50 Fun Facts About Thriller Movies

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller used chocolate syrup as blood in its black-and-white murder scene?

Psycho used Hershey's syrup because it photographed better in black and white than stage blood. The stabbing sound was a melon being punctured.

What nickname did the Jaws crew give their mechanical shark, after Steven Spielberg's lawyer?

Bruce broke down so often in salt water that Spielberg mostly suggested the shark's presence instead, using John Williams's ominous theme.

Which actor won an Oscar as cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs?

Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor as the film became only the third to sweep the five top Academy Awards. Brian Cox had played Lecter first, in Manhunter.

Which South Korean thriller became the first non-English-language film to win the Best Picture Oscar?

Parasite, Bong Joon Ho's story of a poor family working its way into a rich household, also won Best Director, Original Screenplay and International Feature.

Which 1987 thriller starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas inspired the slang term bunny boiler?

Fatal Attraction gave rise to the term through the scene where a spurned lover boils the family's pet rabbit. It grew out of writer James Dearden's short film Diversion.

Which 1994 thriller traps Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock on a Los Angeles bus wired with a bomb?

Speed had its dialogue reworked by Joss Whedon just a week before filming began. It was Jan de Bont's first feature as a director.

Which 1999 M. Night Shyamalan thriller follows a child therapist counselling a boy who sees ghosts?

The Sixth Sense was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999 and earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

On which American landmark does the final chase of Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest take place?

Mount Rushmore's carved presidents loom over the finale of a film that earlier sends Cary Grant running from a crop-duster plane.

Which actress won an Oscar as obsessed fan Annie Wilkes in the Stephen King thriller Misery?

Kathy Bates was a stage actress, mostly unknown to film audiences, when she was cast opposite James Caan as the novelist her character holds captive.

Which Christopher Nolan thriller about an amnesiac hunting a killer shows its scenes in reverse order?

Memento grew out of a short story by the director's brother, Jonathan Nolan, and the film's screenplay earned an Oscar nomination.

Which 1995 thriller pairs Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives hunting a killer in an unnamed city?

Seven kept its bleak ending because Brad Pitt agreed to star only if it stayed. Its murderer bases each crime on one of the deadly sins.

Which 1995 thriller builds to the unmasking of the legendary crime lord Keyser Söze?

The Usual Suspects takes its title from a line spoken by Claude Rains in Casablanca. Kevin Spacey won an Oscar as the small-time con man Verbal Kint.

Which Alfred Hitchcock thriller has James Stewart's injured photographer spying on his neighbours?

Rear Window was shot entirely on one enormous indoor set at Paramount, built to replicate a Greenwich Village apartment block.

Which 2014 David Fincher thriller casts Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, a husband suspected of murder?

Gone Girl was adapted by Gillian Flynn from her own 2012 novel, with Rosamund Pike as the missing wife.

Which Martin Scorsese thriller sends U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels to an asylum in Boston Harbor?

Shutter Island stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as the marshals, and is adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane.

Which actress shot to fame as crime novelist Catherine Tramell in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct?

Sharon Stone was relatively unknown when she won the part, after several prominent actresses had turned it down.

Which actor won an Oscar as relentless hitman Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men?

Javier Bardem's character lets a gas station owner live for correctly calling a coin toss, in a film that also won Best Picture.

Which postwar European city is the setting of The Third Man, the 1949 thriller scored on a zither?

Vienna's sewers stage the film's climactic chase, as Orson Welles's Harry Lime flees underground from the police.

Which thriller did Martin Scorsese remake in 1991, with Robert De Niro as ex-convict Max Cady?

Cape Fear's remake gave cameos to Gregory Peck and Martin Balsam, who had starred in the 1962 original; it was Peck's final theatrical film.

Which 1993 thriller won Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar for hunting wrongly convicted surgeon Richard Kimble?

The Fugitive was based on a 1960s TV series often linked to the Sam Sheppard murder case, a link its creator denied. Harrison Ford plays the man on the run.

Which actress won an Oscar as fragile ballerina Nina Sayers in the 2010 thriller Black Swan?

Natalie Portman's dancer is cast in Swan Lake and loses her grip on reality while competing with a rival played by Mila Kunis.

Which sketch comedian made his directing debut with Get Out, winning a screenwriting Oscar?

Jordan Peele, half of the comedy duo behind Key & Peele, became the first African-American winner of the Best Original Screenplay award.

Which computer hacker created by Stieg Larsson helps a journalist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Lisbeth Salander was Larsson's idea of what Pippi Longstocking might have been like as an adult.

Which model, spotted by Alfred Hitchcock in a television commercial, landed the lead in The Birds?

Tippi Hedren was noticed in an advert for a diet drink. Her daughter Melanie Griffith and granddaughter Dakota Johnson became actresses too.

Which composer scored Citizen Kane and then Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and North by Northwest?

Bernard Herrmann worked on nine Hitchcock films and recorded his final score, for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, shortly before his death.

Which 1944 Ingrid Bergman thriller gave its name to a term for making someone doubt their own sanity?

Gaslight's heroine watches her lamps dim for no apparent reason while her husband manipulates her; the role won Bergman a Best Actress Oscar.

Which comedy star plays gambling-addicted jeweller Howard Ratner in the 2019 crime thriller Uncut Gems?

Adam Sandler's character must retrieve an opal to pay off his debts, in a film that gave the singer The Weeknd his debut role.

In which city does James Stewart's retired detective trail Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo?

San Francisco locations fill a film that replaced Citizen Kane at the top of Sight & Sound's greatest-films poll in 2012.

What term did Alfred Hitchcock popularise for an object that drives a plot but barely matters itself?

MacGuffin was coined by Angus MacPhail, and Hitchcock made it famous with The 39 Steps, where it is a set of incidental military secrets.

Which actor plays Jason Bourne, a man with amnesia and a mysterious CIA past, in The Bourne Identity?

Matt Damon's hero comes from a 1980 novel by Robert Ludlum; Jeremy Renner's The Bourne Legacy follows a different agent, Aaron Cross.

Which actor plays Lou Bloom, who films Los Angeles crime scenes for television news, in Nightcrawler?

Jake Gyllenhaal also produced the film, the first directed by Dan Gilroy, whose script earned an Oscar nomination.

Which 1974 Roman Polanski film has Jack Nicholson's private eye uncover a Los Angeles water scandal?

Chinatown drew on the California water wars, in which Los Angeles secured rights in the Owens Valley; Robert Towne's script won an Oscar.

Which actor plays a murderous preacher with tattooed knuckles in The Night of the Hunter?

Robert Mitchum's preacher uses the tattoos to preach about love and hate; it was the only feature that actor Charles Laughton ever directed.

Which star earned an Oscar nomination as a blind woman terrorised at home in Wait Until Dark?

Audrey Hepburn's character is menaced by a trio of thugs hunting a lost drug shipment, in a film adapted from a Frederick Knott stage play.

Which actor plays the graduate student tortured by a Nazi dentist in the 1976 thriller Marathon Man?

Dustin Hoffman's tormentor was played by Laurence Olivier, who earned an Oscar nomination as the war criminal Christian Szell.

Which actor plays surveillance expert Harry Caul in Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation?

Gene Hackman's eavesdropper ends up tearing his own apartment apart in search of a bug; the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Which scandal do reporters Woodward and Bernstein investigate in the thriller All the President's Men?

Watergate brought down Richard Nixon's presidency; the film won Jason Robards an Oscar as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

Which singer stars as Army officer Bennett Marco in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate?

Frank Sinatra's character uncovers a brainwashed assassin who is triggered by the queen of diamonds during a game of solitaire.

Which French president is the hired assassin's target in the 1973 thriller The Day of the Jackal?

Charles de Gaulle is stalked by a killer known only by a code name, played by Edward Fox, in a film based on Frederick Forsyth's novel.

In which country are six American diplomats hiding in Argo, the thriller about a fake film shoot?

Iran's 1979 hostage crisis is the backdrop to the Best Picture winner, in which director Ben Affleck also stars as the CIA officer behind the ruse.

Which actor plays the merchant captain taken hostage by Somali pirates in Captain Phillips?

Tom Hanks plays Richard Phillips opposite Barkhad Abdi as the pirate leader, in a film based on the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking.

Which actor plays the whistling child murderer hunted by police and criminals alike in Fritz Lang's M?

Peter Lorre's killer whistles a Grieg tune throughout the film, Lang's first with sound; the actor later appeared in Casablanca.

Which 1984 neo-noir thriller was the directing debut of brothers Joel and Ethan Coen?

Blood Simple was also the screen debut of Frances McDormand and the first major film shot by Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a director.

Which actress hides from burglars with her daughter in David Fincher's 2002 thriller Panic Room?

Jodie Foster stepped in after Nicole Kidman, originally cast, left with an aggravated injury; Kristen Stewart plays the daughter.

Which Scottish actor plays a kidnapper with 23 identities in M. Night Shyamalan's Split?

James McAvoy's film is a stealth sequel to Unbreakable, and the trilogy was completed by Glass.

Which actor plays ex-CIA officer Bryan Mills, hunting his daughter's kidnappers in France, in Taken?

Liam Neeson's role is often cited as the turning point that redefined him as an action star; Luc Besson co-wrote the script.

Which Canadian director made the thrillers Prisoners and Sicario before adapting Dune?

Denis Villeneuve began with four French-language dramas in Quebec; the last, Incendies, earned an Oscar nomination and international notice.

Which 1953 French thriller follows four men driving trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over mountain roads?

The Wages of Fear won both the Golden Bear in Berlin and the top prize at Cannes, and made the name of director Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Which Daphne du Maurier adaptation is the only Alfred Hitchcock film to have won the Best Picture Oscar?

Rebecca was Hitchcock's first American film; he read the novel in proof while shooting Jamaica Inn, another du Maurier story.

Which novelist wrote Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, both turned into film thrillers?

Patricia Highsmith's first novel was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock within a year of publication, and she went on to write five books about Tom Ripley.