Starting with The Square, a 2008 Australian film that concerns a typical, impotent little man that wants to have some vague "better future" with a little money and, more importantly, the pretty neighbor girl. Despite his comfortable job managing a construction firm, despite his cute dog and pretty house and pretty wife, he throws caution and good sense to the wind in order to impress the pretty fling and be the kind of fellow he believes the pretty fling wants him to be. Agreeing to some light arson in order to cover up the theft of a bag of dirty money, the plot unfolds as a series of escalating misfortunes which delay his escape with the lass and lead to a dead woman, a dead deadbeat, unmarked and menacing letters that look very much like blackmail, and more and more and more.

The movie is well-controlled and, at least while it unspools, watertight. And the suspense! There aren't any morally sound major characters and it seems virtually anything can happen -- it was difficult for me to decide what I wanted to happen, the best case scenario changing depending on the scene. Suspense isn't easy to create, I'm guessing, or I'd be feeling it more often when I watch a movie filed away under the heading. The Square had me caring about the well-being of these characters despite my frustration, if not complete dislike, of them. Some people experienced that with A Simple Plan, a movie this begs comparison to. And even though I wasn't convinced they needed the scene with the dog (you know the one I'm talking about), I say this is a fine contribution to the genre. A suspense movie that actually lives up to the label!

What have you got?

I was reading Stephen King's Under the Dome earlier this summer and started me thinking about suspense. If you don't know, the book is about a small Maine town that suddenly finds itself entirely enclosed in a transparent dome. The book has issues, most notably in its ending, but it was a harrowing read. I had to put it down several times because it was getting to me so much. The reason being, I discovered, is because there was no law and order anymore under the dome. A normal Maine town reverted to Locke's state of nature. And that meant that any character could die any time. So this crystallized my feelings that in order for a movie to be legitimately suspenseful, the outcome must be in doubt.

So The Square and A Simple Plan are perfect examples; though it may seem that things keep getting worse and worse, there's a legitimate chance the characters will somehow pull their schemes off. I've always touted Gattaca, though perhaps not a "suspense movie" per se, in this regard as well. Most movies against men fighting the system/incredible odds have him failing nobly, and until the very end we do not know if Victor will be one of them.

Also, let me add Open Water. A "based on a true story" and remarkably effective little film about a couple left alone in a shark-filled ocean, it's not nearly as a good a movie cinematically as the ones mentioned previously, but it's legitimately suspenseful for the reasons I've mentioned and definitely worth a watch.

Nicolas Cage gets a lot of crap and most of the time, sadly, he deserves it. But I thought Seeking Justice was an underrated thriller and was genuinely suspenseful.

Breaking Bad. I know it's not a movie, but I just finished watching episodes 8-11 of season four... Damn, that's suspense. So well done I was literally holding my breath, while giggling at the same time at the audacity of what they were doing... and I've seen it before!

I'll come up with some films later...

Agreed, pretty underrated film. As for Open Water, well I personally found it terminally boring and predicted the outcome within minutes.

Off the top of my head I guess i'd have to say Gothika, i've got more examples but that's all I can think of right now.

BTW I rented "The Square" from my library and i'll be seeing it tonight.

Oh God Vexer's going to hate it. "It could have used more Lindsay Lohan"

What makes you so sure? If anything, I might think "could've used more Jason Statham"

Now I'm wondering if The Square really could have used more Jason Statham. That would have added a layer of surprise that would close in on Sam Jackson getting eaten by that shark.

In other news, Slant gave an endorsement to "The Expendables 2", a development as unforeseen as it was kind of welcome. The previews give me nothing but I like that it's possible that an action movie in the classic mode is still possible.

Cell 211. A Spanish Die-Hard-in-a-Prison, sortof, and about to be bastaradized by Paul Haggis. But seek this one out... it's splendidly acted, beautifully paced, and to get to the point of this thread, is genuinely suspenseful, partially because it seems so formulaic at first, before quickly confounding expectations.

Going foreign again, The Chaser. Another film soon to get a crappy American remake, this one has a structure so unusual for this sort of thing that it throws the viewer off at first, then develops quickly into a brilliant game of balancing goals and ideas and a battle of the minds between cop and killer that actually seems like a fair fight. Very well done.

Good call with Cell 211. Glad you made me aware of that one

If it makes you feel better, I don't think The Chaser remake is going to happen, at least not anytime soon as IMDB dosen't even a date listed for it(it's listed as ????)

I'm more excited to see Expendables 2 then anything else this year.

Cell 211 looks like it will probably be the next movie I watch, assuming it's on Netflix Instant. Ah, who am I kidding, it probably doesn't have to be available on Instant for it to be the next movie I watch.

I know nothing of I Saw The Devil but that looks like it could be very, very good. Anyone see it?

I did, it's a very dark and brutal serial killer film, and it has plenty of suspense too, foreign films tend to be more uncompromising, so you're never sure exactly how they're going to end. If there's one flaw with "Devil" it's that it's too long for it's own good, 140 minutes is a bit execessive and definitely slows down the pacing, but other then that it's certainly a film I would recommend.

I'm halfway through this and wanted to stop by and report that this movie is fucked up.

Yeah I probably should've mentioned that, course you survived Cannibal Ferox, so by comparison this one shouldn't be too much more trouble.

One of the greatest exploitation films I've ever seen and, so far, the only 4-star exploitation I've seen since I first registered on the site in 2009. Best recommendation you've ever given and 1,000,000 points in your favor.

My pleasure, and I have to thank you for recommending The Square it turned out to be a pretty good film with interesting characters and suspense like you said, though I have to say the ending didn't really work for me, good film otherwise.

It wasn't perfect, definitely. The one detail that I wasn't crazy about was the wrapping-up of the "anonymous letters" plot line. I like the effect those letters had on the movie but, eh, the business of how it actually happened was inconsequential to the whole. It seemed convenient but it hardly mattered enough to sink the film.

What's with all the love for The Square? I found it to be completely inept on almost every level. Almost no character development, boring characters, flat acting and disastrous direction. A Simple Plan, as some have mentioned, is the exact opposite. Strong performances, well-developed characters, and superb direction.

For me, the "stranger within" genre is my favorite. Unless its truly awful (like "Devil's Pond" or "The Resident"), my adrenaline will speed up. My favorite entry, is of course, "Fear," and I have a story about that which I will tell at the bottom. Other good ones are "Fatal Attraction" and "Single White Female."

Also good but criminally underrated is "Copycat." Two terrific performances from two of the top actresses working, great atmosphere and a compelling story. Awesome.

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Okay, so I have a pretty funny story about the first time I saw the movie "Fear." I was on break from college, and since I am a night owl, I was watching the movie in the living room with headphones. An hour into the movie, I was terrified. I was screaming into my hands and damn near hyperventilating. Shortly thereafter, the new puppies we had just bought (Gordon Setters) woke up and started whining and howling, waking up my parents. My dad came downstairs and sleepily asked, "What the hell is going on?" I frantically told him to shush as the film was approaching the climax. Once the credits started to roll, I sank back into my seat, sweating and panting. I was shaking for the next hour as I wrote my review on iMDb.

The only other movie that scared me that much was "Insidious." I got a funny story about that too, btw.