MOVIES LIKE GONE GIRL
One of the best thriller lists
When Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was published, the world couldn't put it down. It felt like everyone, from your grandma's personal trainer to the 17-year-old high school student down the street, was reading it. Gone Girl was published in 2012, and by 2014 it became a blockbuster hit in the theater.
The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Ben Affleck as the adulterous husband, Nick Dunne, and Rosamund Pike as his vengeful wife, Amy Dunne. We watch the story unfold as Amy discovers that her husband has been cheating on her with a younger woman. Instead of going about this rationally, Amy fakes her own death and tries pegging Nick for her murder. We get it. Nick is not the man you want to marry, but Amy is completely off her rocker. She has a long history of seeking revenge on those who have wronged, ruining lives along the way. Gone Girl is the captivating who-done-it that we all know and love.
Other movies similar to Gone Girl keep us guessing; it's the mystery we all know and love. A must-watch movie on this list is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Based on the book by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, the movie is another dark David Fincher movie.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows the story of Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who faces a career fallout after Hans-Erik Wennerström, a prominent businessman, charges him with libel. At the same time, a wealthy retired CEO by the name of Henrik Vanger, hires Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant, but strange and antisocial hacker, to investigate Blomkvist. Vanger offers information on Wennerström in exchange for something unexpected: he wants Mikel Blomkvist to investigate the 40-year disappearance of his grand-niece, Harriet, who is presumed murdered.
What unfolds is a psychological thriller from start to finish. It is believed that Harriet's killer is still alive, as Henrik Vanger receives a pressed flower every year, something that Harriet used to make every year on her birthday. Knowing this fact, Blomkvist agrees to move to a secluded island near the Vanger estate and work on solving the decades-old murder case.
A major character in this movie that is most intriguing is Lisbeth Salander, the reclusive hacker. While Blomkvist finds out that she was originally hired to dive into his past illegally, he decides that she would be a valuable asset, and he hires her.
Lisbeth's background is less than typical. She has a state-appointed guardian in charge of watching her every move, and when he dies unexpectedly she's assigned a replacement who is an abusive sadist. She is able to free herself after seeking revenge and join Blomkvist's investigation. Together, Mikael and Lisbeth uncover neo-Nazis and a slew of murders from 1947-1967, all of them young women with Jewish names. The indication of a serial killer is terrifying, and it's likely the murderer is among them.
This movie is series of twists and turns from the moment it starts. As viewers, we grapple with the mystery of a serial killer, a strange woman with a muddied past and an odd disposition. In addition, the quiet island is filled with secrets that no one seems to be able to uncover, and it's dangerous. As viewers, we wonder if Blomkvist will save his career, if Harriet will ever be found, and if Wennerström is hiding any secrets. This David Fincher movie is dark, no doubt, but it's also a cinematic masterpiece worth adding to your watchlist.
Another film on this list of movies like Gone Girl is the Martin Scorsese movie, Shutter Island. This 2010 psychological thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo and takes place in a mental hospital off the coast of Boston, known as Shutter Island.
U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are assigned to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a high-profile patient at Ashecliffe Hospital who drowned her three children. The film is eerie from start to finish, as things start to get weird at the hospital as soon as they arrive.
While investigating the hospital, Teddy is met with obstacles. The doctors are resistant to cooperation, he is left with cryptic messages, and it seems as though patients are being treated with psychotropic medications and lobotomies. In Teddy's eyes, the hospital's practices are unethical, and his reality becomes more and more confusing.
To top it all off, Teddy is haunted by the memories of his wife, who died when arsonist Andrew Laeddis set a fire that killed her. Laeddis is said to be locked up at Ashecliffe, which is part of the reason he took on the investigation.
As Shutter Island unfolds, reality and madness become blurred. We wonder who Teddy Daniels really is as it becomes more and more apparent that he isn't who we think he is. Shutter Island is one of those movies that really make you stop and think and question everything at the end as if to ask: what just happened?
Another movie similar to Gone Girl worth watching is Fight Club (1999). Also directed by David Fincher, this cult classic stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter.
In Fight Club, we meet an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) suffering from insomnia. In an attempt to cure this, he attends support groups for various diseases that he doesn't even have. Meeting another imposter, Marla Singer, they decide to split up the meetings they attend.
Living his mundane life as an automobile recall specialist and imposter, things change when he meets Tyler Durden, a soap salesman. Upon returning home, the Narrator finds that his apartment and belongings have been destroyed in an explosion. Not sure what to do, he phones his new friend, Tyler, and they meet up at a bar. Tyler asks the narrator to hit him in the bar parking lot, and the two new friends engage in a fistfight.
Left with nowhere to go, the Narrator moves into Tyler's house, which is falling apart. The two men continue to have fistfights outside of the bar, which unexpectedly draws large crowds. Growing in popularity, the fights move into the bar's basement, and Fight Club is borne.
The Narrator becomes more and more invested in their new Flight Club and finds a way to leave his full-time job after blackmailing his boss for the company's assets.
Robert "Bob" Paulson joins Fight Club after the Narrator meets him at a support group meeting, and the club continues to grow. Meanwhile, Tyler is revealed to have anti-corporate and anti-materialist motivations, and he forms his own group, Project Mayhem, behind the Narrator's back.
This turn of events is concerning to the Narrator, who is troubled by the project's vandalism and the fact that he was excluded. Here, he discovers that Tyler is actually the one who caused the explosion to the Narrator's apartment.
We discover that Project Mayhem has a wide reach throughout the country and that it is much bigger than he could have guessed. This is where things get a little weird and confusing. The Narrator is addressed by many, including Marla, as Tyler. We begin to realize that Tyler and the Narrator are the same person and start to question our own sanity as well as that of the characters'.
This is another movie that challenges our reality and understanding of what we're watching. It's a classic for a reason, and it is definitely one to add to your watchlist.
Overall, these films are great options if you're a fan of Gone Girl.
