommy. Was really disturbing. And in the end, so fucking sad.

Another vote for THE SILENT PARTNER and SECRETS IN THEIR EYES.

Speaking on foreign thrillers, there's an excellent German film called THE LIVES OF OTHERS, set in East Berlin before the Wall came down, about a member of the secret police spying on a well-known writer and his lover. It's more of a character-study than straight-up thriller, but there's a fair amount of suspense.

I'm not a huge Redford fan, but SNEAKERS is fun and twisty. And it's got a great ensemble consisting of Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, Dan Akroyd, River Phoenix, and Ben Kingsley. It's a conspiracy thriller but one that is lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek.

The Ida Lupino-directed THE HITCHHIKER is a good, solid B-thriller.

"The House on Garibaldi Street"---True thriller about the capture of Eichmann.

"Sword of Gideon"---True thriller about tracking down the Munich Olympics killers.

"Raid on Entebbe"---True thriller about the rescue of the hostages of Entebbe Airport.

The Babadook

[quote]"Hangover Square" (1945) - Creepy Laird Cregar as a psychotic composer, who's breaks and compulsively murders people, with a macabre score by the great Bernard Herrmann, including Cregar performing Herrmann's "Concerto Macabre."

[quote]"The Spiral Staircase" (1946) - Dorothy McGuire as a mute companion to old lady Ethel Barrymore, stuck in a spooky house, with a serial killer on the loose.

I can watch these over and over. I love a good old black and white movie, especially those with creepy old mansions. I also love Laird Cregar in The Lodger with Merle Oberon.

Final Girls is a good one. comedic but well done.

The woods scare me a lot, so even if a movie with that theme isn't particularly great, I still am drawn to it.

The Forrest Willow Creek (about a couple searching for Bigfoot)

Wolf Creek - not about the woods and maybe not all that obscure, but it scares the heck out of me.

R53 here, I meant:

The Forrest

Willow Creek

Watching Obsession now. Inspector Bree sounds like Hercule Poirot. Hope this gets better LOL.

Isle of the Dead

The Seventh Victim

The Leopard Man

Dead of Night

Sisters

Dark Water (Japanese original)

Suspiria

Don't Look Now - more of a horror than a thriller, really

Le Ceremonie

High and Low

The Ipcress File

After Dark, My Sweet

"Christmas Holiday" - a surprisingly dark thriller starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly (playing a bad guy!).

Here's Deanna's haunting rendition of "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year" from the movie:

[italic]Night Boat to Havana[/italic] with Helen Lawson as a boozy band singer named Flossie Monroe on a second rate liner (SS Size Queen) on the New York - Havana run after WW2. Her fiancé jilts her onboard, leaving her for a wealthy socialite he meets on the ship (Alexis Smith). When both are found murdered in her suite (poisoned tres leeches), all fingers point to Flossie and it's up to her and the ship's doctor (Charles Coburn) to find the killer. But will they solve the murder before the ship docks, and before the ship can avoid a large hurricane bearing down in the ship's path?

"Eden Lake" is horrifyingly good. I was traumatised for days after watching it.

r1, while those are all good films, I cannot think of a list of thrillers that could be less obscure or underrated.

[quote] I haven't seen that one. It sounds a little like Max Ophuls' THE RECKLESS MOMENT, which is one of my absolute favorite films of all-time.

They're based on the same great novel, THE BLANK WALL by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding.

Another vote for FINAL GIRLS. Saw it a few months ago and loved it!

How about the DL face, THE LAST OF SHEILA? I watch it once or twice a year. I love watching the pieces of the mystery fall into place.

Duel - Steven Spielberg debut

Sorry Wrong Number - Barbara Stanwyck's most amazing performance.

Another vote for Willow Creek. I love horror, although Bigfoot films are not my favorite sub-genre. But I stumbled across this one on TV one night and was really impressed. There's a 20-minute sequence of a couple in their tent in the woods in the middle of the night, terrified as they hear weird sounds outside, that is absolutely riveting.

The Sleeping Car Murder. My mother has an old VHS tape somewhere in her garage. I'm still trying to find a way to view it again.

Some Australian films:

Dead Calm

Jindabyne

Wish You Were Here

Lantana

Picnic At Hanging Rock

The following films are based on or inspired by true events. More tension filled dramas than thrillers, but worth a watch.

The Boys

Blackrock

Snowtown

Animal Kingdom

A bit of a cult classic is Razorback. There's quite a few Ozploitation thrillers, but I'm not sure how readily available they are outside Australia.

R27 was right.

THE LAST OF SHEILA. Terrifying

I loved Hell or High Water, it should be out on-demand now. It's one of the best I have seen in a long time.

Oh R69 hahaha. It is excellent though not expressly terrifying. Many quotable lines from it and a version of DL fave superagent Sue Mengers.

[quote]The Deep End - again, this was critically acclaimed but many seem not to have seen it. Tilda Swinton plays a middle class woman who must protect her young gay son after he gets caught up with a violent, sleazy club owner.

I just saw this. Thanks for the recommendation, r29. A great film. And Goran Visnic was gorgeous in it (as was Jonathan Tucker and Josh Lucas). Thanks again. I'm watching UNDERCURRENT next....

The Bride Wore Black--Jeanne Moreau gets revenge

Diabolique--Early Signoret

A very long time ago, maybe in the early 70's I saw a movie called Rider in the Rain. It scared the crap out of me. It was a crime thriller. Has anyone else ever heard of it?

R74 Is this the movie you're talking about? It starred Charles Bronson.

Eye of The Devil (1966) starring Sharon Tate. David Niven and Deborah Kerr.

Alice, Sweet Alice (AKA Communion)

Don't Torture a Duckling (a 1960s Italian thriller set in a remote Sicilian town)

Paul Verhoeven's Black Book

Blackout, one of the first movies made specifically for HBO, starring Keith Carradine & Kathleen Quinlan

The 1970s Swedish crime thriller The Man on the Roof

Alice Sweet Alice is a great one!

Black Christmas from '74 is a good one for this time of year. Really scary.

I second the recent film The Invitation. That one kept me on the edge of my seat. Really smart and well made.

Yes! That's it! Thanks R75! French movie, I think.

Robert Mulligan's "good twin, evil twin" thriller, The Other. I remember being creeped out just by the tv-spots

The Brits made the best thrillers in the early-70s; "Crucible Of Horror" (aka, "The Corpse") was a sort of British "Les diaboliques"; the full movie is on Youtube;

"Our Mother's House" -- siblings do everything they can to avoid being put in an orphanage after their mother dies

And I'm desperately trying to track down "Inn of the Frightened People" (aka, "Revenge", aka, "Terror From Under The House"), about a group of ordinary Brits who kidnap an accused child-rapist/murderer and hold him captive in the basement as they try to force a confession from him. Tensions begin to rise and the kidnappers begin to turn on one another, as they question whether or not they've got the right man.

NO NIGHT IS TOO LONG with the gorgeous Lee Williams and the sexy Marc Warren.

Another vote for SHALLOW GRAVE with Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox and CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON (someone upthread posted this and completely forgot him which is inexcusable).

And I love THE LAST OF SHEILA but...terrifying? More like hilariously suspenseful. There are a couple of genuine scares, however.

No one said TLOS was terrifying. Just a good, fun mystery.

R83, meet R69.

The previews of La La Land don't appeal to me at all and I think the promotion is terrible. I wish they had at least one upbeat trailer. The melancholy tone may put off a lot of people. I don't see this pulling in average, non art house moviegoers. I loved Chazelles Whiplash and think he is maybe a genius. that NY critic is obviously eating up from the inside with jealousy.

What's the Matter with Helen?

The 4th Man, directed by Paul Verhoevan. A successful but fucked-up novelist persues the uber-hot ex-boyfriend of a female associate. Fun, twisty, homoerotic and so much symbolism it's camp. The subtitled version is better than the dubbed version.

Just to put on my list.

BYW, I just saw Sudden Fear with Crawford and it sucked.

TLOS gave me nightmares for weeks.

What does the TLOS stand for, I'm stupid.

r90 The Last of Sheila.

R86 I had nightmares for weeks after seeing the way this one ended!

3 Guys 1 Hammer

I'm watching What's the Matter With Helen right now on Youtube. OK film. They can act. Debbie looks beautiful. Filmed in 1971

R94 Wait for the ending...

R95, Debbie sings! Debbie dances! Debbie dies! The END.

To the folks who recommended The Invitation on Netflix- HOLY FUCK. Outstanding. One of the best films I have seen in a long time. Not an Oscar film, but holy cow- what an experience. Thank you. Highly recommended. I have always like Tammy Blanchard since her days on soaps and as young Judy Garland, and she was very good in this. And that ending! I am embarrassed that I did not get it! I had to go on Wikipedia to understand it.

The Ghost Writer

I bought a an old copy of the book "Directed By Vincente Minnelli" the other day and UNDERCURRENT is described as "[italic]Gaslight[/italic] in jodhpurs". Apparently, Robert Taylor bitched that Minnelli had "thrown the picture to Hepburn" and, in turn, Hepburn showed disdain towards Robert Mitchum, but the latter was too tired to care, as his star was on the rise and he was working 18 hour days.

Did anyone else watch "The Orphanage"?

Orphanage is very good. The foreign language film?

The Invitation was tepid at best.

The Tenant is a solid Polanski thriller.

R103, yes! And the ending is so unique; he kills himself TWICE!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE, with a juicy performance from Geraldine Page. Much better than WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN, where you have to put up with more of Shelly Winters' constant whining (Debbie Reynolds, though, does strong work).

SUDDEN FEAR is practically camp.

And of course, the immortal LADY IN A CAGE. The opening credits alone are worth watching. And Ann Southern as Sade.

R10 Thesis was awesome! The plot was "borrowed" a bit for 8mm, a favorite of mine too.

THE RUINS

IN A GLASS CAGE ((Spanish)

LADY VENGEANCE ON (Korean film soon to be remade with Charlize Theron, ugh)

STOKER (Nicole Kidman,written by Wentworth Miller

The Witch, 2016 film, use the subtitles because they speak Olde English.

White of the Eye with Cathy Moriarty. It's like a Dario Argento movie set in Arizona

FATAL ATTRACTION

ROSEMARY'S BABY

DON'T LOOK NOW

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

THE STEPFORD WIVES

Non of these are underrated or obscure, for fuck's sake.

Don't look now - recommended

Last night I saw Alice, Sweet, Alice on Netflix and it stunk. Did it ever stop raining in that town?

Shame starring Deborra-Lee Furness, also The Survivor (1981):

These Final Hours

Australian film about nuclear war/end of world film and a menacing nuclear cloud 9 hours away from Australia.

bump

Ils / Them hooked me. I've seen it a few times since the first viewing and even tho I know how it ends, something about that house and the location, and the feeling of intimacy keeps bringing me back in.

Caché - Haneke at his best. Binoche is fantastic too.

POINT OF ORIGIN an HBO movie starring Ray Liotta. From a top cinematographer who was directing for the first time, so the visuals are fucking nuts. Awesome true story. Don't read about it or it'll give the ending away (because again, true story)

Another Haneke: The White Ribbon. It's a bit more esoteric but there's this overall sense of dread throughout the film that just radiates through every scene.

Second for "The Vanishing."

....

Which Vanishing do you like best? The French version (the ending gives me claustrophobia) or the lesser American version?

Cold in July with Michael C. Hall and Don Johnson.

Girl With The Dragon Tatoo, Swedish and American versions are both good.

Elle

I always thought Romeo is Bleeding was pretty good. The Grifters as well.

Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Wake in Fright (Australian)

The Vanishing--brilliant and so profoundly disturbing that I hesitate to recommend

The Suspect

The Strange Case of Uncle Harry

The Stepfather--funny and terrifying

Bad Ronald!!!!!!!!!

Huge nod to Cache - it's easily one of my favourite films. Perfect from start to end.

Have secret soft spot for the American remake of The Vanishing. It's got Jeff Bridges in it. Nuff said.

Like a few other posters I too recently saw The Invitation. I liked it but I think that has more to do with fact that there is no hotter man on the planet than Logan M Green. Even hiding behind all that facial hair

Carnival of Souls

The Innocents

The Night Digger

Klute

52 Pickup

Night Must Fall

Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (Tracy)

Last Embrace

Cutter's Way

oh fuck yes - KLUTE!! I'd forotten all about it. STUNNING

Klute snuck in just before Hanoi Jane became too annoying for words

Blast of Silence

Elevator to the Gallows

Jack's Back - 1988 - with James Spader

Das letzte Schweigen (The Silence), 2010

Das ewige Leben (Life Eternal), 2015

Anklaget (Accused), 2005

Murder by Contract

With hot young Vince Edwards and great LA locations

Nightfall - 1956 - Starring Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory and Frank Albertson. Jocelyn Brando in a smaller role. Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant

Not obscure but what the heck.

The Game Basic Instinct The Last Seduction

Oh yeah The Last Seduction! So much fun this one.

Did not do well when it came out even though it has a sexy cast and is very atmospheric. Jason Patric plays an Anti hero and he still had his sexy.

The David Mamet written and directed, "House of Games".

'Sisters', an early Brian DePalma movie with Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt 'Apartment Zero', with Colin Firth and Hart Bochner 'Let's Scare Jessica to Death' with Zohra Lampert 'Something Evil', a TV movie with Sandy Dennis and Darren McGavin 'Near Dark', with Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton 'The Legacy' with Katharine Ross, Sam Elliott 'The Abominable Dr Phibes' , 'Dr Phibes Rises Again' and 'Theatre of Blood' with Vincent Price,

Fermat's Room -- Spanish.

Also, The Skin I'm In. Riveting.

^^Sorry about the formatting

Point Blank

La Ceremonie

The China Syndrome

Night Moves

Susan Strasberg starred in SCREAM OF FEAR (1961).

Jessica Tandy, Roy Scheider & Meryl Streep in STILL OF THE NIGHT (1982).

Hume Cronyn, Warren Beatty, William Daniels & Paula Prentiss in THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974).

excellent !!

Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow & Cliff Robertson in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1976).

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is really quite good !

Gregory Peck & Sir Lawrence Olivier in THE BOYS FROM BRAZiL (1976).

I don't know if this was mentioned up thread but I really like "See No Evil" with Mia Farrow. Also "The Little Girl at the end of the Lane" with Jodie Foster. That one wasn't really a major thriller though.

"The Mirror Has Two Faces."

Terrifying movie about a hideous monster that longs to be human

Eye of the Needle--spy film with Donald Sutherland

Bad Day at Black Rock--Tracy, Ryan

The Dark Mirror--Olivia as twins

Dead Ringer--Bette as twins

Dangerous Crossing--Jeanne Crain

Footsteps in the Fog--Jean Simmons

I thought The Changeling , with George C. Scott, was one of the most intelligent ghost stories I've watched.

And the start of The Shuttered Room was so disturbing I made my parents leave the drive-in.

Ms. 45 from 1981 starring Zoe Lund and directed by Abel Ferrara. Lund plays a mute seamstress in late 70's early 80's nyc who's sexually harassed by her boss and brutally raped by 2 strangers in one day- setting her off to go on a man killing spree. I love Zoe

Road Games (1981)

Australian film starring Jamie lee Curtis as a hitchhiker in danger and Stacy keach as the truck driver who picks her up during a serial killer hitchhiker spree.

Blind Side (1993) made for TV movie starring Rebecca demornay, Ron silver and Rutger Howard. Couple involved in hit and run in Mexico become targets of a dangerous blackmailer. This movie was excellent.

Lisa (1989) made for tv thriller classic starring Staci Keenan and Cheryl ladd. Kenans character decides to stalk a handsome local man until her plan backfires and he becomes violent towards Keenan and her mother

This is a great thread

The Gift, murder mystery with Cate Blanchett as a rural psychic, and Keanu Reeves really good as a scary redneck.

Who can forget the clsssic 1992 erotic thriller Poison Ivy Starring a sexed up fresh out of rehab Drew Barrymore playing the unstable conniving man eater, Sara Gilbert playing her friend/hanger on, Tom skerrit as the older married man seduced by drew and of course Cheryl Ladd Stars As well.

Fuck yes R162! I remeber is so well. The scene where the steering wheel goes into Drew's chest. I had a weird crush on Tom Skerrit too

DL faves Loretta Swit and Barbara Eden ham it up in 1991 made for tv movie Hell Hath No Fury! Also starring Kim Zimmer and Amanda Peterson.

Man with the Cloak, period mystery with Stanwyck, and Cotten

The Verdict, Victorien-era mystery, Greenstreet,Lorre

Black Angel, noir with Dan Duryea

SHOCKPROOF; directed by the great Douglas Sirk and starring Cornel Wilde is pretty great.

Old but still watchable ............... WHIRLPOOL (1949)

The Spiral Staircase - 1946 - Mute servant girl plus a killer on the loose - Dorothy McGuire, Ethel Barrymore, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lancaster, George Brent

The Uninvited - 1944 - Classic Ghost Story - Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp and Cornelia Otis Skinner

Too Late for Tears - 1949 - One of the few film noir with a woman as the main character - Lizabeth Scott - Dan Duryea - Arthur Kennedy

Ghost Story - 1981 - Four elderly men share a terrible secret - Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr , John Houseman

Mask of Demetrios, Greenstreet, Lorre,Zachary Scott just before Mildred Pierce. Based on a novel by Eric Ambler. A series of flashbacks from people who have encountered, to their loss, the title character.

DOA--Edmond O'Brien in top form. Not sure if it's obscure. Guy walks into a police station and says he's reporting his own murder.

Raw Deal --great noir with Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt (now 99 and counting), and Raymond Burr as the heavy, so to speak.

Fallen Angel--Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Alice Faye

Angel Face--Jean Simmons, Mitchum

Both directed by Otto Preminger.

There's a movie I havent seen but sounds wonderfullu lurid called No Orchids for Miss Blandish. The always-hot Jack LaRue is in it. Gangsters and kidnapped socialite. The trailer for it has the text "Life magazine was horrified!"

BUMP

Dead Of Winter with Mary Steenbergen and Roddy McDowell........unexpectedly good....1987.

I was just about to post the exact same movie as R172. DOW used to be shown on tv years ago and it’s a great thriller. The trailer gives away too much though.

Troll

Copycat (1995). Sorry if it has already been mentioned before. I am never fond of Holly Hunter, but I find her bearable here, and Sigourney more than makes up for it as an agoraphobic criminal psych.

another vote for Copycat

Stephen Frear's THE HIT.

And another vote for BLAST OF SILENCE

Also, ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS. Not really a thriller but still engrossing even when nothing is happening.

(All three are on Criterion)/