39 Best Thriller Movies of 2024 So Far

The year 2024 has been a standout for thriller enthusiasts, delivering a captivating mix of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought-provoking storytelling. Dev Patel set the tone early with Monkey Man, a Kill Bill-inspired action-thriller that left audiences exhilarated. Since then, the genre has flourished, offering a diverse lineup of films that range from psychological mind-benders to high-stakes adventures.

This year’s thrillers have also revitalized beloved franchises and introduced gripping original narratives. Alien: Romulus proved that the Xenomorphs are far from done terrifying audiences, while Netflix’s Woman of the Hour and Apple TV+’s Parallel brought fresh intrigue with their chilling true-crime tale and multi-dimensional suspense, respectively. Whether on the big screen or streaming platforms, 2024’s thrillers have kept viewers captivated with their intensity and creativity. Here are the best thriller movies of the year so far.

Alien: Romulus

Director: Fede Álvarez
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu
Where to Watch: Hulu, Apple TV

It is part of the Alien franchise, set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986)
Young interstellar travellers find themselves stranded on an alien planet across the galaxy. Forsaken in an unfamiliar landscape they are met by the most terrifying predator in the universe. The troupe must work together to survive against the odds..

Woman of the Hour

Director: Anna Kendrick
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale
Where to Watch: Netflix

Woman of the Hour is based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of Cheryl Bradshaw and Rodney Alcala. Bradshaw was a bachelorette on the hit ’70s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game and chose handsome and funny bachelor No. 3, Rodney Alcala. But behind Alcala’s charming facade was a deadly secret: He was a psychopathic serial killer.

Parallel

Director: Kourosh Ahari
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Aldis Hodge, Edwin Hodge
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Paramount+

It is a science fiction thriller movies of 2024, a remake of the 2019 Chinese film Parallel Forest by Lei Zheng.
Follows the journey of Vanessa, a grief-stricken woman who mysteriously finds herself navigating between parallel spaces.

Carry-On

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Taron Egerton, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler and Jason Bateman
Where to Watch: Netflix

It’s Christmas Eve and young TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Edgerton) receives a call from someone else’s earpiece and finds himself caught up in a deadly game. A stranger (Jason Bateman) demands to let a package of explosives onto a flight, threatening the life of Ethan’s lover (Sofia Carson).

The Instigators

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones, Jack Harlow, and Ron Perlman
Where to Watch: Apple TV+

Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. But when it goes awry, they team up to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss.

Wolfs

Director: Jon Watts
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan
Where to Watch: Apple TV+

A professional fixer is hired to cover up a high-profile crime. But when a second fixer shows up and the two “lone wolves” are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected.

Juror #2

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, and Kiefer Sutherland
Where to Watch: Max

It is the best legal thriller film of 2024. While serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, family man Justin Kemp finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict—or free—the accused killer.

Blink Twice

Director: Zoë Kravitz
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Amazon

Blink Twice is a psychological thriller movies of 2024, it tells the story of a group of people invited to the private island of a billionaire tech mogul as something strange happens with the attendees.

Love Lies Bleeding

Director: Rose Glass
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, and Ed Harris
Where to Watch: Max

Love Lies Bleeding is the best romantic thriller movies of 2024, received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review.
Set in 1989, the film’s plot follows the lesbian relationship between a reclusive gym manager, who is part of a crime family, and an ambitious bodybuilder who gets wrapped up in organized crime.

Monkey Man

Director: Dev Patel
Starring: Dev Patel, Sikandar Kher, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, and Vipin Sharma
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Released from prison in Mumbai, an ex-convict enters an unfamiliar and changed world. He sees excessive corporate greed causing mass poverty and spirituality waning all across society. With no hope of a fresh start, he uses his newfound freedom to seek out those who wronged him in the past. In his righteous frustration, he is fuelled only by his desire for revenge.

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Mothers’ Instinct

Director: Benoît Delhomme
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Josh Charles
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV

It is one of the best psychological thriller films of 2024, remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s 2018 French-language film, which itself was an adaptation of the 2012 novel Mothers’ Instinct (French: Derrière la haine) by Barbara Abel.
Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.

Trap

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill
Where to Watch: Max

In M. Night Shyamalan’s latest outing, everyone in a large city is in a frenzy. Why? That’s because they’re up and ready to watch a concert performed by famous pop star Lady Raven. Two of her fans, a man named Cooper and his daughter Riley, attend the concert with high spirits, but things slowly begin to change their tune. Amongst the screams of adoration and sounds of applause, the concert itself has a hidden identity: a front to fish out an infamous serial killer known as The Butcher. With security cameras rigged, armies of policemen with weapons at the ready, and police vehicles surrounding the venue, will anyone survive their concert experience or is there more to The Butcher than meets the eye?

Twisters

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane
Where to Watch: Peacock Premium

As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Carter, lured back to the open plains after a devastating encounter years prior, and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
The film is based on a story by Joseph Kosinski. Serving as a standalone sequel to Twister (1996).

Civil War

Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, and Nick Offerman
Where to Watch: Max

The plot follows a team of war journalists traveling from New York City to Washington, D.C. during a civil war fought across the United States between a despotic federal government and secessionist movements to interview the president before rebels take the capital city.

A Quiet Place: Day One

Director: Michael Sarnoski
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Paramount+, Amazon Video, Apple TV

The film is based on a story he conceived with John Krasinski. It is the third installment in the A Quiet Place film series, serving as a spin-off and prequel.
A woman must find her way through the madness of New York City in the midst of an alien invasion. Set in the world of A Quiet Place, this movie explores the origin of how society collapsed during the invasion and then tried to survive after it.

The Watchers

Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré and Oliver Finnegan
Where to Watch: Max

It is a supernatural horror thriller film, follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist who becomes trapped in a vast, untouched forest in the west of Ireland. Seeking shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are stalked by mysterious creatures every night.

Cuckoo

Director: Tilman Singer
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas, Jessica Henwick, and Dan Stevens
Where to Watch: Hulu

It is one of the best horror thriller movies of 2024, Gretchen is forced to move away from America to live with her father in the German Alps. When she arrives in the small town she meets her father’s new including her mute half-sister and her father’s boss Mr. Konig. Gretchen grows suspicious of the town and its inhabitants when she begins to hear terrifying sounds and witness surreal horrors. Beneath the peaceful paradise is a dark secret about her own family that puts her own life at risk.

Oddity

Director: Damian McCarthy
Starring: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, Steve Wall
Where to Watch: AMC+, Shudder, Amazon, Apple TV

It follows a blind medium and curio shopkeeper who is still grieving the death of her twin sister a year prior when a wooden mannequin from her collection becomes crucial to her quest to uncover the truth about her sister’s murder.

Founders Day

Director: Erik Bloomquist
Starring: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin and Emilia McCarthy
Where to Watch: The Roku Channel, VUDU Free, Pluto TV

In the small New England town of Fairwood, a heated political campaign is underway between two mayoral candidates on the town’s 300th anniversary. In the middle of it all, the candidates’ inner circle becomes the target of a masked serial killer in a judge’s suit who begins to torment everyone in the city.

Kill

Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Tanya Maniktala and Abhishek Chauhan
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV

When army commando Amrit finds out his true love, Tulika, is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him–turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.

Rebel Ridge

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen, Steve Zissis, Zsané Jhé, Dana Lee, James Cromwell
Where to Watch: Netflix

It is one of the best action thriller movies of 2024 so far. An ex Marine on his way to bail out his cousin from jail finds himself pushed against the wall by a high handed and corrupt chief of police. He then has no option but to confront the cop and despite strong resistance he fights his way out to complete his mission.

In the land of Saints and Sinners

Director: Robert Lorenz
Starring: Liam Neeson, Kerry Condon, Jack Gleeson, Colm Meaney and Ciarán Hinds
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Amazon Video, Apple TV

It is one of the best action thriller movies of 2024. Passing a quiet existence in a small Irish village, World War II veteran and widower Finbar Murphy leads a double life as a hitman working for an underworld boss, but “The Troubles” in Ireland have come to his town and pull him back into the world of vigilante justice.

Emilia Pérez

Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, and Édgar Ramírez
Where to Watch: Netflix

It is based on Audiard’s opera libretto of the same name, which was in turn loosely adapted from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute.
Rita is a brilliant lawyer who is lost in her corporate job. Despite her talents, she finds herself serving the same corrupt clients and manipulating the Mexican judicial system case after case. But when she’s approached by Juan ‘Little Hands’ Del Monte, her whole life changes. Also known as Manitas, the cartel boss has long been searching for a way to disappear from the authorities for years. Manitas is ready to affirm her gender as a woman, begin the process of gender transition, and start a whole new life.

Don’t Move

Director: Adam Schindler and Brian Netto
Starring: Kelsey Asbille, Finn Wittrock, Moray Treadwell, and Daniel Francis
Where to Watch: Netflix

Grieving mother Iris inadvertently comes across a serial killer, who injects her with a paralytic agent. She must escape by running, fighting and hiding before it takes full effect and her body shuts down.

Manjummel Boys

Director: Chidambaram
Starring: Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Balu Varghese, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Lal Jr., Deepak Parambol, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Khalid Rahman and Shebin Benson
Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar

Manjummel Boys is one of the best survival thriller movies of 2024. Its a real story, based on a Guna Caves rescue in 2006. The film follows a group of friends from a small locality called Manjummel in Kochi, who decide to have a vacation in Kodaikanal, which is affected when one of them becomes trapped in the Guna Caves.

Conclave

Director: Edward Berger
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini
Where to Watch: Peacock

Conclave is one of the best mystery thriller movies of 2024, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris. In the film, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) organizes a papal conclave to elect the next pope and finds himself investigating secrets and scandals about each candidate.

Longlegs

Director: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood, and Nicolas Cage
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV

The unsolved case of a serial killer lands on the desk of new FBI agent, Lee Harker. Turning over old evidence and discovering new clues, Harker unravels the occult nature of the crimes and slowly begins to realize just how personal the murders are.

The Platform 2

Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Starring: Milena Smit and Hovik Keuchkerian
Where to Watch: Netflix

A prequel to Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform (2019), A thrilling physical journey that allows an approach to the darkness, where it is scary to look. It appeals to the viewer’s civil responsibility and forces them to face the limits of their own solidarity.

Speak No Evil

Director: James Watkins
Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough, and Scoot McNairy
Where to Watch: Peacock

It is one of the best psychological horror thriller movies of 2024, a remake of the 2022 Danish-Dutch film of the same name.
Its plot follows an American family who are invited to stay at a remote farmhouse of a British couple for the weekend, and the hosts soon begin to test the limits of their guests as the situation escalates.

What You Wish For

Director: Nicholas Tomnay
Starring: Nick Stahl, Tamsin Topolski, Randy Vasquez, and Penelope Mitchell
Where to Watch: Hulu

A talented chef with gambling woes flees to a Latin American villa to visit an old friend who appears to be living an extraordinary life as a private chef. Envy soon turns to greed and then to something deeply unsettling for the chef when he assumes his friend’s life and discovers the motives of his mysterious clients.

Do Patti

Director: Kanika Dhillon
Starring: Kajol, Kriti Sanon and Shaheer Sheikh
Where to Watch: Netflix

Between two pretty twin sisters one is timid and introverted while the other is bubbly and daring. A handsome young businessman known to both girls decides to get married to the timid one but he has anger control issues and indulges in domestic violence. Soon the situation spirals into more serious developments.

Joker: Folie à Deux

Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill
Where to Watch: Max

Joker 2 is a musical psychological thriller film, based on DC Comics characters, it is a sequel to Joker (2019).
Arthur Fleck has spawned a movement. Whether he intended it or not, Fleck has been turned and tipped over the edge into full-blown psychopathy. Fleck, now known as Joker is at Arkham Asylum, where he meets a fellow inmate who is curious and cunning. Joined in their madness, Joker and his newfound partner, Harley Quinn find music and magic in their madness.

Vanished Into the Night

Director: Renato De Maria
Starring: Riccardo Scamarcio and Annabelle Wallis
Where to Watch: Netflix

A father, immersed in a difficult divorce process, embarks on a dangerous mission when his children disappear from their isolated country house.

Sleeping Dogs

Director: Adam Cooper
Starring: Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan
Where to Watch: Hulu

It is one of the best crime thriller film, adapted by Cooper and Bill Collage from the 2017 novel The Book of Mirrors by E.O. Chirovici.
Roy Freeman, an ex-homicide detective with a fractured memory, is forced to revisit a case he can’t remember. As a man’s life hangs in the balance on death row, Freeman must piece together the brutal evidence from a decade-old murder investigation, uncovering a sinister web of buried secrets and betrayals linking to his past. With only instincts to trust, he faces a chilling truth – sometimes, it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Strange Darling

Director: JT Mollner
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr.
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV

Set in rural Oregon, the film focuses on a man and woman who have a one-night stand that devolves into a cat-and-mouse game of murder. It is divided into six chapters in nonlinear order, and presented as a dramatization of the pinnacle of a serial killer’s years-long murder spree in the Western United States.

It’s What’s Inside

Director: Greg Jardin
Starring: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Reina Hardesty, Devon Terrell, David Thompson, and Madison Davenport
Where to Watch: Netflix

A group of friends gather for a pre-wedding party that descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend arrives with a mysterious game that awakens long-hidden secrets, desires and grudges.

Smile 2

Director: Parker Finn
Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, and Raúl Castillo, with Kyle Gallner
Where to Watch: fuboTV, Paramount+

Smile 2 is a psychological supernatural horror film, sequel to Smile (2022).
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

A Different Man

Director: Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, Apple TV

Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance, but his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.

Misericordia

Director: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Félix Kysyl and Catherine Frot
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Jérémie returns to his hometown of Saint-Martial to attend his former boss’s funeral. He stays for a few days with the widow Martine. His presence angers her son Vincent. This causes a fight between the two men, which ends with Jérémie killing Vincent. He manages to conceal his crime with the unexpected help of the village priest, who provides him with an alibi in exchange for his affection.

Babygirl

Director: Halina Reijn
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, and Antonio Banderas
Where to Watch: Theatre

The film explores the complexities of power dynamics and sexuality within a professional setting as high-ranking CEO Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) in New York City embarks on a forbidden romance with captivating intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who is significantly younger.

The Beekeeper

Director: David Ayer
Starring: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Phylicia Rashad, Jemma Redgrave and Jeremy Irons
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV

The film follows a retired clandestine human intelligence operative, and his crusade for justice after his kind-hearted landlady becomes the victim of a phishing scam that steals millions of dollars from the landlady’s charity.

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