NBCUniversal’s Peacock is offering subscribers a few heavy hitter movies at the moment, e.g. M3GAN (and M3GAN 2.0), Monkey Man, The Phoenician Scheme, and 21 Jump Street. Not to mention, Jurassic World Rebirth is hitting the streamer come October 30th. But what about some of its deeper cuts? Not necessarily movies that didn’t get any love, but ones that have perhaps slipped off the radar over time or didn’t get on cinephiles list of priorities as much as they deserved to. Or, really, just movies you might not know are currently available to Peacock subscribers. Those are the ones that follow, all of which are thrillers. Some of them genre-blenders, some of them straightforward, but all of them thrillers.
Videos by ComicBook.com
We tried to avoid more straightforward horror movies that are regardless under Peacock’s “Thriller & Suspense” banner. For instance, The Thing, Abigail, You’re Next, and 1408. The same goes for the movies under that banner which skew action, e.g. Point Break, The Last Stand, and The Boondock Saints.
7) We Need to Talk About Kevin
Starring the incomparable Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly (two MCU actors wasted by that universe), We Need to Talk About Kevin is certainly not short in the acting power department. But giving them a run for their money is Ezra Miller, who was much more suited for this type of grim indie role than the bombast of their time in the DCEU. Miller plays the titular Kevin, a teen who has been showing budding signs of psychopathy ever since he was a child. His mother, Eva, is aware of this. And for all of Kevin’s life, Eva has been detached from her son. It hasn’t helped that ever since he was an infant he has tormented her and only her. With his father he’s a little saint. However not even that lasts, but by the time Reilly’s Franklin learns this, it may very well be too late.
Suffice to say, We Need to Talk About Kevin is not for the faint of heart. None of Lynne Ramsay’s movies really are (see You Were Never Really Here, with Joaquin Phoenix, for further proof). And considering how much more dangerous the simple act of going to school has become in the years since its 2011 release it is absolutely bound to upset some people. But it is without a doubt a movie that will get the viewer thinking, especially if they’re a parent.
6) Donnie Darko
Featuring Jake Gyllenhaal (in one of his early star-making roles), Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Jena Malone, Noah Wyle, Drew Barrymore, and Seth Rogen in his film debut, the cast for Donnie Darko is enough to make an outsider think it has an easily accessible typical Hollywood movie tone and narrative. That is not the case.
This brilliantly told fever dream with a gut-punch for an ending has Gyllenhaal’s Donald Darko plagued by visions of what appears to be a man in a horrifying rabbit costume. He, or it, goes by Frank and he prognosticates the end of “Donnie” at the end of a 28-day period. Is Frank right or is this just the dreaming of a troubled boy. Donnie will soon find out. The version of Donnie Darko available on Peacock is Richard Kelly’s director’s cut, which is the one to watch anyway.
5) Knock Knock
Eli Roth thrives with limited narratives with a slim cast list. For instance, Cabin Fever, Hostel, and Knock Knock. These movies function well while something like Borderlands crumbles rather quickly. And considering Knock Knock isn’t as pus or blood covered as Cabin Fever or Hostel, it may very well be the most macro-scale accessible of Roth’s better films.
Keanu Reeves plays architect Evan Webber, a family man whose wife and children have gone on a vacation. He stays behind so he can work and go to physical therapy for his injured shoulder. However, on the very night his family leaves, two beautiful young women, Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas) come to his doorstep claiming to have gotten lost on their way to a party. Pretty soon the three of them get a party going all by themselves, but unfortunately for Webber, the women’s idea of a party is just getting started.
4) The Birds
When it comes down to Psycho and The Birds, these two are the entries in Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography that are considered firmly planted in the horror genre. But they are also thrillers and mysteries. In fact, they fall more under the mystery and thriller banners than horror. So, allow this entry to serve as a recommendation for both Hitchcock classics, as the two of them are currently on Peacock.
As for The Birds, what works so well about this film outside its well-aged effects and game performances by Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, and Rod Taylor, is that it is a mystery that is never solved. Usually this is something that makes the viewer leave a cinematic experience feeling unsatisfied. But, here, it works. It works so well because the birds themselves and their sudden ferocity is secondary to just how well-drawn the characters are. It’s more important that we get to know them than it is we get some sort of bow-tied explanation for this avian attack. We fall in love with the people of the story just as we’re heartbroken to see some of them go. The Birds is one of Hitchcock’s late filmography’s best entries.
3) Limitless
After years playing part of an ensemble in comedies like Wet Hot American Summer, Wedding Crashers, Failure to Launch, Yes Man, The A-Team, and The Hangover, Bradley Cooper got his own chance to shine as a leading man in a more serious wide release via Limitless. The result was a hit and an energetic movie with a meaty central role for Cooper to chew on.
Neil Burger’s film follows a struggling author who is far from short in the ambition department. Thanks to NZT-48, which seems to be a miracle drug, he finds his mind opened and hungrier than ever. He can learn languages over the course of an evening, he can crank out books like no other, and he even starts to get some clout in the political world. However, this drug, which is extremely limited in its production, comes at a cost. For one, it has side effects. Two, if someone else tries it, they’ll kill to get your supply away from you. Thanks to the film’s style, fairly quick pacing, and charismatic performance by Cooper, Limitless is an adventure that functions on rewatches just as well as it did in theaters back in 2011.
2) Vengeance
Most of B. J. Novak’s most memorable roles have been in properties that aired on NBC or Peacock. There is, of course, his iconic role as the ambitious but selfish Ryan Howard on The Office, but he also recently put in an appearance as Hiram Lubinski in Poker Face Season 2. If you’re already on Peacock watching those shows, you might as well add Vengeance, his directorial debut, to your watchlist.
Vengeance follows a self-absorbed New Yorker is called by a previous one-night stand’s family to attend her funeral. While there, he learns they are under the impression that he and their dearly departed were more than a fling. He also learns from her brother that her death seems to be more than an overdose, it could very well be murder. Now, this New York-based journalist sees an opportunity to create some great content by unraveling this mystery, unless he grows a conscience in the process. Vengeance does blend a lot of genres, e.g. black comedy, mystery, and little hints of the Western, but it has quite a few thrilling sequences as well.
1) Memento
A non-linear mystery that holds up with repeat viewings, Christopher Nolan’s Memento was an early example of his ability to craft movies that are both popularist and thought provoking. Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia to uses photos and his many tattoos to unravel the mystery of who killed his wife.
For such an unconventionally structured plotline, Memento has a fantastic ability to never lose audience interest. The script is sharp, the performances by Pearce and The Matrix vets Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano are engrossing, and the ending is satisfying without being cliche revenge tale stuff.
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Paramount+ -
Courtesy of Comedy Central
