35 best thrillers of 2021

In 2021, the pandemic was slowly passing away, the harsh quarantine measures were gradually lifted, and cinemas began to show new releases again, although not as often as before the pandemic. The big premieres were less frequent, but everything was slowly being restored. This list is dedicated to the best thrillers of 2021, including the greatest genre films from all around the world.

Black Box

• Rating IMDB – 7.2
• Genre: Thriller, drama, detective
• Production France / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $9 615 393
• Directed by Jan Gozlan
• Cast: Pierre Ninet, Lou de Laage, André Dussolier, Sebastien Pouderoux, Olivier Rabourdin, Guillaume Marquet, Mehdi Jaadi, Anne Azoulay, Aurélien Recoin, Gregory Deranger

Mathieu Wasser has worked for many years as an analyst for a French secret service. The guy has a phenomenal hearing, and can tell 100% accurately the cause of a plane crash just by listening to an audio recording. After a French airliner crash in the Alps, it is Mathieu who is assigned to handle the case.

This seemingly simple task will turn out quite dangerous for him. After all, the more he listens to audio, pulled from the black box, the more he realizes that it was either a fake or a recording from a completely different plane. Who is playing hide-and-seek with Mathieu?

The lead actor, Pierre Niney, spent several weeks preparing for his role in the film that tops this 2021 thriller ranking. He was observing real BEA specialists.

Last Night in Soho

• Rating IMDB – 7.1
• Genre: Drama, horror, thriller
• Production UK / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $22,957,625
• Director Edgar Wright
• Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Aimee Cassettari, Colin Mays, Michael Adjao, Sunnove Carlsen

This is undoubtedly one of the best mystical thrillers of 2021.

Many years ago, Eloise’s mother tragically died and the girl was raised by her grandmother. Maybe that’s why Eloise was crazy about the 1960s. After graduating from high school, the girl got accepted into a prestigious institute in London and moves to the big city.

She enjoys her studies and her peers interact well with her, but Eloise still feels lonely. After moving to a new apartment, strange things start to happen to her. The girl sees very bright and realistic dreams. In these dreams, Eloise she spends her time in Soho in the 1960s and gets acquainted with Sandy, who dreams of becoming a star.

The title of the film is taken from the 1968 song Last Night in Soho by the pop band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. This song is playing in the closing credits.
It’s one of two movies Anya Taylor-Joy starred in that were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic (the other one is 2020’s The New Mutants).

Chess Story

• Rating IMDB – 6.9
• Genre: Drama, thriller
• Production Germany, Austria / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $846,611
• Directed by Philipp Stölzl
• Cast: Oliver Masucci, Albrecht Schuch, Birgit Minichmayr, Rolf Lassgaard, Andreas Lust, Samuel Finzi, Lukas Miko, Dieter Bernhard, Raphael Stachowiak

When Josef Bartok and his wife were about to leave Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938, he is detained by the Gestapo. They try to force him to give them access to his clients’ savings, but are repeatedly refused.

Josef is then placed in solitary confinement and his communication with the outside world is completely restricted. Locked up inside four walls, the prisoner gradually begins to go insane… Until one day Josef is lucky enough to steal a small book from the jailer. It turned out to be a chess reference book, and it becomes his salvation.

The film is based on Stefan Zweig’s famous book The Royal Game.
In the book, the game of chess appears much earlier than in the movie.

The Mauritanian

• Rating IMDB – 7.4
• Genre: Biography, drama, thriller
• Production UK, USA / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $7,527,030
• Director Kevin McDonald
• Cast: Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Levi, Saamer Usmani, Denis Menoche, Corey Johnson, Nuhe Hamadi Bari, Saadna Hamoud

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. has become so strict about all kinds of persecution that the argument “people just want to punish the guilty ones” has often guided government officials. In the hands of lawyer Nancy Hollander falls the case of the young Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who has spent more than 6 years in prison at Guantanamo Bay.

He is suspected of recruiting terrorists, but in those six years he has never been formally charged. Nancy must find out if Slahi is telling the truth and should a man who has endured so much physical and mental torture in prison be given credence in his confession.

The film is based on the true story described in the memoirs of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who served 15 years in Guantanamo Bay without charge.

To immerse himself in the role, Tahar Rahim (Mohamedou Ould Slahi) asked to wear real prison shackles.
The film won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, which was given to Jodie Foster.

Nightmare Alley

• Rating IMDB – 7.1
• Genre: Thriller, drama, crime
• Production USA, Mexico, Canada / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $37,749,575
• Directed by Guillermo del Toro
• Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn, Mary Steenbergen, Mark Povinelli

In 1939, Stanton “Stan” Carlisle gets a job as a handyman at a traveling circus. There he enjoys watching the circus workers who entertain the public, and he soon realizes that people are mostly fooled and deceived. But why not, if it makes money?

What Stan enjoys most is working with the psychic Zeena, who uses cold reading and verbal codes, passing them off as real psychic abilities. Stan gradually learns all the basics of the art and soon he becomes the most famous mentalist in New York.

The film received 4 Academy Awars nominations (Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design) and 3 British Academy Film Awards nominations (Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design).

The Trip

• Rating IMDB – 6.9
• Genre: Thriller, comedy
• Production Norway / 2021
• Directed by Tommy Wirkola
• Cast: Noomi Rapace, Axel Henni, Atle Antonsen, Christian Rubeck, Andre Eriksen, Nils Ole Oftebro, Stig Frode Henriksen, Selome Emnetou

Almost every married couple faces some sort of a crisis. Some of them solve it on their own. Some turn to marriage counselors. But these two, Lisa and Lars, decide to go on a secluded trip. They go to a lakeside cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their relationship. But it’s only lip service; in fact, they each plan to kill their spouse!

When Lisa and Lars play Scrabble, one can clearly see two words on the board – Død (dead) and Snø (snow). This is a reference to the previous works of director Tommy Wirkola – zombie movies Dead Snow and Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead.

The Little Things

• Rating IMDB – 6.3
• Genre: Detective, crime, thriller, drama
• US production / 2021
• Budget: $30,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $29,942,746
• Directed by John Lee Hancock
• Cast: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Christopher Bauer, Michael Hiatt, Terry Kinney, Natalie Morales, Isabelle Arraisa, Joris Jarsky, Glenn Morshower

Joe Deacon, known as Deke, is an aging deputy county sheriff in Kern County. But someone knows him as a police legend in California, one even young cops have heard of. Except the story that made him so famous is tightly linked with skeletons in his closet.

Deke’s successful career collapsed after one investigation that he was never able to complete. On top of that, Joe’s marriage and mental health suffered. But the past can become the future, and Deke knows that from his own experience. Taking on a new case, he realizes that these crimes are very similar to those for which he lost everything. Will the detective be able to find the killer and find peace of mind?

The naturalistic backdrop for the film was Los Angeles and its suburbs.
The screenplay was written by John Lee Hancock back in 1993.

Old

• Rating IMDB – 5.8
• Genre: Thriller, drama, fantasy
• Production USA, Japan / 2021
• Budget: $18,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $90 146 510
• Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicki Crips, Rufus Sewell, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Lee, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, Embeth Davidtz, Eliza Scanlen

The Cappa family with their two children arrives on a tropical island to relax and experience something new and exciting. On the advice of their hotel manager, they travel with a group from their hotel to a colorful and secluded beach. At first, everyone marvels at the surrounding nature, silence and beauty.

But the relaxed atmosphere is quickly replaced by panic when the corpse of a young woman is found on the beach. The company’s horror intensifies when everyone notices that time flows very differently on the island and that their young children are growing up too fast.

The film is an adaptation of a 2010 graphic novel called Sandcastle. Director M. Night Shyamalan said that this novel helped him to cope with his own problems related to the perception of growing up and accepting his own mortality.
Before the production, M. Night Shyamalan made the cast watch two movies that he would rely on during filming: 1971’s Walkabout and 1975’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Midnight

• Rating IMDB – 6.7
• Genre: Thriller, action
• Production South Korea / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $807,648
• Director Kwon Oh-son
• Cast: Jin Gi-joo, Wi Ha-joon, Park Hoon, Kil Hae-young, Kim Hye-yoon, Jung Won-chan, Jang Deok-chu, Lee Jang-yu, Lim Sun-mi, Shin Mi-young

Kyung-mi has been hearing impaired since childhood. But she has never been discouraged and now helps people like her with hearing loss in a call center. One day when she was returning home late, the heroine stumbles upon an injured girl who has been attacked by a serial maniac who has been running rampant in the area for some time. Trying to help the unfortunate girl, the girl falls into the field of vision of the very killer. The chase for life begins.

Премьера фильма должна была состояться в 2020 году, но отложилась из-за пандемии COVID-19.

В 2021 году этот фильм получил «Приз зрительских симпатий за лучший азиатский фильм» на Международном кинофестивале «Фантазия».

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

• Rating IMDB – 5.2
• Genre: Detective, thriller, horror
• Production USA, Canada / 2021
• Budget: $40,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $40 618 920
• Directed by Darren Lynn Boseman
• Cast: Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, Samuel L. Jackson, Zoe Palmer, Janelle Williams, Richard Zappery, Dan Petronievich, Patrick McManus, Ali Johnson

Zeke Banks’ father was a police chief and a great cop. But Zeke’s career has taken a very different turn. This detective is considered an outcast in the homicide squad and blamed for his inability to work as a team.

On the next case Banks will have to work with the newcomer William Schenk. An unknown killer starts a real hunt for cops, driving one by one into a death trap. The maniac’s style is eerily reminiscent of Jigsaw’s elaborate games. But he died a long time ago. So, who carries on his bloody work?

Actor Chris Rock is a true fan of the Saw franchise, and it was he who persuaded Lionsgate to make this film.
This is the ninth chapter of the iconic horror series. It was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (who also directed Saw 2, Saw 3 and Saw 4).
The film’s draft title was The Organ Donor.

The Card Counter

• Rating Kinopoisk – 5.8 / IMDB – 6.3
• Genre: Thriller, drama, crime
• Production USA, UK, China, Sweden / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $4,713,329
• Director Paul Schroeder
• Cast: Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, Alexander Babara, Bobby S. King, Catherine Baker, Brian Truong, Dylan Flashner, Adrienne Lau

Successful poker player William Tell has mastered the basic skills of keeping his cool and calculating the game a few moves ahead. He is invited to participate in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, which means recognition and big money. But the secrets hidden in the past do not want to let William go. Ex-convict is about to play the big game, and there will be not only money at stake.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival of 2021.
Martin Scorsese was one of the producers of the film.

The Voyeurs

• Rating IMDB – 6.0
• Genre: Thriller, drama, detective
• US production / 2021
• Directed by Michael Mohan
• Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Katherine King, Cameo Adele, Gene Yun, Caitlin Alexander, Bianca Blizzard

Newlyweds Pippa and Thomas move into their new apartment in Montreal. And almost immediately they notice that from the living room window they can perfectly see the apartment across the street. At first, the young people unintentionally witness the relationship of an attractive neighboring couple. But gradually the habit of spying on other people’s lives becomes an obsession.

The film was released in September 2021 on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video.
Michael Mohan is both the screenwriter and director of this film.

Don’t Breathe 2

• Rating IMDB – 6.1
• Genre: Action, thriller, crime
• US production / 2021
• Budget: $15,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $47,312,950
• Directed by Rodolfo Sayages
• Cast: Stephen Lang, Madeline Grace, Brendan Sexton III, Adam Young, Rocky Williams, Christian Sahia, Bobby Schofield, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Stephanie Arcila, Diana Babnitsova

Ex-military Norman lives with his teenage daughter, Phoenix, in a house near the city. The old man tries by all means to shield his daughter from all the dangers of this world. He teaches the girl not only general subjects, but also ways to survive in the wild forest.

Norman makes sure that Phoenix does not leave the confines of their house, but one day the girl still runs into trouble. However, will the villains be able to cope with the little girl and the blind old man?

Unlike the first film, where he served as an antagonist, here the main character turns into protagonist.
The circular saw that the doctor wields is not actually used in heart surgery. Hospitals use it to cut open the bones of the skull.
The film was the directorial debut of the young Rodo Sayagues, who wrote the screenplay with the scriptwriter of the first part, Fede Alvarez.

The Ice Road

• Rating IMDB – 5.6
• Genre: Action, thriller
• Production USA, Canada / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $7,502,846
• Directed by Jonathan Hensley
• Cast: Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Benjamin Walker, Amber Midthunder, Marcus Thomas, Holt McCallany, Martin Sensmeier, Matt McCoy, Matt Salinger, Chad Bruce

Trucker Mike McCann has a challenging trip on which the lives of people stranded in a mine in the far north depend. Joining Mike on this extreme icy haul is his brother Gurty, an Iraq veteran. Though disabled after being wounded, Gurti is a gifted mechanic who can help in any situation.

The brothers, in the company of equally desperate daredevils, must ferry several truckloads of equipment across the icy lake to rescue workers. It counts for hours or even minutes, because the miners could suffocate under rubble.

The film was shot under extreme conditions, because director Jonathan Hensleigh refused to use CGI and combined shots. That’s why the actors had to act in temperatures of -40°C, often during snowfall.
On the screen, viewers can see the real landscapes of the Canadian province of Manitoba.

Wrath of Man

• Rating IMDB – 7.1
• Genre: Action, thriller
• Production UK, USA / 2021
• Budget: $40,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $103,966,489
• Director Guy Ritchie
• Cast: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso, Alex Furns, Raul Castillo, Deobia Oparei, Scott Eastwood, Niv Algar

A taciturn Briton, Patrick Hill, takes a job with a Los Angeles collection company, Fortico Security. It has often been attacked by raiders, and during the last robbery two guards were even killed. The taciturn Patrick, nicknamed “H” by his boss, passes all the physical training, shooting, and driving tests with flying colors, and goes on his first trip.

Soon his truck too is attacked by robbers, but H manages to take out the armed gang all by himself. But the glory of a true hero and respect of his colleagues do not interest him at all, for he has his own hidden motives.

According to the film plot, all the action takes place in Los Angeles, but the shooting also took place in London.
This movie with Jason Statham, directed by Guy Ritchie, is a remake of Cash Truck – the 2004 film produced in France.

My Son

• Rating IMDB – 6.0
• Genre: Thriller, drama, crime, detective
• Production UK, France, Germany / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $953,988
• Directed by Christian Karion
• Cast: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis, Michael Moreland, Robert Jack, Owen Whitelaw, Paul Rattray, Tony Frutin, Rosalind Sidney

Edmond never thought of himself as the best father in the world. And his wife was of the same opinion. Long business trips, associated with hard work, led to a divorce, which distanced him even more from his seven-year-old son.

But during another business trip, Edmond was informed that his son was missing from a summer camp. The police have several leads, but Edmond realizes that in such cases, every day or even hour matters. Then he begins his own investigation.

Before shooting, James McAvoy didn’t even read the script, so he was the only one on the set who didn’t know his lines beforehand.

Intrusion

• Rating IMDB – 5.3
• Genre: Thriller, drama
• US production / 2021
• Directed by Adam Salki
• Cast: Freida Pinto, Logan Marshall-Greene, Robert John Burke, Megan Elizabeth Kelly, Sarah Minnick, Hayes Hargrove, Mark Sivertsen, Brandon Fierro, Antonio Valles, Clint Obenchain

Meera’s husband, Henry, is an architect and he designed a modern home especially for them, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Meera has recently recovered from cancer and this struggle has been very difficult, so she and Henry decide to start life from scratch in the new house.

But their illusions of peace and tranquility vanish when, on the first night, unknown people invade their home. Fortunately, the couple were not at home, and the burglars only stole their phones and computer. However, an unpleasant residue in Meera’s soul remained, after which Henry installs a new security system. The police begin to investigate, the sheriff interrogates the couple, promising them a speedy resolution of the problem. And after a while, unknown people break into the house again.

The screenwriter of the film, Christopher Sparling, is known to a wide audience from the 2010 film Buried.
In addition to this movie, director Adam Salki has made only one thriller, the series Blindspot (2015-2020); usually he works on dramas.

The Guilty

• Rating IMDB – 6.3
• Genre: Thriller, crime
• US production / 2021
• Directed by Antoine Fuqua
• Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vidal, Eli Gorey, Ethan Hawke, Da’Vin Joy Randolph, Christiane Montoya, David Castaneda, Adrian Martinez

LAPD Officer Joe Baylor is awaiting trial for an incident that occurred eight months ago. He has been suspended from duty and is temporarily working at the 911 call center.

On another night shift, he receives a call from a woman who only manages to tell him that she has been kidnapped and that she and the kidnapper are traveling in a white van. Joe tries to get more information from her, but the woman is forced to cut the conversation short. Joe realizes that no one but him can help this woman.

The film is a remake of the Danish film of the same name, released in 2018.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

• Rating IMDB – 6.0
• Genre: Action, thriller, drama, crime
• Production Canada, USA / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $23,468,586
• Director Taylor Sheridan
• Cast: Angelina Jolie, Finn Little, Nicholas Hoult, Aidan Gillen, Jon Bernthal, Medina Senghour, Jake Weber, Tyler Perry, James Jordan, Tory Kittles

Hannah used to be a firefighter, but left the service because her subordinate was killed in a terrible fire. Now she works in an observation tower, alone in the middle of the woods. And one day in her woods, the woman stumbles upon a 12-year-old boy, Connor, wandering alone among the trees, covered in someone else’s blood. He tells Hannah that he is being hunted by elite mercenaries who killed his father in front of the boy. Now the cold-blooded assassins have to face Hannah, who won’t let the boy get hurt.

The film is based on the book of the same name by Michael Koryta.
Angelina Jolie was in close contact with real firefighters during her preparation for the role.

Oxygen

• Rating IMDB – 6.5
• Genre: Detective, fantasy, thriller
• Production France, USA / 2021
• Director Alexander Azha
• Cast: Melanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Eric Herson-Macarel, Laura Bougena, Malik Zidi, Ani Balestra, Marc Saez, Cathy Cerda, Marie Lemial, Pascal Germain

Despite the lukewarm reception from the audience, this film deserved its place in the list of the best 2021 thrillers.

A woman wakes up in a sealed cryogenic capsule and has absolutely no memory of how she got here, what’s going on, or even her name. The only person who can help her is the virtual assistant M.I.L.O., but it flatly refuses to do certain commands. For example, to open the cryogenic chamber. The woman gradually begins to find out from M.I.L.O. what’s going on around her. But she has less and less time, as the oxygen level in the capsule inexorably drops.

In this film, there is a mention of the planet Wolf 1061 c. It’s real and was discovered in 2015.
Anne Hathaway was supposed to be the producer and the lead actor, but she was replaced by Melanie Laurent after production began.

The Woman in the Window

• Rating IMDB – 5.7
• Genre: Thriller, crime, detective
• US production / 2021
• Director Joe Wright
• Cast: Amy Adams, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Brian Tyree Henry, Tracey Letts, Anthony Mackie, Mariah Boseman, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Anna Fox has not been out of the house at all for some time. The single woman is agoraphobic, has a broken psyche, and occasionally leans too heavy on the alcohol. The only thing left for her to do is to observe the life around her from the window.

She is most attracted to the couple next door, whom she likes to peep at. But one day something terrible happens in their apartment. And Anna can’t figure out if it was true or if she just imagined the scary events?

The film was originally scheduled to premiere in October 2019, but was canceled due to very negative test screenings. Then the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic came into play and eventually the premiere was postponed indefinitely.
The film is filled with references to Alfred Hitchcock’s films.

Red Dot

• Rating IMDB – 5.5
• Genre: Horror, thriller, drama
• Production Sweden / 2021
• Directed by Alain Darburg
• Cast: Nanna Blondell, Anastasios Soulis, Johannes Kuhnke, Anna Atzarate, Tomas Hanzon, Kalled Mustonen, Tomas Bergstrom, Melvin Solin

Nadja and David became a married couple a year and a half ago, but they have already had seemingly insoluble problems. Although Nadja is expecting a child, the young people decide to refresh their relationship, albeit in a very unusual way – they go skiing in the mountains.

But on the second day of the trip, the couple, who haven’t had time to feel the romance of the hike, find a red dot on themselves from the scope. The pair think it was a hunter who just made a mistake. But there’s no coincidence here.

The film is directed by Alain Darburg by his own script.
The film may seem rather simple at first, but in fact it is riddled with metaphorical images and allegories and is not at all what it first appears to be.

Girl in the Basement

• Rating IMDB – 6.4
• Genre: Thriller, crime
• US production / 2021
• Directed by Elisabeth Röhm
• Cast: Judd Nelson, Stephanie Scott, Joely Fisher, Emma Myers, Braxton Bjorken, Emily Topper, Madison Johnson, Jake Etheridge

Sarah is about to turn 18, and she is really looking forward to that moment, because then she can leave her home. It is all because her overprotective and controlling father is just unbearable to live with.

But on the very day of her birthday, her father locks his daughter in a makeshift, soundproof basement, and slips his wife a letter saying that Sarah has run away with some cultists. The girl is held captive for the long 20 years during which her father raped and tortured her.

The film is based on true events. Elisabeth Fritzl, living in Austria, for 23 years and 7 months was held captive by her own father Josef Fritzl, who kept her in an underground bunker.

Copshop

• Rating IMDB – 6.2
• Genre: Thriller , action , crime
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $6,700,539
• Director Joe Carnahan
• Cast: Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Loder, Toby Huss, Chad L. Coleman, Ryan O’Nan, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Kaiva Lyman, Robert Walker Branchaude, Tracy Bonner

Valerie Young is a police officer in a small town in Nevada. She always remembered this town to be quiet and peaceful, with no serious crimes. So, when during a wedding fight Valerie gets kicked in the head by a visiting drunkard, Teddy Murretto, she shamelessly locks him up at the police station. But it turns out that Teddy didn’t come to their little town by accident, and he didn’t end up at the station by accident, either. Soon police officer Young is faced with something she has never seen before in her career.

It was first work of Kurt McLeod as a screenwriter whose prior occupation was financial consultant.

House of Gucci

• Rating IMDB – 6.7
• Genre: Biography, drama, crime, thriller
• Production USA, Canada / 2021
• Budget: $75,000,000
• Worldwide gross: $152,114,574
• Director Ridley Scott
• Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino, Alexia Murray, Vincent Riotta, Gaetano Bruno

Patricia Reggiani’s father works in a trucking company, and the family is not rich. But the gold-digging Patricia does not agree to live poor. At one of the parties, which she regularly attends, she meets Maurizio Gucci, a modest student who happens to be the heir of a legendary fashion house.

Despite his father’s categorical protest, who considers Patricia a fraud, the young people get married. At first, the newlyweds live poor, because Maurizio’s father cut him off from the inheritance. However, everything changes when Patricia becomes pregnant. The girl does everything to reconcile with Gucci’s relatives.

Marion Cotillard, Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz, Anne Hathaway and Margot Robbie wanted to get the role of Patricia. But in the end, the role went to Lady Gaga.

After the shooting of the movie, Jared Leto (Paolo Gucci) starred in a Gucci commercial.

The work on the script began back in 2006, and the movie finally came out only fifteen years later.

Beckett

• Rating IMDB – 5.6
• Genre: Action, thriller, drama, crime
• Production Italy, Brazil / 2021
• Directed by Ferdinando Chito Filomarino
• Cast: John David Washington, Maria Votti, Vicki Krieps, Alicia Vikander, Boyd Holbrook, Panos Koronis, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Phillipos Ioannides, Lena Kitsopoulou, Isabella Margara

Beckett and his girlfriend April arrive in Greece from America for a vacation. But a political rally and protests in the city force the couple to move their stay from Athens to a small town near Loannia.

On the road, Beckett falls asleep at the driving wheel and the car is involved in a car accident. Beckett wakes up in the hospital and the doctor tells him the terrible news – April is dead. But is it true? After all, Beckett remembers seeing the blonde running away from the car. Or would it just be a delusion?

The movie is directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino by his own screenplay.

The film was originally titled as Born to Be Murdered, but then it was changed to the current title.

The Marco Effect

• Rating IMDB – 5.2
• Genre: Thriller, crime
• Production Denmark, Germany / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $39,277
• Directed by Martin Zandvliet
• Cast: Ulrich Thomsen, Zaki Youssef, Sophie Thorpe, Anders Mattesen, Lobus Ola, Henrik Noel Olesen, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Lisa Carlehead, Caspar Phillipson, Louise Gammelgaard

A teenage gypsy, Marco Jameson, accidentally finds himself in a police station. Commissioner Carl Morck discovers secret documents on him. The boy refuses to say anything, and then escapes from the station altogether. Inspector Morck tries to find out how the vagrant got hold of the documents of a government official, and why the boy is wanted by his own uncle.

Till Death

• Rating IMDB – 5.8
• Genre: Thriller
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $495,268
• Director S.K. Dale
• Cast: Megan Fox, Owen Macken, Callan Mulvey, Jack Roth, Aml Amin, Stephanie Rojko, Julian Balagurov, Lily Rich, Theodora Djurich

Emma and her husband Mark’s former feelings have long ceased to be fiery, and the couple have become estranged from each other. So, Emma was very surprised when, on their next wedding anniversary, Mark invites her to a romantic weekend at a country house in the mountains.

But it turns out that the beautiful snow-covered mansion, a delicious dinner and gifts were just the setting for the main action. When Emma wakes up in the morning, she finds Mark handcuffed to her and he immediately shoots himself in the head! Now it’s up to Emma to free herself from a corpse chained to her and find her way home.

Despite the gorgeous actress in the title role and extensive marketing campaign, it did not receive great reviews.
The events happening to the main character can be taken as a veiled comparison to the complicated and unhealthy relationship she has been in and her desperate attempts to free herself from it, no matter what.

Below Zero

• Rating IMDB – 6.2
• Genre: Action, thriller, crime
• Production Spain / 2021
• Directed by Juis Kiles
• Cast: Javier Gutiérrez, Carra Elejalde, Luis Callejo, Andres Gertrudix, Isac Ferris, Edgar Vittorino, Mikel Gelabert, Florin Opritescu, Alex Monner, Patrick Criado

Police officer Martin is assigned to transport several extremely dangerous prisoners in an armored van on a cold night. On a deserted winter road, the escort car disappears from view, and Martin himself at the last moment manages to notice a strip of spikes on the track. So, when they are attacked by unknown bandits, all the policeman has to do is barricade himself in the van and try to prevent the criminals from getting out.

Streaming company Netflix reported that the film has been watched on 47 million accounts.
Director Lluis Quilez himself co-wrote the screenplay with Fernando Navarro.

The Virtuoso

• Rating IMDB – 4.9
• Genre: Action, thriller
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $21,356
• Directed by Nick Stagliano
• Cast: Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish, Anthony Hopkins, David Morse, Eddie Marsan, Richard Brake, Diora Baird, Chris Perfetti, Ryan Jonze, Shay Guthrie

A hired assassin is given another assignment – he must track down and kill his victim in order to pay off a debt left from his previous job. However, all he is told about his intended target is the place and time where he is sure to find it: 5 p.m. at a diner in a small village.

The killer knows nothing, neither the name of his victim nor a description of its appearance. And when he arrives at the location, he discovers several people at once who could presumably be his target. The killer goes out hunting to accomplish his mission.

Despite the ensemble cast, the film didn’t please movie critics, and its ratings aren’t that high.
The film is reminiscent of classic British detective plots from the turn of the last century, mirroring their plots. In those stories detectives usually tried to find a murderer among several suspects, while here the murderer himself tries to find out who he has to kill.

Yakuza Princess

• Rating IMDB – 4.6
• Genre: Thriller, crime
• Production Brazil / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $38,645
• Directed by Vicente Amorim
• Cast: Masumi, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Eijiro Ozaki, Kenny Leu, Toshiji Takeshima, Mariko Takai, Nicholas Trevijanu, Iuri Saraiva

21-year-old orphan Akemi has lived all her life in the Japanese community in Sao Paulo. By chance, the girl discovers that she is heiress to half of the world-famous Yakuza crime syndicate. And the other half is hungry for her death, sending mercenaries to kill her. The girl finds unexpected help in the form of an amnesiac man who believes their fates are somehow connected.

The film is based on the graphic novel Samurai Shiro by Danilo Beyruth.
This is the first time Masumi, the lead actress, has acted in a film, having previously been known only as a singer and composer.

Dark Web: Cicada 3301

• Rating IMDB – 4.9
• Genre: Action, thriller, comedy
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $10,637
• Director Alan Ritchson
• Cast: Jack Casey, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, Alan Ritchson, Andreas Apergis, Kristen Holden-Reid, Alyssa Cheetham, Ron Mustafa, Consetia Hamilton, Victoria Snow

A group of anonymous hackers who called themselves Cicada 3301 developed a popular quest that could only be found on the darknet. It was available only to those who would be able to solve their arcane riddles and complete the tasks they scattered around the world.

Hacker Conor Black completely accidentally stumbles onto Cicada’s trail, and gets involved in an interesting and dangerous quest. But it turns out that NSA agents are also trying to get on the trail of the authors of this test. Who will get there first?

The movie is based on real events, and the mystery of Cicada 3301 remains unsolved.

Midnight in the Switchgrass

• Rating IMDB – 4.4
• Genre: Thriller, detective, crime
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $229,811
• Directed by Randall Emmett
• Cast: Megan Fox, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis, Lukas Haas, Caitlin Carmichael, Olive Elise Abercrombie, Jason Trawick, Lydia Hull, Welker White, Alec Monopoly

In the small Florida town of Pensacola, the body of a murdered girl was found. And this is not the first case. Police officer Byron Crawford draws the attention of a colleague to this macabre pattern, but his superiors are in no hurry to start a large-scale investigation.

Instead, they summon FBI agents to town. The experienced Karl Helter and his partner Rebecca Lombardo arrive. To lure the killer out, the agents decide on a desperate move – to make an attractive Rebecca a bait for a sadistic maniac.

The film is based on a real-life investigation of serial murders in Texas in 1990, which resulted in the capture of serial killer Robert Benjamin Rhoades.

Out of Death

• Rating IMDB – 3.2
• Genre: Thriller
• US production / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $95,813
• Director Mike Burns
• Cast: Jamie King, Bruce Willis, Lauryn Kent, Kelly Grayson, Megan Leonard, Michael Searow, Tyler John Olson, Oliver Trevena, Mike Burns, Adam Wel Potter

Shannon Mathers’ father recently died, and the girl decides to go to the Georgia woods to scatter his ashes there in his will. But amidst the natural beauty, she unexpectedly stumbles upon a crime: some people are clearly involved in a drug deal. Shannon, who had her camera with her, discreetly takes pictures of what is going on, but she is spotted. Will she be able to escape from the criminals even though some of them are local cops?

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, all the scenes with Bruce Willis were shot in one day.

Wolf

• Rating IMDB – 5.5
• Genre: Thriller, melodrama
• Production Ireland, UK, Poland / 2021
• Worldwide gross: $316,586
• Directed by Natalie Biancheri
• Cast: George MacKay, Stuart Graham, Helen Bian, Lily-Rose Depp, Lola Petticrew, Darra Shannon, Eileen Walsh, Fionn O’Shea, Senan Jennings

The plot of this thriller revolves around a specialized treatment facility where young people with zoanthropy who consider themselves animals are kept. Among the inhabitants of the unusual menagerie are a young wolf, a parrot girl, a wild cat, a sheepdog, and a squirrel. It is believed that people get this disorder in an effort to escape the monstrous memories of the past.

The most recent patient was Jacob, the wolf man. He would walk naked on all fours, howl, wallow in mud, and in moments of enlightenment dream of being ordinary. It was only here, within the sterile walls of the asylum, that he realized that man is crueler than any beast.

Conceptually, the film about the asylum is based on the novel “Steppenwolf” by Hermann Hesse.