Paramount+ added more than 60 movies to its lineup for July, and while tried-and-true Paramount regulars like Top Gun: Maverick, Scream 7, and Roofman still linger around in the streamer’s top 10, sometimes you might just want to cut to the chase with a good thriller. Worry not, thrill-seekers; we’re here for you.
A handful of excellent thriller movies are splayed out below for your weekend, or weekday, pleasure, including a newly added disaster epic starring Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell, a silent-but-terrifying sci-fi horror, and an intense standoff film at a dusty Arizona rest stop. Buckle up!
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Deepwater Horizon
It’s Marky Mark vs. the worst oil disaster in U.S. history
New to Paramount+ this month, Deepwater Horizon takes one of the worst oil disasters in U.S. history and turns it into a harrowing and action-packed survival thriller. With a script that was crafted by Matthew Sand (Ninja Assassin) and Matthew Michael Carnahan (World War Z) and based on a New York Times article (and corresponding book) of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster that spilled 134 million gallons of oil into the ocean and killed 11 crew members, director Peter Berg’s film drops you on the oil rig with chief electronics technician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and no-nonsense rig boss Jimmy “Mr. Jimmy” Harrell (Kurt Russell) as they contend with BP oil exec Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) whose cost-cutting tactics pushes the behind-schedule drilling operation to the brink.
Quiz
Name that disaster movie
Trivia challenge
Earthquakes, asteroids, and tidal waves — can you identify the greatest
disaster films ever made from just a few clues?
ClassicsSci-FiDirectorsCastPlot
In this 1970s disaster classic, a massive ocean liner is capsized by a giant wave on
New Year’s Eve, and a small group of survivors must climb upward through the inverted ship to reach
safety. Which film is this?
Correct! Released in 1972, this film became one of the defining disaster
movies of the decade, earning two Academy Awards including Best Original Song. The concept of survivors
navigating an upside-down ship was groundbreaking for its time.
Not quite — the answer is The Poseidon Adventure (1972). It set the
template for the disaster genre with its ensemble cast and upside-down ship survival premise, earning
two Oscars and inspiring a wave of similar films throughout the 1970s.
This 1996 summer blockbuster features Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum as unlikely
heroes who help repel a massive alien invasion threatening to wipe out all of humanity. Name the
film.
Correct! Independence Day became one of the highest-grossing films of
1996 and is remembered for its iconic White House destruction sequence. Director Roland Emmerich
cemented his reputation as the king of large-scale disaster spectacle with this film.
Not quite — the answer is Independence Day (1996). Directed by Roland
Emmerich, it paired Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum in a globe-spanning alien invasion story that grossed
over $817 million worldwide and became a defining blockbuster of the 1990s.
This 1997 James Cameron film depicts the sinking of the world’s most famous ocean
liner and became the highest-grossing movie of all time upon its release, winning 11 Academy Awards.
What is it?
Correct! Titanic tied the record for most Oscar wins in a single night
alongside Ben-Hur and later All About Eve. James Cameron famously said ‘I’m king of the world’ at the
ceremony, echoing the film’s iconic line. It held the box office record for 12 years.
Not quite — the answer is Titanic (1997). James Cameron’s epic romance
and disaster film dominated the box office and awards season, winning 11 Oscars and remaining the
highest-grossing film in history for over a decade until Cameron’s own Avatar surpassed it.
In this 1998 disaster film, NASA discovers that a massive comet is on a collision
course with Earth and sends a crew of veteran astronauts — including one played by Robert Duvall —
to destroy it. Which film is this?
Correct! Deep Impact was released just two months before the similarly
themed Armageddon in 1998, making it part of a famous Hollywood trend of competing twin films. It was
notable for its emotional tone and its depiction of a Black president, played by Morgan Freeman.
Not quite — the answer is Deep Impact (1998). While Armageddon gets more
pop culture attention, Deep Impact came first and took a more grounded, character-driven approach.
Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of the U.S. president was widely praised and considered ahead of its time.
This 1974 film features an all-star cast including Steve McQueen and Paul Newman
battling a catastrophic fire in the world’s tallest skyscraper during its grand opening night. Name
the film.
Correct! The Towering Inferno was produced jointly by two rival studios
— Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox — marking a rare Hollywood collaboration. It received eight Oscar
nominations and won three, making it one of the most acclaimed disaster films ever made.
Not quite — the answer is The Towering Inferno (1974). This film is
remarkable for being co-produced by two competing studios and for assembling one of the greatest
ensemble casts in disaster film history. It won three Academy Awards and remains a benchmark of the
genre.
A paleoclimatologist warns that global warming is triggering a catastrophic new ice
age, but his warnings are ignored until massive superstorms begin freezing entire cities in seconds.
Which disaster blockbuster is this?
Correct! Released in 2004, this Roland Emmerich film used
then-cutting-edge CGI to depict the Statue of Liberty buried in ice and a frozen-over Los Angeles.
Despite mixed critical reviews, it sparked genuine public conversations about climate change and grossed
over $540 million worldwide.
Not quite — the answer is The Day After Tomorrow (2004). Directed by
Roland Emmerich, the film dramatized rapid climate collapse in spectacular fashion. Scientists critiqued
its timeline as wildly exaggerated, but it remains one of the most commercially successful
climate-themed films ever made.
In this 1998 Michael Bay film, a ragtag crew of oil drillers — led by Bruce Willis —
is recruited by NASA and trained to land on a massive asteroid and drill into its core to save Earth
from destruction. What is it?
Correct! Armageddon was the highest-grossing film of 1998 and is famous
for its over-the-top action and Aerosmith’s power ballad ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’ NASA reportedly
uses the film in management training — asking new hires to identify as many scientific inaccuracies as
they can.
Not quite — the answer is Armageddon (1998). Michael Bay’s bombastic
blockbuster topped the global box office that year and is beloved for its sheer excess. Perhaps most
famously, NASA has used the film in training exercises to challenge employees to spot its many
scientific errors.
This Steven Spielberg-directed 2005 film follows a divorced father desperately
trying to protect his children as Earth is systematically devastated by towering alien war machines
that have lain dormant underground for centuries. Name the film.
Correct! Spielberg’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic novel starred Tom
Cruise and was praised for its visceral, ground-level perspective on an alien invasion. The film grossed
over $591 million worldwide and is notable for depicting mass destruction with unusual emotional weight
and realism.
Not quite — the answer is War of the Worlds (2005). Steven Spielberg
modernized H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel with Tom Cruise in the lead role. Unlike many disaster films of its
era, it focused on the chaos from an ordinary person’s perspective rather than showing military or
government responses.
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Nominated for two Oscars for its booming sound editing and visual effects, if rumbling, realistic audio, and intense and eye-popping visuals and action-sequences are your thing, Deepwater Horizon will not disappoint. Strap in for the ride as safety systems fail, the rig is engulfed in flames and starts to sink, and when the big blowout finally comes, it’s staged with terrifying, ground-shaking realism.
Rounding out the cast of this critically-adored thriller (82% on Rotten Tomatoes) are Gina Rodriguez and Kate Hudson.
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A Quiet Place
Emily Blunt has to zip it to keep her family alive in this horror thriller
I loved this movie so much when it arrived in theaters in 2018 for a couple of reasons—it was written and directed by Jim from The Office, and it was an alien sci-fi thriller that was unlike anything I had ever seen in that there was almost no dialogue. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who loved A Quiet Place, as the sleeper hit went on to spawn a $900-million franchise, and (ironically) earned an Oscar nod for its sound editing.
Krasinski directs and stars as Lee Abbott, who—alongside wife Evelyn (real-life wife Emily Blunt), deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and son Marcus (Noah Jupe)—has kept his family alive on a secluded farm for more than a year after a species of blind alien monsters with lethal hearing has wiped out most of humanity. There’s a big problem, though: Evelyn is pregnant, and babies aren’t exactly quiet little things. The Abbotts prepare for the newborn while also trying to find ways to stay quiet, and maybe combat the terrifying predators that are hell-bent on eradicating humankind.
A Quiet Place is the film that kicks off the main timeline, and with Part II and the prequel Day One streaming on Paramount+ too (Part III due in theaters July 30, 2027)—there’s never been a better time to catch up. Just be quiet about it.
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Last Stop in Yuma County
A desert pit stop goes horribly wrong
Don’t let its nondescript, slightly misleading title fool you—The Last Stop in Yuma County should have been called something like Everyone’s Got a Gun at the Diner. The top pick on my list this week, this crime-thriller was one of the best-reviewed movies of 2024—it still sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes—and is proof that you don’t need a big budget to keep an audience squirming. And you will.
Writer/director Francis Galluppi’s (who’ll be directing the upcoming Evil Dead Wrath) first feature finds a mild-mannered guy known simply as The Knife Salesman (Jim Cummings) at a lonely gas station and diner in the Arizona desert. It’s quiet, no one’s around, and the pumps have gone dry until the fuel truck arrives. While waiting in the diner with its lone waitress, Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue), a pair of bank robbers, Beau (Richard Brake) and Travis (Nicholas Logan), wander in, fresh off a heist and with a bag of stolen cash. They need gas, too, so the rule is, shut up, go about your day, and no one gets hurt.
Well, that doesn’t go as planned, and each new customer through the door winds the tension a little tighter. At a lean 90 minutes, this sun-bleached, ’70s-flavored pressure cooker builds to a finale you won’t see coming.
Thrills, chills, and oil spills
A great thriller can add some fun and excitement to your movie night and doesn’t usually come with a lot of baggage or deep thinking. These three picks have been vetted by me and are all highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes as well. But for more weekend watch ideas (or more thriller ideas on Netflix), browse the rest of our streaming coverage on How-To Geek
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Select live sports (NFL on CBS & UEFA Champions League)
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Starting at $8/month or $60/year
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
