The 9 best thriller on Paramount+ for a seriously tense movie night Jordan HoffmanFri, March 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC 0 Sharon Stone ('Basic Instinct'), Sean Connery ('The Hunt for Red October'), Grace Kelly ('To Catch a Thief')Credit: Shutterstock; Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection; Silver Screen Collection/Getty How do you define a thriller? Is there an element of mystery? Are there great surprises? Sequences of suspense? What about action? The truth is there's no one way to define a thriller — at least not with me comfortable on the couch and the dictionary way across the room.
The 9 best thriller on Paramount+ for a seriously tense movie night
Jordan HoffmanFri, March 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC
0
Sharon Stone ('Basic Instinct'), Sean Connery ('The Hunt for Red October'), Grace Kelly ('To Catch a Thief')Credit: Shutterstock; Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection; Silver Screen Collection/Getty
How do you define a thriller? Is there an element of mystery? Are there great surprises? Sequences of suspense? What about action?
The truth is there's no one way to define a thriller — at least not with me comfortable on the couch and the dictionary way across the room. But one thing that definitely is thrilling? Clicking over to the Paramount+ app and seeing how many great movies are available.
Netflix and HBO Max may get more of the attention, but Paramount+ has quietly offered an outstanding catalogue of great movies in every genre since the day it was born. (Transformed, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, from CBS All-Access, for those of you keeping records of streaming history.) But with so many great options out there, it can be a little overwhelming at times to determine what to watch tonight.
Luckily Entertainment Weekly is here for you, and ready to answer the question: What are the best thriller movies on Paramount+?
Basic Instinct (1992)
Sharon Stone manipulates a whole room full of probably lonely cops in 'Basic Instinct'Credit: Shutterstock
This essential, sleazeball classic stars Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone in the movie that catapulted her to the A-list. The San Francisco-set murder mystery positioned Stone as bisexual crime novelist Catherine Trammell, chief suspect in her boyfriend's murder. Nick Curran (Douglas) is the detective on the case who (rather unwisely) finds himself unable to resist her.
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven films the many moments of intimacy as lewdly as possible, which earned quite a bit of notoriety. A slew of terrific character actors like Wayne Knight, George Dzundza, James Rebhorn, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Mitch Pillegi round out the cast.
Where to watch Basic Instinct: Paramount+
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction'Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty
More erotic thrillers with Michael Douglas! (It was kind of his thing back in the day.) Adrian Lyne's picture is less scuzzy than Basic Instinct (it was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture) but it's still essentially violent soap opera trash. (Not a diss.)
With his wife out of town, Dan Gallagher (Douglas) has a presumptive one-night stand with Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), who then goes bananas and demands his full attention. When he tries to give her the slip, she boils his family's pet rabbit and gets knife-happy. Interestingly enough, Fatal Attraction was so successful in frightening would-be philanderers, it ended all marital infidelity in the United States. Husbands have kept their zippers up ever since.
Where to watch Fatal Attraction: Paramount+
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Casey Affleck tries to solve a tricky crime in 'Gone Baby Gone'Credit: Claire Folger
Ben Affleck's first go as a director, Gone Baby Gone follows a boyfriend/girlfriend private investigator team (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) hired to find the missing child of a deadbeat mom (an Oscar-nominated Amy Ryan). Their search leads them to a local drug lord and a galaxy of lowlifes, all of whom are hiding something.
As the investigation deepens, it becomes clear that the girl's disappearance has something to do with a long-held family secret, leading to ethical gray zones that challenge the investigators' moral principles. Titus Welliver, Amy Madigan, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman keep every scene in good hands.
Where to watch Gone Baby Gone: Paramount+
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin in 'The Hunt for Red October'Credit: Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
"We sail into history!" Sean Connery executed one of his best roles as a Soviet submarine commander who's either trying to defect to America or itching to start World War III. (Not much room for error there.) This was the first Jack Ryan film (and book). You may have forgotten it starred Alec Baldwin, before he became Jack Donaghy, and before Harrison Ford (then Ben Affleck, then Chris Pine, then John Krasinski) became Jack Ryan.
As with all submarine movies, there's a lot of silent cat-and-mouse maneuvering and underwater 3-D chess. John McTiernan also created a new way to shift from a foreign tongue to English without subtitles, simply by zooming in, then out, on Russian speakers. Everybody watching understood what was going on.
Where to watch The Hunt for Red October: Paramount+
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Red Eye (2005)
'Red Eye': Rachel McAdams waits in airport security in front of Cillian Murphy, who's probably super niceCredit: Gemma La Mana/Dreamworks
In one of the great B-pictures (compliment) from Wes Craven, Rachel McAdams stars as a hotel manager who gets embroiled in an assassination attempt on a late-night flight to Miami. (Once again, avoid Florida at all costs!) The fella in the seat next to her, a wonderfully sinister Cillian Murphy as Jackson Rippner (great name!), forces her to do his bidding, or else he'll have his people on the ground kill her father.
The hook is that a bigwig is staying at her hotel; thus, she can call and have him escorted to a specific spot. It sounds far-fetched, but it works. Will our gal outfox the professional assassin? You'll be on the edge of your upright seat!
Where to watch Red Eye: Paramount+
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law (rich, beautful) + Matt Damon (creep, impostor) in 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'Credit: Phil Bray/Paramount Pictures
Though hardcore snobs swear by the French version starring Alain Delon from 1960, Purple Noon, Anthony Minghella's highly stylized production of Patricia Highsmith's psychological thriller, is one of the most beloved movies of the 1990s for a reason. Matt Damon stars as a slick con artist who (understandably!) becomes obsessed with a strapping young playboy played by Jude Law. Things get creepy, though, when he assumes his identity.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, and Gwyneth Paltrow round out the cast in this gorgeous Italian-set film, which hardly maintains a "crime doesn't pay" lesson.
Where to watch The Talented Mr. Ripley: Paramount+
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Cary Grant being all debonair and stuff in 'To Catch a Thief'Credit: Mondadori via Getty
A luxe production like The Talented Mr. Ripley certainly had predecessors like To Catch a Thief as guide posts. Alfred Hitchcock's elegant, breezy thriller stars Cary Grant as "The Cat," a notorious but retired thief, and Grace Kelly as a wealthy vacationer on the French Riviera. That the movie premiered just a year before the actress became a literal Princess in Monaco did not hurt the film's reputation.
The film contains both literal and figurative fireworks, a nail-biting opening jewel heist, a thrilling chase on seaside cliffs, and shots of Grant on a yacht (an image later parodied in Some Like It Hot). This is an all-time classic for a reason.
Where to watch To Catch a Thief: Paramount+
Witness (1985)
Harrison Ford investigates a murder, sans modern technology, in 'Witness'Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock
For many of us, everything we know about the Amish comes from Witness. Peter Weir's remarkable thriller concerns a Philadelphia detective (Harrison Ford, in his only Oscar-nominated performance) trying to protect a kid who witnesses a murder in the city.
While entrenched in the Amish community, Detective Book (Ford) kinda-sorta falls in love with the boy's mother (Kelly McGillis), a recent widow. Crime dramas routinely try to balance plot with a romance storyline, and you often find yourself waiting for the action to kick back in. This is one of the rare ones where the relationship stuff is just as, if not more, interesting.
Where to watch Witness: Paramount+
Zodiac (2007)
Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal just before they get super obsessed in 'Zodiac'Credit: Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
One of the most nerve-wracking movies ever made, David Fincher's investigation into the eponymous killer isn't just a great thriller, it's a fascinating look at obsession. (If there's a moral here, it's that you shouldn't work too hard, it might drive you crazy, even if you're a detective or reporter.)
Zodiac features some of the most uncannily tense scenes ever put on screen, because it effectively gets inside the heads of people (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo) who are slowly going mad. Plus it's got a great soundtrack and awesome period clothing. The film was notoriously snubbed of all Oscar nominations, which somehow feels like part of a wider conspiracy. Unless that's paranoid thinking?
Where to watch Zodiac: Paramount+
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Published: March 13, 2026 at 06:45PM on Source: PRIME TIME
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The 9 best thriller on Paramount+ for a seriously tense movie night Jordan HoffmanFri, March 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC 0 ...
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