Movie Auditor › Rankings › 1990s › Thriller
Best Thriller Movies of the 1990s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
216 thriller films from the 1990s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Pulp Fiction (1994), at 8.8 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.8. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Boondock Saints, 7.6 on IMDb against 44 on Metacritic.
Filter, sort and search this list live
| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pulp Fiction '1994 | Thriller / Crime / Comedy | 8.8 | 92% | 95 | 8.5 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 2 | Fight Club '1999 | Drama / Thriller | 8.8 | 81% | 67 | 8.4 | David Fincher |
| 3 | The Silence of the Lambs '1991 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 8.6 | 95% | 86 | 8.3 | Jonathan Demme |
| 4 | Se7en '1995 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 8.6 | 84% | 65 | 8.4 | David Fincher |
| 5 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day '1991 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 8.6 | 90% | 75 | 8.2 | James Cameron |
| 6 | The Usual Suspects '1995 | Drama / Crime / Thriller | 8.5 | 87% | 76 | 8.2 | Bryan Singer |
| 7 | Reservoir Dogs '1992 | Crime / Thriller | 8.2 | 90% | 81 | 8.1 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 8 | The Sixth Sense '1999 | Mystery / Thriller / Drama | 8.2 | 86% | 64 | 8.0 | M. Night Shyamalan |
| 9 | L.A. Confidential '1997 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 8.2 | 99% | 91 | 7.8 | Curtis Hanson |
| 10 | Fargo '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 95% | 88 | 7.8 | Joel Coen |
| 11 | Twelve Monkeys '1995 | Sci-Fi / Thriller / Mystery | 8.0 | 88% | 75 | 7.6 | Terry Gilliam |
| 12 | Carlito's Way '1993 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 84% | 66 | 7.8 | Brian De Palma |
| 13 | JFK '1991 | Drama / Thriller | 8.0 | 85% | 72 | 7.6 | Oliver Stone |
| 14 | The Fugitive '1993 | Action / Thriller / Drama | 7.8 | 96% | 87 | 7.5 | Andrew Davis |
| 15 | Misery '1990 | Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 86% | 75 | 7.8 | Rob Reiner |
| 16 | The Game '1997 | Drama / Thriller / Mystery | 7.7 | 77% | 63 | 7.6 | David Fincher |
| 17 | Donnie Brasco '1997 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 88% | 77 | 7.5 | Mike Newell |
| 18 | Primal Fear '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 77% | 47 | 7.7 | Gregory Hoblit |
| 19 | Perfect Blue '1998 | Animation / Thriller | 8.0 | 85% | 67 | 8.3 | Satoshi Kon |
| 20 | Die Hard: With a Vengeance '1995 | Action / Thriller | 7.6 | 60% | 58 | 7.3 | John McTiernan |
| 21 | The Insider '1999 | Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 96% | 85 | 7.5 | Michael Mann |
| 22 | The Godfather Part III '1990 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 67% | 60 | 7.4 | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 23 | Miller's Crossing '1990 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 7.7 | 93% | 66 | 7.4 | Joel Coen |
| 24 | The Boondock Saints '1999 | Action / Thriller / Crime | 7.6 | 26% | 44 | 7.2 | Troy Duffy |
| 25 | Falling Down '1993 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 77% | 56 | 7.4 | Joel Schumacher |
| 26 | Eyes Wide Shut '1999 | Drama / Thriller / Mystery | 7.5 | 77% | 69 | 7.5 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 27 | Jackie Brown '1997 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 88% | 62 | 7.4 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 28 | Barton Fink '1991 | Comedy / Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 90% | 69 | 7.5 | Joel Coen |
| 29 | Run Lola Run '1998 | Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 94% | 79 | 7.3 | Tom Tykwer |
| 30 | The Crow '1994 | Fantasy / Action / Thriller | 7.5 | 88% | 72 | 7.5 | Alex Proyas |
| 31 | The Hunt for Red October '1990 | Action / Thriller | 7.5 | 88% | 58 | 7.4 | John McTiernan |
| 32 | Sleepers '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 76% | 49 | 7.6 | Barry Levinson |
| 33 | Lost Highway '1997 | Drama / Thriller / Mystery | 7.6 | 70% | 53 | 7.6 | David Lynch |
| 34 | The Rock '1996 | Action / Thriller | 7.4 | 76% | 58 | 7.2 | Michael Bay |
| 35 | A Time to Kill '1996 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 66% | 53 | 7.4 | Joel Schumacher |
| 36 | Bound by Honor '1993 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 64% | 47 | 8.2 | Taylor Hackford |
| 37 | Star Trek: First Contact '1996 | Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller | 7.6 | 93% | 70 | 7.3 | Jonathan Frakes |
| 38 | The Talented Mr. Ripley '1999 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 7.4 | 85% | 76 | 7.2 | Anthony Minghella |
| 39 | Speed '1994 | Action / Thriller | 7.3 | 95% | 78 | 7.2 | Jan de Bont |
| 40 | Hard Boiled '1992 | Action / Thriller / Crime | 7.7 | 92% | 86 | 7.5 | John Woo |
| 41 | True Lies '1994 | Action / Thriller | 7.3 | 77% | 63 | 7.1 | James Cameron |
| 42 | Cape Fear '1991 | Drama / Crime / Thriller | 7.3 | 77% | 73 | 7.3 | Martin Scorsese |
| 43 | Menace II Society '1993 | Drama / Crime / Thriller | 7.5 | 84% | 76 | 7.5 | Albert Hughes |
| 44 | Sleepy Hollow '1999 | Fantasy / Thriller / Mystery / Horror | 7.3 | 71% | 65 | 7.2 | Tim Burton |
| 45 | Point Break '1991 | Action / Thriller / Crime | 7.3 | 68% | 60 | 7.2 | Kathryn Bigelow |
| 46 | Starship Troopers '1997 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.3 | 72% | 52 | 7.1 | Paul Verhoeven |
| 47 | Open Your Eyes '1997 | Drama / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | 87% | - | 7.5 | Alejandro Amenábar |
| 48 | Enemy of the State '1998 | Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.3 | 71% | 67 | 7.1 | Tony Scott |
| 49 | Crimson Tide '1995 | Thriller / Action | 7.4 | 89% | 66 | 7.2 | Tony Scott |
| 50 | The Player '1992 | Mystery / Drama / Thriller | 7.5 | 97% | 86 | 7.2 | Robert Altman |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
All thriller movies
All movies of the 1990s
Thriller in other decades
Thriller of the 1930s Thriller of the 1940s Thriller of the 1950s Thriller of the 1960s Thriller of the 1970s Thriller of the 1980s Thriller of the 2000s Thriller of the 2010s Thriller of the 2020s
Other genres in the 1990s
Action of the 1990s Animation of the 1990s Comedy of the 1990s Crime of the 1990s Drama of the 1990s Fantasy of the 1990s Horror of the 1990s Mystery of the 1990s Romance of the 1990s Sci-Fi of the 1990s
Directors on this list
Quentin Tarantino David Fincher Jonathan Demme James Cameron Bryan Singer M. Night Shyamalan Curtis Hanson Joel Coen Terry Gilliam Brian De Palma Oliver Stone Andrew Davis
Actors on this list
John Travolta Samuel L. Jackson Edward Norton Brad Pitt Jodie Foster Anthony Hopkins Morgan Freeman Arnold Schwarzenegger Gabriel Byrne Harvey Keitel Tim Roth Bruce Willis