Top 18 Thriller Movies of the 1980s

Neo-noir seductions, paranoid conspiracies, and sleek shockers from cinema's most stylish decade of suspense. Blockbuster icons rub shoulders with arthouse cult picks. Which one wins?

1. 1
   Manhunter

   Michael Mann's 1986 thriller introducing Hannibal Lecter as an FBI profiler hunts a serial killer.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Blue Velvet

   David Lynch's 1986 neo-noir thriller exposing the dark underbelly beneath a quiet American town.
   943pts

   WE
3. 3
   Dressed to Kill

   De Palma's 1980 Hitchcockian thriller built around a brutal murder and a hunt for the killer.
   943pts
4. 4
   Body Double

   Brian De Palma's 1984 voyeuristic thriller about an actor who witnesses a murder.
   692pts
5. 5
   The Untouchables

   Brian De Palma's 1987 crime thriller dramatizing Eliot Ness's pursuit of Al Capone in Prohibition Chicago.
   692pts
6. 6
   Die Hard

   The 1988 action thriller stranding cop John McClane in a skyscraper seized by terrorists on Christmas Eve.
   692pts
7. 7
   Angel Heart

   Alan Parker's 1987 supernatural noir thriller following a private eye into a nightmarish investigation.
   692pts
8. 8
   No Way Out

   The 1987 political thriller trapping a naval officer in a Pentagon cover-up and a deadly manhunt.
   600pts
9. 9
   The Vanishing

   The 1988 Dutch psychological thriller about a man obsessively searching for his abducted girlfriend.
   491pts
10. 10
    To Live and Die in L.A.

    William Friedkin's 1985 thriller about a Secret Service agent's reckless hunt for a counterfeiter.
    491pts
11. 11
    Witness

    Peter Weir's 1985 thriller in which a city detective hides among the Amish to protect a child witness.
    491pts
12. 12
    Sea of Love

    The 1989 erotic thriller pairing a detective with a prime suspect in a string of murders.
    491pts
13. 13
    After Hours

    Martin Scorsese's 1985 dark comic thriller chronicling one man's nightmarish night in SoHo.
    491pts
14. 14
    Jagged Edge

    The 1985 courtroom thriller in which a lawyer falls for the client she's defending against a murder charge.
    360pts
15. 15
    Fatal Attraction

    The 1987 thriller about a married man stalked by a vengeful lover after a brief affair.
    360pts
16. 16
    Body Heat

    Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 erotic neo-noir of a lawyer ensnared in a murderous seduction.
    360pts
17. 17
    Blow Out

    De Palma's 1981 thriller about a sound technician who records evidence of a political assassination.
    200pts
18. 18
    The Hitcher

    The 1986 road thriller about a young driver terrorized by a murderous hitchhiker across the desert.
    200pts