Thriller films about mad scientists

List of the best thriller films about mad scientists according to the audience: The Skin I Live In, Stonehearst Asylum, The Guest, Safe Haven, Labor Day, Dear John, The Town, The Words, Captain Phillips, Bad Times at the El Royale.

In the top there are new films of 2023, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountrySpain, USA
Duration02:00

A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genrethriller, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:52

A Harvard Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genreaction, thriller
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration01:35

    A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:55

      A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.

      Markimdb: 6.9
      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:51

      Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride. As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited.

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, detective, military
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:48

        Sergeant John Tyree is home on a 2 week leave from Germany. He meets Savannah after he dives into the ocean to retrieve Savannah's purse that had fallen off the pier. John falls in love with Savannah who is a student on spring break helping build a house for Habitat for Humanity. A romance occurs and Savannah falls deeply in love with John. She promises to write John overseas until he returns.

        Markimdb: 7.5
        Genrethriller, drama, crime
        CountryUSA
        Duration02:04

        Doug MacRay is a longtime thief, who, smarter than the rest of his crew, is looking for his chance to exit the game. When a bank job leads to the group kidnapping an attractive branch manager, he takes on the role of monitoring her – but their burgeoning relationship threatens to unveil the identities of Doug and his crew to the FBI Agent who is on their case.

        Markimdb: 7
        Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, detective
        CountryUSA
        Duration01:43

          The Words follows young writer Rory Jansen who finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch - he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work, and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words.

          Markimdb: 7.8
          Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
          CountryUSA
          Duration02:14

            The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

            Markimdb: 7.1
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:03

            Lake Tahoe, 1969. Seven strangers, each one with a secret to bury, meet at El Royale, a decadent motel with a dark past. In the course of a fateful night, everyone will have one last shot at redemption.

            Markimdb: 7.6
            Genrethriller, drama, history
            CountryUSA, Germany, India
            Duration02:39

              During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

              Markimdb: 7.3
              Genrethriller, drama
              CountryUSA, United Arab Emirates
              Duration02:18

              Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he's managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober -- but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation.

              Markimdb: 8.2
              Genrethriller, drama, detective
              CountryUSA
              Duration02:18

              World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.

              Markimdb: 7
              Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, military
              CountryUnited Kingdom, France, Canada, Belgium, USA
              Duration01:47

              France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.

              Markimdb: 6.7
              Genrethriller, detective
              CountryRussia, USA, United Kingdom, Cyprus

              Looking to investigate recruitment techniques of ISIS to lure women into Syria, Amy Whitaker, a journalist, creates a Facebook profile of a Muslim convert. When an ISIS recruiter contacts her online character, she experiences the process first hand.

              Markimdb: 7.4
              Genrethriller, drama, crime
              CountryUSA

              A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

              Markimdb: 7.8
              Genrethriller, drama, crime
              CountryUSA
              Duration01:58

                When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

                Markimdb: 7.3
                Genrehorror, fantastic, thriller, drama, detective
                CountryUSA, Japan
                Duration02:27

                Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him — as well as everyone around him — as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

                Markimdb: 7.7
                Genrethriller, drama, biography
                CountryUSA, United Kingdom
                Duration02:00

                As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

                Markimdb: 7
                Genrethriller, drama, crime
                CountryUSA, Canada
                Duration01:56

                Earl Stone, a man in his eighties, is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does so well that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates.

                Markimdb: 6.3
                Genrehorror, thriller
                CountryUSA

                On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer gets a psychiatric evaluation during which he claims he is a demon, and further claims that before their time is over, the psychiatrist will commit three murders of his own.

                Markimdb: 6.4
                Genrethriller, crime, detective
                CountryUSA, Spain, Hungary, Serbia
                Duration01:50

                A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.

                Markimdb: 7
                Genrethriller, drama, detective
                CountrySpain, United Kingdom, USA, France
                Duration01:35

                Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

                Markimdb: 6.5
                Genrethriller, melodrama, drama
                CountryUSA, Germany, Saudi Arabia
                Duration01:41

                A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist escalates into a lethal battle of wills.

                Markimdb: 7.3
                Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, crime
                CountryUSA, France
                Duration02:13

                  A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder. Lara Brennan is arrested for murdering her boss with whom she had an argument. It seems she was seen leaving the scene of the crime and her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. Her husband, John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. And when the strain of being separated from her family, especially her son, gets to her, John decides to break her out. So he does a lot of research to find a way.

                  Markimdb: 6.2
                  Genrethriller, drama
                  CountryUSA
                  Duration01:39

                  A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.

                  Markimdb: 8.1
                  Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
                  CountryUSA
                  Duration02:33

                    When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

                    Markimdb: 6.7
                    Genrethriller, drama, crime
                    CountryUSA
                    Duration01:35

                    Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.

                    Markimdb: 8.5
                    Genrehorror, thriller, detective
                    CountryUSA
                    Duration01:49

                    When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother. The place seems quirky, but fine… until Marion decides to take a shower.

                    Markimdb: 7.1
                    Genrethriller, drama, adventure, history
                    CountryUSA, Canada
                    Duration02:01

                    The amazing, true story of a Uruguayan rugby team's plane that crashed in the middle of the Andes mountains, and their immense will to survive and pull through alive, forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive on meager rations and through the freezing cold.

                    Markimdb: 6.5
                    Genrethriller, detective
                    CountryUSA
                    Duration01:36

                      Mort Rainey, a writer just emerging from a painful divorce with his ex-wife, is stalked at his remote lake house by a psychotic stranger and would-be scribe who claims Rainey swiped his best story idea. But as Rainey endeavors to prove his innocence, he begins to question his own sanity.

                      Markimdb: 8.6
                      Genrehorror, thriller, drama, crime, detective
                      CountryUSA
                      Duration01:54

                      Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

                      Markimdb: 7.5
                      Genrethriller, drama
                      CountryUSA
                      Duration01:32

                        Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

                        Markimdb: 7.2
                        Genrethriller, drama
                        CountryUSA, Germany
                        Duration02:10

                        When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.

                        Markimdb: 6.9
                        Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
                        CountryUSA, France
                        Duration02:00

                        The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris and, to find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form filling bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.

                        Markimdb: 8
                        Genrethriller, detective
                        CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
                        Duration02:18

                        A mystery novelist devises an insurance scam with his wife’s lover – but things aren’t exactly as they seem.

                        Markimdb: 7.3
                        Genrethriller, crime
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration02:08

                        Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? Fourteen years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey, bibliophile Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

                        Markimdb: 7.1
                        Genrethriller, drama, detective
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration01:54

                        Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell , and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, Farrell is put in charge of the murder investigation. He begins to uncover shocking clues about the case, but when details of his encounter with Susan surface, he becomes a suspect as well.

                        Markimdb: 7.4
                        Genrethriller, drama, crime
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration01:54

                        An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is asked to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial. But if he doesn't do it, the judge will have him disbarred.

                        Markimdb: 8.4
                        Genrehorror, thriller, drama, detective
                        CountryUSA, United Kingdom
                        Duration02:24

                        Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

                        Markimdb: 7.7
                        Genrethriller, drama, crime
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration01:48

                        After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move -- and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the thugs.

                        Markimdb: 6.6
                        Genrethriller, drama
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration01:54

                        After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is afraid of lawsuits, slowly drives Garfield mad.

                        Markimdb: 7.4
                        Genrethriller, drama, crime
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration02:00

                        A widescreen, Technicolor remake by Hitchcock of his 1934 film of the same title. A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.

                        Markimdb: 7.9
                        Genrethriller, drama, history
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration02:18

                        In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.

                        Markimdb: 7.5
                        Genrethriller, drama, detective
                        CountryUSA, United Kingdom
                        Duration02:39

                        After Dr. Bill Hartford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.

                        Markimdb: 6.7
                        Genrethriller, drama, crime
                        CountryUSA, France
                        Duration01:59

                        When Bobby's car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he's encountered. After becoming involved with a young married woman, her husband hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.

                        Markimdb: 6.5
                        Genrethriller, melodrama
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration01:48

                        When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.

                        Markimdb: 6.9
                        Genrethriller, drama
                        CountryUSA

                        Based on the true story of the events that led to the death of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an elderly African American veteran with bipolar disorder, who was killed during a conflict with police officers who were dispatched to check on him.

                        Markimdb: 7.4
                        Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime
                        CountryUSA
                        Duration02:02

                        Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.

                        Markimdb: 6.5
                        Genrethriller, crime, detective
                        CountryUSA, Germany
                        Duration02:03

                        A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.




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