Suspense, anxiety and paranoia – films that get the pulse and mind racing. We presented a nail-biting season at BFI Southbank, on BFI Player and in selected venues across the UK.
From political conspiracy, espionage, paranoia and racial politics to erotic thrills, femme fatales and fake news, we ask the question: Who Can You Trust?
Back in cinemas around the UK
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An FBI agent requires help from a psychopath in order to catch a serial killer in this Oscar®-laden classic thriller.
Explore the thriller genre
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BFI Thriller announced as major project for autumn 2017
Highlights include a major season at BFI Southbank with new and classic thrillers, special events, a new BFI Compendium, BFI Player collection, a touring programme and a UK-wide re-release of The Silence of the Lambs.
Tuesday 1 August 2017 -
Film of the week: It Comes at Night, an astute and ruthless thriller
While America is ravaged by plague, monstrous forces are unleashed in a besieged family home in Trey Edwards Shults’s expertly handled horror, writes Jason Anderson.
Wednesday 5 July 2017 -
The BFI Podcast: Murder, mystery and meal-times with Claude Chabrol
Special guest Sam Wigley introduces Claude Chabrol, “the French Hitchcock”, whose 50-plus films explored the psychology of murder with mischievous flair.
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Film of the week: Elle – far deeper (and more disquieting) than a rape-revenge thriller
Isabel Huppert’s darkly defiant bourgeois renegade turns the tables on her rapist in Paul Verhoeven’s masterfully twisted meditation on human bondage, write Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López.
Friday 10 March 2017 -
Blowup: in search of the swinging London locations
Visiting swinging London to make Blowup in 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni played fast and loose with geography to make the definitive existential thriller of its time. Filmmaker Adam Scovell took a walk of the capital 50 years later to try to piece Antonioni’s city back together.
Friday 16 December 2016 -
Five films that paved the way for David Fincher’s Se7en
Featuring masterful performances from Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, David Fincher’s neo-noir thriller Se7en pushed the envelope on how horrific a mainstream film could be. But which films laid the groundwork for this landmark serial killer movie?
Friday 25 November 2016 -
Black noir: 10 essential black performances in film noir and neo-noir
The history of black actors in film noir in 10 key performances – from occasional stereotype-busting roles in classic noir to blaxploitation to the 90s wave of neo-noir thrillers.
Wednesday 9 November 2016 -
Hell Drivers: remembering Stanley Baker and Patrick McGoohan in a British action classic
A brilliant cast of British actors, including a young Sean Connery, star in the newly restored Hell Drivers, a tough and thrilling trucking movie shot on the B roads of Buckinghamshire.
Thursday 6 October 2016 -
12 masterful Brian De Palma set-pieces
Brian De Palma has always been a divisive filmmaker, but these dozen sequences from a selection of his best films are sure to leave your jaw on the floor.
Friday 23 September 2016 -
10 great films that influenced Alfred Hitchcock
By any measure, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most influential of all filmmakers, but where did he get his own inspiration from? As new documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut goes on release, we did some digging…
Tuesday 1 March 2016 -
Where to begin with the Coen brothers
Your next obsession: the inspired, magpie movies of Joel and Ethan Coen.
Monday 22 February 2016 -
Your next obsession: the dark and dangerous world of modern noir.
Tuesday 26 January 2016 -
Base instincts and fatal attractions abound in these 10 unmissably sexy thrillers.
Thursday 10 December 2015 -
Location, location, location: Vienna and The Third Man
There’s much to admire in Carol Reed’s noir masterpiece, but its stunning evocation of postwar Vienna is the real star of the show.
Wednesday 24 June 2015 -
With the classic thriller Cry of the City, filmed on the streets of Little Italy, back in cinemas, we take a walk on the wild side with 10 of the best film noirs set in New York.
Thursday 16 April 2015 -
Moviegraphic: The Ipcress File
Everything you need to know about the classic spy film directed by Sidney Furie and starring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer.
Wednesday 18 March 2015 -
Fritz Lang’s M: the blueprint for the serial killer movie
Long before Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs or Se7en, one far-ahead-of-its-time German film struck fear into viewers’ hearts with its tale of a child-killer at loose in the city. Even today, Fritz Lang’s M still looks astonishingly modern.
Thursday 4 September 2014 -
Hitchcock’s masterpiece Rear Window turns 60
Peek inside the press book produced for the original release of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense thriller Rear Window, now 60 years old.
Monday 4 August 2014 -
10 great films about committing the perfect crime
With murder-plot thriller Lift to the Scaffold due back in cinemas, let’s see if we can get away with this list of 10 classic perfect crime movies.
Thursday 30 January 2014 -
Take a step-by-step journey through the invention, wit and dazzling technical skill that made Hitchcock cinema’s master of suspense
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Hitchcock and the mystery of the tea cup
How a cup of tea shed new light on The Pleasure Garden, Alfred Hitchcock’s very first film as director.
Friday 2 August 2013 -
With the rerelease of Chinatown, Geoff Andrew reflects on how this classic crime film represents a career-best for so many of the talents involved.
Wednesday 2 January 2013 -
Critic, filmmaker and trailblazer of the French New Wave.
Thursday 16 September 2010 -
As Hitchcock’s Vertigo is rereleased nationwide, Geoff Andrew ponders the steady rise in critical esteem of a cruel and complex film now considered the ‘greatest ever made’.
Friday 7 September 2012 -
A Hitch in time: my top 12 Hitchcock films
Choosing your favourite Hitchcocks is a difficult task, as the greatest ones all shift and change in the mind over time.
Tuesday 14 August 2012 -
Hitchcock writes home from the making of his first film.
Tuesday 26 June 2012 -
Oscar-winning costume designer Julie Harris was a perfect suit for Alfred Hitchcock. Designs from the BFI National Archive reveal their mutual love for muted tones, used in Hitchcock’s 1972 film, Frenzy.
Wednesday 13 June 2012
Sight & Sound magazine
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Reviews, interviews and features from the international film magazine.
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