Movies set in a small town have an intimate quality about them, the kind of which can not be found in movies set in big cities or ones that span various countries. This intimacy allows filmmakers to focus on character development alongside the key elements of a film’s story, making small towns the perfect setting for tight thrillers.
Country towns and locales with small communities make for some of the best backdrops for small-town thrillers, as they’re places where nearly everyone knows each other, and it’s virtually impossible to keep a secret. The consequences of crimes in small towns can reverberate through the community, putting the pressure on law enforcement to get the job done fast, or else the people may take matters into their own hands.
Red Hill (2010)
The Australian western/thriller film Red Hill follows the arrival of a young police officer to a small country town to discover, on his first day on the job, that a lunatic killer has recently escaped from prison and is heading in his direction. Things aren’t all as they seem, however, once he begins to uncover the truth behind the town’s shady police presence.
Director Patrick Hughes made his debut with Red Hill, a thrilling homage to classic western cinema, with a tense plot made all the more enthralling by some of Australia’s best acting talent. The film should be sought out by anyone looking for a modern gunslinging tale that features everything that makes westerns great.
A Simple Plan (1998)
Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan tells the story of three acquaintances who find a stash of millions of dollars in a plane wreck and decide to keep their find a secret, split the money, and keep it for themselves. Each member of the trio has a different plan for their loot, however, and things get even more complicated when people come looking for the lost money.
Following the success and popularity of his Evil Dead trilogy, Raimi proves that he is as equally talented as a director outside of the fantasy-horror genre with the grounded crime thriller A Simple Plan. The film’s premise is nothing new, though it’s a must-see due to the diverse characters and engaging story, which often has the audience asking themselves what they would do in the same situation.
The Hunt (2012)
Mads Mikkelsen headlines the Scandinavian drama-thriller The Hunt, where he plays a kindergarten teacher out to prove his innocence after one of his students accuses him of a horrible act. The accusation may simply be a figment of the child’s imagination, though the townspeople take nothing to chance and begin a witchhunt.
The Hunt is one of those movies where the audience never really knows what’s true and what isn’t, and is made to feel conflicted about the film’s main character, who’s depicted as a genuinely decent human being. It’s this not-knowing that makes up the bulk of the tension in the film, making for some captivating viewing.
Shotgun Stories (2007)
Family rivalries make for some of the tensest themes in small-town thrillers, and Jeff Nichols’ debut indie film Shotgun Stories features it in spades. It follows the feud that develops between two sets of half-brothers after the death of their father, as we find out just what each group is willing to do to protect their family.
Shotgun Stories is an indie film through and through, with minimal to no typical Hollywood glamorization. It’s driven purely by the performances of its lead actors and the excellent framing and cinematography. The slow-burning pace of this small-town thriller helps to build and drive the tension across the entirety of the film.
Snowtown (2011)
Set in a small town in Adelaide, Australia, and based on a horrific true crime, Snowtown follows the relationship between a teenager and his mother’s new boyfriend. The boyfriend becomes somewhat of a mentor and father figure to him, only to later find out that things aren’t what they seem when dead bodies are discovered about the place.
Snowtown is a truly haunting depiction of a family caught in the midst of unspeakable horrors and the people that elicit them. It’s another slow-paced film that tends to get more disturbing as it goes along. The unsettling feeling that the film summons from its audience is what makes it so engrossing, even during moments that are hard to watch.
Straw Dogs (1971)
Dustin Hoffman headlines the classic psychological thriller film Straw Dogs, where he plays an astrophysicist who moves to a country town in England with his wife to get away from the violence plaguing his home country of America. Violence seems to follow him, however, as the town’s locals, who are known to his wife, become increasingly hostile towards them.
Straw Dogs features some heavy-handed scenes that caused a fair amount of controversy when it was released in 1971. It’s a film that doesn’t shy away from portraying some horrific aspects of human nature and the psychological effect it can have on a person that’s pushed to the edge.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Two brothers hatch a plan to rob a series of banks in order to gather enough money to pay back a loan that will see them lose some family real estate if they don’t. Hot on their tail is a seasoned Texas Ranger, who’ll have to use his wits and experience to anticipate their next move in David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water.
Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges give an acting masterclass in this tense crime-thriller. It’s a traditional story of criminals on the run from the law, though the audience is made to empathize with the criminals’ reasoning for their crimes. Mackenzie makes it easy to do so with a well-written screenplay.
Fargo (1996)
One of the most highly regarded cult classic films of the 90s is the Coen brothers crime-drama-thriller, Fargo. It follows a small-town car salesman who hatches a hair-brained kidnapping scheme to come up with some money to get out of some financial troubles. What is meant to be a rudimentary plan goes south fast, and the financial problems become the least of his worries.
The Coen brothers had already amassed an excellent body of work prior to Fargo, though this was the film that really put them on the map in Hollywood. The film features quirky characters and a plot that’s constantly twisting and turning. It’s a film that blends crime, drama, comedy, and thriller all in one, with extremely satisfying results.
No Country For Old Men (2007)
The Coen brothers hit another career milestone in 2007 with their film No Country for Old Men. The multi-Oscar-award winning film sees a ruthless hitman arrive at a town to collect a sum of money recently discovered by a local man at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. The hitman takes no prisoners on his relentless journey to complete his mission.
No Country for Old Men offers one of the most visceral viewing experiences for a modern-era crime-thriller. Javier Bardem turns in a once-in-a-lifetime performance as the film’s antagonist, a merciless character who immediately entered the movie-villain hall-of-fame following the film’s release. Widely regarded as a masterpiece of cinema, the film is gripping from start to finish.
Wind River (2017)
Set on a Native Indian reservation atop a harsh, snowy landscape, Wind River follows an FBI agent’s attempt to solve a murder with the help of a local hunter/tracker. The pair find the odds stacked against them in a town that holds more secrets than they can imagine.
Avengers co-stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen team up for this underrated crime-drama to uncover the secrets of the small town the film is set in while facing their own demons. The characters are full of depth, and the story is filled with tension, emotion, and when it’s called for, extreme violence.