Thriller

Death Watch

Well-deserved re-issue of Bertrand Tavernier's prescient Glasgow-set sci-fi thriller

16 May 2012

Its plot is a credibility stretch even in these days of de rigueur media paranoia, and its relentlessly murky, moody tone might raise the odd giggle, but Tavernier’s long-neglected sci-fi curiosity is compelling nonetheless. Romy Schneider plays…

The Pact

An unoriginal, low budget thriller that’s light on gore and stronger on tension

11 May 2012

The latest US horror/thriller to be granted a UK release has a slightly better pedigree than most: writer/director Nicholas McCarthy’s film was developed from his own short, which was shown last year at Sundance, quickly developed into this feature…

The Monk

Vincent Cassel stars in Dominik Moll's visually impressive but otherwise inert thriller

17 Apr 2012

(15) 101min It’s been seven years since Dominik Moll’s last film, but the talented filmmaker who made the blackly comic thrillers Harry, He’s Here to Help and Lemming, is back with his most ambitious film yet. Sadly, Moll’s adaptation of Matthew…

Safe House

Brutally slick but flawed action thriller starring Denzel Washtington and Ryan Reynolds

8 Feb 2012

(15) 115mins Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds make a formidable partnership in Daniel Espinosa's Safe House, a brutally slick, if flawed, action thriller.

A Dangerous Method

Cronenberg's cerebral study of psychoanalysis, starring Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender

27 Jan 2012

(15) 99min David Cronenberg’s new film is a change of pace for the seldom gore-shy director of The Fly and A History of Violence, being a talky period drama about the birth of psychoanalysis in the early 20th century. But while the body-horror…

Man on a Ledge

Well paced, high concept thriller starring Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell and Elizabeth Banks

23 Jan 2012

(12A) 102mins Sam Worthington’s latest is an occasionally tense but mostly silly thriller that at least realises its own absurdities. The Hollywood debut of former documentary filmmaker Asger Leth (Ghosts of Cité Soleil), the film follows a…

Anonymous

Surprisingly adept Shakespeare-themed historical romp from blockbuster director Roland Emmerich

12 Oct 2011

(12A) 129min Director Roland Emmerich is long established as the king of the apocalyptic blockbuster with a career defined by gung-ho event movies Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. It is quite a surprise to witness him diving…

Straw Dogs

Risible remake of Peckinpah's 1970s revenge thriller

12 Oct 2011

(18) 109min An early star vehicle for Dustin Hoffman, Sam Peckinpah’s film of Gordon Williams’ novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm was one of the high (or low) watermarks of early 1970s brutalism – a moody, nihilistic polemic that equated violence…

Robert Harris - The Fear Index

An unexpectedly thrilling mix of science, computers and global economics

16 Sep 2011

(Hutchinson) With its ominous title and opening ‘Frankenstein’ quote, it’s no great surprise to find that The Fear Index is a freaky read. And if you’re a fan of being spooked, then Robert Harris’ eighth novel is a must, as he guides us through a…

Red State

Uneven political horror-thriller from Kevin Smith

14 Sep 2011

(18) 88min Outspoken filmmaker Kevin Smith hit a creative and commercial low with his last studio-backed production, the Bruce Willis-starring flop Cop Out, but before that film was even released Smith had shifted focus to this long-gestating…

A Lonely Place To Die

Tense and riveting Brit-thriller set in Scottish Highlands

24 Aug 2011

How far would you go to save a stranger? Would you risk your life? And your friends’ lives? It’s a question Alison (Melissa George) and her fellow climbers must answer after they stumble across a young girl (Holly Boyd) buried in a wooden box while…

Point Blank (A Bout Portant)

Director Fred Cavayé's French thriller is engaging and well-paced

23 May 2011

(15) 84 min Fashion photographer turned filmmaker Fred Cavayé (Anything For Her) would have thrived in the old Hollywood studio system. His films operate with the speed and single-mindedness of a runaway locomotive. Give him a high concept premise…

Farewell (L'Affaire Farewell) - a romantic thriller set in the midst of the Cold War

Starring Emir Kusterica and Guilliame Canet

28 Mar 2011

(12A) 113min Based loosely on the actions of high ranking KGB official and spy Vladimir Vetrov, Farewell is a complex but tender portrait of the Cold War in free fall, a place where a passionate eccentric like Vetrov (here renamed Grigoriev) can…

Interview - Natalie Portman on Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan

Actress on the challenging role, extreme pain and dancing injuries

28 Mar 2011

A lot of people are saying your work in Black Swan is your best performance to date. How do you feel? I’m very unobjective! It was definitely the most challenging and the most rewarding. It’s sad that the cliché is true – the more you put in, the more…

Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skolimowski on new film Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo-starring film tells tale of fugitive on the run from the CIA

18 Mar 2011

‘I live in a remote area of the Masurian forest in Poland and one night I was driving back home on a very slippery road. My car skidded and I very nearly went over the edge, which would have killed me. I felt a real shock and I realised I was near this…

Source Code

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan star in body-swapping thriller

18 Mar 2011

Duncan Jones’ dazzling debut Moon is, by any standard, a tough act to follow, but while sophomore effort Source Code can’t quite match up, it does ensure the director’s career remains on the right track. The film is an intriguing race-against-time…

The Last Werewolf

Glen Duncan's mystery thriller balances a penchant for culture references with a gripping narrative

15 Mar 2011

(Canongate) Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf may be about a supernatural being but this is no ordinary fantasy. The novel is framed as the diary of 200-year-old Jacob Marlowe, the last werewolf on earth, who is pursued by government-sanctioned hunters…

The Wire's Idris Elba stars in Glasgow-shot thriller Legacy

Elba turns in strong performance, but undermined by muddled plotting

10 Mar 2011

(15) 114min One of the most interesting things about Legacy lies in its production: whilst the story is set almost entirely in New York the whole film was shot in Glasgow. Local film company Black Camel Pictures persuaded director Thomas Ikimi to…

Ron Peck on Thatcher-era thriller Empire State

Director of Nighthawks discusses overdue DVD and Blu Ray release

2 Mar 2011

It’s mad to think that Ron Peck’s Thatcherite era thriller Empire State has lain dormant for so long. Set in and around the gay clubbing scene, which at the time was exploding in vast warehouse clubs in the UK, the film easily still stands next to The…

Fair Game

Thriller based on a true story, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts

2 Mar 2011

(12A) 107min The CIA leak that effectively ended CIA operative Valerie Plame’s career, and the subsequent fallout that revealed a line of corruption leading all the way from Republican low-lives Karl Rove and 'Scooter' Libby to the Whitehouse…

Unknown

Mistaken identity thriller starring Liam Neeson, January Jones and Diane Kruger

2 Mar 2011

(12A) 113min Liam Neeson has had a career revival as the star of mid-budget action thrillers in which he growls his way through various preposterous situations, while remaining muscularly watchable. Though comparable to his reactionary turn in…

DVD: Betrayal

War thriller suffers from two-dimensional characters and lack of action

17 Feb 2011

(15) 93min (Optimum) Nazi occupied Oslo in 1943 and the black market is rife. Life is sweet for corrupt businessmen who frequent the nightspot Club Havana, largely thanks to the compliance of the SS Major who turns a blind eye and takes his share.

DVD: In Their Sleep (Dans Ton Sommeil)

Quietly unsettling psychological thriller

17 Feb 2011

French psychological thriller directed by Caroline and Eric du Potet, and starring Anne Parillaud (Nikita).

Confessions - Dark drama of murder and revenge in the classroom

Japan’s contender for Best Foreign Language Film at 2011 Oscars

11 Feb 2011

Japan’s contender for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Academy Awards is a real departure for its director, Tetsuya Nakashima, whose candy coloured comedy Kamikaze Girls and musical Memories of Matsuko previously brought him international…

Cash And Curry

Eastenders with a little bit of a gangster feel. Sometimes.

18 Aug 2010

Triads, Yardies & Onion Bhajees director Sarijit Bains’ attempt to make a multi-cultural Brit mobster flick feels more like when Eastenders occasionally dabbles with the gangster genre. Only less gripping. Unsurprisingly, leads Ameet Chana, Ronny…

Pornography: A Thriller

One porn actor investigates the disappearance of another

17 Aug 2010

What happened to famous gay porn star Mark Anton? Did he end up in a snuff film? Another porn actor intent on turning movie director investigates. David Kittredge’s film may sell itself as Cronenberg meets Lynch, but the comparisons do him no…

Shutter Island

25 Feb 2010

Just as he followed his gangland classic Goodfellas with his pulpy remake of Cape Fear, so Martin Scorsese’s first feature film proper since The Departed is thriller Shutter Island. Based on the 1954-set novel by Dennis Lehane, like Cape Fear, it’s…

Secret Defense

Menace in every moment

22 Oct 2009

Veteran New Wave filmmaker Jacques Rivette (Paris Nous Appartient, La Belle Noiseuse, Celine and Julie Go Boating) explores the sins of the past. Rivette regular Sandrine Bonnaire plays Parisian research scientist Sylvie Rousseau. When her brother shows…

Night Train to Inverness

Gutsy period curo

22 Oct 2009

Directed by oft overlooked British film and TV director Ernest Morris (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Court Martial of Major Keller), this tight, train-bound 1960 thriller has a lot to commend it. When ex-convict Roy Lewis (Norman Wooland) turns up in…

The Horseman

Australian revenge thriller fails to thrill

16 Oct 2009

The template for this Australian murder-revenge drama is clearly Mike Hodges’ classic Get Carter. Writer/director Steven Kastrissios’ film features a tough-as-nails central performance from Peter Marshall as Christian, a revenge-seeking father. The…

Katalin Varga

2 Oct 2009

Filmed in two weeks on a micro budget, Katalin Varga is proof of just how good independent filmmaking can be in the hands of a committed and intelligent filmmaker, in this case, first time director, Peter Strickland. While a tale of revenge set in…

Triangle

Severance director returns with another horror trip

1 Oct 2009

Christopher Smith’s CV so far comprises the lamentable Creep and the far better Severance. Triangle, his third film, falls somewhere between the two. A psychological thriller with supernatural elements, the film is designed to chill and keep you…

Thirst

Korean vampire flick

1 Oct 2009

The success of Twilight has inevitably paved the way for a glut of vampire- themed movies of varying merit. But Park Chan-wook’s Thirst is well worth sinking your teeth into. Admittedly overlong and occasionally disjointed, the film nevertheless offers…

Lost World by Patricia Melo

1 Oct 2009

Casually brutal and utterly uncompromising, this Brazilian noir thriller is nerve-shreddingly compelling from start to grizzly finish. A sequel to The Killer, Patricia Melo’s 1995 novel, Lost World picks up the story of amoral ex-contract killer Maiquel…

Also published: Books

It'd be criminal to miss out on these

17 Sep 2009

Stieg Larsson The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest The third volume of the bestselling Millenium Trilogy has Lisbeth Salander fighting corruption as she is set to face trial for three murders. Maclehose Press. Ruth Rendell The Monster in the…

Sin Nombre

10 Sep 2009

Last chance to see Cary Fukunga’s debut feature, an accomplished and powerful Mexican social thriller which centres on the themes of belonging and escape. When a city gangbanger tries to escape his murderous gang and a Honduran girl tries to sneak…

Trust Me by Peter Leonard

Elmore's son serves up his second crime thriller

3 Sep 2009

Having crime-writing legend Elmore Leonard as your dad is a lot to live up to, but with this bristling second fiction outing, son Peter almost keeps up the family name. Set in Detroit, with a cast of hapless, amoral baddies, his relentlessly-paced noir…

Part Chimp - Thriller

3 Sep 2009

Imagine a supernova collapsing into a super-gravitational black hole, sucking in whole star systems, then eating pies and doughnuts for all eternity, and that still wouldn’t be as heavy as Part Chimp. This third album from the London…

First Word: Jeffery Deaver

The American mystery and murder author waxes lyrical

21 Aug 2009

First record you ever bought The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Last time you were chatted up I had a marriage proposal from a woman I’d never met about two years ago at a bookstore in New York City. Does that count as chatting up? I declined.

The Constant Gardener

19 Aug 2009

This month’s screening in association with The British Science Association is Fernando Meirelles’ thoughtful adaptation of John Le Carre’s thriller about the murky practices of multinational pharmaceutical companies in the third world. Medical…

Inglourious Basterds

15 Aug 2009

Quentin Tarantino’s much talked about men-on-a-mission WWII movie has been a long time coming, but now his sixth feature (originally inspired by the 1978 film of almost the same name) is here and it’s great. Brad Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his…

5 paperback thrillers

12 Aug 2009

Burial by Neil Cross, Geezer Girls by Dreda Say Mitchell, Death Trip by Lee Weeks, Hit and Run by Lawrence Block, The Clayton Account by Bill Vidal.

Mesrine: Killer Instinct (l’Instinct de Mort)

30 Jul 2009

Tracing a line from Mesrine’s disillusioning military service during the Algerian war to the beginning of his notoriety in 1972 (when he graduated to murder), the first instalment of this epic crime tale is derivative, energetic and hugely…

George Dawes Green - Ravens

30 Jul 2009

It has been 14 long years since we were gripped by George Dawes Green’s best-selling novel The Juror, so this follow-up has plenty to live up to. Thankfully, Ravens delivers – and then some. Set in the deathly quiet US town of Brunswick, it tells the…

The Taking of Pelham 123

23 Jul 2009

How can you go wrong with a remake of 1974’s Joseph Sargent thriller, in which cop Walter Matthau and master-criminal Robert Shaw played out a tense cat-and-mouse game for the lives of subway hostages? For the first hour at least, Tony Scott’s remake of…

Conman - a comic thriller by Richard Asplin

23 Jul 2009

Comic memorabilia shop owner, young family man, and general nerd Neil Martin finds himself in a rollicking British fix: the stock-filled basement of his shop has been flooded and he’s been less than scrupulous with his insurance payments. Enter…

Crying with Laughter

25 Jun 2009

The hot ticket among the Scottish films screening at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival is Justin Molotnikov’s Crying with Laughter, a thriller starring Scotland’s Stephen McCole. Familiar from roles in Wes Anderson’s high school comedy…

Public Enemies

25 Jun 2009

Public Enemies always had the potential to be special given that it’s a crime saga from the director of Heat that follows one of America’s most colourful outlaws, as played by one of Hollywood’s most versatile and talented stars. Fortunately, Michael…

New Town Killers

11 Jun 2009

Richard Jobson’s Edinburgh-set credit crunch thriller is the best film and certainly his most commercial since his impressive 2003 debut 16 Years of Alcohol. As he did with that film, Jobson makes inventive use of the city he calls home, shooting in the…

Fermat's Room (La Habitacion de Fermat)

28 May 2009

Spanish filmmakers are cornering the market in intriguing, ingenious thrillers. Following on from the chronology-warping comic thriller Timecrimes (released on DVD only in Scotland) this murderous mathematical mystery arrives to confound and…