There ain’t nothin’ like watching a gripping thriller on the big screen. It’s even pretty thrilling on the little screen in your living room too. If you are in the mood to get your heart pumping and adrenalin jiving
then take a look at American Film Institute’s Top 10 most thrilling movies of all time…so far. Some folks may disagree with these choices as the most thrilling of all time, but I found myself gripping my seat and holding my breath when I watched these for the first and second time and third time and….
1. Psycho (1960). I really don’t think anyone has come close to Hitchcock’s masterpiece. The whole aspect of this film was brilliant including the marketing. When Psycho was completed, Hitchcock placed a warning that pregnant women and people faint of heart should not watch this movie. He also killed off the star (Janet Leigh) early in the movie. This shocked the audience and kept them off balance. The shower scene has been hard to top. It’s rare if ever that we see a motion picture where the audience never sees the victim murdered but is horrified by the blood draining slowly in the shower. I was most horrified to see Anthony Perkin’s mama (Bates Motel) mummified and sitting in her rocking chair. That movie had very little gore, but it gave me nightmares. 2. Jaws: (1975) One of the most memorable scenes in this movie was the first scene, as the young victim bobbed in the water like a cork. You didn’t know what was going on, all you could feel was her terror as she was getting eaten up and going under! And the music? Who could forget that music that fit perfectly with the sound of your own confused, beating heart. I would say this movie gripped me with terror. And when that big shark came up on the deck and ate up the captain…well it was more gory that Moby Dick, but unforgettable as it broke new ground in the horror movie genre. 3. The Exorcist (1973) This movie tackles the devil in the most intriguing way. First you get the devil from a Oujia board, spit out pea soup and scare the hell out of your mother. Sales of Oujia boards plummeted and people who owned Oujia boards threw them out after watching this film. A teenager gets possessed by the devil, through a Ouija board (of course). Enter the Catholic Church and a couple of priests who fight the devil like a couple of super heroes. They rescue the girl (Linda Blair, who never got a decent role since) and absorb the devil. I suppose the most horrific scenes is Linda Blair’s face as it gets cut from the inside out, and the way her head turns all the way around. Memorable scenes that kept millions from sleeping at night. 4. North by Northwest (1959) Here is another Hitchcock thriller I never get tired of. A poor schmuck, who is in advertising, gets mistaken for being some sort of agent or spy and is chased by some unknown organization. Cary Grant plays an innocent “Everyman” role to perfection as the guy who is confused and running for his life. The film is fast past and doesn’t fail to surprise you at every turn. Who can forget the crop duster sequence, when the plane flies low enough to cut Mr. Thronhill’s (Grant) head off. The scene on Mt. Rushmore is memorable as Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant scramble to save themselves. This film as good today as it was in 1959 and worth watching again. 5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Brilliant. Cunning. Psychotic. In his mind lies the clue to a ruthless killer. – Clarice Starling, (Jodie Foster) FBI. Brilliant. Vulnerable. Alone. She must trust him to stop the killer. This film keeps you riveted because of the dialogue. Sure there are some freaky gory scenes, like when Hannibal dines on the flesh of the guard with a bottle of Chianti. OR when the serial killer has sewn pieces of flesh together to make himself a mask of his victims. All that gross stuff is there to freak a person out. But the real gripper is the psychological chats between FBI’s Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lector. 6. Alien (1979) Back in the 70s, it was rarely to see a female in an action packed heroic role as we do in this gory and scary movie. A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates. The first unsettling scene is when one of the crew members comes back from the investigation, sits down to dinner, and an alien bursts out of his chest and escapes within the spaceship. Everyone of course is killed except for Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) who manages to save herself and a cat while she blows the creature into outer space. 7. The Birds (1963) I was a kid when this Hitchcock thriller came out and I was scared to walk home from school after watching the scene when all the kids are running from the bird attack that swoops on an innocent village by the sea. The Birds is one of those grippers that stays with you long after you’ve watched it. This man versus nature film was probably ahead of it’s time because Hitchcock saw nature rebelling against man’s meddling with natural resources. 8. The French Connection (1971) This drug smuggling, police drama earned five academy award nominations. New York City police detectives (Gene Hackman) and (Roy Scheider) on narcotics detail, try to track down the source of heroin from Europe into the United States. Suave Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) is the French drug kingpin who provides a large percentage of New York City’s dope. This movie is perhaps the precursor to all drug trafficking-related shows on television today. 9. Rosemary’s baby (1968) This film was Roman Polanski’s first American movie, is probably the precursor or signature piece to all “devil possession” movies. Rosemary becomes pregnant after a dark, nocturnal rape by a beast. Next you get your swarm of devil worshippers. What’s good about this movie is that it combine’s Hitchcock’s propensity for finding normality horrific. Ruth Gordon is appropriately diabolical in her elderly role as the well-meaning neighbor. 10. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Steven Spielberg brings back the old depression days, cliff hanger with two hours of action packed adventure. The serial like escapes by archeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) had audiences in the theater laughing, and screaming at our hero as he races to save his life while he claims artifacts for museums and universities to study. Heart stopping races, fights and ghostly hauntings, makes this film one of my favorite seat grippers.