Best Thriller Movies of 1986

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of criminals who have kidnapped her child.

14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence – which is considerable.

FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecktor, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecktor to capture a new killer.

A second-rate journalist from the US tries his luck in El Salvador during the military dictatorship in the 1980s.

George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King's Cross days. That's when George's troubles just start.

On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.

Brad Whitewood Jr. lives in rural Pennsylvania and has few prospects. Against his mother's wishes, he seeks out his estranged father, the head of a gang of thieves in a nearby town. Though his new girlfriend supports his criminal ambitions, Brad Jr. soon learns that his father is a dangerous man. Inspired by the real events that led to the end of the Johnston Gang, who operated in the northeastern United States in the 1970s.

A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.

A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.

A movies special effects man is hired by a government agency to help stage the assassination of a well known gangster. When the agency double cross him, he uses his special effects to trap the gangster and the corrupt agents.

A massive ball of furry creatures from another world eat their way through a small mid-western town followed by intergalactic bounty hunters opposed only by militant townspeople.

Determined to finish off the infamous killer Jason Voorhees once and for all, Tommy Jarvis and a friend exhume Jason’s corpse in order to cremate him. Things go awry when Jason is instead resurrected, sparking a new chain of ruthlessly brutal murders. Now it’s up to Tommy to stop the dark, devious and demented deaths that he unwittingly brought about.

Terry works for a bank, and uses computers to communicate with clients all over the world. One day, she gets a strange coded message from an unknown source. After decoding the message, Terry becomes embroiled in an espionage ring. People are killed, and Terry is chased. Throughout, she remains in contact with this mysterious person, who needs Terry's help save his life.

District Attorney Tom Logan is set for higher office, at least until he becomes involved with defence lawyer Laura Kelly and her unpredictable client Chelsea Deardon. It seems the least of Chelsea's crimes is the theft of a very valuable painting, but as the women persuade Logan to investigate further and to cut some official corners, a much more sinister scenario starts to emerge.

The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religeous zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. His goal is simple - he wants the angelic Carol Anne.

A 707 aircraft jetliner, en route from Athens to Rome and then to New York City, is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists, who demand that the pilot take them to Beirut. What the terrorists don't realize is that an elite team of commandos have been called in to eliminate all terrorists on the jetliner.

Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.

When Doug's father, an Air Force Pilot, is shot down by MiGs belonging to a radical Middle Eastern state, no one seems able to get him out. Doug finds Chappy, an Air Force Colonel who is intrigued by the idea of sending in two fighters piloted by himself and Doug to rescue Doug's father after bombing the MiG base.

Norman Bates is still running his little motel, and he has kept the dressed skeleton he calls 'mother'. One day a nosey journalist comes to see him to ask questions about his past.

A tough police detective escapes from custody after being framed and arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, and must now find the real killer and prove his innocence.

Playing around with a Ouija board, a trio of friends succeeds in contacting the spirit of a young boy. Trouble begins when the evil spirit, Malfeitor, takes over one of their bodies.

An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.

A family's new satellite TV system starts receiving signals from another planet, and soon it becomes the passageway to an alien world.

Based on a true story, this film depicts the life of Ted Bundy, the serial killer. In 1974, after having murdered several young women, he leaves Seattle for Utah, where he is a law student and where other girls disappear. It takes the cooperation of a number of police forces to work efficiently on this case. Soon, but not soon enough, the police eliminate endless possibilities and close in on him. Bundy is tried in the media and his good-boy attitude brings him sympathy but also the hatred of many.

An FBI free-lancer stashes a stolen Las Vegas-crime tape in a high-tech car stolen by someone else.

A reporter named Mullen 'stumbles' onto a story linking a prominent Member of Parliament to a KGB agent and a near-nuclear disaster involving a teenage runaway and a U.S. Air Force base. Has there been a Government cover-up? Mullen teams up with Vernon Bayliss, an old hack, and Nina Beckam, the MP's assistant, to find out the truth.

The pupils at a high school next to a nuclear power plant start acting and looking strange after buying contaminated drugs from a plant worker.

Chronicles a Mossad team hand picked to hunt down the terrorists involved in the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre of Israeli athletes.

When a family moves into a San Francisco apartment, an opportunistic troll decides to make his move and take possession of little Wendy (Jenny Beck), thereby paving the way for new troll recruits, the first in his army that will take eventual control of the planet. We soon discover Torok is the ex-husband of Eunice St. Clair, a resident in the building who was married to Torok.

A woman escapes from the man who is about to rape her, but leaves her purse behind. Afraid that her attacker might come after her, she goes to the police, but with no proof of the incident, they can do nothing. In fact, the man does use the information in her bag and comes to her apartment with the intent of rape, but she sprays him in the face with insect repellent, and then holds him captive. She is then faced with deciding whether to go to the police who might not believe her and release him, or to kill him.

Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.

Named after the World War II-era program, the plot revolves around a gifted high school student who decides to construct a nuclear bomb for a national science fair. The film's underlying theme involves the Cold War of the 1980s when government secrecy and mutually assured destruction were key political and military issues.

Young graduate student Jane Chase becomes the new assistant to an eccentric zoology professor at the remote home he shares with two brilliant chimpanzees and an elderly orangutan butler named Link. But when one of the chimps is found dead and the professor mysteriously disappears, Link becomes dangerously aggressive towards Jane. Now, the time for “monkey business” is over and the true terror is about to begin.

Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.

Failed actress Alex Sternbergen wakes up hungover one morning in an apartment she does not recognize, unable to remember the previous evening -- and with a dead body in bed next to her. As she tries to piece together the events of the night, Alex cannot totally rely on friends or her estranged husband, Joaquin, for assistance. Only a single ally, loner ex-policeman Turner Kendall, can help her escape her predicament and find the true killer.

A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.

Story of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Anastasia Romanov, the only surviving daughter of the Czar and Czarina of Russia.

Reynolds plays an ex-soldier-of-fortunish character in Vegas, taking "Chaperone" jobs, fighting with the mob, and trying to get enough money together to move to Venice, Italy.

An agoraphobic must give up his sheltered life and venture outside after a series of personal and financial problems.

During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.

A war veteran tries to investigate the murder of his son who was working as a Russian translator for the British intelligence service during the Cold War. He meets a web of deception and paranoia that seems impenetrable...

A young woman running a wildlife sanctuary in the Australian outback is in for trouble when she is confronted by three kangaroo hunters. Bored with killing kangaroos, they decide to kill the animals in the sanctuary, and when they see how attractive the owner is, they decide to have a little "fun" with her, too. Turns out that they may get a bit more "fun" than they bargained for.

A detective comes out of retirement to help his daughter's fiance prove that he did not commit a series of murders.

Terrorists launch an attack against the USA. Their first strike is by a suicide squad that detonates a truckload of explosives at an army base in Washington DC. FBI probes indicate that the attack is by Arab terrorists led by Iranians. Subsequent attacks are via airplanes exploded in mid-air, crowded restaurants, and an attack on a mall. Administration cabinet heads push the President to retaliate. The director of the FBI believes that there may be more to the story than the investigation has revealed and the Secretary of Defense is the only other person urging caution.

Farm boy Daryl Cage's parents ship him off to the big city to live with his brother, hoping he will have a better life there. After a baggage mixup at the airport, Daryl finds himself in possession of a drug cache, which a ruthless drug dealer wants back. The dealer murders Daryl's brother and the small town boy ends up all alone in the big city, being pursued by both the drug dealer and the police, who suspect him of the murder.

A group of high school students, led by a rich boy Derek, is sick of school violence and decides to become underground vigilantes named "Brotherhood of Justice". It starts with the idea "watching people", but things quickly get out of control. "Brotherhood of Justice" turns out another gang of violence. Derek wants to stop it but it is too late, so he takes responsibility for it and gives himself to the law.

A Los Angeles psychiatrist testifies for the prosecution in the trial of an accused child molester. Later the defendant, who is out on bail, is found dead in the psychiatrist's office, in what appears to be a suicide. Shaken, the psychiatrist moves to the mountains outside of L.A. Not long afterwards a detective he knows comes to him for help. A seven-year-old girl saw someone kill both of her parents, but is so traumatized by the event that she can't remember anything, and the detective wants the doctor to help jar her memory. Soon, however, the doctor and the detective discover that the parents' murder and the pedophiles "suicide" may be linked to a shadowy group of wealthy and influential pedophiles, and that the child isn't the only one whose life is in danger.

Martial arts expert Matt Hunter was one of the most promising operatives in Army intelligence until his parents were killed by terrorists, and he retired to the family's farm in Louisiana to take care of his 12-year-old sister Sara and their grandfather Jimmy. Larry Richards, a black man running for the Senate, is one of Matt's best friends. Larry has become the target of The Pentangle, a racist organization led by a man named Glastenbury, and Glastenbury doesn't want Larry to be elected. In an attempt on Larry's life during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, The Pentangle kills one of Larry's sons. Matt lets Larry, his wife Daisy, and his other son move to the remotely located farm so they can hide from Glastenbury and the Pentangle, but the Pentangle strikes again, setting the farmhouse on fire. Matt and Sara escape as the only survivors. Then the Pentangle kidnaps Sara, sending Matt on a mission to rescue Sara from Glastenbury and the Pentangle

Rebel without a cause or a clue at an elite but uptight college discovers some of his classmates have formed an even more elite clique more or less hell-bent on ridding the school, and quite possibly American society, of what they deem to be its undesirables because of ethnicity, politics, etc. Our hero recruits a teacher and some other "less desirable" classmates to undermine the elitists, and, naturally, things get quite violent.