13 revenge thrillers that take vengeance off the beaten path
In anticipation of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, we’ve ranked the revenge sagas that take bitter grievances to strange and exhilarating places
Film Features Revenge
The appeal of the revenge thriller is simple: it’s catharsis. A grim power fantasy that taps into the irrational parts of our brains that crave satisfaction after being wronged. Of course, in life, most people will attest that real enemies don’t come along very often, and transgressions against us are typically mild at best. There are few serious reasons to break out our sick martial arts skills in the day-to-day.
That’s why movies powered by revenge hit the way they do. We watch our heroes—or, more often, our anti-heroes—lose someone close to them in shocking fashion and then do what we believe we might under similarly harrowing circumstances. They hone their bodies to become weapons, wield a distinctive tool of retribution (be it a sawed-off shotgun, a set of nunchucks, a monstrous axe of fearsome aspect, etc.), and get to work on felling entire armies that stand between them and bloody satisfaction. Sometimes, they learn that retaliation is foolhardy and destructive, and we learn something too.
It’s a trope so effective and popular that the revenge thriller has become commonplace. Its finest examples are ever a part of our cinematic diet—how many times have we seen Kill Bill, John Wick, or Oldboy?—and finding exciting new stories of vengeance on Blu-ray shelves or among the limitless offerings on streaming platforms can be tricky. That’s where this list comes in.
Ahead of the release of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, here are thirteen less-appreciated but no less volatile revenge thrillers that indulge the baser instincts of the aggrieved. We have ranked thirteen unique films of striking quality that take these paragons of punishment—and us, their captive audiences—down dark, unforgettable avenues.
65 Comments
How the hell is Memento not on this list? It was the first film I can remember to really drive home the futility of the revenge-at-all-costs trope and launched the career of one of our finest filmmakers.
Yes, it launched the career of one of our filmmakers. It sure did.(Snark aside, Memento is a hell of a debut and a favorite.)
Memento wasn’t his debut.
Here’s the thing, Dino: While you are *technically* correct, who gives a fuck? Following was barely released into theaters and we only know about it now because Criterion released it on disc years after it debuted. Honor the spirit, not the letter.
I dunno man I sawr Following before Memento. But I was one of those videostore weirdos, so
For the purposes of the point I was making does it really matter? I’m all for accuracy and I totally get wanting to credit the man’s work properly but my POINT was to both admire Memento and be snarky about the cult of Nolan, which fuck me, maybe I poked that bear by daring to not credit Following as his debut? I mean… If we want to be like THAT kind of jagoff we should talk about fucking Doodlebug. Ya know?
WHOAH heeey cool your jets there, babe. Only person I was judging was myself. Bear-free zone here, guy.
hahaha… that was aimed at Dino, not you. But you took shrapnel, sorry.(And even aimed at Dino it was more hyperbole than genuine ire. Nolanites make me spit.)
Memento is well appreciated. Read the intro.
I did read the intro. Several of the films on the existing list are appreciated, most of them very highly regarded. You’re telling me The Crow is an unknown quantity?
Touche
I toyed with the idea of adding MEMENTO, but given the scads of nearly identical “revenge movie” rankings out there (one reason why KILL BILL, OLDBOY, etc. aren’t in here), I really didn’t feel like treading already well-trod territory. THE CROW, while it’s well known (maybe infamous), is here due to personal preference!
Fair enough. Thank you for the explanation. One question…How are you grey in your own comment section? LOL
LOVE that Blue Ruin is on this list.
I was going through the slides just to see if Blue Ruin made the list. It’s one of those movies that continues to stick with me and I’ve sung its praises along with Green Room to anyone who will listen.
Another one I saw around the same time as Blue Ruin was Cold in July – also a revenge flick but with a big mid-movie twist that turns the story on its head.
I love that movie too! Found out about it from Joe R. Lansdale posting on social media, which is also what led me to the Hap & Leonard series.
Thanks to this comment and my love of Blue Ruin I had to look up Cold in July–just finished it, and man what a ride! Talk about a film going to completely unexpected places.
This made my day – thanks friend!
Glad to hear it! I always appreciate a solid movie recommendation, especially something I’ve never heard of like this ( tens to be rare as I’ve got a pretty solid circle of movie “friends”)
Green Room is so damn good for being such a simple film. I would have never believed Patrick Stewart could be terrifying until that movie. Anton Yelchin’s best movie in a career far too short.
Blue Ruin is INSPIRED. Great concept executed near-perfectly.
I re-watched The Limey yesterday and it’s still terrific. Terrence Stamp just owns the screen, but Lesley Ann Warren and Barry Newman put on a supporting character actor clinic. I also still crack up at Nicky Katt’s (I assume) improvised insult parade at the film shoot when he’s looking for Stamp’s character.
Yeah, I love that scene of Katt talking shit about random people for no particular reason.
Man what happened to Nicky Katt? He was one of the go-to questionable characters for about 10 years then just disappeared.
Yeah, he hasn’t worked in film in 10 years or so it looks like. Hope he just got to retire on his own terms and not because of something bad.
Oldboy?
That was my first thought too, but then I read the first slide. He mentions it along with Kill Bill and John Wick and states this list is thirteen less-appreciated but no less volatile revenge thrillers that indulge the baser instincts of the aggrieved
Dont know how I missed that. I still argue that it should be included.
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the best of the trilogy. The scene with the grandmother just finishing things is amazing
I almost missed it. I don’t know about you, but I seldom read the first slide (and not much beyond the list). I went back only to see if Oldboy was mentioned.
What ho!
I Saw The Devil would be a great one.
Before scrolling down, I thought that the Nicolas Cage picture in the header might be from Pig (though I doubted it, because I didn’t remember him being coated in blood like that), and it wasn’t. But maybe it should’ve been?
PIG was on the shortlist, and I do love it, but I figured one Cage was more than this list could handle.
Writer of article in greys LUL
Either one Cage movie, or only Cage movies.
Mandy certainly made a bigger splash but it’s hard to argue which indie Cage film should go on a list like this. I probably agree that it should’ve been Pig given the *relative* popularity (heavy emphasis on the asterisks) of Mandy but [shrug].
My slight disagreement is that this list is ostensibly about revenge thrillers, and as much as I love Pig (seriously, I cannot get over how good that movie is), it’s not really about revenge (it hews closer to themes of justice and closure) and it’s not really a thriller (there are a few moments where it seems like tense violence is in the offing, but it’s hard to justify describing a movie where a seated Nic Cage destroys a guy by quietly explaining why his life is meaningless as a “thriller”).
I completely agree with this.
I agree with the sentiment that Pig is not a fight-based revenge thriller – but I think it WOULD have been worthwhile to include here.In fact – I would argue that dismantling someone completely with nothing but words – is the most thorough revenge and destruction upon someone you can wreak. Also – I would argue it is a deeper revenge to truly destroy someone – to take away everything they care about – and leave them alive and aware to contemplate it (which is why The Count Of Monte Cristo is such an effective revenge story).
Yeah if anything it’s almost a counter to revenge films. It’s full of contradictions of expectations. Cage isn’t looking for righteous bloody vengeance. It’s somber. Tense. Thoughtful. Absorbing. And Cage is perfectly cast. Because it’s you keep tensely anticipating him to finally explode.
Yeah, Mandy is one of my favorite movies, but Pig is a better example of “off the beaten path”. It’s so different that I kind of hoped it would kill the genre for awhile, but alas.
I saw Rolling Thunder for the first time when I was about 7 yo and what really stuck at the time was Roscoe P. Coltrane getting the guy from Knots Landing’s hand chewed off in a garbage disposal. That shit blew my little mind.
This is a terrific list! I’m happy to hear that Only God Forgives is enjoying some appreciation these days. It’s a divisive movie, especially as you point out as a follow-up to Drive. It’s almost like Refn and Gosling both wanted to immediately comically undercut the prior film. I like to watch them as a double feature.
I think I actually like OGF’s more than Drive. It appeals to my weird sensibilities.
I agree. I love Drive as well but the undercutting of machismo in OGF aligns strongly with my own feelings about masculinity.
I love OGF… would anyone recommend Too Old To Die Young to someone who enjoyed it? I’m considering it
Hoo boy. So… Yes and no. I only got through a few episodes. NWR is obviously well known for his… let’s call it glacial pacing. I find that pacing generally compelling or at least endurable in his films. In a TV show it’s much harder to take. I liked Copenhagen Cowboy but that show also had a fair bit of blatant weirdness. Too Old to Die Young is kind of a pulp crime thing at the point when I stopped watching, although the Wikipedia entry implies that things get crazier, which does tempt me to go back. The protagonist is a corrupt, kinda shitty cop/hired killer who dates an underage girl. Which is weird because he soon starts working for someone hunting down pedophiles.It’s got a lot of what you probably like about Refn. It’s what I like too! But the pacing was really, really getting to me by episode 3.
Really would have liked to have seen Dead Man’s Shoes on this list. Great revenge movie and it has some absolutely fantastic scenes.
Solid list. Avengement is a nasty little gem.
The fact that I love both “Rolling Thunder” and “Ms 45″ probably gives my age away. Rolling Thunder, I think, introduced me to Tommy Lee Jones but it’s the William Devane waste disposal scene that always struck with me and still makes me nervous around kitchen appliances. Ms 45 might have been my first Abel Ferrara movie and was the reason I got tickets to the premiere of King of New York a few years later.
I’m your age and those both jumped out at me. Course, after Death Wish the 70’s did have a glut of revenge films. Ms. 45 I vividly remember seeing at a drive in and I was not expecting the film I got.
It’s…well, pretty vile but “Thriller: a cruel picture” belongs on this list. Worth watching for the “eye removal” scene alone. Forewarned that there are cuts of the film with hardcore inserts.
Damn, I can do pretty much anything but eye stuff. Even if it’s relatively tame.
Avengement is one of my favourite Adkins movies. Some of the most brutal fight scenes in his whole oeuvre.
Good list!
A History of Violence, Only God Forgives & Mandy are truly amazing films.
Good list except for the omission of Princess Bride.
Dead Man’s Shoes should be on this list, a Paddy Considine tour de force.
Honestly I found ONE movie particularly odd to be overlooked here… The original Mad Max – a literal revenge thriller about a man who loses everything and is determined to get revenge.
This may be stretching the topic too far, but may I suggest The Odessa File – the 1974 thriller starring a pre-asshole-era Jon Voight? Here we get a journalist ostensibly after a Nazi SS officer years after the war because of the obvious reasons…only to find out at the climax that the motivating factor is actually the murder of his father (another German officer). Altruism and revenge coinciding in a wonderful story.
The mid-90s called to ask what your definition of “less appreciated” is while including The Crow on this list.
The first time I heard the name “Scott Adkins”, I pictured Scott Adsit. Still waiting for his action movie debut.
What makes Mandy work for me is before the insanity I believe Red and Mandy are two lost souls who found each other. Red is obviously a former alcoholic. They live in the country in peace and quiet just seeming to enjoy each other’s company. And Cage watching and crying while they burn Mandy is horrific
Not a bad list, but how could you leave Kill Bill out? Or Old Boy, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Salton Sea, or The Horseman? Even the Wrath of Man was a pretty good revenge flick.