The crime movie genre is one of the most popular in the history of cinema, and it’s largely because it can so easily intersect with completely different sensibilities. Although sometimes the crime movie can take the prestigiousform of Best Picture winnerslikeThe Godfather: Part IIorThe Departed, it can also be something more irreverent and silly, likeA Fish Called WandaorGet Shorty.
Many of the best crime thrillersof all-time have some level of suspense within them, and some could easily be mistaken for films within the horror genre. Any good movie needs a few sequences that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, but a rare few are intense enough to become truly haunting, and stick with viewers long after the credits have finished rolling. Here are the ten scariest crime movies, ranked.
10‘Green Room’ (2016)
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Green Roomis a nail-biting suspense thrillerthat examines the horrors of the neo-Nazi movement with a very upsetting premise.Jeremy Saulnier’s horrific crime film focuses on a group of punk rockers who become trapped in a bar owned by white supremacists, and subsequently become trapped in a green room after bearing witness to a murder.
The confined environment ofGreen Roommakes the story more intense, as it feels like a burst of violence could be initiated at any point. The film was particularly scary becomes of thetremendous performance byPatrick Stewartas the leader of the skinheads; Stewart is best known for playing Professor Charles Xavier in theX-Menfranchise and Captain Jean-Luc Picard inStar Trek: The Next Generation, so to see him play a pure villain filled with hate was very shocking and upsetting.
Green Room
A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar.
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9‘American Psycho’ (2000)
Directed by Mary Harron
American Psychois the rare crime film that is just as hilarious as it is haunting, as the adaptation ofBrett Easton Ellis’ controversial novel of the same name ended up being the perfect satire of consumerism and “yuppie” culture on Wall Street. While the legendary horror filmmakerDavid Cronenbergwas at one point approach to direct, directorMary Harronended up turningAmerican Psychointo a hilariously haunting deconstruction of toxic masculinity, and how men in power are able to avoid ever really being held accountable for their actions.
American Psychofeatures a very interesting performance by Christian Bale, whose toxic charisma makes Norman Bate’s crimes even more upsetting. Although it’s evident that Bale is heightening Bates’ idiosyncrasies to make him feel more unique, the sequences of him ruthlessly beatingJared Letoto death in graphic detail is still quite disturbing to watch.
American Psycho
In New York City in 1987, a handsome, young urban professional, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer by night. The cast is filled by the detective (Willem Dafoe), the fiance (Reese Witherspoon), the mistress (Samantha Mathis), the coworker (Jared Leto), and the secretary (Chloë Sevigny). This is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.
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8‘The House That Jack Built’ (2018)
Directed by Lars Von Trier
The House That Jack Builtis a film that was made to encourage controversy,asLars Von Trier’s epic serial killer story explores the insights of a psychopath (Matt Dillon) who ruthlessly kills women and children. What’s most shocking aboutThe House That Jack Builtis how the main characterperceives himself as an artist; Jack truly believes that murder is itself an act of expression, and what’s to leave his mark on the world.
The House That Jack Builtcontains some truly horrific sequences of murder and torture, with Von Trier even realizing an unrated extended cut that was even more graphic. The unsettling notion that a highly dangerous character like Jack could hide in plain sight by pretending to be an ostensibly “normal” person is perhaps the most spooky notion that Von Trier is playing with inThe House That Jack Built.
The House That Jack Built
In five episodes, failed architect and vicious sociopath Jack recounts his elaborately orchestrated murders – each, as he views them, a towering work of art that defines his life’s work as a serial killer in the Pacific Northwest.
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7‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)
Directed by Jonathan Demme
The Silence of the Lambsset the standard for what a great serial killer movie should look like,asJonathan Demmecreated a brilliant two-handerthat put Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster)and Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) on equal footing. Although Lecter himself is not even the scariest serial killer inThe Silence of the Lambs, the moment when he is unleashed in prison and takes down his guards is one of the most finely crafted horror scenes of all-time.
The Silence of the Lambsquestioned whether someone who was truly evil was capable of good, and did a great job at highlighting the tensions that are inherent to being a serial killer investigator. Although the crime and horror descriptions both apply toThe Silence of the Lambs, the film is an all-time great masterpiece regardless of what genre it is technically classified under.
The Silence of the Lambs
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
6‘Se7en’ (1995)
Directed by David Fincher
Se7enwas a major step forward for director David Fincher, who proved after the failure ofAlien 3that he was capable of making thought-provoking, suspenseful crime thrillers.Se7enis particularly disturbingbecause of the ways in which Fincher depicts evil; John Doe (Kevin Spacey) isn’t just a ruthless killer, but someone who wants to kick-start the cycle of revenge so that it will never stop.
Although much of the film is reliant on the gradual escalation of stakes,Se7enincludes some truly shocking jump scare momentswhen the victims of Doe, each killed in a manner relating to the Biblical “Seven Deadly Sins,” are revealed in intimate detail. Fincher would go on to make other great crime movies likeFight Club, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac,andGone Girl, by the perpetual state of uneasiness thatSe7encreates make it his single scariest project to date.
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
5‘Longlegs’ (2024)
Directed by Osgood Perkins
Longlegsbecame thesurprising “word of mouth” hit of summer 2024,a strange development considering thatOsgood Perkinshas never seemed interested in making broadly accessible films. The film becomes particularly scary because of the manner in which Perkins plays with genre; what begins as a straightforward investigative thriller becomes something entirely supernatural by the time that the story wraps up. The fact thatLonglegsends on such an ambiguous note with so many questions left unanswered makes it even more scary.
The performance by Nicolas Cage as the titular serial killer is certainly the most scary aspect ofLonglegs,as it’s a performance that seems destined to create nightmares. Cage is an actor who always takes chances, no matter what the project is, and his work with Perkins ended up creating one of the most instantly iconic screen villains in recent memory.
A chilling horror thriller directed by Osgood Perkins. The film stars Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, a promising new FBI agent assigned to solve the mystery of an elusive serial killer played by Nicolas Cage. As Harker delves deeper into the case, she uncovers disturbing evidence of occult practices connected to the murders.
4‘M’ (1931)
Directed by Fritz Lang
Mlaid the groundwork for the crime genre as it exists today, and is responsible for initiatingthe wave of dark dramasthat became prominent within the German Expressionist movement of the 1930s. Set in Berlin,Fritz Lang’s masterpiece examines a strange alliance that forms between members of law enforcement and various mafia families in order to target an elusive serial killer (Peter Laurie) who is targeting children.
Mleaned into the neo-noir sensibilities to create a haunting examination of modern ethics, questioning what people were capable of on the path to create justice. Laurie has played many great villains throughout his career in neo-noir films, but his performance inMmay be the scariest character that he has ever portrayed. It’s hard to imagine that either the serial killer or slasher movie genres would exist today without the precedent that Lang set withM.
In a city paralyzed by terror, a series of child murders has left the police scrambling to find the perpetrator. The criminal underworld, frustrated by the intense police presence disrupting their activities, bands together to track down the murderer themselves. As the tension mounts, both the law enforcement and the criminal community engage in a relentless pursuit, culminating in a gripping and morally complex showdown that reveals the desperation and darkness within society.
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3‘The Night of the Hunter’ (1955)
Directed by Charles Laughton
The Night of the Hunteris a brilliant neo-noir thrillerin which the greatRobert Mitchumplays a ruthless serial killer who tries to steal the fortune from a woman, whilst her children begin to suspect his motivations. Although itwas the sole directorial credit of the acclaimed actorCharles Laughtonand was not a significant success upon its initial debut in 1955,The Night of the Hunterwas highly influential on a generation of great directors, includingGuillermo del Toro, JoelandEthan Coen, Spike Lee,andTerrence Malick.
The Night of the Hunteris particularly scary because it shows how pure evil is perceived through the eyes of children, who are unable to understand how this malicious character is able to avoid facing any consequences. The stark, black-and-white photography that Laughton utilizes only makes the atmosphere ofThe Night of the Huntermore disturbing.
The Night of the Hunter
A self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he’d stolen in a robbery.
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2‘Cape Fear’ (1991)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Cape Fearwas a wild deviation for director Martin Scorsese, as he followed up the biggest hit of his career inGoodfellaswith a dark remake of a classic crime thriller of the same name from 1962. While the performance by Robert Mitchum in the original classic was certainly an iconic one,Robert De Nirowas able to physically transform into a ruthless serial killer that tries to track down the family of the lawyer (Nick Nolte) who put him behind bars in the first place.
Cape Feardoes not shy away from its disturbing undertones,and managed to become oneof Scorsese’s best movies of the 1990s.Few would argue that the 1962 film isn’t worthy of being remembered as a classic, but the freedom Scorsese had to pursue more R-Rated material ensured that his version ofCape Fearwas the more frightening interpretation of the story.
1‘Nightcrawler’ (2014)
Directed by Dan Gilroy
Nightcrawleris one of the mostbold and original thrillers of the 2010s, asDan Gilroy’s directorial debut aimed to expose the hypocrisy and hyperbole of the way that crime media is reported.Jake Gyllenhaalgave one of the best performances of his career as a psychopathic “ambulance chaser” obsessed with finding crime scene footage, and even goes so far as to become implicit in the murders themselves.
Although the strange mannerisms that Gyllenhaal brings to his performance certainly make the character of Lou more memorable,Nightcrawleris at its scariest when it is drawing parallels to recent events.The film served as an essential satire of the ways in which audiences consume true crime content without paying any attention to the victims; in the ten years since its release,Nightcrawlercontinues to feel even more predictive than it initially was.
Nightcrawler
When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
