Warner Brothers/Amazon Studios/STX Films
Sometimes, you need to go into a movie knowing that you’ll spend the whole film at the edge of your seat, eating your popcorn cautiously just in case a loud noise makes you choke on a kernel. So, while that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for most of us anytime soon, there are still plenty of good flicks out there to keep an eye on, like these suspenseful films. These new 2020 thrillers range from psychological suspense to jump-scare movies, but they all promise a good time (if your idea of a good time is a movie that’ll leave you breathless). After all, 2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least. We’ve also hand-picked the best romance, drama, horror, and comedy movies of 2020, if those are more your speed.
We do have to note that while some of these jump-in-your-seat thrillers were set to come out in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, a couple of release dates have changed. We’ve updated those dates below, and we’ll keep the films on here because they were initially slated for 2020. Also, who doesn’t like having something to look forward to? From a doll that turns deadly to the 2020 revival of The Grudge, here are the thrillers you need to see in 2020.
‘The Bay of Silence’
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Starring: Claes Bang, Olga Kurylenko, Brian Cox, Alice Krige
What it’s about: Married couple Will and Rosalind seem to have the perfect life…until their son’s birth starts to trigger a haunting past for Rosalind. When their son goes missing, Will doesn’t believe his wife has anything to do with it, until he goes searching for what’s lost. Let’s just say: Sometimes things that don’t want to be found shouldn’t.
‘Shirley’
Release Date: June 5, 2020
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, Logan Lerman, Steve Vinovich
What it’s about: Set in 1960s Vermont, a young couple shows up on the doorstep of the famous horror writer, Shirley Jackson, and her husband. Little do they know that their time spent under their roof will influence Jackson’s greatest work yet.
WATCH IT
‘Greenland’
Release Date: September 25, 2020
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, David Denman, Scott Glenn
What it’s about: Something about watching a movie about the world ending seems fitting during these times, especially when a planet-killing comet races to Earth and family man John (Butler) has only 48 hours to get his family to shelter.
‘The Old Guard’
Release Date: July 10, 2020
Starring: Charlize Theron, Beth Kono, Dana Goldberg, David Ellison, A.J. Dix, Don Granger
What it’s about: A group of immortal warriors has been fighting in secret for decades, but a new mission exposes their powerful DNA, and everyone wants in. Soon the team, lead by badass Andy (Theron), has to fight their way back into the unknown before its too late.
WATCH IT
‘The Hunt’
Release Date: March 13, 2020
Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, Emma Roberts, Glenn Howerton
What it’s about: Twelve strangers wake up in an unknown location, are handed a weapon, and told to run. They’re a part of “The Hunt,” a little game where humans hunt humans…so, like The Hunger Games, but the 21st century. Things get interesting soon enough when one of the hunted turns the game on the competition’s leaders.
WATCH IT
‘Vivarium’
Release Date: March 27
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots
What it’s about: In this thriller, we meet a couple who, while searching for the perfect forever home, find themselves in a neighborhood of crazy-identical houses. When they try to leave, they can’t…at least not until they do the tasks required.
WATCH IT
‘The New Mutants’
Release Date: Originally April 3, 2020, now August 28, 2020
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga
What it’s about: The Marvel Universe is about to get a little bit dark when The New Mutants hits theaters in the spring. The film that was supposed to come out two years ago (yes, really) follows five teens who have just discovered they have secret abilities, but are trapped in a facility against their will.
‘Antlers’
Release Date: Originally April 17, 2020, now February 19, 2021
Starring: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene
What it’s about: Keri Russell plays a teacher in a small town in Oregon who starts to become concerned with one of her students when he starts to act strange. Russell, her brother, and the local sheriff discover a terrifying secret that is definitely abnormal.
‘Swallow’
Release Date: March 6
Starring: Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Denis O’Hare, Elizabeth Marvel
What it’s about: Hunter is a newly pregnant housewife who has little control over her life. When she finds herself losing control of her surroundings she starts to swallow uncommon objects, and becomes obsessed with the task. The trailer alone is making me lose my appetite.
WATCH IT
‘The Vast Of Night’
Release Date: May 29
Starring: Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Bruce Davis III, Gail Cronauer
What it’s about: Set in a New Mexico small town in the 1950s, viewers follow two teens who hear a weird radio frequency one night while working at their local radio station. To not spoil anything, let’s just say the noise they heard wasn’t human.
WATCH IT
‘Brahms: The Boy 2’
Release Date: February 21
Starring: Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, Owain Yeoman, Christopher Convery
What it’s about: You know the story: a family moves into a really creepy house. The son of the family finds an equally creepy doll buried in the dirt and decides to keep it as his new toy. The child brings his “new friend” into the house, and things start to get even more strange. This time, though, Katie Holmes plays the concerned mother, and that alone makes us want to see it.
WATCH IT
‘A Quiet Place Part II’
Release Date: Originally March 20, 2020, now April 23, 2021
Starring: Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds
What it’s about: The sequel, written and directed by John Krasinski, follows the Abbott family as they tackle the terrors and creatures of the outside world. They’ll soon found out they aren’t the only things that go beyond the sand path. (I’m already stressed!)
‘The Woman in the Window’
Release Date: Originally May 15, 2020 now TBD
Starring: Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, and Brian Tyree Henry
What it’s about: Get ready to have your mind twisted in this psychological mystery thriller based on The New York Times bestselling book of the same name by A.J. Finn. The movie follows agoraphobic Dr. Anna Fox (Adams), who believes she saw her neighbor get killed one evening, only to be told the woman she saw in the window is actually alive.
‘The Assistant’
Release Date: January 31
Starring: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Makenzie Leigh
What it’s about: The Assistant follows one day in the life of a recent college graduate who works as the assistant to a high-up entertainment executive. As she starts to realize the day-to-day tasks she does aren’t really that normal, she discovers the true horrors of the system that she has entered.
WATCH IT
‘Tenet’
Release Date: Originally July 17, 2020, now September 3, 2020
Starring: Robert Pattinson, John David Washington
What it’s about: Director Christopher Nolan is here to give us another mind-bending thriller. As the teaser trailer hints, Washington and Pattinson are dealing with a time continuum that could do some major damage to the human race, and it’s up to them to stop it.
‘Fantasy Island’
Release Date: February 14
Starring: Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday, Charlotte McKinney, Michael Peña, Michael Rooker
What it’s about: Based on the 1977 ABC television of the same name, Fantasy Island sees guests staying at a luxurious but remote tropical resort where all their wildest dreams come true. When the dream becomes a nightmare of a killing spree, the guests will have to solve the island’s mystery if they want to make it out alive.
WATCH IT
‘The Invisible Man’
Release Date: February 28
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Storm Reid, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Harriet Dyer
What it’s about: Fleeing a violent relationship from her wealthy scientist husband, Cecilia Kass (Moss) seeks refugee in her sister and her childhood friends. She then gets news that her husband has died by suicide and has left her with $5 million. The sudden act of kindness makes her believe his death was a hoax, and that while she may not be able to see him, she can definitely feel him.
WATCH IT
‘The Grudge’
Release Date: January 3
Starring: Andrea Riseborough, Betty Gilpin, John Cho, Demian Bichir, Lin Shaye
What it’s about: Based on the Takashi Shimizu Japanese horror film, Ju-On from 2002, the hard R-rated remake is looking to leave a lasting impression. The new chapter of the horror series tells the story of a detective who investigates a case of a young mother who murdered her family in their home. While attempting to crack the case, the detective finds out the house is cursed by a ghost whose hauntings are deadly.
watch it
‘Saint Maud’
Release Date: Originally March 27, 2020, now TBD
Starring: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, and Marcus Hutton
What it’s about: A young religious hospice nurse (Clark) gets really into the idea of saving the soul of her patient Amanda (Ehle), and will stop at nothing to save her, despite her sinful past that’s itching to catch up to her.
‘Promising Young Woman’
Release Date: Originally April 17, 2020, now TBD
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Laverne Cox and Adam Brody
What it’s about: Cassie (Mulligan) once had a promising future until something happened while she was in medical school that made her drop out. Now she lives at home with her parents and works in a coffee shop. It isn’t until night when Cassie is allowed to go out and let loose, and by loose, we mean seeking revenge on all the men that are the reason why the #MeToo movement exists (if you get our drift).
‘Antebellum’
Release Date: Originally April 24, 2020, now will be available on On-Demand platforms September 18., 2020.
Starring: Janelle Monáe, Kiersey Clemons, and Eric Lange
What it’s about: From the same people who gave us the goosebumps-worthy movies like Get Out and Us are giving us Antebellum. Monáe plays a successful author who is kidnapped and wakes up in a reality that she must find out how to escape before it’s too late.
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Bianca Rodriguez
Bianca Rodriguez is the digital fellow at Marie Claire, where she covers all your favorite podcasts, Netflix shows, and celebrities ranging from Rihanna to Harry Styles.
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