Best Kiwi thriller movies
A curated collection of popular thriller movies from New Zealand.
Hidden (2005)
Hidden (2005)
Deep within a dark, twisted forest, at a faraway adventure camp, a group of young 'camp leaders' play a fast and furious game of 'hide and seek'. The atmosphere is strange and thick with tension - there is a feeling in the air that all is not well. Alliances are formed; relationships are tested, and in some cases disintegrate to the point of violence. All the while they are being watched by someone... or something. In a spectacular climax, the mystery begins to unravel as everything becomes suddenly and painfully clear. The shocking, violent truth is far worse than could ever have been imagined...
Eruption (2009)
Eruption (2009)
Clive de Roo scientist discovers a new source of seismic activity beneath the Gulf of Waitemata. Provides that a new volcanic eruption could occur within the next few days. But it's hard to convince skeptical colleagues, undertook efforts to minimize the effects of this disaster. When the talks on the radio about the threat, we all think he's a harmless lunatic. An ambitious wife of Clive fears, however, that the discovery of her husband may deter investors, which would win for the company, in which he works.
Hot Target (1985)
Thirteen (2019)
Thirteen (2019)
Ashton is part of changing the world just by taking some pills.
Orphans & Kingdoms (2014)
Orphans & Kingdoms (2014)
In writer/director Paolo Rotondo’s debut feature, three teenagers on the run break into a deluxe Waiheke Island home and find themselves caught in a tense psychodrama with the conflicted owner.
The Waiting Place (2001)
The Waiting Place (2001)
Two escaped convicts hold up in a desolate psychiatric hospital while they await their "ride to freedom". Having little to do but talk about their past crimes, a growing conflict develops, enhanced by the dark mood of the grim setting. The desolate hospital effectively becomes a character in this slow building psychlogical thriller, leading to a bloody, not totally expected ending.
The Lunatics' Ball (1999)
The Lunatics' Ball (1999)
A psychologist with unconventional methods challenges a psychiatric hospital and win the admiration and love of a doctor, but he pulls back due to finding that he has only a short time to live. He achieves mixed results with his patients, but ultimately achieves a measure of love and recognition.
Trial Run (1985)
Trial Run (1985)
Housewife Rosemary Edmonds leaves her family to take up residence in a remote cottage on the Otago coastline so that she can conduct a photographic essay on the yellow-eyed penguin. No sooner has she moved in than she becomes the victim of a series of increasingly more malevolent attacks from an unknown assailant.
Trespasses (1984)
Trespasses (1984)
A young woman searches for her identity by joining a "free love" hippie commune, against the wishes of her darkly possessive widowed father. The tensions of small town New Zealand and individual conflicts generated by intolerance and fear, unleashes forces of violence and betrayal.
The Grasscutter (1990)
The Grasscutter (1990)
An Ulster Volunteer Force vigilante, turned police informer, is sent by the British government to New Zealand to start a new life, leaving behind his eldest son. Although his wife and two young boys are also in New Zealand, they are no longer together, and he has a new love interest. After some eight years his past catches up with him when former comrades show up, intent on extracting revenge. After two nearly successful attempts by them (in Dunedin), the action moves to a final confrontation and shootout in the hills above Queenstown.
Dangerous Orphans (1985)
Dangerous Orphans (1985)
Three orphaned boys - O'Malley, Rossi and Moir - become blood brothers. When they grow up, they plot revenge on the crooks who got away with shooting O'Malley's father. The crooks are doing very nicely importing heroin and laundering money. The boys begin by killing one of the crooks, stealing his indentification and cleaning out the guy's Swiss bank account. But their revenge does not stop here... And the American end of the operation is getting very curious.