Best Thriller Movies of 1998
The highest-rated thriller films from 1998, ranked by MovieMagicScore based on authentic viewer ratings.
#1
Perfect Blue
1998
Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
8.3
#2
Run Lola Run
1998
Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.
7.3
#3
Pi
1998
A mathematical genius discovers a link between numbers and reality, and thus believes he can predict the future.
7.1
#4
A Simple Plan
1998
Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.
7.2
#5
The Negotiator
1998
The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.
7.1
#6
Enemy of the State
1998
The life of labor lawyer and dedicated family man Robert 'Bobby' Dean is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a college buddy while holiday shopping. Unbeknownst to Dean, he's just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman's assassination. Hot on the trail of this tape is a ruthless group of National Security Agents commanded by a belligerently ambitious NSA official named Reynolds. Using satellite surveillance, bugs, and other sophisticated snooping devices, the NSA infiltrates every facet of Dean's existence, tracing each physical and digital footprint he leaves while also framing him for murder. With the help of the mysterious Brill, he attempts to throw the NSA off his trail and prove his innocence.
7.1
#7
The Red Violin
1998
300 years of a remarkable musical instrument. Crafted by the Italian master Bussotti (Cecchi) in 1681, the red violin has traveled through Austria, England, China, and Canada, leaving both beauty and tragedy in its wake. In Montreal, Samuel L Jackson plays an appraiser going over its complex history.
7.4
#8
Ring
1998
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
7.1
#9
Who Am I?
1998
A group of covert CIA operatives trailing a potential new energy source are double-crossed by corrupt agent Morgan, who causes a helicopter crash in remote South Africa. The sole survivor, suffering severe amnesia, is nursed to recovery by a kindly native tribe who call him "Whoami" after the question he keeps asking. With the help of a mysterious reporter Christine, Whoami pieces together his past and tracks the turncoat agent and his criminal cohorts.
7.1
#10
Ronin
1998
A briefcase with undisclosed contents – sought by Irish terrorists and the Russian mob – makes its way into criminals' hands. An Irish liaison assembles a squad of mercenaries, or 'ronin', and gives them the thorny task of recovering the case.
7.0
#11
The X-Files
1998
Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.
6.9
#12
Armageddon
1998
When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman determines the only way to stop it is to drill into its surface and detonate a nuclear bomb. This leads him to renowned driller Harry Stamper, who agrees to helm the dangerous space mission provided he can bring along his own hotshot crew. Among them is the cocksure A.J. who Harry thinks isn't good enough for his daughter, until the mission proves otherwise.
6.8
#13
Cube
1998
A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a maze-like prison. It soon becomes clear that each of them possesses the peculiar skills necessary to escape, if they don't wind up dead first.
6.8
#14
Fallen
1998
Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style.
6.8
#15
Thursday
1998
A former Los Angeles drug dealer moves far away to Texas, making a new life for himself as a married architect in the suburbs. His old crime partner unexpectedly shows up with heroin and gangster business, attracting a slew of violent unsavory characters.
6.9
#16
Contract Killer
1998
Financially troubled, a newbie hitman reluctantly takes the job of finding the plotted killer of a Japanese tycoon.
7.0
#17
23
1998
The movie's plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany. In the late 1980s the orphaned Karl Koch invests his heritage in a flat and a home computer. At first he dials up to bulletin boards to discuss conspiracy theories inspired by his favorite novel, R.A. Wilson's "Illuminatus", but soon he and his friend David start breaking into government and military computers. Pepe, one of Karl's rather criminal acquaintances senses that there is money in computer cracking - he travels to east Berlin and tries to contact the KGB.
6.8
#18
Bullet Ballet
1998
After his girlfriend commits suicide, a man becomes embroiled in gang warfare attempting to obtain a gun in hopes to kill himself.
6.9
#19
Croupier
1998
Jack Manfred is an aspiring writer who to make ends meet, takes a job as a croupier. Jack remains an observer, knowing that everything in life is a gamble and that gamblers are born to lose. Inevitably, he gets sucked into the world of the casino which takes its toll on his relationships and the novel he is writing.
6.7
#20
Lethal Weapon 4
1998
With personal crises and age weighing in on them, Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with deadly Chinese triads trying to free their former leaders from prison and onto American soil.
6.6
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Best Thriller Movies of 1998
This ranking features the top thriller movies released in 1998, sorted by MovieMagicScore viewer ratings. Looking for more? Browse all genres from 1998 or see the best thriller movies of all time.