As the weather gets colder, the holidays get closer and everyone starts warming up with the Hallmark channel, it’s the perfect time to embrace the chill with a good thriller
Streamers like Prime Video and Tubi have a fantastic selection of thrillers to watch, and Watch With Us wants to highlight three films in particular that we think you should watch in December.
Our picks include Francis Ford Coppola’s neo-noir mystery The Conversation, serial killer procedural Memories of Murder and the Willem Dafoe-led Light Sleeper.
Read on to read about our picks!
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‘The Conversation’ (1974)
Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client’s aide (Harrison Ford) to track a young couple named Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams) through San Francisco’s Union Square. With the help of his assistant Carl (John Cazale), Caul manages to record a cryptic conversation between the couple that he attempts to decipher the meaning of. Tormented by memories of a previous case gone bad, Caul spirals into confusion and paranoia as he struggles to determine the true meaning of the conversation.
As tense and paranoid as its protagonist, The Conversation is an engrossing noir that features arguably one of the best performances of Hackman’s career. Francis Ford Coppola creates an absorbing and claustrophobic atmosphere through well-crafted sound design and immersive cinematography that builds on slow-burning tension, in this fascinating character study that carries a resounding message about technology and privacy that still manages to feel relevant today.
Stream The Conversation now on Amazon Prime Video.
‘Memories of Murder’ (2003)
In 1986, Detectives Park (Song Kang-ho) and Cho (Kim Roi-ha) are assigned to a double murder case, but little do they know they’re about to be dealing with South Korea’s first documented serial killer. When more murder cases turn up following the same pattern, they realize they’ve entered uncharted territory. Park and Cho set out to catch the killer with the limited resources available to them.
Based on the real events surrounding South Korean serial killer Lee Choon-jae, Parasite director Bong Joon-ho elegantly directs this haunting mystery that places familiar Western genre elements in the context of Korean cinema. Memories of Murder presents a chilling narrative yet still manages to blend elements of humor into its grisly story, complete with impressive performances and top-notch social satire. The film ranked number 99 on The New York Times’ list of “The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century” this year.
Stream Memories of Murder now on Tubi.
‘Light Sleeper’ (1992)
Recovering drug user and insomniac John LeTour (Dafoe) is a New York City drug dealer who caters to wealthy clients, but he begins to reconsider his career and his life when he learns that his supplier, Ann (Susan Sarandon), is thinking about quitting. John reconnects with an old ex named Marianne (Dana Delany), seeing her as a way to potentially get himself on a different, better path. But when a series of drug-related murders is linked to John, his plans for starting fresh are complicated.
Anchored by an incredible performance from Dafoe, Light Sleeper is an existential meditation set in New York City that many may find comparisons to Taxi Driver (which Light Sleeper director Paul Schrader incidentally wrote the screenplay for). Poetic and dreamlike, with affecting nocturnal imagery courtesy of cinematographer Ed Lachman, Light Sleeper considers the possibility of redemption and the placement of one’s faith.
Stream Light Sleeper now on Tubi.
