10 Great Suspense Movies

 10 Great Suspense Movies to Watch

As a lover and writer of suspense with an forthcoming release (my eerie suspense novella Apartment), I'm a big fan of well-made suspense movies. Today I'm sharing ten suspenseful movies that I love, and that I think would be a great watch for a cozy night in this winter.

Also: As many of us are also trying to stay at home with rising cases, I think now is a great time for us to share movies that we enjoy watching!

1. Vertigo (1958)

This Hitchcock film features a layered storyline filled with plot twists and mystery aplenty - as well as a healthy dose of romance to boot. Ex-police detective Scottie takes on a case with a smidge of the supernatural as a favour to an old friend. As he follows around the mysterious and beautiful Madeleine Elster, he is both enamoured and intrigued by the enigma.

What I loved most about this movie was the sheer unpredictable nature of its big plot twist. There is no reason to believe that the mystery - and the heroine - is anything but what they present at face value. In fact, for most of the movie before that big twist, you're almost convinced that Madeleine is, in fact, experiencing something supernatural (or perhaps psychological) which possesses her and strips away her identity bit by bit. But, as with any good suspense, nothing is quite as it seems, and when you think it's over - it's really not.

2. Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (2019)

I was hesitant to watch this movie, mainly because I went into it already knowing the fate of Sharon Tate. The entire movie, I was kept on edge, because while the story does not necessarily follow the character of Tate, rather focusing on her actor neighbour and his stunt-double, I could feel her time edging closer and closer throughout the course of the movie, and with every passing moment my anxiety increased. I knew her fate - and possibly, I realized, it would also be the fate of one or both of our two main characters in the movie - and because of that, I was anticipating the horrible event to take place at the end of the movie. The suspense was terrible!

I won't spoil anything, but I will say this: I left the movie feeling quite happy and pleased. I loved the way it ended. I remember thinking, "This is how it should have ended."

Also - the acting was superb.

3. A Quiet Place (2018)

So, the whole concept of this movie is freaky. The idea that you have to be quiet all day every day - that you never (okay, rarely) get the chance to speak or sing or just yell - is hard enough. But when I saw the scene in the trailer with the pregnant woman trying to give birth and be quiet at the same time? That was just another level of difficult!

I thought the unique premise of the movie - about what seems to be an alien invasion where the aliens have really, really good hearing and will attack you if you make a sound - was intriguing enough to watch it. I stayed for the great acting, especially from the parents in the story, and the terrible suspense of needing to find out what will happen to this family! Definitely worth a watch.

4. Jaws (1975)

Let's be honest: the iconic soundtrack alone places this movie as one of the most suspenseful you'll ever see! But without a good movie, the soundtrack wouldn't have been able to hold up under audience scrutiny. 

The story itself unfolds quickly, but not so quickly that we don't get a chance to connect with the characters and root for them at each high-tension encounter in the movie. It's rife with characterization and personality, and it makes it all the more suspenseful when these characters are put in danger by the bloodthirsty shark in the water...

5. Charade (1963)

If you haven't seen Charade already, you're missing out! This movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant is a gem. The film follows the Hepburn as the widow of a recently-deceased man who she might not have known at all. A cast of unsavoury characters who apparently knew her husband start threatening her, believing she has something that they all want...

One of my favourite movies from the 60s, and definitely one of my favourite of Hepburn's and Grant's movies! It's also a very light-hearted movie with some lovely witty comedy and banter thrown into the mix, perfect for anyone looking for a suspense that isn't all gloom-and-doom, so to speak. 

6. Flightplan (2005)

I remember this one from ages ago, and I can still conjure up that emotion of frustrating, terrible suspense I was feeling throughout the movie! In this film, a plane engineer (Jodie Foster) travels on a plane with her young daughter. The coffin of her husband is also on the plane, as they are on their way to bury him. At some point, she falls asleep, and when she awakens, her daughter is gone.

You'd think that it's impossible to lose someone on a plane - but this movie really takes the cake for making you doubt yourself, just as the main character doubts herself, when everyone tells her that her daughter was never there to begin with.

The suspense is great with this one, so definitely give it a shot!

7. Hours (2013)

Set in New Orleans in the midst of Hurricane Katrina, the father (Paul Walker) to a newborn baby finds himself alone in an evacuated hospital, doing his best to keep his daughter alive in her incubator. As he fights his way through electrical outages and the consequences of human desperation, he has to come to terms with his new role as a father and his recent tragedy as a husband.

I've watched this movie more than once, and I always find myself feeling that tug of suspense every time I watch it! It also has a very heartwarming story of love and dedication fueling it, and the main character is easily one you want to root for and sympathize with.

8. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

This is a quiet suspense if I've ever seen one. There isn't much that happens, per se, except from small things that nag on one's mind, that makes them suspect a certain Uncle Charlie, that makes them feel for our young heroine. There's a psychological aspect to the suspense, too, because there's something very dark lying beneath the main storyline - a story of a young woman who, while glad to have her doting uncle visit, realizes that he's hiding a terrible secret. 

Much deeper than this lies the fear - and this, I think, is one of the true horrors of this movie - the fear that our heroine, who is connected to her uncle in a way that is almost supernatural, almost telepathic, and definitely extraordinary, might be like him. The movie never delivers on this (after all, it's the 40s), but another movie takes this idea and runs with it like mad: Stoker (2013).

9. The Call (2013)

This is a story of a 911 operator who receives a call from a girl that has been kidnapped and is being held in the trunk of a car for most of the movie. The two of them work together to try to free the girl and find out where she is so that authorities can find her, but will they find her in time? 

That the movie takes place primarily in the trunk of a car and a 911 emergency call center creates a working suspense by further limiting characters. The operator can't physically do anything to help the girl, making her feel frustratingly helpless, and the girl is extremely emotional and anxious - naturally so! - as well as being completely unequipped for the situation (who would be, honestly?) making it difficult for her to concentrate.

10. Suspicion (1941)

You cannot, in my opinion, discuss suspense movies without mentioning this old movie! Though the ending does seem to undo everything the movie worked so hard to build up, the movie itself is a wonderful example of suspense done right.

When our heroine (Joan Fontaine) marries a handsome and charming man she's only just met (Cary Grant), she begins to realize that there's something... off about him. Suspicions mount, until finally she is convinced that her husband is a criminal of the worst kind. 

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And there we have it! 10 great suspense movies to keep you busy and warm on a cold winter night. Grab some hot cocoa and a blanket, make some popcorn, get some chips and dip ready - whatever it is that you enjoy with a movie - and settle in for any one of these great movies.

This post is part of my 49 Days of Apartment campaign spanning the time leading up to the launch of my book on January 5, 2021, and the week after. If you would like to participate and write a guest post on the subject of suspense and magical realism or an equally relevant topic, please contact me here.

If you think Apartment is a book you might enjoy and would like to review the book prior to or after the release date, please contact me here.

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