As we go about our everyday lives, we often forget that something that changes our lives forever can happen in the blink of an eye. Many films focus on an ordinary person unwittingly witnessing a dangerous situation. From Blow Out (1981) to Phone Booth (2002), these films' protagonist has no idea what horrors they walked into.
1. North by Northwest (1959)
When an ad executive goes out for a drink at a bar, two hired criminals mistakenly identify him as a government agent and abduct him for interrogation. When he manages to escape their grasp, he travels across the country to evade his captors.
2. Witness (1985)
After an Amish woman and her son witness a murder, police put them in protective custody. But a corrupt cop threatens their safety, so they move to the Amish countryside with an officer, where he and the woman begin to fall in love.
3. Rear Window (1954)
Rear Window is a mystery film about a bored man who watches his neighbors through his window as he heals from a broken leg. One day, he witnesses a strange event during a heat wave that leads him to believe one of his neighbors murdered his Wife. As his girlfriend and nurse dismiss his claims, the man grows increasingly obsessed with exposing the alleged killer.
4. The Desperate Hours (1955)
As a family goes about their normal daily lives, they have no idea that a group of escaped prisoners is about to break into their home and hold them hostage. With his wife and kids in danger, the husband of the family, who was outside the house during the invasion, urges police to be careful as they attempt to capture the criminals once more.
5. A Simple Plan (1998)
When a group of locals happens upon the scene of a plane crash while walking through the forest, they look closer and find a deceased pilot with a massive stash of money. Instead of reporting their findings to the police, the friends steal the money and run. But their choices don't take long to catch up with them.
6. Michael Clayton (2007)
Michael Clayton is a legal thriller about a high-end fixer who helps his corporate clients get out of legal trouble. When he's hired to help cover up a death after a hit and run, he must determine whether he's more loyal to his morals or his clients.
7. Blow Out (1981)
While a sound effects designer goes about his everyday tasks at work, he witnesses a terrifying car accident when a vehicle careens over the edge of a bridge. He leaps into the water and saves one of the passengers, but the other dies. The man begins a perilous quest for the truth.
8. Enemy of the State (1998)
When an honest family man finds the tape of a congressman's grisly murder, he discovers that someone is trying to frame him for the crime. The man must prove his innocence or serve time in prison for a crime he never committed.
9. Collateral (2004)
Collateral is an action-packed thriller about a taxi driver who takes his final passenger for the night after accepting an excellent payment to make five stops. But the driver is horrified when the first stop results in a horrific murder and learns his passenger chose him as his getaway driver. As the killings continue, the driver has no idea if he will be the final victim.
10. Pineapple Express (2008)
This hilarious crime thriller is about a stoner who recently got his hands on a rare strain of cannabis. While enjoying his joint, he watches in horror as someone gets murdered before his eyes. After fleeing the scene, he realizes he dropped the joint at the crime scene and fears that the cops will track him down and arrest him for murder.
11. Fargo (1996)
When an incompetent car salesman's family wakes up one day, they have no ideas what horrors will come their way. Criminals hired by the family's own husband and father kidnap the family in a scheme to make money and get the family out of debt. But the plan immediately goes wrong, putting the family in actual danger.
12. The Conversation (1974)
The Conversation is a mind-bending mystery about a private investigator hired to surveil two people's conversation. But what he overhears makes him fear that the people talking are in danger. As he investigates the people under his client's nose, he becomes increasingly convinced that harm is headed their way.
13. Charade (1963)
After a pleasant skiing trip, a woman returns home to find her apartment empty except for a police officer who informs her that her husband was murdered and their money was stolen. Reeling from the tragic circumstances, the woman does whatever it takes to track down the money before it's too late.
14. Arlington Road (1999)
When an extremist group kills a college professor's wife, he can't stop thinking about the group's culture and members. As he becomes consumed by his obsession, he starts to believe his new neighbors are embroiled in a sinister cult like the one that killed his beloved wife.
15. Phone Booth (2002)
Phone Both is a psychological thriller about a man who stops at a phone booth to discreetly call the woman he's cheating on his wife with. After they speak, the phone at the booth rings and the man answers and learns he's talking to a killer, and he's next. The voice on the phone tells the man he must confess the affair to his wife, or a sniper will shoot and kill him.
16. Until Dark (1967)
This psychological thriller begins when a woman gifts a seemingly innocent doll to a man on her flight. When the man brings the doll home, he soon leaves for another business trip while his blind wife and the doll wait at home. But his wife soon learns the doll is stuffed with drugs when a gang arrives at her door to retrieve their goods.
17. The Pelican Brief (1993)
When a hard-working law student writes up a brief featuring her theory behind the assassinations of two supreme court justices, she learns her reasoning was valid when her professor is the victim of a car bombing. As the terrorists track her down, the law student flees, fearing for her life.
18. The Net (1995)
The Net is a thrilling action film about a freelance systems analyst who receives a seemingly insignificant disc from a client. The client who sent her the disc dies in a strange accident, and a thief begins pestering the systems analyst, causing her to grow concerned about the disc's contents.
19. Disturbia (2007)
After a teenager's dad dies in a tragic car crash, he punches a teacher during a conflict and ends up on house arrest. While stuck inside his home, he has nothing better to do than to watch his next-door neighbor through the window. But the teen grows suspicious that his neighbor is a serial killer when he notices his car is similar to one he saw on the news.
20. Judgement Night (1993)
21. Green Room (2015)
Green Room is a horror film about a failing punk rock band who scoop up any gig they can take. After they perform at a bar in rural Oregon, one of the band members witnesses a hate crime that results in the entire band being locked in the bar to face a night of horrors simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
22. Marathon Man (1976)
A man with a promising future studies for his Ph.D. while his brother secretly works as a government agent, tracking down a dangerous criminal. But when the criminal and the brother come face to face, the criminal kills him, and he stumbles into his average brother's apartment, where he dies. Now the authorities are convinced the man killed his brother while the criminal keeps an eye on him.
23. The Wrong Man (1956)
This noir drama film follows a musician attempting to scrounge together enough money to pay his wife's dental bills. He goes to his insurance agency to ask for money, but everything turns upside down when an employee mistakes him for a man who robbed the agency at gunpoint.
24. Too Late for Tears (1949)
A woman who desperately wishes to upgrade her middle-class status to an upper-class life is driving home with her husband when a mysterious car tosses a duffel bag of cash into their backseat. While her husband is concerned that the money will only get them in trouble, the woman urges him to keep it so they can begin the life she's always dreamed of.
25. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
When an unobtrusive CIA employee enters the office one day, he discovers that all of his coworkers were murdered in a brutal attack. He flees the scene to tell the higher-ups what happened, only to find out that they're the ones who want him and his coworkers dead.
