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For thriller fans, the 1990s was the time to be going to the movies. Every year produced another memorable entry in the genre. There was Misery in 1990 and Sleeping with the Enemy in 1991. Mid-decade Hollywood hit us with two bona fide classics: The Usual Suspects and Seven. Both arrived in 1995. Then fast-forward to 1998 and 1999 when Enemy of the State and The Bone Collector were released.
Elsewhere, the decade gave us the fun caper Sneakers in 1992, and The Pelican Brief in 1993 (one of several compelling adaptations of John Grisham books). That’s before Samuel L. Jackson was trying to clear his name and battle corrupt cops in The Negotiator (1998).
There were terrific erotic thrillers such as Disclosure (1994), Bound (1996), and Wild Things (1998) as well as the most infamous and iconic of them all: Basic Instinct in 1992. And, away from Hollywood, independent American filmmakers gave us the brilliant One False Move (1992), Suicide Kings (1997), and A Simple Plan (1998).
Great Thrillers of the 1990s
In this look at 1990s movies, we take a look at ten of the best edge-of-your-seat thrillers; the films that raise the stakes, keep you guessing and raise the heartrate. From the chilling investigation of Clarice Starling in the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs to a wronged man on the run in Enemy of the State.
Pacific Heights
Dir. Schlesinger (1990)
A bit like Robin Williams when he turned to the dark side in the early 2000s with films such as Insomnia and One Hour Photo, Michael Keaton discards the comedy he’s better known for in order to play a deeply unsettling role as a con man in John Schlesinger’s thrilling Pacific Heights.
He proceeds to turn the lives of an unassuming couple (played by Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith) upside down when he rents the downstairs apartment of their home. You’ll never look at a nail gun in the same way again, or exposed pipework for that matter!
Narrow Margin
Dir. Hyams (1990)
A tightly constructed on-the-run thriller paced like an out of control rollercoaster, Narrow Margin sees Gene Hackman as a Los Angeles district attorney who finds the odds stacked against him while trying to keep a murder witness alive long enough to testify in court. A thoroughly entertainment action-adventure.
Enemy Of The State
Dir. Tony Scott (1998)
Will Smith plays the “wronged man” in a role Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of. Enemy of the State is undoubtedly the actor’s best action movie; an exciting, fast-paced urban survival thriller.
Despite its prevalence of state of the art late-1990s surveillance, satellite and communications technology, the film has lost none of its potency in revealing insidious covert government action and the ever-widening net of privacy intrusion in the internet age.
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Sneakers
Dir. Robinson (1992)
You could look at Sneakers as a very loose sequel to Three Days of the Condor as Robert Redford plays a character who appears superficially as the older version of Joseph Turner, the protagonist of Sydney Pollack’s paranoid 1975 political thriller. That’s about where the similarities end though.
Phil Alden Robinson’s film is more about the caper. It takes itself far less seriously, leaning more towards comedy and fun action set-pieces. Here Redford is part of a crack team of security analysts who are unwittingly thrust into a tale of corruption and intrigue that appears to reach the upper levels of government. An ensemble piece, Redford heads the team which includes Sidney Poitier as a former CIA officer and River Phoenix as an ace computer hacker.
Unlawful Entry
Dir. Kaplan (1992)
Ray Liotta is terrifying as the unhinged cop Pete Davis in Jonathan Kaplan’s psychological thriller, Unlawful Entry. Davis attaches himself to married couple Michael and Karen Carr, immersing himself in their lives after attending to a 911 call at their home following a burglary.
His indefatigable obsession with Karen (Madeleine Stowe) leaves an increasingly exhausted Michael (Kurt Russell in vulnerable nice-guy-in-peril mode seen in the likes of Breakdown and Executive Decision) struggling to keep his personal and professional life from imploding. In trying to appease his tormentor, it only seems to make things worse as Pete’s methods get more and more destructive.
The Pelican Brief
Dir. Pakula (1993)
The ideal writer-director match sees legal thriller novelist John Grisham provide the source material for All The President’s Men filmmaker Alan J. Pakula.Â
Hollywood heavyweights Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington as legal student and Washington Herald reporter respectively get together to solve a conspiracy involving the murders of two Supreme Court justices.
The Negotiator
Dir. Gray (1998)
Police corruption is laid bare by way of a terrifically tense stand-off between Samuel L. Jackson’s negotiator Danny Roman and – seemingly – the entire east precinct of the Chicago Police Department. He takes Inspector Terence Niebaum (J. T. Walsh) and others hostage in order to find out who framed him for embezzlement.
Building the tension through the powerplay between the negotiator outside and the veteran pulling the strings on the inside, F. Gary Gray’s plot twists mingle with some smartly constructed action scenes and an edge-of-your-seat finale that is as impressive as the lead performances.
The Silence Of The Lambs
Dir. Jonathan Demme (1991)
Jodie Foster holds her own opposite the great Anthony Hopkins in the most iconic film of her career. Here she plays FBI trainee Clarice Starling who is tasked with helping solve a killing spree by interviewing incarcerated psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter.
The Silence of the Lambs is memorable for many reasons not least the power struggle between a manipulative intellectual and a determined, ambitious would-be federal agent. Foster’s talent ensures this small-in-stature character has the courage and intelligence to compete with the domineering mind games of her psychotic adversary.
The underlying admiration she ultimate gains from Lecter alongside her own fascination with this criminal’s psychological make-up adds further layers to one of cinema’s most profound good-guy-bad-guy pairings.
Misery
Dir. Reiner (1990)
Rob Reiner knows how to adapt a Stephen King story for the big screen. He’s done it twice, and on both occasions the writer himself has approved with glowing appreciation. Misery is one of the novelist’s best, mixing a wry, self-referential humour with murderous thrills that works as perfectly on the screen as it does on the page.
The story largely follows two characters in an isolated house – a recovering car accident survivor (James Caan) and the woman nursing him back to health (Kathy Bates). Problem is: the woman, Annie Wilkes, is a psychopath. It’s a tension-filled thriller with stellar performances including one of Bates’ finest.
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Dir. Hanson (1992)
Don’t ask Mrs. Mott to babysit your children. That’s the simple lesson learned in 1992’s The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. The scheming widow plots to destroy an entire family after she blames them for the death of her husband. Rebecca De Mornay’s vicious performance is one of the most memorable of the 1990s.
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