In 1991, Jonathan Demme changed the thriller genre with his immediate box office hit, The Silence of the Lambs, which is based on the 1988 Thomas Harris novel. Out of seven total Oscar nominations, the film took home five, and to this day is the only horror that has ever won Best Picture. However, the film transcends the horror genre, since it’s not just a plot-driven story about a twisted serial killer. It’s an unpredictable, fear-inducing psychological thriller. Moreover, it’s an exploration of the complex connections between the psyche of a criminal and the mind of a detective. With a mix of classics, newer films, and films from around the world, here’s a list of films that are similar to The Silence of the Lambs in their scope and tone. Much like Demme’s film, these stories pit a twisted mind against an intellient lead as they become desperate to put the pieces of a mysterious puzzle together.
North by Northwest (1959)
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller North by Northwest might not be the first film that comes up when thinking of The Silence of the Lambs. However, the careful, often terrifying suspense built in this mystery makes it a must-watch if you’re a fan of the Demme classic.
When Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken for a government agent, he finds himself on the run from a terrifying, merciless spy (James Mason). As he travels across the country as an inadvertent fugitive, he becomes desperate to piece together this bizarre puzzle. With its extravagant, over the top sequences and set design, Hitchcock redefined the action thriller genre in this tale of mistaken identity.
Chinatown (1974)
An often unsettling slow-burn of a thriller, this neo-noir from writer Robert Towne has often been hailed as one the best screenplays of all time. The film is led by a magnetic cast of actors, including Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and 15-time Oscar nominee John Huston.
Nicholson finds himself in one of his most praised roles as Los Angeles detective Jake Gittes. When Gittes must investigate a potential affair between a woman and her husband, he finds himself caught in a web of lies and conspiracies, and eventually face to face with sadistic criminal Noah Cross (Huston). It’s a gripping mystery layered with more twists as it progresses, and by the end, raises more questions about evil than it answers.
Misery (1990)
This Rob Reiner film adapted from the Stephen King classic was an immediate box office hit upon its release, which is no surprise thanks to the utterly compelling performances from Kathy Bates (who earned her first Oscar nomination and Oscar win for the role) and James Caan.
When romance novel writer Paul Sheldon (Caan) is deeply injured in a car accident from a rural Colorado blizzard, he finds himself under the intensive care of Annie Wilkes (Bates), who happens to be one of his biggest fans. Reiner reflects Annie’s obsession with Paul in progressively more tense scenes of her watching over him. Despite many of the shots being in broad daylight, Reiner and writer William Goldman manage to create one of the most psychologically terrifying films in history.
Cape Fear (1991)
Crime film master Martin Scorsese directed this stunning remake, with a script adapted from the 1957 John D. MacDonald novel titled The Executioners. The film, which put a young Juliette Lewis on the map, garnered the actress and co-star Robert De Niro two Oscar nominations following its immense success.
Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a criminal lawyer living a peaceful life with his wife and daughter in North Carolina. However, when convicted rapist Max Cady (De Niro) is released from prison, he seeks revenge on Bowden’s family after learning that he buried evidence that might have helped Cady’s case. Every moment of the film, particularly as Cady starts to get closer to Bowden’s family, is stretched with tension and terror. Even with De Niro’s performance of a twisted, deranged criminal alone, the film is a must-watch.
Fargo (1996)
This Coen Brothers’ crime comedy, which was named one AFI’s 100 Greatest Films in American History, garnered a whopping seven Oscar nominations. Indeed, the suburban satire was so wildly popular that the Coens produced the FX hit series of the same name.
Life looks cozy and pleasant for car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), until we learn that he’s hired two criminals to kidnap his wife in order to split the ransom money. When the whip-smart police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) is on the case, she must follow the breadcrumbs of the crime, leading her to discover the dark truth behind Jerry’s motives. Behind all the bright Midwestern smiles, the Coens craft a chilling relationship between a desperate police officer and a greedy criminal.
Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher proved to be a master of suspense in this thriller, which is led by an incredible cast, including Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Chloe Sevigny. Although the film placed second at the box office after Walt Becker’s road comedy Wild Hogs, the critically acclaimed film has stood the test of time.
When an unknown serial killer begins to terrorize reporters and police in 1970s California, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) becomes engrossed by the case and spends years attempting to unmask the criminal’s identity. It’s a dark game of cat and mouse, and Fincher uses his signature cool color palette and smooth camera movements to create a film that falls somewhere between thriller and horror. As Graysmith gets closer to the Zodiac killer, audiences follow his terrifying journey with bated breath.
The Secret in their Eyes (2009)
This crime thriller, which won Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 82nd Academy Awards, marked a critical moment in Argentinian film history. Writer-director Juan José Campanella (who also edited the film himself) never fails to create suspense through his tense cuts between the past and the present.
In the 1970s, retired investigator Benjamin Espósito (Ricardo Darín) becomes engrossed by the murder case of Liliana Colotto de Morales (Carla Quevedo) after he promises her husband that he’ll bring her killer to justice. As he’s brought closer to the case, he grapples with himself and his past. It’s no surprise that Campanella’s film, which crafts suspense through Darín’s magnetic performance, ended up being ranked among BBC’s 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.
Shutter Island (2010)
It’s hard to place Scorsese’s Shutter Island within one genre. It’s everything from a neo-noir to a gripping mystery to a psychological thriller, which makes every twist and turn wildly unpredictable. Led by career-defining performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, the film was named one of the National Board of Review’s Top 10 Films of 2010.
In the 1950s, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) are brought to a mental institution on a remote East Coast island to investigate the escape of a murderer. However, things take a turn when Daniels must come to terms with himself and his troubled past if he wants any chance to make it off the island alive. Scorsese once again knows how to terrify and shock, and the exploration of a criminal mind never falls short of deeply intriguing.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo already had an established following due to Stieg Larsson’s popular series and the Swedish film from 2009 of the same name. This staple in the Fincher oeuvre, though, brought a new layer of intrigue to the story, and as a result was an immediate critical and box office sensation.
When journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is hired by an affluent industrialist to investigate the murder of a young girl from 40 years ago, he finds himself aided by the genius computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). As the unlikely duo find themselves closer to the case than they could ever have anticipated, each scene becomes progressively more uneasy. Fincher’s ability to bend tropes of the genre as his protagonists are put in harrowing situations makes it one of the most haunting thrillers in recent decades.
Prisoners (2013)
This deceptively simple Denis Villenueve thriller cemented Paul Dano as a formidable villain long before his performance as the Riddler in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The film, which was nominated at the Oscars for Best Cinematography after a successful initial box office run, is led by a powerhouse cast, including Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, and Viola Davis.
After two young girls in Pennsylvania are abducted, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) begins to investigate their sudden disappearance, leading him down a complex rabbit hole which intertwines deceit, memory, and loss. Villenueve’s calculated, agonizing shots and Deakins’ dark color palette create a tragic and petrifying reality for the characters involved.
Burning (2018)
There are few films that have come out in recent years as deeply hypnotizing as Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, which is based on the short story Barn Burning by Haruki Murakami. This thriller, which premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, is simultaneously a disconcerting and breathtaking masterwork from the South Korean director.
When young, aspiring writer Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) is introduced to the mysteriously wealthy Ben (Steven Yeun) through a childhood acquaintance, he becomes slowly captivated by Ben’s lavish life. However, when Ben reveals to Lee Jong-su that he has a strange hobby, Lee Jong-su finds himself in a dark, twisted series of events. Lee manages to subvert all expectations as the film carefully weaves its way to an unexpected and anxiety-inducing climax. It’s not a typical crime drama that follows a detective as they search for a criminal, but the twisted relationship between a dark mind and a person desperate for answers feels reminiscent of Demme’s classic film.