If you’re ready to be thrilled, look no further. Plenty of thrillers have already been released in 2023, and there are more movies to come that aim to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. This year, we’ve got everything from dinosaurs to super-secret spies to cocaine bears. (Yep, that last one is exactly what it sounds like. Don’t think too hard about it.)
Kicking off the year, twist king M. Night Shyamalan returned with Knock at the Cabin, a movie in which Ron Weasley threatens a family with a warning about the apocalypse (well, you know, essentially). There’s also 65, which shows us what happens when a man from the future ends up back on Earth… but the Earth that existed 65 million years ago. (What happens is dinosaurs. Lots of them.) The fourth John Wick movie was also released, which saw Keanu Reeves return for a fourth round of action.
Still to come this year, there’s the latest Agatha Christie mystery from Kenneth Branagh—this time, he’s joined by Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, and Michelle Yeoh. You can also check out the erotic thriller Fair Play about why you shouldn’t fall in love while working at a hedge fund. Plus, thriller fans can also look forward to a new movie from director David Fincher, who is adapting a graphic novel about an assassin.
Read on to find out which 2023 thrillers are for you, watch all of their trailers, and learn when and where you can check out these brand-new films.
Plane
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on VOD now
Plane is about a pilot (Gerard Butler) who makes an emergency landing of an airplane only for the passengers to be taken hostage and held for ransom by terrorists. And those two major problems aren’t the only issues: The pilot also has to work together with a prisoner (Mike Colter), who has been charged with murder and is being transported on the plane.
Missing
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on Netflix now
The 2018 movie Searching gave audiences something they’d never seen before as the entire movie took place on computer and phone screens. The follow-up, Missing, tells a new story in the same way. This time, a teenage girl (Storm Reid) is trying to locate her mother (Nia Long), who went missing during a trip to Colombia, but she soon learns her mom isn’t who she thought.
Knock at the Cabin
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on Amazon Prime Video now
The latest from director M. Night Shyamalan is adapted from the 2018 book The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay. It’s about a couple vacationing in a cabin with their young daughter when four mysterious people appear and present them with an impossible choice involving the apocalypse.
Cocaine Bear
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on Peacock now
Cocaine Bear is a dark comedy and a thriller, and it’s about exactly what the title says. Inspired by a true story (yep, really), the film from director Elizabeth Banks is about a bear that eats a bunch of cocaine and goes on a killing spree in 1985. (The real bear only did the eating a bunch of cocaine part.)
65
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on Netflix now
Sci-fi thriller 65 stars Adam Driver as a spaceship pilot from the future who crash-lands on an unknown planet only to find out that it’s Earth 65 million years ago. You know what that means: dinosaurs. The pilot then has to find a way to escape along with a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt), who is the only other surviving passenger he finds.
John Wick: Chapter 4
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on VOD now
Keanu Reeves returns as John Wick for the fourth movie in the franchise. The hit man faces off against the international crime lords of the High Table once again. Costars include Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, and Laurence Fishburne.
Master Gardener
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on VOD now
Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver star in Master Gardener, about a horticulturalist who works on a wealthy woman’s estate. When the woman insists that he hire her niece (Quintessa Swindell) as an apprentice, dark secrets from his past come to light.
The Mother
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on Netflix now
“I’m a killer, but I’m also a mother,” Jennifer Lopez says in the trailer for The Mother, and that just about sums it up. Lopez stars in the action-thriller as an assassin, who reunites with the daughter she was forced to give up at birth in order to protect the young girl from her own violent past.
Sanctuary
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Available on VOD now
Sanctuary stars Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott as a dominatrix, Rebecca, and the rich heir to a hotel chain, Hal, who are engaging in a secret relationship. The movie follows the heir’s attempt to end their arrangement while the dominatrix argues that she has the right to some of his money since she helped him in his business career.
Extraction 2
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
On Netflix now
It might have seemed like Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) died at the end of the first Extraction movie, but that’s clearly not the case. The Australian special forces member turned black ops mercenary is back for more action and a brand-new mission in the Netflix sequel.
Oppenheimer
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
In theaters now
Oppenheimer is a biopic of Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who was one of the inventors of the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy stars in the title role alongside a cast that includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr.
Heart of Stone
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
On Netflix now
Gal Gadot stars in the action thriller Heart of Stone as CIA agent Rachel Stone (get it? Heart of Stone?). Expect car chases, explosions, and stunts on stunts on stunts. Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt costar.
A Haunting in Venice
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
In theaters Sept. 15
A Haunting in Venice is the latest Agatha Christie mystery adaptation from director and star Kenneth Branagh, following 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express and 2022’s Death on the Nile. This time, Branagh’s detective Hercule Poirot is joined by characters played by Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, and more.
The Creator
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
In theaters Sept. 29
John David Washington stars in The Creator, a science fiction thriller that takes place in a world in which humans are at war with artificial intelligence. Washington’s former special forces agent character has to search for a person called The Creator, who developed a weapon that would end the war and end human life. Another problem? The weapon is a child. Co-stars include Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Allison Janney.
Fair Play
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
In limited theaters Sept. 29. On Netflix Oct. 13
Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich star in the erotic thriller Fair Play about an engaged couple who also work together at a hedge fund. When one of them gets a promotion over the other, their relationship takes a turn—to put it lightly. Don’t date your co-workers?
The Killer
On Netflix Nov. 10
David Fincher is known for making thrillers, and his latest film is no different. The Killer is a psychological thriller based on a French graphic novel about an assassin, who begins to question his sanity. Michael Fassbender stars as the assassin and is joined by Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard, and Charles Parnell.
Eileen
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
In limited theaters Dec. 1. Wide release Dec. 8
The psychological thriller Eileen is based on the 2015 Ottessa Moshfegh novel of the same name. It stars Thomasin McKenzie as Eileen, a young woman working at a juvenile detention center in the 1960s, who is intrigued by a new counselor, Rebecca, played by Anne Hathaway. As their relationship develops, the connection between the two women only grows darker.
Leave the World Behind
On Netflix Dec. 8
Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, and Myha’la Herrold star in Leave the World Behind, which is based on Rumaan Alam’s 2020 book. The story follows two couples who have to try to survive a mysterious blackout and figure out why it’s happening in the first place.