Thrillers play on our primal fears, they keep us on the hook from the beginning till the very end of the story

Sitting on a seat or laying on a couch, we are soon forced to forget about our own world and find ourselves identifying with the protagonist

Thrillers pull out all of our adrenaline, they make us suffer anxiety and tension

Here you will find 7 thrillers that took this experience one step further

They will keep you on the edge of your seat, get inside your mind and never leave it

Edge of your Seat Thrillers | 7

The Game

Director: David Fincher
Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, James Rebhorn, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Anna Katarina, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Charles Martinet, Scott Hunter McGuire, Florentine Mocanu, Elizabeth Dennehy, Caroline Barclay, Daniel Schorr, John Aprea
Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama, Mystery
Year: 1997

The repetitive routine of Nicholas Van Horton – a San Francisco multi-millionaire white collar – is abruptly unsettled by an incursion in his life by his reckless younger brother Conrad. An unexpected birthday gift wraps Michael Douglas‘ life in a blanket of mystery - it’s an appointment with a company arranging games tailored precisely to the client’s needs

What was supposed to be a little shake to the daily routine becomes an unstoppable chain of life-threatening events where no one is trustworthy: not his own brother – played by the amazing Sean Penn. Not even himself. Imagine you had everything and two days later you found yourself waking up with no money in Mexico, lying in a coffin, with no idea of what got you there. The Game is David Fincher at his highest level of thriller tension – unmissable

Edge of your Seat Thrillers | 6

The Shining

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Philip Stone, Joe Turkel, Anne Jackson, Tony Burton, Lia Beldam, Billie Gibson, Barry Dennen, David Baxt, Manning Redwood, Lisa Burns
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Drama
Year: 1980

The Shining raised the bar of psychological terror like no film ever did before. Jack Torrance, his wife and young son Danny live alone in the totally isolated one-hundred-room Overlook Hotel during the winter closing time. Long corridors, intolerable silences, sinister presences and a heavy snow storm pull Jack over the edge of sanity

The iconic imagine of Jack Nicholson brandishing an axe trying to slaughter his own family shows how far Kubrick managed to go. Based upon the ever popular novel by Stephen King. The Shining is the kind of thriller that makes you wonder: was this seat really so short?

Edge of your Seat Thrillers | 5

Essential Killing

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Vincent Gallo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Zach Cohen, Iftach Ophir, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Stig Frode Henriksen, David L. Price, Tracy Spencer Shipp, Mark Gasperich, Phillip Goss, Klaudia Kaca, Dariusz Juzyszyn, Raymond Josey, Robert Mazurkiewicz, Janusz Wojtarowicz
Genre: Thriller, Action, Drama
Year: 2010

Essential Killing is a visually stunning 80-minute gem that proves how engaging a thriller can be in total absence of dialogues. Vincent Gallo is Mohammed, an Afghan Taliban captured for the killing of three American soldiers. Whilst transferred to a U.S. military base in Europe, he manages to flee into the woods

A never stopping chase sees Mohammed dealing with his most basic survival instincts. Hunt. Feed. Run. Escape. Survive. An encounter with a beautiful and mysterious stranger – played by Emmanuelle Seigner - to ease the fatigue of being a prey. Pure edge of your seat action in a beautiful as insidious snowed-under environment filled with gorgeous animals, stunning lakes and marvellous expanses of countryside. Although carrying a slight political significance, the gripping message in Essential Killing seems to be that wherever we are or come from, we’ll do everything necessary to survive

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