The best films for a group don't flatten the experience - they create one. You want something that generates opinions, debates, a reason to stay up later than planned.
The early 2020s are already proving themselves. The best films from this decade will hold up. These are among them.
Thriller cinema at its finest is a masterclass in pacing. Every scene tightens the screw. Nothing is wasted.
Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his MO.
When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of LA crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant.
With his wife's disappearance the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected he may not be innocent.
What these films understand is that the best threat isn't the one that's fastest â it's the one that's closest. These films know exactly where to put it.
A father takes matters into his own hands after his daughter and her friend go missing and the suspect is released.
A cartoonist becomes obsessed with catching the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer who taunted police with cryptic messages.
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer using a system of notes and photographs.
A young FBI cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer.
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the war against drugs at the border area between the US and Mexico.
An ending is everything. It's the last thing you carry with you. These films understand that - and they make it count.
These films work because they take the mechanics of suspense seriously. Not as a trick. As a language for telling you something true about fear and choice.