I do love a cat and mouse thriller, something that has you on the edge of your seat, chewing your fingernails hoping the protagonist can get away from the villain(s) who is chasing them. These make for fantastic books and excellent movies. Here are my top five cat and mouse thrillers that you must watch!
HUSH
Directed by one of my favourites, Mike Flanagan, the story introduces a writer who lives alone in a reclusive cabin working on her latest novel. Over the course of one night she finds herself being hunted by a masked man with murder on his mind.
Sounds familiar? Well here’s the sucker punch, the writer is deaf and mute and when I tell you the tension is palpable, I mean it.
Can she survive with the odds stacked against her. It’s so good and one of the best thrillers I’ve ever seen.
VACANCY
This might be more of a horror than a thriller but it’s one hell of a cat and mouse.
A couple stop off at a seedy hotel after their car breaks down with the intention of getting some rest and watching TV. However their television is playing some nasty, slasher type movies and the surroundings on screen look very familiar. They were all filmed in the room they are staying in.
Desperate not to become to next victims of the snuff film enthusiasts they attempt to escape but it isn’t as easy as checking out.
Filmed in 2007 it’s an older thriller but another must see.
PANIC ROOM
Another of my favourite directors, David Fincher is brilliant at what he does.
Panic Room is about Meg (Jodie Foster) and her daughter who flee to their secure room when burglars break in to rob them. However what they are searching for is in the panic room where they are hiding and the thieves are determined to get in by any means necessary.
It’s very tense, and like The Night Shift one of the characters has diabetes which ups the ante when she starts to get sick.
With some comedy elements reminiscent of the burglars in Home Alone it has great moments of relief when the nail-biting scenes threaten to tip the watcher over the edge.
READY OR NOT
This 2019 thriller slash horror is a brilliant cat and mouse film. We begin just before Grace’s wedding into a wealthy family known for their domineering presence in the board game industry. As is the ritual when someone marries into the family, after the wedding, the newcomer picks a board game to play. Grace selects Hide and Seek and believes at first that it’s a silly nostalgic tradition and goes along with it.
However when the family all start hunting her around the house trying to kill her, Grace quickly understands the game is about staying alive until dawn. Some very funny moments with lots of blood and gore. You’ll be rooting for the heroine.
THE DEPARTED
This is an incredible film, one where you don’t know who is the cat and who is the mouse.
Leonardo DiCaprio is undercover cop Billy Costigan tasked with getting inside the Costello crime syndicate run by Jack Nicholson. He’s getting his information from within the police department and Billy must find the leak. At the same time Costello is searching for the rat amongst his minions who is helping the police close in.
A very tense cat and mouse film with an ending you’ll either love or hate. Great performances throughout and in my opinion one of Martin Scorsese’s best films.