Fans of heart-racing feature films know that often, there's nothing better than watching an edge-of-your-seat story in a darkened theater (or living room). Thankfully for us, 2024's movie slate includes several can't-miss thrillers, from the highly-anticipated A Quiet Place spin-off, to several original stories coming out of Sundance, to tense psychological thrillers staring superstars including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Nicole Kidman. Here's what's on our must-see list.
'Mea Culpa'
Release date: February 24, 2024
Starring: Kelly Rowland, Trevante Rhodes, Sean Sagar, Nick Sagar, RonReaco Lee, Shannon Thornton, Angela Robinson, Kerry O'Malley, and Connor Weil.
Netflix and Tyler Perry's steamy legal thriller follows criminal defense attorney Mea Harper (Rowland), who takes on a murder case against an artist (Rhodes) accused of killing his girlfriend. As she tries to figure out if her client is as innocent as he claims, Mea is thrust into a world that’s as hot as it is dangerous.
Trailer: HERE
'Love Lies Bleeding'
Release date: March 8, 2024
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian, Ed Harris, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, and Dave Franco.
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder who's hopes to make it to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. Their love soon leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the drama-fueled web of Lou's criminal family.
Trailer: HERE
'Civil War'
Release date: April 12, 2024
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jesse Plemons, and Nick Offerman.
This harrowing film from Annihilation director Alex Garland depicts a fictional near-future America in the middle of armed conflict (because that's just what our collective anxiety needs right now). Dunst leads the movie as a photojournalist documenting atrocities as a massive July 4 invasion unfolds in Washington, D.C.
Trailer: HERE
'A Quiet Place: Day One'
Release date: June 28, 2024
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, and Denis O’Hare.
This spin-off from the suspenseful hit franchise will transport viewers to the first days of the alien invasion, but the film leaves the Abbott family (played by John Krasinski and Emily Blunt) behind and instead follows a new woman (Nyong’o’) as she navigates the horrific first moments in the city that never sleeps (or quiets down), NYC.
Trailer: TBA
'Twisters'
Release date: July 19, 2024
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, and Maura Tierney.
The 1996 action thriller Twister (which starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes as storm chasers following the most powerful tornado in decades) is the latest '90s classic to get a 2020s revival. Plot details are still under wraps for the new film but it's been described as a “new chapter” of the original.
Trailer: TBA
'Trap'
Release date: August 2, 2024
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Vanessa Smythe, and Saleka Shyamalan.
M. Night Shyamalan is being tight-lipped about his next film, a psychological thriller set at a concert. All we can guess is there will like be a massive (possibly enraging) plot twist.
Trailer: TBA
'Blink Twice' (formerly 'Pussy Island')
Release date: August 23, 2024
Starring: Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis.
Zöe Kravitz's directorial debut—now sporting a new title—will finally premiere this year. It follows a tech billionaire (Tatum) who invites a cocktail waitress Frida (Ackie) to join him and his friends to his private island. As the dream vacation turns into something more sinister, Frida has to uncover the truth to make it out of this party alive.
Trailer: TBA
'Mother's Instinct'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway
Cue the "literal mother-off" jokes: Oscar-winners Chastain and Hathaway will play best friends raising sons of the same age in 1960s suburbia in this tense psychological thriller. After perfect harmony is shattered by a devastating tragedy, grief, guilt, suspicion, and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.
Trailer: HERE
'Holland, Michigan'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Gael García Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill, Rachel Sennott, Lennon Parham, Isaac Krasner, and Jeff Pope.
Details are mostly under wraps for this buzzy Hitchcockian thriller, centered on a Midwestern housewife who uncovers her husband's dark secret life, after coming to suspect that he’s having an affair.
Trailer: TBA
'It's What's Inside'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Devon Terrell, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarten, David Thompson, and Madison Davenport.
In this indie psychological thriller picked up from Sundance by Netflix, a group of former college friends reunite eight years later for a pre-wedding weekend. But one of the guests has brought a mysterious suitcase that turns the festivities into a nightmare.
Trailer: TBA
'Presence'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday and West Mulholland.
Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a claustrophobic horror-thriller, centered on a family who moves into a suburban house and discovers a supernatural force has infiltrated their new home, taking a specific interest in the couple’s daughter.
Trailer: TBA
'A Different Man'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, and Renate Reinsve.
Edward (Stan), an insecure aspiring actor, finds a miracle cure for his facial disfigurement. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play to a confident actor who (still) has the exact same condition.
Trailer: TBA
