SUSPENSE Thrillers:
The Intellectual's
Horror Film

Alfred Hitchcock is the undisputed King of Suspense Thrillers and we’ve included several of his movies in our list.  A new Hitchcock is on the horizon though and he’s made his talent and presence known through The Sixth Sense and this year’s Signs.  Thirty-two year old M. Night Shyamalan shows Hitchcock’s uncanny ability to combine psychology, spirituality and intrigue into hair-raising, spine-chilling stories that tap into our deepest fears while peppering the plot with humor and common sense humanity.  Both of these movies made our list and we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Did you know that fear is an aphrodisiac?  It is, which is one reason why watching a heart pounding suspense thriller can be the perfect prelude to an evening of bedtime gymnastics.

Surprise!  Why Manchurian Candidate for number one? Numerous reasons, the most notable is this is the most unusual suspense thriller you will ever see and by far Frank Sinatra's best on screen work. How many movies are so convincing that they have to be pulled out of the theaters because what they cover not only could happen but also does?
   

Number four on our countdown is JAWS, the film that made beaches all over the world ghost towns in 1975 and launched Spielberg into stardom.

JAWS the book is inspired by the real life shark attacks on the Eastern Coast of the US in 1916, which claimed five lives over the course of two weeks. What makes this movie great is the story. It's not about a shark that eats people; As in the Great story of Moby Dick, JAWS is about men, friendship and ultimately testing man's ability to fight and control nature and the demons within himself. Our favorite scene takes place midway through the movie when Scheider, Shaw and Dreyfus do a little male bonding by comparing past injuries, each trying to out do the other with a more disastrous scar. It reminds us that men never do grow up and ingratiates every viewer to the characters. JAWS is frightening, suspenseful and contains some great humor, not to mention the one music signature everyone in the world now associates with sharks!      
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Rebecca is Alfred Hitchcock's first American film and deserves to be recognized apart from his other work.  It is the haunting story of a marriage of convenience and void of love between a young woman (Joan Fontaine) and the emotionally unavailable rich widower (Laurence Olivier).  The young wife becomes consumed with the sheltered secrets and questionable death of his first wife, Rebecca. Trying to fit in, Fontaine's character must run the gauntlet of contempt and vicious sabotage orchestrated by Olivier's vindictive housekeeper (Judith Anderson).  Classic film noír this film climaxes in a ball of fire and the destruction of myth. The images of Rebecca will haunt you for a lifetime. TOP

Men often call this movie a "Horror Film", and if 63% of all men cheat on their wives, then Glen Close's character Alex is every philanderers worse nightmare! Explicit in its exploration of  obsession and raw lust, the story builds as Alex falls further and further into unrequited lust bridging insanity.  Michael Douglas becomes the sympathetic victim, which normally a cheating husband would not be.  Nominated for 6 Academy Awards® in 1987 including Best Picture and Best Actress. If you've ever thought of cheating on your spouse, you won't after seeing this thriller!  TOP

Based on the true story of two New York City narcotics officers who collar the largest heroin smuggling crew in history.  Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) holds no bars, even coercion or violence to make a bust.  Cloudy (Roy Scheider) his partner balances out the team.  French Connection is the ultimate cat and mouse game and contains the most famous car chase ever filmed.  This is the film gritty television shows like NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues took lessons from and even decades later it is still as fresh and relevant as the day it was filmed.

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"Who is Keyser Söze?" If we told you, you'd miss the entire point of the movie.  Got to love Kevin Spacey.  We first became a fan of his in the TV show WISEGUY and in this movie he's even more demented! Spacey plays a club-footed con man who recounts the criminal bedtime story of Hungarian mobster Keyser Söze. Gabriel Byrne plays the quiet intellectual criminal to a T and the rest of the cast is incredible. The overriding story line is Who is Keyser Söze?  Then again, maybe this story is a red herring.  Underlining  the Keyser theme is the planned heist of an entire shipment of cocaine.  Here's the twist.  Blink and you'll miss the plot, the clues and the point of the movie because there are several plots and subplots moving about.  We had to watch it twice to get it and a third time to really love it!  This is a movie you'll need to think through and the ending, like Manchurian Candidate won't be known until the last minute of the film.  Worth the time and the investment, this is storytelling at its finest. TOP

It's been a long time since a movie frightened us enough to scream and the surround sound is something you have to experience.   Shyamalan is a fan of Steven Spielberg and he has obviously studied his thriller technique of mixing human stories with humor, horror and fear.  Our favorite scene has Mel Gibson walking into his family room to find his two children and adult brother wearing tin foil hats to keep the aliens from reading their minds.  It's sweet silliness.  What we really love about this movie, aside from its unpredictability is the underlying message of never losing faith in God.  Gibson plays a disillusioned minister who has turned his back on God after the death of his wife.  Through the film he struggles with this until ultimately in the end he comes to realize God hasn't abandoned him and everything does happen for a reason.  If this film isn't nominated for several Academy Awards, we will be shocked.  It's been a long time since a movie has mixed positive messages with humanity, humor and fear.  This one deserves to be recognized.  TOP