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

Manhunter

Michael Mann's 1986 thriller introducing Hannibal Lecter as an FBI profiler hunts a serial killer.

1000pts

2

Blue Velvet

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

937pts

3

Dressed to Kill

De Palma's 1980 Hitchcockian thriller built around a brutal murder and a hunt for the killer.

892pts

4

Body Double

Brian De Palma's 1984 voyeuristic thriller about an actor who witnesses a murder.

781pts

5

Die Hard

The 1988 action thriller stranding cop John McClane in a skyscraper seized by terrorists on Christmas Eve.

624pts

6

The Vanishing

The 1988 Dutch psychological thriller about a man obsessively searching for his abducted girlfriend.

624pts

7

No Way Out

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

624pts

8

Sea of Love

The 1989 erotic thriller pairing a detective with a prime suspect in a string of murders.

624pts

9

Angel Heart

Alan Parker's 1987 supernatural noir thriller following a private eye into a nightmarish investigation.

624pts

10

To Live and Die in L.A.

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

624pts

11

The Untouchables

Brian De Palma's 1987 crime thriller dramatizing Eliot Ness's pursuit of Al Capone in Prohibition Chicago.

499pts

12

After Hours

Martin Scorsese's 1985 dark comic thriller chronicling one man's nightmarish night in SoHo.

499pts

13

Fatal Attraction

The 1987 thriller about a married man stalked by a vengeful lover after a brief affair.

312pts

14

Body Heat

Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 erotic neo-noir of a lawyer ensnared in a murderous seduction.

312pts

15

Witness

Peter Weir's 1985 thriller in which a city detective hides among the Amish to protect a child witness.

312pts

16

Jagged Edge

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

312pts

17

The Hitcher

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

312pts

18

Blow Out

De Palma's 1981 thriller about a sound technician who records evidence of a political assassination.

0pts