7 Iconic 1990s Thrillers You Need To See

When it comes to thrillers, there’s really no beating the 1990s, be it crime thrillers, straightforward thrillers, or erotic thrillers. Sure, the 1980s had Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Heat, Thief, and First Blood while the 2000s had Memento, Frailty, and Mulholland Drive, but the ’90s had a stunning batting average. For every lackluster Pacific Heights there were two Presumed Innocents or Jacob’s Ladders. It’s very telling that we’ve included seven classics here, but that number is simply scratching the surface of all the excellent thrillers the decade contributed to the genre’s history. There were quite a few that didn’t quite make the cut, such as The Hunt for Red October, Miller’s Crossing, Backdraft, and Dead Again.

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However, we left off action thrillers, because that could be its own list. We were shooting for straightforward thrillers here, some erotic, some investigative, some with a toe in the criminal underworld, all of them excellent.

7) Misery

Even though she is one of the best actresses of all time, Kathy Bates has only won a single Academy Award (though she was subsequently nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Primary Colors, About Schmidt, and Richard Jewell). And what did she win that Academy Award for? A Stephen King adaptation, which is material that rarely gets such accolades.

It couldn’t have been any more well deserved, as Bates is a tour de force as Annie Wilkes. She fully makes us believe her tendency to be unhinged just as well as he makes her character’s love for the works of Paul Sheldon come across as organic. We empathize with Wilkes. She lives an isolated life and seems like someone who is content just wrapping up in a blanket and reading a book. Unfortunately, that appears to be all she has, right up until the author of her favorite series essentially lands on her front porch. From there it’s a sweat-inducing cat and mouse game where the mouse has his legs broken and is forced to remain in a single locale. We feel for the mouse because we’re scared of the cat, who seems like it’s on the verge of becoming a full-on Cujo.

6) Cape Fear

Managing to rival the quality of the 1962 original movie, Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear is a well-constructed psychological chiller that makes you believe its villain’s dangerous obsession. That villain would be Max Cady, played with great relish by Robert De Niro (who is stepping into a role originally played by Robert Mitchum, who has a cameo in the remake, as does the original film’s other lead, Gregory Peck).

Scorsese does a wonderful job of gradually building tension in this film. Even if the viewer finds that De Niro’s performance skews into campy territory, they’re going to believe that his character is capable of killing a maid, dressing up as her, then garroting a private detective.

5) JFK

Are some of the theories posited in Oliver Stone’s JFK a bit on the outlandish side? Sure, but even when it does get to that level the movie really has a way of convincing you that its characters find the theories plausible.

This is essentially a courtroom movie if the case were entirely speculative. The real-world death of JFK raised a lot of questions that, as far as many are concerned, were never fully answered. Even if you don’t buy the theories that the movie puts forward you get to thinking about what may have happened. You’ll also find yourself believing that those behind the movie really loved the President just as you’ll find the performances by the cast (one of the most impressive in film history) compelling. This is especially true of Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Sissy Spacek, Donald Sutherland, and lead Kevin Costner.

4) Red Rock West

If you’ve seen Oliver Stone’s U Turn and thought it was a great concept with terrible execution, know that you should have given Red Rock West a rental instead. This film, which predates U Turn by four years, is essentially identical. A stranger comes to a small town and finds himself getting roped into a murder plot involving a beautiful but neglected wife.

The difference is that, in U Turn, the stranger in a small town is hired to kill the wife, whereas here he’s just someone who is mistaken for the hitman hired to kill the neglectful husband’s wife. The real hitman is played by Dennis Hopper, who has a blast playing bad. Red Rock West is the type of movie that ropes you into its world just as Nicolas Cage’s Michael Williams is roped into the plot.

3) Seven

David Fincher has continued to make excellent films since Seven (popularly known as Se7en), but this is still his grand masterwork. It’s so visceral you feel yourself drawn entirely to it even though the world it’s built is exceedingly grotesque, rainy, and depressing. It’s not a world (or unspecified city) you would want to live in, but for two hours from the safety of your couch it couldn’t be any more engrossing.

However, while the cinematography, writing, compelling nature of the central mystery, and established atmosphere are all major contributors to the film’s success it’s really the cast that makes you stick with it. The seasoned veteran and hot-headed youngster is a cop dynamic that is well-worn, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt play their parts exceedingly well, making us fully believe that they are, respectively, individuals sick of a disgusting world and an ambitious young buck with the willingness to go where he needs to, and do what he has to do, to succeed.

Image courtesy of New Line Cinema.

2) Basic Instinct

Paul Verhoeven was always great at two things: sci-fi movies that satirize major real-world issues and eroticism. Oftentimes, even the movies of that former category included little tastes of the latter. Granted, the film he helmed after this, Showgirls, was an erotic film that was widely panned, but even that has accrued fans over the years.

Undoubtedly, Basic Instinct is the apex of 1990s erotic thrillers. It’s steeped in neo-noir vibes, Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas (the king of these types of movies) are perfectly cast and share steamy chemistry and never fails to bring twists to the table throughout the runtime that keep the audience guessing. Even in the final moment you’re given a new question, one that will never be answered. Just avoid the sequel at all costs.

Stream Basic Instinct on fuboTV.

1) The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs isn’t just the best thriller of the ’90s, it very well may be the best movie of the decade regardless of genre. From moment one your feel grounded in not a movie reality, but our own reality, and that makes the awful things that Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter do all the more haunting.

On that note, not only are the villains astoundingly iconic, but its hero is just as effective. Clarice Starling is brave, ambitious, and laced with a good bit of mystery surrounding her past. And, of course, none of the film’s characters would be as well realized as they are without the performances of the cast, and the cast list of The Silence of the Lambs couldn’t be any better. It’s well known that Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster turn in a pair of the most famous and layered performances in film history, but credit should also be given to Ted Levine, Scott Glenn, Frankie Faison, Anthony Heald, and Charles Napier.

Stream The Silence of the Lambs on MGM+.

What is your favorite ’90s thriller? Let us know in the comments.