Action thrillers with horror elements

Lord of the Flies, 1963.

The Dark Half (1993)

It’s basically about a writer trying to outrun his own resurrected alter ego, which happens to be a total killing machine... It's a pretty decent thriller with some horror vibes thrown in, though it feels a bit overlooked and underrated; I'd give it a 7/10, directed by George Romero and based on a novel by Stephen King.

The Belko Experiment (2016)

Essentially, it's 😁The Purge set within an office building where employees are forced into a survival game to kill one another until only one remains; it’s a pretty compelling concept, and I’d give it an 8/10.

Angel Heart is pretty much the textbook definition of a movie like that.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962711/

The Objective (2008)

Devil (2010)

A group of people gets trapped in an elevator, where one of them turns out to be the devil in human form, sent specifically to punish the other four; it’s a tense, claustrophobic little thriller with a clever plot and an ending you won't see coming, so I'd give it an 8/10.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

There’s this one scene where Henry and Otis go on a bloody rampage during a TV segment—everything from haggling over fifty bucks to absolutely smashing the television set—and it stands out as one of the most intense moments in a film that tries to capture the psyche of the psychopath Henry, who was actually based on a real person. I'd give it a 7/10.

driftingcanyon2 said:Devil (2010)

A group of people gets trapped in an elevator, where one of them turns out to be the devil in human form, sent specifically to punish the other four; it’s a tense, claustrophobic little thriller with a clever plot and an ending you won't see coming, so I'd give it an 8/10.

So, you've got this group stuck in an elevator, and it turns out one of them is actually the Devil in human form just looking to punish the other four. It’s super tense, really claustrophobic, and the plot actually keeps you guessing until that wild ending. Solid 8/10 for me.[/I]

Is this some kind of remake or a spin-off of this?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086846...nm_flmg_act_68

Downward (1984)

Nancy Williams58 said:So, you've got this group stuck in an elevator, and it turns out one of them is actually the Devil in human form just looking to punish the other four. It’s super tense, really claustrophobic, and the plot actually keeps you guessing until that wild ending. Solid 8/10 for me.[/I]

Is this some kind of remake or a spin-off of this?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086846...nm_flmg_act_68

Downward (1984)

Not really, though there are definitely some similarities.

Synchronic (2020)

Two EMTs stumble upon a series of fatal incidents linked to a new synthetic drug, making for a pretty decent thriller. I'd give it a 7/10.

driftingcanyon2 said:Synchronic (2020)

Two EMTs stumble upon a series of fatal incidents linked to a new synthetic drug, making for a pretty decent thriller. I'd give it a 7/10.

Two EMTs stumble onto some pretty heavy cases involving a new synthetic drug. It's a solid thriller—I'd give it a 7/10.[/I]

The movie is Sci-Fi.

Pretty good.

urbanheron4 said:Angel Heart is pretty much the textbook definition of a movie like that.

Great flick, but honestly, it's more fantasy than thriller.

bizarre detail: I actually watched this movie with my girlfriend at an outdoor cinema back in the day. A massive storm rolls in out of nowhere and water starts pouring over the cables right onto the crowd. We scrambled to get out, and like two hundred people all crammed into this tiny little ticket booth area.
It was wild—everyone looked totally high, just staring at the screen while the rain lashed down and people were literally suffocating in the crush. You have to watch the movie to really get the irony of it all.

Me? Well, me and my girl managed to duck under the projector wall along with a couple of her friends, so we actually stayed bone-dry through the end of the film.

Afterward, her friends wouldn't even talk to me for two days because they thought I'd lost my mind. Oh, and to top it all off, a fire hydrant burst right in the middle of the main town square, shooting a jet of water twenty or thirty feet into the air! Nobody wanted to get close because they didn't want to get soaked, so we just stood there watching the crew from the local water department roll up in their municipal utility vehicle, crank the valve shut, and we all gave them a round of applause.

The worst part is that nobody believes me when I tell these stories; they just think I'm making stuff up.😢

Jack Cook7 said:Great flick, but honestly, it's more fantasy than thriller.

bizarre detail: I actually watched this movie with my girlfriend at an outdoor cinema back in the day. A massive storm rolls in out of nowhere and water starts pouring over the cables right onto the crowd. We scrambled to get out, and like two hundred people all crammed into this tiny little ticket booth area.
It was wild—everyone looked totally high, just staring at the screen while the rain lashed down and people were literally suffocating in the crush. You have to watch the movie to really get the irony of it all.

Me? Well, me and my girl managed to duck under the projector wall along with a couple of her friends, so we actually stayed bone-dry through the end of the film.

Afterward, her friends wouldn't even talk to me for two days because they thought I'd lost my mind. Oh, and to top it all off, a fire hydrant burst right in the middle of the main town square, shooting a jet of water twenty or thirty feet into the air! Nobody wanted to get close because they didn't want to get soaked, so we just stood there watching the crew from the local water department roll up in their municipal utility vehicle, crank the valve shut, and we all gave them a round of applause.

The worst part is that nobody believes me when I tell these stories; they just think I'm making stuff up.😢

I disagree. It isn't fantasy at all. This is a straight-up mystery thriller. It kicks off as a neo-noir and then slowly morphs into horror by the end. Sure, there’s a surreal element involving the devil and a voodoo Dance, but that just makes it a horror flick, not fantasy. You could argue every horror movie is fantasy if you look at it that way. Personally, I actually prefer that most of the scares come from more grounded, realistic ways rather than relying on some made-up monster.

Lisa Bonet voodoo Dance

urbanheron4 said:I disagree. It isn't fantasy at all. This is a straight-up mystery thriller. It kicks off as a neo-noir and then slowly morphs into horror by the end. Sure, there’s a surreal element involving the devil and a voodoo Dance, but that just makes it a horror flick, not fantasy. You could argue every horror movie is fantasy if you look at it that way. Personally, I actually prefer that most of the scares come from more grounded, realistic ways rather than relying on some made-up monster.

Lisa Bonet voodoo Dance

I agree, that’s a spot-on description. At its core, this is a thriller with heavy horror undertones, while the Sci-Fi aspects are pretty much just background noise. I can see how someone who only caught the trailer might get a different impression.

urbanheron4 said:I disagree. It isn't fantasy at all. This is a straight-up mystery thriller. It kicks off as a neo-noir and then slowly morphs into horror by the end. Sure, there’s a surreal element involving the devil and a voodoo Dance, but that just makes it a horror flick, not fantasy. You could argue every horror movie is fantasy if you look at it that way. Personally, I actually prefer that most of the scares come from more grounded, realistic ways rather than relying on some made-up monster.

Lisa Bonet voodoo Dance

Basically, the only real supernatural/horror beat is that ending where De Niro eats the egg, stares Mickey right in the eyes, his eye color shifts, and he drops that "You're going to burn in hell for this" line. And Mickey? Just totally unphased, like "I know."

My favorite part has to be those chickens just standing there in the middle of the yard in the sweltering heat, looking completely lost and not moving an inch.

Jack Cook7 said:Two EMTs stumble onto some pretty heavy cases involving a new synthetic drug. It's a solid thriller—I'd give it a 7/10.[/I]

The movie is Sci-Fi.

Pretty good.

There’s definitely a Sci-Fi component, but at its core, it feels more like a thriller with horror elements sprinkled in. If I had to pick out the horror bits, I'd point to that opening drug scene, the discovery of the first victim's remains under the elevator, and that whole return sequence.

Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin in "Death Hunt" (1981).

Jack Cook7 said:Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin in "Death Hunt" (1981).

It’s a decent thriller, though it lacks those horror elements; it feels more like a standard thriller/adventure flick to me. 😁>

driftingcanyon2 said:It’s a decent thriller, though it lacks those horror elements; it feels more like a standard thriller/adventure flick to me. 😁>

Man, that episode with the gold teeth? Totally wild. 😬

Since we're talking about Bronson, he’s actually got a decent following here in the States. I’d say 10 to Midnight (1983) fits this topic much better; even if it lacks some traditional horror elements, it makes up for it with plenty of female victims and blood up to your knees. It’s definitely a gritty, tough flick—the kind of movie they just don't make anymore:

It's basically Bronson taking on a psychopath who lures in women, but the guy makes a fatal mistake when he picks the wrong daughter. I'd give it an 8/10.