Fans of heart-racing feature films know that often, there's nothing better than watching an edge-of-your-seat story in a darkened theater (or living room). Thankfully, 2024's movie slate includes several can't-miss thrillers, from gripping psychological films to twisty murder mysteries to film festival hits. Here's what thrillers are on our must-see list this year.
'Mea Culpa'
Release date: February 23, 2024
Starring: Kelly Rowland, Trevante Rhodes, Sean Sagar, Nick Sagar, RonReaco Lee, Shannon Thornton, Angela Robinson, Kerry O'Malley, and Connor Weil.
Netflix and Tyler Perry's steamy legal thriller follows criminal defense attorney Mea Harper (Rowland), who takes on a murder case against an artist (Rhodes) accused of killing his girlfriend. As she tries to figure out if her client is as innocent as he claims, Mea is thrust into a world that’s as hot as it is dangerous.
Trailer: HERE
'Love Lies Bleeding'
Release date: March 8, 2024
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian, Ed Harris, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, and Dave Franco.
Reclusive gym manager Lou (Stewart) falls hard for ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (O'Brian) in this romantic thriller. "Their love soon leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the web of Lou's criminal family," per the film's description.
Trailer: HERE
'Monkey Man'
Release date: April 5, 2024
Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, and Makarand Deshpande.
Patel directs and stars in this action-thriller inspired by Hanuman, the Hindu god of wisdom, strength, and courage. He plays the Kid, an anonymous fighter who's spent his life preparing to take vengeance against the corrupt officials who killed his mother and destroyed his home.
Trailer: HERE
'Civil War'
Release date: April 12, 2024
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jesse Plemons, and Nick Offerman.
This harrowing film from Annihilation director Alex Garland depicts a fictional near-future America in the middle of an armed civil war (because that's just what our collective anxiety needs right now). Dunst leads the movie as a photojournalist documenting atrocities as a massive Fourth of July invasion unfolds in Washington, D.C.
Trailer: HERE
'A Quiet Place: Day One'
Release date: June 28, 2024
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, and Denis O’Hare.
This spin-off from the suspenseful hit franchise will transport viewers to the first days of the alien invasion. The film leaves the Abbott family (played in the first two films by John Krasinski and Emily Blunt) behind to instead follow a new woman (Nyong’o’) as she navigates the horrific first moments in the city that never sleeps (or quiets down), N.Y.C.
Trailer: HERE
'Twisters'
Release date: July 19, 2024
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, and Maura Tierney.
The 1996 action thriller Twister (which starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes as storm chasers following the most powerful tornado in decades) is the latest '90s classic to get a 2020s revival. Seen as a spiritual sequel, the new movie sees Edgar-Jones as a meteorologist who meets up with a ragtag group of YouTuber twister wranglers while working in Oklahoma. It's a blast with an excellent soundtrack to match.
Trailer: HERE
'Mother's Instinct'
Release date: July 26, 2024
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway
Cue the "literal mother-off" jokes: Oscar-winners Chastain and Hathaway play best friends raising sons of the same age in 1960s suburbia in this tense psychological thriller. Per the film's description, after their lives are "shattered by a tragic accident involving one of their children," the pair's "familial bonds are gradually undermined by guilt and paranoia and a gripping battle of wills develops, revealing the darker side of maternal love."
Trailer: HERE
'Trap'
Release date: August 2, 2024
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, and Alison Pill.
M. Night Shyamalan's latest film stars Hartnett as Cooper, a mild-mannered dad taking his teen daughter (Donoghue) to see her favorite pop star, Lady Raven (played by the director's daughter, Saleka Night Shyamalan). Once there, Cooper discovers that the whole concert is a trap to catch a notorious serial killer known as the Butcher. One problem: The Butcher is Cooper.
Trailer: HERE
'Blink Twice'
Release date: August 23, 2024
Starring: Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis.
Zöe Kravitz's directorial debut—formerly known as Pussy Island—premiered this year. It follows a tech billionaire (Tatum) who invites a cocktail waitress Frida (Ackie) to join him and his friends to his private island. Per Variety, "No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive."
Trailer: HERE
'Strange Darling'
Release date: August 23, 2024
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr.
This non-chronological horror-thriller tells the story of a notorious serial killer in six chapters, starting with a frenetic chase as The Lady (Fitzgerald) flees from a man known as The Demon (Gallner). To keep spoilers at a minimum, all we'll say is to prepare for some mind-blowing twists.
Trailer: HERE
'The Substance'
Release date: September 20, 2024
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.
In this gruesome body-horror thriller, Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a washed-up star facing the end of her career who's drawn to the mysterious titular drug, which splits her into her current body and a gorgeous 20-something double called Sue (Qualley). Per the film's description, "The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong?"
Trailer: HERE
'A Different Man'
Release date: September 20, 2024
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, and Renate Reinsve.
Edward (Stan), an insecure aspiring actor, finds a miracle cure for his facial disfigurement. But, per the film's description, "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."
Trailer: HERE
'It's What's Inside'
Release date: October 4, 2024
Starring: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarten, David Thompson, and Madison Davenport.
In this indie psychological thriller picked up from Sundance by Netflix, a group of former college friends reunite eight years later for a pre-wedding weekend. But one of the guests has brought a mysterious suitcase that turns the festivities into "existential chaos," per Netflix.
Trailer: TBA
'Holland, Michigan'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Gael García Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill, Rachel Sennott, Lennon Parham, Isaac Krasner, and Jeff Pope.
Details are mostly under wraps for this buzzy Hitchcockian thriller, centered on "a Midwestern housewife who uncovers a dark secret on the part of her husband, after coming to suspect that he’s having an affair," per Deadline.
Trailer: TBA
