Thriller movies about small towns

A list of the best thriller movies about small towns selected by visitors to our site: Mississippi Burning, Blood Simple, The Raven, Subway, Safe Haven, A Time to Kill, Prisoners, The Book of Henry, The Village, High Noon.

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

Markimdb: 7.8
Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:08

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his, former Sheriff, partner.

Markimdb: 7.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime
CountryUSA
Duration01:39

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

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: 6.5
Genrethriller
CountryFrance
Duration01:44

Fred, a raffish safe blower, takes refuge in the Paris Metro after being chased by the henchmen of a shady businessman from whom he has just stolen some documents. While hiding out in the back rooms and conduits of the Metro, Fred encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals.

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: 7.5
    Genrethriller, drama, crime
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:30

    A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

    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: 6.5
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration02:35

      Naomi Watts stars as Susan, a single mother of two, working as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands in this imaginative and emotional drama.

      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: 8
      Genrethriller, drama, western
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:25

      Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genrethriller, drama, detective
      CountryUSA, United Kingdom
      Duration01:58

      Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

      Markimdb: 7
      Genrethriller, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:35

      When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialise in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

      Markimdb: 8
      Genrethriller, drama, detective
      CountryDenmark, Finland, USA, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway
      Duration02:58

      A barren soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville.

      Markimdb: 6.5
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:45

      Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.

      Markimdb: 6.2
      Genrethriller, drama
      CountryUSA, Canada
      Duration01:32

      A 16 year old girl takes up with a charming young man who quickly shows his colors when he beats a friend simply for walking with her and then goes totally ballistic after she tries to break up with him.

      Markimdb: 7
      Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:33

      When his SUV breaks down on a remote Southwestern road, Jeff Taylor lets his wife, Amy, hitch a ride with a trucker to get help. When she doesn't return, Jeff fixes his SUV and tracks down the trucker -- who tells the police he's never seen Amy. Johnathan Mostow's tense thriller then follows Jeff's desperate search for his wife, which eventually uncovers a small town's murderous secret.

      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: 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: 7.3
          Genrehorror, thriller, fantasy, detective
          CountryUSA, Germany
          Duration01:45

          New York detective Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths in which the victims are found beheaded. But the locals believe the culprit to be none other than the ghost of the legendary Headless Horseman.

          Genrethriller, drama, crime
          CountryUSA, Mexico, Canada

          An ambitious young carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.

          Markimdb: 7.1
          Genrethriller, drama, crime
          CountryUSA

          In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

          Markimdb: 8.1
          Genrethriller, drama, detective
          CountryUSA
          Duration02:29

            With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.

            Markimdb: 7.7
            Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
            CountryUSA
            Duration02:00

            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.

            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: 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: 7.4
              Genrethriller, melodrama, drama, crime
              CountryUSA
              Duration01:53

              In the midst of a searing Florida heat wave, a woman convinces her lover, a small-town lawyer, to murder her rich husband.

              Markimdb: 6.6
              Genreaction, thriller, crime
              CountryUSA
              Duration01:42

                An ex-cop turned con threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The NYPD dispatch a female police psychologist to talk him down. However, unbeknownst to the police on the scene, the suicide attempt is a cover for the biggest diamond heist ever pulled.

                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: 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: 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: 7.5
                  Genrethriller, drama
                  CountryUSA
                  Duration01:55

                    Disconnect interweaves multiple storylines about people searching for human connection in today’s wired world. Through poignant turns that are both harrowing and touching, the stories intersect with surprising twists that expose a shocking reality into our daily use of technology that mediates and defines our relationships and ultimately our lives.

                    Markimdb: 8.1
                    Genrehorror, thriller, adventure
                    CountryUSA
                    Duration02:04

                    An insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, The police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the bloodthirsty beast.

                    Markimdb: 6.9
                    Genrethriller, drama
                    CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany, USA
                    Duration02:10

                      Set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her, the story advances the theory that it was in fact Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford who penned Shakespeare's plays.

                      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: 6.8
                        Genreaction, thriller, detective
                        CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany, France, USA
                        Duration01:53

                        An American biologist attending a conference in Berlin awakens from a coma after a car accident, only to discover that someone has taken his identity and that no one, not even his wife, believes him. With the help of an illegal immigrant and a former Stazi agent, he sets out to prove who he is and find out why people are trying to kill him.

                        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: 8.1
                          Genrethriller, drama, crime
                          CountryUSA
                          Duration01:59

                          A con man on the run from a vicious gangster takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of his prison cellmate, Pete, “reuniting” with Pete’s estranged family, a colorful, dysfunctional group that threatens to drag him into a world just as dangerous as the one he’s trying to escape - and, just maybe, give him a taste of the loving family he’s never had.

                          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: 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: 7.4
                          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: 7.6
                          Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
                          CountryUnited Kingdom
                          Duration00:40

                          A mysterious Inspector investigates the wealthy Birling family and their dinner guests following the suicide of a young woman.

                          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: 8.1
                          Genrethriller, drama, crime
                          CountrySouth Korea
                          Duration02:05

                          Based on actual events that took place at Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired, where young deaf students were the victims of repeated sexual assaults by faculty members over a period of five years in the early 2000s.

                          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: 7.9
                          Genrethriller, drama, crime, detective
                          CountryUSA, Australia
                          Duration02:18

                          A story about friendship and loyalty, guilt and vengeance, and the fateful affect the past has on the present.

                          Markimdb: 8.1
                          Genrethriller, comedy, drama, crime
                          CountryUSA, United Kingdom
                          Duration01:38

                          Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!

                          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: 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: 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: 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.




                            MoviesList