10 Most Intense Movies of the Last 10 Years

Image via Mubi Published Aug 10, 2026, 4:48 PM EDT Michael Block is a 14 time GLAM Award nominated writer, producer, and host of the podcast Block Talk. Throughout his time in the entertainment industry, he has worked on and off Broadway as a stage manager, written several produced plays, critiqued hundreds of theatrical performances, drag and cabaret shows, and has produced events randing from drag competitoons to variety concerts! On Block Talk, he interviews nightlife personalities, covers the wide world of entertainment through features, ranking episodes, and recaps ALL of Drag Race, as well as Dragula and Survivor. He has interviewed hundreds of RuGirls that span the globe at DragCon NYC, DragCon LA, and DragCon UK. In his free time, he makes one-of-a-kind jewelry and gift baskets with his mom. He is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community. Sign in to your Collider account When we go to the movies, we put ourselves in the position to emote. Whether it’s sorrow or joy, fear or panic, a good movie’s purpose is to make us feel. So, when a movie goes to the extreme in intensity, offering a visceral reaction, that’s the mark of a successful mission. Over the last ten years, through thrillers, action, and horror, we have been privy to some of the most intense movies; these ten titles are proof. An intense film is likely to elicit a reaction when something major occurs. Or, their entire identity is based around an intensity that gets your heart pulsing from beginning to end. These ten films from the last 10 years have pushed the bounds of intensity, from psychological thrillers about women struggling to survive to men on the run from a disaster of their own making. There are films with extreme body horror and movies with antagonists who hit a little too close to home. If you watch one of these movies for the very first time, you've been warned! 10 'Longlegs' (2024) Image via Neon Directed by Osgood Perkins, this '90s-set thriller tells the story of FBI rookie Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she tracks a satanic serial killer only known as “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage) who forces ordinary fathers to murder their families before taking his own life. As Lee investigates the cryptic clues of occult-coded letters, she discovers an unexpected connection to Longlegs that will change the entire investigation. Longlegs thrives on atmosphere, relying on a constant, overwhelming aura that delivers a suffocating mood through unsettling sound design and stark framing. With lingering shots, the camera stays still, focusing on empty corners or dark spaces in a room, making you feel like something is hidden in frame. The percussive scoring makes the quiet moments just as nerve-wracking as the violent ones. The titular villain doesn’t necessarily need acts of violence to haunt your dreams, and the physical transformation, high-pitched vocal delivery, and erratic movements allow Cage to bring intense terror. 9 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You' (2025) Image via A24 So here’s the thing. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You isn’t necessarily a horror or thriller—it’s a drama, but writer-director Mary Bronstein's execution means it’s destined to stress you out. The psychological dark dramedy tells the story of Linda (Rose Byrne), a psychotherapist and mother tasked with caring for her young daughter, who suffers from a mysterious medical issue and requires nutrition through an abdominal feeding tube. Linda slowly but surely experiences a frantic mental breakdown while dealing with an overwhelming accumulation of domestic and professional crises. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You captures the existential terror of feeling entirely responsible for everything while completely lacking the personal space or support to survive intact, getting your heart racing because the situation is simply mind-bending. It's a brutally honest, visceral, and darkly funny portrait of a modern mother on the verge of a breakdown. Byrne gives a tour-de-force performance: at one moment, you want to hug her, but by the next breath, you feel the urge to shake her. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You launched anxiety as its own film genre, essentially a surrealistic panic attack. Image via Searchlight Pictures Mark Mylod’s dark comedy horror thriller The Menu follows foodie Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult) and his skeptical date, Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy), who travel to a remote private island to eat at Hawthorne, an ultra-exclusive, obscenely expensive restaurant run by the reclusive celebrity Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). As the multi-course meal progresses, the guests—comprised of wealthy food critics, washed-up actors, tech executives, and a devoted fan in Tyler— realize that each meticulously crafted dish comes with shocking, violent revelations. A satire of fine dining, The Menu uses a biting critique of consumerism, class divides, and the way modern elitism turns pure art and passion into joyless, obsessive pretension. The film mocks the absurdities of ultra-high-end gastronomy where food is treated as an intellectual concept rather than nourishment, pushing further into an examination of the loss of artistic passion. And for any artist watching, it’s a draining experience to feel your work being appreciated for the wrong reasons. The film shifts without warning from uncomfortable social satire into stark, bloody acts of violence and self-destruction, keeping the audience permanently off-balance. The phrase “Yes, Chef” is forever changed. 7 'Nocturnal Animals' (2016) Image via Focus Features You may know him from his eponymous fashion brand, but Tom Ford has dipped his toes into filmmaking, and his biggest achievement is the 2016 American Southern Gothic neo-noir psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals. Told through a gripping triple narrative structure, it tells the story of the real life of lonely art gallery owner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), the violent fictional manuscript she reads written by her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), and flashbacks to their past romance. A meta-revenge drama, Nocturnal Animals is a reflection on themes of regret, vengeance, and the emotional scars of the past, operating as a dizzying hall of mirrors that smoothly shifts between three roads. One story is cold, opulent, and empty, and the next is a violent, harrowing revenge thriller, ultimately colliding in a depiction of a crumbling relationship where art imitates life. The film is viscerally violent, featuring a terrifying, skin-crawling roadside abduction sequence on a dark Texas highway that would be a brilliant thriller in and of itself. There is relentless suspense as the pursuit of justice turns into an agonizing, morally grey descent into vigilantism that relies on quiet, chilling psychological retribution. 6 'A Quiet Place' (2018) Image via Paramount Pictures Sometimes we take our senses for granted. In Bird Box, we lost our sight; in A Quiet Place, it was our voice, and the result was a relentlessly intense thriller from the brilliant eyes of John Krasinski. The thriller follows the Abbott family as they try to survive in a world taken over by blind alien monsters that hunt using super-sensitive hearing. After a noisy toy kills the youngest son, Beau (Cade Woodward), the family is left with heavy grief and fear. Lee and Evelyn (Krasinski and Emily Blunt) try to keep their children safe while looking for a way to fight back. A Quiet Place uses a simple gimmick of absolute silence to embark on a journey of intense suspense, turning everyday sounds into life-or-death dangers while telling a moving story about a family's love and sacrifice. The plot is not just about monsters; the intense themes of grief, protecting children, and how far parents will go to keep kids safe intensify with every move as the alien preys. The sound and audio design is exceptional: every tiny rustle, drop, or breath carries lethal consequences. A Quiet Place may be a stressful watch, but it’s what audiences love, so a franchise was born! 5 'The Substance' (2024) Image via Mubi Don’t call it a comeback, but it sure was a brilliant film to see Demi Moore revitalize her career with The Substance. Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, the film follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), a fading, 50-year-old celebrity fired from her fitness TV show due to her age. Desperate for youth, she uses a black-market drug that splits a younger, perfect version of herself named Sue (Margaret Qualley) from her back. They must switch consciousness every seven days, sharing one life while the inactive body stays comatose, but greed and vanity lead to horrifying consequences. Launching a million memes, The Substance is a masterpiece through its fearless reflection on Hollywood ageism and toxic beauty standards through the lens of the bold, grotesque weight of obsession. If intense imagery and sound are not your friend, The Substance is a must-skip. If you’re eager to understand how Fargeat exceptionally used the senses to craft a visceral masterpiece, The Substance is required viewing. Through escalating psychological tension, you become trapped within the deteriorating reality. Moore delivers a tragic, brave, and deeply committed performance as a fading star, not allowing the moniker to deter her. In fact, her brilliance proves the film's social thesis. 4 'The Invisible Man' (2020) Image via Universal Pictures When a film can reinvent its source material for a modern narrative and elevate it in the process, that’s the mark of greatness. Such was the case for The Invisible Man, directed by Leigh Whannell. The thriller follows Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss), a woman who escapes her abusive, wealthy scientist boyfriend Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). When Adrian apparently commits suicide and leaves her a fortune, strange, terrifying events begin to happen around Cecilia and her loved ones. She realizes someone invisible is manipulating her life, ruining her relationships, and framing her for crimes. The Invisible Man subverts a classic monster feature into a tense psychological thriller about domestic abuse, with invisibility operating as a metaphor for emotional manipulation, control, and trauma. Whannell allows the camera to linger in empty rooms and hallways, making the audience feel the constant, paranoid dread that an unseen predator is right next to the protagonist; often, they’re correct. The Invisible Man relies heavily on atmosphere, smart angles, and sound design rather than endless jump scares or heavy CGI. Moss carries the world on her shoulders as CeCe, bringing exhausted authenticity that encapsulates the desperate isolation of a woman whose sanity is actively being dismantled by her abuser. ​​​​​​​ 3 'Hereditary' (2018) Image via A24 Ari Aster has emerged as a master of horror, supernatural, and thrills, and it all kicked off with Hereditary. The horror masterpiece follows Annie Graham (Toni Collette) and her family as they unravel dark secrets after the death of her secretive mother, Ellen. Annie delivers a strained eulogy for her overbearing mother, while her young daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) shows disturbing behavior. The family spirals into deep grief, guilt, and severe tension as tragedies mount, leading to a disturbing secret. Through mounting psychological dread, Hereditary grounds supernatural terror in the raw, agonizing realism of family trauma and grief. At its core, it's a devastating family drama about a household unraveling after the death of a secretive matriarch. This emotional baseline makes the subsequent descent into occult terror feel intensely invasive and unsettling. The film allowed for the always consistent Collette to deliver a career-defining performance—fearless is an understatement. Watching her raw manifestation of grief, desperation, and mental deterioration keeps the intensity high. The movie plays upon the deep fear of genetic determinism and the fight to escape the toxic mental patterns and curses passed down by your parents. 2 'Uncut Gems' (2019) Image via A24 This one may seem like a high placement, but the tension and race to safety in this crime thriller warrant its placement. In the Safdie Brothers’ brilliant Uncut Gems, Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a charismatic and compulsive gambling jeweler in New York City's Diamond District who buys a rare, expensive Ethiopian black opal valued at a million dollars with plans to auction it off to clear his debts. When visiting NBA star Kevin Garnett becomes obsessed with the stone, Howard swaps it for Garnett’s Championship ring and immediately pawns it to place more dangerous bets. Meanwhile, he juggles aggressive loan sharks, a failing marriage to Dinah (Idina Menzel), and an erratic personal life. Uncut Gems is a meticulously crafted, stress-induced roller-coaster in which you’re desperate to get off. The Safdies designed the movie to keep your adrenaline pumping from start to finish: your head is on a swivel as the dialogue features characters constantly talking and yelling over one another. It creates a sensory overload, leaning into chaotic editing that makes it impossible to catch your breath and plunging you directly into the high-stakes world of gambling and the Diamond District. Uncut Gems is a cacophony of chaos that is constantly disorienting, with no room to relax and breathe. 1 '10 Cloverfield Lane' (2016) Image via Paramount Pictures Nothing like being trapped in a bunker with an unsettling extraterrestrial threat looming outside. 10 Cloverfield Lane follows Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young woman who wakes up in an underground bunker after a severe car crash. The bunker's owner, Howard (John Goodman), claims he saved her from a devastating chemical or nuclear attack that has left the Earth's surface uninhabitable. Alongside another local named Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), Michelle notices strange and controlling behavior from Howard, realizing he may have caused her crash and is holding them captive. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a claustrophobic psychological thriller anchored in extreme uncertainty. To make it more intense, the script forces you to question whether the captor is telling the truth about an apocalypse or is just a dangerous liar. Thanks to Goodman’s career-best performance, the ease with which he flips from warm and folksy to explosive and chilling is utterly terrifying. Winstead is a steadfast protagonist, playing Michelle as a smart, proactive, and deeply relatable individual. 10 Cloverfield Lane begs the question of whether escaping one monster to face another is worth the fight. 10 Cloverfield Lane Release Date March 11, 2016 Cast John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., Douglas M. Griffin, Suzanne Cryer, Bradley Cooper, Sumalee Montano, Frank Mottek Runtime 104 minutes Director Dan Trachtenberg Writers Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, Damien Chazelle