Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler may not have been a huge hit when it first came out, but it has since earned a reputation as one of the best thrillers of the last decade. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Louis Bloom, a man who gets involved with the underground world of freelance crime journalism and proves he will do anything to become a success.
Gyllenhaal gives a wonderfully creepy performance in this twisted take on a classic success story. It is quite rare to see a movie focus on such an unsettling lead character, though there have been several films that have pulled off the terrifying protagonist effectively as Nightcrawler.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Though Matt Damon is not known for playing the villain, he does a wonderful job in the intense thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Damon plays the lead character, a man with a knack for impersonating others. When he is tasked with bringing the spoiled playboy Dickie (Jude Law) home to his disapproving father, Ripley becomes intoxicated with the man's life.
As Ripley is brought into Dickie's inner circle, he starts to blur the line between friend and obsessive parasite. When he finds himself too deep into his deceitful games, he does whatever he needs to in order to cover his tracks.
Bronson (2008)
A lot of people first sat up and took notice of Tom Hardy based on his unhinged and enthralling performance in the crime film, Bronson. The film is based on a real-life career criminal who calls himself Charles Bronson. Bronson spent more than 30 years in prison solitary confinement.
Hardy is so terrifying that it's impossible to look away. He is never overly concerned with making this man sympathetic but does effectively capture his volatile nature that makes it feel like he can explode at any moment.
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986)
While there had previously been plenty of films about serial killers, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was one of the first times such a character was put front-and-center in a film. Michael Rooker plays the titular character whom we follow on his seemingly endless killing spree.
Henry is made to be a truly vile person who is absolutely remorseless about his crimes. He doesn't seem to have any real motivation for what he does, which makes it all the eerier how obsessive he is about his brutal murders.
The Shining (1980)
Though there are plenty of Stephen King adaptations out there, many fans view The Shining as the scariest of them all. A lot of that has to do with Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance, a struggling writer who takes a job as caretaker of an abandoned hotel while bringing his family with him.
Isolated from the rest of the world, the audience sees Jack gradually unravel and descend into insanity. Nicholson gives his usual gung-ho performance, which helped make this character one of the most iconic horror movie characters of all time.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Daniel Day-Lewis is truly one of the greatest actors who ever lived, and he gave what is perhaps his best performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's dark masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. He plays Daniel Plainview, an oilman who cares only about building his empire.
Like Bloom in Nightcrawler, Plainview will not let anything or anyone stand in the way of his success. The more success he achieves, the more he distances himself from humanity, becoming an unhinged and vengeful person capable of horrible things.
Scarface (1983)
Brian De Palma's crime epic Scarface features one of the most famous movie gangsters of all time. Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who gradually works his way up in Miami's criminal underworld until he is the city's most powerful man.
This is another dark and twisted take on a success story. Tony is shown to always be capable of extreme and remorseless violence. But as he becomes a more prominent crime figure, his paranoia grows to the point where he will kill even his closest friends.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro have made some of the greatest films of all time together, but Taxi Driver may be the best of them all. It is the story of Travis Bickle, a lonely and troubled New York City taxi driver who dreams of becoming someone important.
We follow Travis through his excruciatingly awkward social interactions and his twisted ideologies. This eventually leads to his developing violent fantasies about ridding the city of all the scum he perceives there to be.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange is one of Stanley Kubrick's most challenging and disturbing films. It is set in the future and follows a young man named Alex, who is the leader of a band of sadistic and violent young men.
Alex is a haunting creation whose idea of fun is home invasions and horrific assaults. The kind of senseless violence from a young man like this is so unsettling and it is made even worse by the film's disturbing ending.
American Psycho (2000)
Christian Bale may be known by many as the heroic Batman, but his breakout role as a leading man came with the disturbing serial killer film, American Psycho. Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a hotshot Wall Street yuppie who spends his nights brutally murdering people.
The film is an eerie look at how the kind of monsters in our society can really be lurking anywhere. Someone who seemingly has everything only finds joy with his brutal killings.
Joker (2019)
The classic Batman villain Joker has been explored in many different mediums, but this origin story is a truly dark and intense character study. Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a deeply disturbed man who dreams of being a comedian while he gradually slips into madness within the brutal city of Gotham.
Phoenix won the Oscar for his incredible performance as this man who becomes a deranged metaphor for the city itself. As Arthur becomes more unhinged, the audience is on the edge of their seat wondering what he is capable of.