7 Must-Watch Thrillers on HBO Max Right Now (May 2025)

Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) is vacationing with her family at Caddo Lake near the Texas/Louisiana border when her stepsister, Anna (Caroline Falk), disappears. Meanwhile, Paris (Dylan O’Brien) is investigating why his mother drove off a bridge near the lake. At first, Ellie and Paris have nothing to do with each other, but as they try to solve their mysteries, they separately realize the answer to all their problems lies in Caddo Lake.

A thriller with some sci-fi elements, Caddo Lake has a twisty plot that is almost too complex to follow. But it manages to make sense in the end, and it’s the rare thriller that’s surprisingly moving. Caddo Lake is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, so that should give you a hint about what you should expect.

Cooper (Josh Hartnett) seems like your ordinary, everyday guy. A firefighter and devoted dad, he takes his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to a pop concert in Philadelphia. Something’s slightly off about the whole thing, though, and he discovers that it’s an elaborate ploy by the FBI to catch a serial killer named “The Butcher.” That’s a big problem for Cooper because he’s The Butcher, and he’ll do anything to keep his double life a secret. 

Director M. Night Shyamalan takes his irresistible premise and runs with it throughout Trap, placing Cooper in one tense situation after another as he tries to find a way to escape the intricate trap the authorities have set for him. Hartnett is effective as the charismatic killer, who always tries to do what’s best for his kid, even when he’s trying to kill people to get away. Coop may be a killer, but no one can convict him of being a bad dad.  

Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a disgraced police officer assigned to work a late-night shift answering emergency phone calls. One night, he receives a bizarre call from a woman, who gradually reveals she’s been abducted and is in a white van. The call ends, but so begins a terrifying night as Asger tries desperately to find the woman and save her before it’s too late.

Remade 3 years later with Jake Gyllenhaal, the original is better in almost every way. Director Gustav Möller expertly interweaves the central mystery of the missing woman with the gradual revelations about Ager’s personal life, which plays a big part in the film’s climax. The Guilty is a terrific thriller about how one man’s heroic actions force him to come to terms with his less-than-heroic past. 

In 1890s New England, Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) arrives at an isolated lighthouse for what’s supposed to be a short stint as a “wickie” before leaving. But the days seem endless due to the harsh weather and harsher supervision by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe), who orders him to do menial tasks. Soon, the two men are at war with one another, and Winslow’s sanity begins to unravel. Will the two men kill each other? Or will the raging sea drown them before they even have a chance?

Robert Eggers (Nosferatu) specializes in atmospheric, esoteric nightmares, and The Lighthouse is arguably his best attempt at conveying an ancient, almost mystical sense of fear and dread. He also crafts a tense thriller by effectively exploiting his single location — the titular lighthouse — and letting his two talented actors let their freak flags fly. The Lighthouse is a beautiful nightmare, one that you won’t want to wake up from anytime soon.

Lou (Kristen Stewart) is wasting her life in a small New Mexico town until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brien) walks into her gym one day. The two begin a passionate love affair, but their dreams of running away to Las Vegas together are sidelined when Lou becomes involved in a family affair that leaves one person dead. With the cops closing in and Lou’s crime boss father (Ed Harris) angry that his criminal empire could be exposed, the two lovers must think fast before time runs out for both of them.

Directed by Rose Glass, Love Lies Bleeding is a superb crime noir movie with a thrilling plot line that is never predictable. Stewart and O’Brien are believable as an odd couple who risk everything to be with one another, and Harris gets some nice moments to shine as a father who loves his daughter, but loves his illegal business even more. There’s a “WTF?” moment at the end that is never explained, but that only enhances the movie’s weird, gonzo appeal.

Before there was “I see dead people,” there was “Who is Keyser Söze?” By the end of the ‘90s, pretty much everyone knew the answer to that question, but modern audiences may be unaware of the real identity of one of cinema’s greatest masterminds. After a fire on a ship leaves 27 people dead, U.S. customs agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) is looking for answers, and only Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) can provide them. But can Dave trust Verbal’s confession, which involves an elaborate story involving a band of criminals blackmailed to destroy a ship full of cocaine? 

We’re not revealing anything except that The Usual Suspects still packs a punch after all these years. It helps that the case, which features a young Benicio Del Toro and the Oscar-winning Spacey, is so good, and that the screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie is so clever. Even if you know who Söze really is, it’s still a pleasure to watch The Usual Suspects and surrender to its crime-movie charms. 

Jonathan Demme’s masterful thriller creeped people out in 1991 and is still scary today, but its real power lies in the oddly intimate relationship between Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter. She needs his help to capture Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a serial killer who likes to wear the skin of his victims. But Lecter’s help comes with a price — he wants to know everything about Clarice, including the traumatic event that still haunts her. Can Clarice trust a sociopathic serial killer to end Buffalo Bill’s reign of terror for good?

Hopkins is only on screen for 16 minutes in The Silence of the Lambs, but he dominates the movie with his seductive, sophisticated monster. Foster has a trickier role, but she turns her character’s vulnerability into an asset. Tiny in stature and underestimated by her male coworkers, Clarice is the only one smart enough to piece together clues that lead to Buffalo Bill. The movie is one of the best thrillers ever made and fully deserved its five Oscars.