Best Thriller movies of 1981

Actors : Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch, Jürgen Prochnow,
Directors : Wolfgang Petersen,

The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.

Actors : Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, John Travolta,
Directors : Brian De Palma,

A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.

Actors : Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson,
Directors : John Glen,

Agent 007 is assigned to hunt for a lost British encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

Actors : Sally Field, Bob Balaban, Paul Newman, Melinda Dillon,
Directors : Sydney Pollack,

When a prosecutor leaks a false story that a liquor warehouse owner is involved in the murder of a union head, the man's life begins to unravel.

Actors : Sylvester Stallone, Lindsay Wagner, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer,

Conservative street cop DaSilva reluctantly agrees to terminate an international terrorist who has demanded media attention. But DaSilva's "at-home" tactics are very much put to the challenge.

Actors : Diane Venora, Albert Finney, Gregory Hines, Edward James Olmos,

A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.

Actors : Zoë Lund, Bogey, Albert Sinkys, Darlene Stuto,
Directors : Abel Ferrara,

A timid and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York City after dark and randomly shoots men with a .45 caliber pistol.

Actors : Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King,
Directors : Steve Miner,

Mrs. Voorhees is dead, and Camp Crystal Lake is shut down, but a camp next to the infamous place is stalked by an unknown assailant.

Actors : John Marshall, Melanie Griffith, Noel Marshall, Tippi Hedren,
Directors : Noel Marshall,

A family goes to Africa to meet their father who lives with wild lions.

Actors : Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Paul Kelman, Keith Knight,
Directors : George Mihalka,

A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.

Actors : John Houseman, Fred Astaire, Alice Krige, Craig Wasson,
Directors : John Irvin,

Two generations of men find themselves haunted by the presence of a spectral woman. When the son of one of the elderly men returns to his hometown after his brother's mysterious death, they attempt to unravel her story.

Actors : Kate Nelligan, Philip Martin Brown, Stephen MacKenna, Donald Sutherland,
Directors : Richard Marquand,

A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.

Actors : John Colicos, Jessica Lange, Michael Lerner, Jack Nicholson,
Directors : Bob Rafelson,

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

Actors : Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Sharon Acker, Lawrence Dane,
Directors : J. Lee Thompson,

At the snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday.

Actors : Fred Ward, Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Franklyn Seales,
Directors : Walter Hill,

A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition ...

Actors : Albert Finney, James Coburn, Susan Dey, Leigh Taylor-Young,
Directors : Michael Crichton,

Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts performs a series of minor alterations on a group of models who are seeking perfection. The operations are a resounding success. But when someone starts ...

Actors : Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy, Linda Blair,
Directors : Tom DeSimone,

Four college pledges are forced to spend the night in a deserted old mansion, where they are stalked by the monstrous survivor of a family massacre years earlier.

Actors : Frédéric Andréi, Thuy An Luu, Richard Bohringer, Wilhelmenia Fernandez,
Directors : Jean-Jacques Beineix,

Two tapes, two Parisian mob killers, one corrupt policeman, an opera fan, a teenage thief, and the coolest philosopher ever filmed. All these characters twist their way through an intricate and stylish French language thriller.

Actors : Lawrence Tierney, Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Farley Granger,
Directors : Joseph Zito,

An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small New Jersey town bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual Spring Dance.

Actors : Tony Fish, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones, Gaylen Ross,
Directors : Joe Giannone,

A legendary psychopathic murderer stalks a summer camp.