The 12 Finest Thrillers on HBO Max Proper Now (November 2024)

It typically looks as if true cinematic thrillers have gone out of trend currently. Maybe the style has been taken over by tv and true-crime documentaries. These are nice, however typically you need a suspenseful, fictional story in two hours or much less. Fortunately, Max has a ton of thrilling motion pictures so that you can watch or rewatch as many instances as you need. The next entries characterize only a small sampling of thrillers the streaming service at present has to supply.

Do not see what you are on the lookout for? Take a look at our listing of the perfect horror movies or dramas on the platform or the perfect motion pictures throughout all genres on Max.

Editor’s word: This text was up to date in November 2024 to incorporate Parasite and The Woman with the Dragon Tattoo.

‘Parasite’ (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 99% | IMDb: 8.5/10

One of many biggest motion pictures of all time, Parasite follows the Kims, a household dwelling among the many poorest in Seoul, who slowly infiltrate the rich Park clan by changing their workers one after the other. After efficiently discovering themselves within the belief of the household, every part adjustments for the Kims with one easy ring of a doorbell. Parasite is a really humorous black comedy, a desperately poignant drama, an clever social satire, and — maybe most of all — a horrifically tense thriller. That includes a set of beautiful central performances and a narrative that feels extra related by the day, Parasite greater than deserved its Academy Award win for Finest Image — the primary international language movie to ever obtain this feat. – Jake Hodges

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‘The Woman with the Dragon Tattoo’ (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% | IMDb: 7.8/10

Primarily based on Stieg Larsson’s 2005 novel of the identical identify, The Woman with the Dragon Tattoo follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) as he groups up with pc hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) to research the disappearance of a woman 4 a long time prior. In maybe Mara’s finest efficiency of her profession to this point, The Woman with the Dragon Tattoo shines due to its central performances. One among David Fincher’s most underrated works, the movie earned 5 Academy Award nominations, successful one for Finest Achievement in Movie Enhancing. – Jake Hodges

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‘Civil Conflict (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes: 81% | IMDb: 7.1/10

Alex Garland’s Civil Conflict — manufacturing firm A24’s second-biggest field workplace hit ever — follows a group of journalists who enterprise by an alternate America that has developed right into a fight zone, determined to achieve the White Home earlier than a insurgent drive brings it to the bottom. That includes immersive performances from the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Nick Offerman, Civil Conflict is finest cherished for its immersive script that feels constructed on the foundations of the actual fears that face trendy America. A daunting take a look at a warped however scarily lifelike future, Civil Conflict is each a hellish nightmare and a gripping motion flick, with thrills and spills aplenty serving to line this deep-rooted political thriller. – Jake Hodges

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‘Midsommar’ (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 83% | IMDb: 7.1/10

Some of the modern minds in trendy horror, Ari Aster’s mind-bending masterpiece Midsommar stars Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor as Dani and Christian, a younger couple who’re invited to hitch a midsummer Swedish pageant within the countryside. Nevertheless, what first begins as a refreshing and enigmatic journey away quickly turns darkish, with the wicked needs of the cult who reside there shortly twisting the fortunes of the couple seemingly deadly. Aesthetically beautiful and terribly scary, Midsommar is a triumph of contemporary horror with its dedication to discovering scares in essentially the most unlikely of locations. Not solely that, however the film could be very intentionally usually comedic, with the constant horror lower intelligently by biting moments of humor. – Jake Hodges

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‘Black Swan’ (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 84% | IMDb: 8.0/10

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan is a psychological horror movie starring Natalie Portman as a ballerina who finds herself spiraling into insanity as she competes for the coveted lead in a manufacturing of Swan Lake. The movie’s screenplay was written by Andres Heinz, Mark Heyman, and John McLaughlin. Apart from Portman within the lead position, the film additionally stars Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. Black Swan premiered on the 2010 Venice Worldwide Movie Competition, the place it obtained important popularity of its course and performances. Shortly after, the movie arrived in theaters and have become a serious international success as properly, bringing in over $300 million on a finances of simply $13 million. Natalie Portman delivers an Oscar-winning efficiency as a troubled artist getting ready to madness — arguably probably the greatest of her profession. Aronofsky’s masterful course blends actuality and phantasm right into a heady, surreal combine, which additional highlights Portman’s efficiency and takes the viewer on a troubling, enthralling journey to the darkest corners of the human thoughts.

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‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 63% | IMDb: 7.0/10

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a psychological horror movie that follows a surgeon who takes a younger boy underneath his wing — solely to search out that he has a hidden agenda. The film stars Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan, with Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, and Alicia Silverstone. The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered on the 2017 Cannes Movie Competition, the place it received the Finest Screenplay award and competed for the Palme d’Or. The movie has obtained important acclaim and is considered a primary instance of Lanthimos’ significantly idiosyncratic fashion, presenting an absurdist tackle a easy sufficient premise. It’s very a lot a horror-thriller story, however it’s that off-beat sensibility that units The Killing of a Sacred Deer aside from the herd. With good performances by its ensemble solid, a stunning humorousness, and a script that retains you guessing, The Killing of a Sacred Deer isn’t only a nice thriller — it’s nice cinema.

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‘Meg 2: The Trench’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 73% | IMDb: 5.0/10

A sequel to the hit sharksploitation film The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench follows Jason Statham’s Jonas and Jing Wu’s Jiuming Zhang as they lead a analysis group down into the darkish depths of the unexplored ocean, solely to be met by fears greater than they ever may have imagined and a battle for survival simply as nice. With the unique throwing almighty action-sequences and terrifying visuals in abundance, Meg 2: The Trench turns the dial up much more, with spectacular cinematography from Haris Zambarloukos that manages to seize the sheer terror of the ocean. A wild experience from begin to end, Meg 2: The Trench is the proper indulgence film for individuals who need thrills and spills with out essentially any nuance. A truth followers of the sequence relish, Meg 2: The Trench is unapologetically in-your-face. – Jake HodgesWatch on Max

‘Actuality’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% | IMDb: 6.7/10

Director and playwright Tina Satter adapts her stage play Is This a Room, primarily based on the actual transcripts of an FBI investigation into leaked categorized paperwork. On the middle of the investigation is a younger US Air Drive member and NSA translator named Actuality Winner, whose tense encounter with the FBI is masterfully captured by up-and-coming expertise Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria). This docudrama is an excellent showcase for Satter as her movie directorial debut, and she or he couldn’t have picked a greater lead in Sweeney, who’s so actual and grounded on this position it makes your coronary heart race with each query she has to subject, realizing a single misplaced phrase may imply the top for her.Watch on Max

‘Kimi’ (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes: 60% | IMDb: 6.3/10

One other movie that proves Steven Soderbergh is without doubt one of the finest to ever do it, Kimi is a masterful trendy thriller set in Seattle that authentically captures town because it follows Zoë Kravitz as a tech employee named Angela. In the middle of her work, Angela discovers that there’s a coverup that she should depart the security of her house so as to uncover. What follows is a totally tense expertise that sees her having to flee by the nooks and crannies of town whereas avoiding an entire host of pursuers who would need nothing greater than to verify she stays silent. Not solely is Kravitz pitch-perfect within the position, however she additionally actually embraces the kinetic power of the movie that retains every part transferring alongside easily. All of it builds to probably the most satisfying and cathartic conclusions, making for probably the most totally satisfying cinematic rides you’ll discover on the market. — Chase HutchinsonWatch on Max

‘Blood Easy’ (1984)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% | IMDb: 7.5/10

Blood Easy was the world’s introduction to the Coen Brothers, they usually come out the gate swinging. The movie has all their hallmarks, already shaped. Its characters are dumb, however likable people who get in over their heads and run instantly into catastrophe. Even this early on, the Coens show a fantastic eye for element and ear for dialog. The movie is a pleasure simply to hearken to. And likewise, there may be all that loopy Coen violence, which might be humorous and horrifying on the identical time. On high of all that, the movie boasts a brilliant early Frances McDormand efficiency as properly.Watch on Max

‘The Girl Vanishes’ (1938)

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% | IMDb: 7.7/10

Max has a whole lot of older Alfred Hitchcock movies from his black and white, pre-Hollywood, spy period. They’re all fairly good, however amongst them, The Girl Vanishes is further particular. The movie focuses on a prepare experience throughout which one passenger, a pleasant outdated girl, has seemingly ceased to exist. It’s as much as a duo of vacationers to resolve the thriller. Face it, there’s nothing higher than watching individuals resolve a seemingly not possible puzzle whereas onboard a prepare. It additionally helps that the conclusion finally ends up being well worth the wait conceptually and tremendous enjoyable as properly.Watch on Max

‘The Wages of Worry’ (1953)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | IMDb: 8.2/10

One of many basic thrillers, The Wages of Worry gives a quite simple premise. For determined males should drive extremely delicate truckloads of nitroglycerine 300 miles over treacherous terrain. The journey is price an excessive amount of cash to refuse, however only a couple good bumps will trigger their payload to blow up, killing them in a ball of fireside. To name the movie tense does it a disservice. Each mile these guys drive may very well be their final, and should you suppose an uneven filth highway full of potholes is the worst they arrive up towards, you haven’t seen sufficient motion pictures. This was later remade by the good William Friedkin as Sorcerer within the Nineteen Seventies. Collectively they make for a really white-knuckled double function.Watch on Max