London's greatest thriller moments

Time Out takes you on a tour of London's filmic thrills and blood spills

Blackmail (1929)

Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound movie was a rollicking tale of murder and blackmail that culminates with a chase on the domed glass roof of the British Museum in Bloomsbury. A fine example of Hitchcock’s irreverent streak – would any other British filmmaker treat this temple of scholarship with such disrespect? – the villain plummets to his death in what would be a dry run for the famous Mount Rushmore sequence in 'North by Northwest'.
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'Peeping Tom', 1960

Peeping Tom (1960)
A crime thriller from the perpetrator’s point of view, ‘Peeping Tom’ is director Michael Powell’s brilliantly disturbing portrait of a serial killer who records his murders on film. The opening sequence is seen through the lens of the murderer’s camera: a bravura psychopath’s-eye view of a then-sleazy street in Fitzrovia, now a far more salubrious, though still-recognisable location. Viewers of ‘Peeping Tom’ may experience a chill when walking along the street today.
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'The Long Good Friday', 1979

The Long Good Friday (1979)
Forget the geezers-and-guns embarrassment of Guy Ritchie and Co’s cockney gangster flicks, 'The Long Good Friday' is the 'Godfather' of London crime thrillers. John MacKenzie’s film captures the changing nature of the capital on the eve of Thatcherism: the old warehouses along the Thames are being repurposed into yuppie flats. But the most memorable moment is conveyed by the face of Bob Hoskins – a London landmark that deserves listed status if ever there was one – when his crime-boss character realises he’s been double-crossed and is being driven to his death. Priceless.
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'Match Point', 2006

Match Point (2006)
Part thriller, part update of 'Crime and Punishment', Woody Allen’s film about an ambitious tennis coach who murders his way into British high society divided critics, but he undoubtedly brought a fresh eye to familiar recent London landmarks like the Tate Modern and the Gherkin building. Best of all is the deliciously ironic climax outside Festival Hall where a vital piece of incriminating evidence bounces off a railing by the Thames – and on whose discovery rests the fate of Allen’s latter-day Raskolnikov.
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'London to Brighton', (2006)

London to Brighton (2006)
A taut, grungy 24 hours in the life of prostitute fleeing London for the coast, Paul Andrew Williams' low-budget debut was a clammy, close-quarters insight into the capital’s underworld, from squalid knocking shops in Dalston to the sleek, airless penthouse flats of sleazy crime overlords. It’s not pretty but the film rings with bracing, unsettling authenticity.
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