Best German thriller movies
A curated collection of popular thriller movies from Germany.
Stereo (2014)
Stereo (2014)
Erik has is own motorbike workshop in a sleepy little town. He may have the telling word ‘scoundrel’ tattooed onto his lower arm but he nonetheless creates an impression of a well-behaved average Joe. His relationship with his girlfriend Julia is going well and her daughter Linda is very fond of her new Dad. But then all of a sudden the mysterious Henry appears and begins following him about like a sinister shadow. The more Erik tries to shake off his diabolical guest the more Henry intrudes into his life. But then when a violent gangster named Keitel enters the fray and threatens not only Erik but Julia and Linda, Erik’s seemingly ideal world begins to run off the rails.
Don't. Get. Out! (2018)
Don't. Get. Out! (2018)
Taking his kids to school with the car, Berlin real estate developer Karl gets a call from a blackmailer: If he doesn’t pay up, the car will blow up. A deadly race against time begins.
Free Country (2020)
Free Country (2020)
Former East Germany, 1992. Patrick Stein and Markus Bach, two very different police officers, are commissioned to investigate the disappearance of two female teenagers in a remote area of the country. Did they run away from home or did something more terrible happen to them?
The Tunnel (2001)
The Tunnel (2001)
Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.
Two Lives (2012)
Two Lives (2012)
Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, but now living in Norway for the last 20 years, is a “war child”; the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. She enjoys a happy family life with her mother, her husband, daughter and granddaughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealments and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?
The Last Execution (2021)
The Last Execution (2021)
The ambitious scientist Franz Walter doesn't hesitate when he is promised a professorship at the university. He immediately accepts, pledges absolute loyalty to the system and agrees to work for the GDR's foreign intelligence service until he can take up his new position. Together with his colleague Dirk, he is sent on foreign assignments to West Germany. Franz soon has to use blackmail to get innocent people to talk. But his superiors go even further: GDR refugees and their relatives are targeted to be psychologically destroyed, forged letters, medical diagnoses, surveillance and wiretapping are on the agenda. However, this is more than Franz can bear: he feels powerless and increasingly isolates himself. When he then decides to steal secret documents for a later defection to the West, this results in an unfortunate chain reaction leading to his arrest and ultimately to his execution...
The Good Neighbor (2011)
The Good Neighbor (2011)
The budding friendship between two very different neighbors takes a tragic turn when David runs over a young woman and causes her death. At Robert's insistence David leaves her lying and flees. While Robert hopes his new neighbor will now be irreversibly bound to him, David is increasingly devoured by feelings of guilt. When he meets Vanessa, the sister of his victim, he believes he can put things right. But he hasn't taken Robert into account. Robert is prepared to do anything to keep his neighbor to himself.
Tough Enough (2006)
Tough Enough (2006)
From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.
Martha (1974)
Martha (1974)
After the death of her abusive father, lonely librarian Martha finds herself caught up in a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a monstrous husband whom she begins to suspect may be trying to murder her.
The End of Violence (1997)
Je suis Karl (2021)
Je suis Karl (2021)
An explosion sends fear and terror through Berlin. Young Maxi's home is reduced to rubble and ashes, burying her mother and little brothers. Only she and her father survive the terrorist bomb attack. When she happens to meet the charismatic Karl, who tells her about a conference for young people in Prague, she seizes the opportunity to flee Berlin and her grieving father. The political movement behind the meeting claims to be working for a better Europe. Maxi has no idea how close the murderers really are to her family.
Blame Game (2019)
Blame Game (2019)
Martin Behrens is a Middle East expert for the German intelligence agency BND. He obtains information leading to a U.S. drone strike on a wanted terrorist in Zahiristan. A few days later, there's a terrorist attack on a restaurant – the video claiming responsibility calls it payback for the drone strike. Freelance journalist Aurice, with whom Martin was having an affair, is among the victims – she was investigating corruption at the heart of the BND. Martin soon has to realize that in a world where big corporations profit from arms deals as well as from homeland security contracts, good and evil are sometimes hard to tell apart.
Out of Order (1984)
Out of Order (1984)
It's Friday evening. The lift repairman leaves the building and wants to finish his work on Monday. But he doesn't know there are four men in the building. They use the lift but stay in it about 100 meters from the floor. They have little oxygen and must survive…
The Child (2012)
The Child (2012)
Simon Sachs, a terminally ill ten year old boy, claims to have been a serial killer in his previous life and apparently he can prove it. He leads a lawyer, Robert Stern, to the locations of the bodies, who were killed long before Simon was born. Stern takes on the most compelling and mysterious case of his life.
Passagier 23 (2018)
Passagier 23 (2018)
It's been five years Martin's family vanished without a trace from a cruise ship. Ever since, the police psychologist is tortured by the thought of his wife having committed a murder-suicide, taking their son with her. He is the only one not willing to believe this. Suddenly, a new lead takes him back aboard the very same luxury cruiser, where once again, a mother and her child have vanished. But this time, the girl reappears - holding a teddy bear that used to belong to Martin's son. Martin soon learns that things are handled differently on the open sea. Not to disturb his passengers' enjoyment of the lavish luxuries of their cruise, the rich owner of the cruiser wants to keep the child out of sight and hides her deep under deck in the quarantine bay. Here, Martin tries to get the traumatized girl to talk to him. But even deeper in the dark underbelly of the ship there is something lurking. And all signs point to a serial killer, just waiting to strike again.
Fear (1954)
Fear (1954)
Irene Wagner, the wife of the prominent German scientist Professor Albert Wagner, had been having an affair with Erich Baumann. She does not disclose this to her husband, hoping to preserve his innocence and their "perfect marriage". This fills her with anxiety and guilt. However, Johanna Schultze, Erich's jealous ex-girlfriend, learns about the affair and begins to blackmail Irene, turning Irene's psychological torture into a harsh reality.
And Tomorrow You Will Be Dead (2021)
And Tomorrow You Will Be Dead (2021)
In 2011 the young married Swiss couple Daniela Widmer and David Och got kidnapped while being on a long trip along the old Silk Road in Pakistan. They were hand over to the Taliban and were held as hostages for 8 months under the most precarious conditions.
Despair (1978)
Despair (1978)
Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.
Rabia (2024)
Rabia (2024)
Driven by the promise of a new life, Jessica (19) and her best friend Laila left for Syria to join DAECH. But when they arrive, they find themselves locked up in a women’s house run by the authoritarian and charismatic Madame. When Jessica rebels, a game of domination and submission begins between her and the director. Between fascination and fear, Jessica will have to give up her humanity to survive within this system.
Point Blank (2016)
Point Blank (2016)
Berlin, Germany. Police officer Klaus Roth infiltrates the Serbian mafia, specializing in manipulating sports betting, and befriends the naive Luka, in order to capture Aco Gorić, the enigmatic head of the criminal ring.
Moonlight (2002)
Moonlight (2002)
Claire lives with her wealthy adopted parents in a luxurious and isolated house in the woods. She discovers a wounded and bleeding boy her age in her family's garden shed. The boy is a young drug courier from Afghanistan; shot and wounded after serving his purpose as human packing material. Claire decides to keep the boy a secret. He slowly recovers under her care; and they fall in love. When the drug dealers return and Claire's family is due to move back to the city; they decide to flee; though Claire finds it difficult to outrun her past as an abandoned child.