If you’re a fan of crime thriller movies — those heart-pumping, suspense-filled flicks that submerge you into dangerous investigations and keep you guessing until the credits roll — then you’ve likely heard of “The Whisper Man,”Netflix’s latest nail-biting addition to the genre.
The serial killer drama stars Adam Scott as a widowed crime writer who, when his own young son gets kidnapped, is forced to turn to his estranged father, retired detective Peter Willis (Robert De Niro), for help. With a cast that also includes Michelle Monaghan, Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague and Michael Keaton, the James Ashcroft-directed film quickly shot up to No. 1 on Netflix’s movie charts when it arrived on the streaming service on Aug. 28.
If you enjoyed the murder mystery and are looking for similarly gripping titles, here are three thriller movies like “The Whisper Man” that you should add to your watch list.
‘Zodiac
David Fincher (“Se7en,” “Panic Room,” “Gone Girl”) is a true master of the modern thriller, and arguably his best is this 2007 mystery masterpiece centering on the relentless, true-life hunt for the elusive Zodiac Killer, a murderer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox and Chloë Sevigny, among others, the manhunt drama was widely praised as “a quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety,” per the critical consensus over on Rotten Tomatoes, where the film has a strong 90% approval rating.
Stream“Zodiac” on Paramount+now
‘Wind River’
Written and directed by “Yellowstone” head honcho Taylor Sheridan, this 2017 neo-Western crime drama centers on Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen — as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service game tracker and an FBI special agent, respectively — who try to solve the murder of a local indigenous teen on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. As the unlikely duo works to get closer to the truth in the freezing wilderness, they discover more shocking crimes linked to the brutal crime.
A visually stunning and emotionally arresting thriller, “Wind River” won Sheridan the Un Certain Regard for Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival. A sequel film is reportedly in the works, with Martin Sensmeier, Gil Birmingham, Jason Clarke, Scott Eastwood, Alan Ruck and Kali Reis.
Stream“Wind River” on Netflixnow
‘Insomnia’
Acting legend Al Pacino leads this Christopher Nolan-directed psychological thriller as Will Dormer, a sleep-deprived LAPD detective who is sent to the small town of Nightmute, Alaska, to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. There, he finds himself entangled in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse alongside a local crime writer, Walter Finch, played by Robin Williams.
A stylish remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, Nolan’s version was dubbed “a smart and riveting psychological drama” by critics (per Rotten Tomatoes), with particular praise showered on Pacino and Williams’s lead performances. “I’m very proud of the film,” Nolan himself declared during an interview for Tom Shone’s 2020 book “The Nolan Variations.” “I think, of all my films, it’s probably the most underrated,” the director added.
Rent/buy“Insomnia” on Prime Videonow
