10 Great Thrillers That Need A Sequel

Warning! This article may contain spoilers!

Some thriller movies are so enthralling and compelling that audiences can’t help but ask for a sequel. Thrillers can keep viewers on the edge of their seats with their intense plot twists and reveals and leave a lasting impression on not just the audience, but the entire genre as a whole. The most incredible thriller movies utilize a well-constructed backstory and effective world-building to create intricate lore that serves as the perfect backdrop against the action-filled thrills.

Whether a movie gets a sequel depends on several factors, ranging from elements like audience reception and commercial success to the availability of the actors and the creator’s vision for the story. However, there are some beloved thriller movies that could benefit from a sequel that further explores the setting and characters and builds on the first movie but don’t have any sequels planned.

10

Green Room (2015)

Directed By Jeremy Saulnier

Close

Green Room is a horror thriller following a band who witness a murder at an isolated club and have to fight for their survival as neo-Nazi skinheads begin hunting them down. While the movie works well as a self-contained story, it’s bursting with potential to become a larger universe and tell a different story about similar themes.

Related

Green Room Ending Explained

Green Room demonstrated director Jeremy Saulnier’s talent for forcing unlikely people into unlikely situations, presenting a tense, wild thriller.

Posts

The backdrop of a punk band having to work together to fight off a large group of violent neo-Nazis hunting them down serves as a terrifying and thrilling premise, and the tension-filled setting is a perfect foundation for a sequel. Since Green Room’s ending featured a majority of the punk band members being murdered and only a few survivors, a sequel could use the original film’s intensity and themes to explore various stories without continuing the story.

9

High Life (2018)

Directed By Claire Denis

Close

The science fiction horror movie set in space, High Life follows a group of criminals being treated as guinea pigs as they’re set on a dangerous mission toward a black hole. The scientist Dibs’ (Juliette Binoche) unethical experiments on the criminals is prime body horror material, and the horror movie‘s portrayal of isolation and survival in space serves as a thought-provoking and profound setting for a horror thriller movie.

The space horror thriller sets up an incredibly compelling premise and the ending leaves the door open for further musings about life and humanity.

High Life’s brilliant end leaves the fates of Monte (Robert Pattinson) and Willow (Jessie Ross) unknown, and a sequel film could serve as a continuation of their story. A sequel movie could touch upon themes surrounding unique familial bonds and the evolution of humanity in deep isolation. A much-needed continuation of High Life has endless potential, as the space horror thriller sets up an incredibly compelling premise and the well-crafted ending leaves the door open for further musings about life and humanity.

8

Dredd (2012)

Directed By Pete Travis

Close

The sci-fi action thriller Dredd is based on the Judge Dredd comics, following the titular character (Karl Urban) in a dystopian and post-apocalyptic future. The movie revolves around Judge Dredd, who acts as judge, jury, and executioner in the dystopian wasteland. Despite the lackluster performance at the box office making Dredd getting a sequel unlikely, the movie’s heart-pumping action scenes along with thrilling premise and storytelling make for a classic.

Judge Dredd walks through Mega-City One in Dredd

Related

Is Dredd A Remake Of Judge Dredd? Is It Connected To Stallone’s Movie?

Dredd has become popular over a decade after it bombed at the box office, but its place in the Judge Dredd movie franchise isn’t totally clear.

Posts

Dredd‘s status as a cult classic based on comics along with the setting of a post-apocalyptic wasteland means it has countless possibilities for interesting and compelling sequels. A sequel to Dredd could serve as a continuation of Dredd and Cassandra Anderson’s (Olivia Thirlby) adventures as a crime-fighting duo, and the violence-filled setting of the fictional city Mega-City One is filled with crime, mayhem and corruption.

7

Blink Twice (2024)

Directed By Zoë Kravitz

Close

A psychological thriller, Blink Twice follows a group of people invited to a private island to party with a billionaire and his friends. What seems like a dream vacation in paradise turns into a nightmare, and the film follows cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) as she questions her reality, sanity, and her burgeoning relationship with the tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum).

Blink Twice’s incredible plot twist makes it a thrilling, tension-filled movie with important themes that deserves a sequel. While the movie works perfectly as a one-off contained story, a sequel can expand the innovative psychological thriller’s exploration of themes of power imbalance, oppression, and misogyny. While a continuation of the story in Blink Twice is unnecessary, the movie provided a fresh take on the genre of psychological thrillers and a sequel could utilize similar concepts to explore different themes revolving around power.

6

The Invitation (2022)

Directed By Jessica M. Thompson

Close

The Invitation is a horror thriller inspired by Dracula, revolving around a struggling young woman who learns that her distant relatives are hiding a sinister secret. The gothic vampire movie offers a fresh take on vampires and follows Evie Jackson (Nathalie Emmanuel) after a DNA result reveals that she has distant relatives in the United Kingdom. Emmanuel’s enthralling performance as Evie, a human surrounded by vampires who manage to take them down and get revenge for the countless murders they’ve committed.

The Invitation ends with Evie and her best friend Grace’s (Courtney Taylor) triumph over De Ville/Dracula (Thomas Doherty) and sees them embark on a quest for vengeance as they hunt down Oliver (Hugh Skinner) for helping the vampires and tricking Evie. A sequel to The Invitation could follow the duo as they embrace their talents as vampire hunters and stalk the predators terrorizing the world. The Invitation’s sequel could expand on the lore of vampires and vampire hunters as it follows Evie’s journey.

5

Minority Report (2002)

Directed By Steven Spielberg

Close

Minority Report is a thrilling tech noir movie based on Philip K. Dick’s novella of the same name. Set in the future when three gifted humans called precogs have the ability to see into the future and predict crimes, the precogs work with the Precrime squad and have minimized crime. Minority Report follows Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) after the precogs predict that Anderton will soon commit a murder and he goes on the run and attempts to clear his name.

Tom Cruise as John Anderton operating the Precog system in Minority Report

Related

Tom Cruise’s Sci-Fi Crime Movie With 89% RT Score Gets High Accuracy Score From Expert, 12 Years After Release

Artificial Intelligence Researcher Sasha Luccioni gives a very high AI accuracy score to Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise’s acclaimed sci-fi movie.

Posts

1

While a follow-up TV series of the same name was released, no sequel movie to Minority Report has been planned so far. While the original film explored themes of surveillance and policing, the central themes have only become more relevant in the digital age, and a sequel of Minority Report could further explore the implications of the reliance on artificial intelligence and technology and its impact.

4

The Belko Experiment (2016)

Directed By Greg McLean

Close

The Belko Experiment follows a group of employees of a company named Belko Industries in Colombia being locked inside their building and forced to start killing each other. The film’s plot twist ending reveals the sole survivor of the event at Belko Industries isn’t the only survivor of a deadly experiment, as a voice confirms that the experiment was just the first stage.

The Belko Experiment‘s twist ending is a perfectly thrilling conclusion to the horror premise, and also expertly sets a foundation for a sequel movie. The secrecy behind the large conspiracy of dangerous experiments has endless potential, as sequels to The Belko Experiment could either continue Mike Milch’s (John Gallagher Jr.) story as the sole survivor of the experiment or could examine the various experiments that other people underwent and provide a different take on how humans operate when pushed to the brink.

3

Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Directed By Doug Liman

Close

The science-fiction thriller, Edge of Tomorrow is set in a future when alien creatures known as mimics have conquered Europe and humanity forms a global military alliance named the United Defense Force (UDF) to fight back against the aliens. After Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) joins a landing operation, he finds that he is stuck in a time loop as he tries to defeat the invading aliens.

A sequel could easily capitalize on the best aspects of the movie to create an entertaining and thrilling sequel.

The classic time loop trope is the perfect premise for the action-filled movie, as Cage gains knowledge and hones his skills through each time loop. A sequel to Edge of Tomorrow could explore the impact that multiple time loops had on Cage and explore the motivations and history of the well-crafted and compelling villains, the mimics. Edge of Tomorrow shines due to the thrilling action scenes and the chemistry between Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, who plays Sergeant Rita Vrataski, and a sequel could easily capitalize on the best aspects of the movie to create an entertaining and thrilling sequel.

2

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Directed By David Fincher

Close

David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is based on Stieg Larsson’s novel of the same name and follows a journalist and hacker as they investigate a forty-year-old case of a missing girl. The complex and thrilling movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo deserves a sequel that further explores the compelling character dynamics and growth. The dedicated and controversial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, played by Daniel Craig, and the eccentric hacker with hidden depths, Lisbeth Salander, played by Rooney Mara, formed the perfect critically acclaimed central duo.

While the sequel film The Girl in the Spider’s Web was a box office failure, another soft reboot/sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo could take a bold dive into politics and corruption without losing Fincher’s methodical pace and complex storylines and visual styles. Stieg Larsson’s books leave several interesting storylines that can be explored in another sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While another sequel remains unlikely, the TV adaption of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is set to explore important themes.

1

Ex Machina (2014)

Directed By Alex Garland

Close

10 years after its release, the sci-fi thriller movie Ex Machina still stands out as an incredibly thought-provoking and complex exploration of artificial intelligence and technology. Ex Machina follows programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) after his boss Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) assigns him to judge whether the humanoid robot Ava (Alicia Vikander) is capable of consciousness. Ex Machina’s shocking ending saw Ava escape into the world and blend in with society after manipulating Caleb and Nathan.

Split image of main characters from Arrival, Ex Machina, and Morgan

Related

11 Best Sci-Fi Movies Like Ex Machina

Movies like Ex Machina appeal equally to fans of science fiction and horror, and these similar films hit those same hard-to-reach spots.

Posts

As the usage and rapid development of AI becomes more relevant daily, it is the perfect time for Ex Machina to continue its story and explore its themes in the form of a sequel. A sequel to Ex Machina could explore how Ava adjusted to human society and the potential havoc the life-like robot can wreak on the world.