10 Most Underrated Slow-Burn Thrillers, Ranked (original) (raw)
Crop of the poster for The Neon Demon (2016)
Image via Amazon Studios
Published Jul 13, 2024, 2:45 PM EDT
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The first thing one likely thinks of when hearing the term “thriller” is thrills, for obvious reasons. And one way to deliver thrills to an audience through a movie is by having a fast pace, tons of excitement, and some kind of spectacle, particularly if one’s aiming to make an action/thriller movie. However, some thrillers prioritize the chase or the journey over the kill or destination, so to speak.
The good ones do this while also being engaging and thrilling in a quieter way than expected, which brings us to slow-burn thrillers, which burn slow but burn bright, and prove exciting in more subtle ways than might be expected. They might not all be mass-appeal, and some have flown under the radar as a result, or get less attention than deserved. The following movies fit into such a camp, some being obscure and some being decently known, albeit not getting quite as much praise as was arguably warranted.
10 'The Passenger' (1975)
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Jack Nicholson sitting down behind a parked vehicle
Image via United Artists
The Passenger is overlooked by the standards of Jack Nicholson’s filmography, perhaps owing to the fact that he starred in so many great movies and it can be hard to keep track of them all, as a result. It’s also a film that emphasizes the “slow” in “slow-burn,” with the whole film being intentionally hazy, strange, and heavy on mystery without necessarily being keen to give easy answers.
The premise involves Nicholson’s character assuming the identity of a dead man, but then landing in hot water when it turns out that man had some fairly powerful enemies. The Passenger just manages to qualify as a thriller, because there’s some suspense and intrigue to it all, but it’s far more concerned with atmosphere and general unease over telling a story or showcasing anything by way of explosive action.
Release Date
April 9, 1975
Runtime
126 Minutes
9 'Lore' (2012)
Director: Cate Shortland
A bunch of people looking glum in a field
Image via Transmission Films
A film that takes place in Germany during the final year of World War II, Lore, like a good many slow-burn movies, has a pretty simple premise. It concerns five siblings making a perilous journey of more than 500 miles across Germany, seeking out the home of their grandmother following the arrest and disappearance of their parents.
It’s heavy on the drama side of things, more so than “thrills” in the traditional sense, but there is a pervasive discomfort to be found throughout Lore. It unpacks some tricky subject matter during a bleak time in history, showing it all from the perspective of some very young characters, too. A certain amount of patience is needed to sit both through and with Lore, but it’s ultimately effective at what it sets out to achieve.
Lore leads her four younger siblings across a war-torn Germany in 1945. Amidst the chaos she encounters a mysterious refugee who shatters her fragile reality with hatred and desire.
8 'Only God Forgives' (2013)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Ryan Gosling in 'Only God Forgives'
Image via Film District
In 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn released what’s probably his most famous/accessible film, Drive. It’s safe to say that one is fairly rated; in other words, not underrated. However, his follow-up, 2013’s Only God Forgives, is considerably more underrated and misunderstood. It might not be quite as great as Drive, but it’s got more to offer than many give it credit for.
As with Drive, it stars Ryan Gosling, here playing a man engaged in a fruitless quest for revenge against some far more powerful and imposing criminals in Bangkok. It takes on a familiar crime/thriller story in a strange and oftentimes confronting way, but the look and feel of Only God Forgives prove to be rich and rather absorbing, and there’s a good deal to chew on thematically/subtextually for anyone so inclined.
Release Date
May 30, 2013
Runtime
90 minutes
Director
Nicolas Winding Refn
7 'The Neon Demon' (2016)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Elle Fanning in 'The Neon Demon'
Image via Gaumont and Wild Bunch
Three years on from Only God Forgives, Nicholas Winding Refn released something just as polarizing: The Neon Demon. It’s a film that feels heavier on style over anything else; that’s not to say that it lacks substance, but it almost doesn’t need much substance when the style is so… well, stylish. It’s also worth noting that it’s a horror film alongside being a psychological thriller.
It’s a movie that paints a bleak picture of Los Angeles, following an ambitious model who slowly finds herself falling into a surprisingly cutthroat and nightmarish world. It lives up to its title by having an undoubtedly neon feel to the whole thing, and though it takes its time, The Neon Demon can be rather exciting to fall into, should you be able to get on its wavelength (which might be easier said than done).
Release Date
May 31, 2016
Runtime
118 Minutes
Director
Nicolas Winding Refn
6 'Take Shelter' (2011)
Director: Jeff Nichols
People standing in a field in Take Shelter
Image via Sony Pictures Classics
Predominantly a psychological drama with some tense moments, Take Shelter revolves around one man and his intense fear of a coming catastrophe, owing to visions he’s been having. Much of the film revolves around how he deals with this and particularly how he struggles with the question of what to do with/for his family, given he wants to protect them, but remains aware of how his behavior may be alarming them.
As a result, it feels like a pre-disaster movie, not having much by way of spectacle or huge scenes of destruction, and instead being about the fear of such things. Still, in capturing a relative calm before a feared storm, Take Shelter still has an effectively nervous energy and some great central performances, notably from Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.
Release Date
September 30, 2011
Runtime
120 Minutes
Director
Jeff Nichols
5 'Shadow of a Doubt' (1943)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie on a payphone in Shadow of a Doubt
Image via Universal Pictures
Shadow of a Doubt is only underrated when compared to various other Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, given it’s not quite as well-known as some of his later films, like North by Northwest, Psycho, Rear Window, and Vertigo. It also feels a little funny calling it underrated when it was the director’s own favorite film of all the ones he directed, but it does remain the case that it’s not always recognized as top-tier Hitchcock.
He put out a ton of movies during the 1940s, so maybe it just got overshadowed. In any event, it’s a great noir-ish mystery/thriller film about a teenager fearing that a man who’s said to be her uncle isn't who he seems. Typical for a good Hitchcock thriller, it’s got (at least a little) subtlety, suspense, and undeniable style, being all-around well-balanced and very engaging stuff.
4 'Le Trou' (1960)
Director: Jacques Becker
Three men in Le Trou looking at an hourglass.
Image via Titanus
Sometimes, simplicity is best, and this seems to be particularly the case for movies about breaking out of prison. Even something relatively epic in scope, like The Great Escape, has a very straightforward narrative, after all. There are characters, they’re in prison, they don’t like it, and they have a plan to break out. That’s what most escape movies boil down to, and it’s what a filmmaker does with the premise execution-wise that makes such films thrilling.
Enter Le Trou, which is very confined and, in contrast to something like The Great Escape, only has a small number of characters teaming up to make an escape. Le Trou unfolds slowly over a runtime that exceeds two hours, but it’s never boring, always managing to build suspense or deliver payoffs on that build-up, with it being finely controlled, expertly tense, and extremely well-acted throughout.
3 'Inland Empire' (2006)
Director: David Lynch
Laura Dern hunched over screaming in the middle of a deserted street in Inland Empire
Image via StudioCanal
A film that defies categorization, Inland Empire is perhaps the least approachable of all David Lynch films, fittingly being his most challenging, and perhaps his final feature film (though just over 10 years later, he did direct every episode of Twin Peaks: The Return). With Inland Empire, it’s a surreal fantasy film of sorts, a psychological drama, kind of a horror movie, and a thriller… sort of. A very slow and strange thriller.
It's also a movie that goes for three hours, following an actress as she experiences reality warping around her, all while trying to complete a potentially cursed film. Inland Empire is also visually bold, with a distinct lo-fi look to the whole thing that can be both off-putting and memorable. It’s strange stuff, even by Lynch’s standards, but it’s worth checking out for the fact that there’s pretty much nothing else like it.
Release Date
September 6, 2006
Runtime
180 minutes
Director
David Lynch
Main Genre
2 'Pulse' (2001)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Toshio Yabe (Masatoshi Matsuo) stares at a dark stain on the wall in his coworker Taguchi's apartment in 'Pulse'
Image via Toho
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a well-known name among fans of Japanese horror films, but even his best-known efforts are, broadly speaking, cult films. Cure could almost be considered underrated, but is ultimately more well-known than 2001’s Pulse, which is probably a better candidate for the label of “underrated.” But if you already knew about it then, yes, you're very smart.
Pulse brings something fresh to the psychological thriller and demonic possession sub-genres, taking the internet of the late 1990s/early 2000s and giving it a supernatural spin, with an undeniably distinctive take on telling a ghost story; one for the digital age. It’s quietly scary at times, and retains the feel of a slow-burn thriller throughout, too, and one that feels most unsettling the less you know about what exactly is going on. Pulse definitively proves that mysteries are spookier if left (kind of) unsolved.
Release Date
February 3, 2001
Runtime
119 Minutes
Director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
1 'Le Cercle Rouge' (1970)
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
If you’re watching a French crime movie and it stars Alain Delon, you're generally in good hands. It’s even better if the film in question is also directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The pair’s most well-known collaboration is 1967’s Le Samourai, but equally compelling – and arguably even more patiently paced – is Le Cercle Rouge, which does for heist films what the aforementioned Le Trou did for prison movies.
Across a runtime of almost 2.5 hours, Le Cercle Rouge takes its time establishing characters and a mood before delivering one of the most suspenseful heist sequences in history, then detailing its dramatic aftermath. It’s simple but also so stylish and hasn’t lost any of its capacity to be intense in the decades since its release. It gives you everything you’d want out of a crime/thriller movie, so long as you’re willing to approach the whole thing with patience, safe in the knowledge that it'll all be worth it in the end.