In 2001, as part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI unveiled their 100 Years…100 Thrills list of the top 100 most exciting, action-packed, suspenseful or frightening movies in American cinema.
| 1. | Psycho | 1960 |
| 2. | Jaws | 1975 |
| 3. | The Exorcist | 1973 |
| 4. | North by Northwest | 1959 |
| 5. | The Silence of the Lambs | 1991 |
| 6. | Alien | 1979 |
| 7. | The Birds | 1963 |
| 8. | The French Connection | 1971 |
| 9. | Rosemary’s Baby | 1968 |
| 10. | Raiders of the Lost Ark | 1981 |
| 11. | The Godfather | 1972 |
| 12. | King Kong | 1933 |
| 13. | Bonnie and Clyde | 1967 |
| 14. | Rear Window | 1954 |
| 15. | Deliverance | 1972 |
| 16. | Chinatown | 1974 |
| 17. | The Manchurian Candidate | 1962 |
| 18. | Vertigo | 1958 |
| 19. | The Great Escape | 1963 |
| 20. | High Noon | 1952 |
| 21. | A Clockwork Orange | 1971 |
| 22. | Taxi Driver | 1976 |
| 23. | Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 |
| 24. | Double Indemnity | 1944 |
| 25. | Titanic | 1997 |
| 26. | The Maltese Falcon | 1941 |
| 27. | Star Wars | 1977 |
| 28. | Fatal Attraction | 1987 |
| 29. | The Shining | 1980 |
| 30. | The Deer Hunter | 1978 |
| 31. | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | 1977 |
| 32. | Strangers on a Train | 1951 |
| 33. | The Fugitive | 1993 |
| 34. | The Night of the Hunter | 1955 |
| 35. | Jurassic Park | 1993 |
| 36. | Bullitt | 1968 |
| 37. | Casablanca | 1942 |
| 38. | Notorious | 1946 |
| 39. | Die Hard | 1988 |
| 40. | 2001: A Space Odyssey | 1968 |
| 41. | Dirty Harry | 1971 |
| 42. | The Terminator | 1984 |
| 43. | The Wizard of Oz | 1939 |
| 44. | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | 1982 |
| 45. | Saving Private Ryan | 1998 |
| 46. | Carrie | 1976 |
| 47. | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | 1956 |
| 48. | Dial M for Murder | 1954 |
| 49. | Ben-Hur | 1959 |
| 50. | Marathon Man | 1976 |
| 51. | Raging Bull | 1980 |
| 52. | Rocky | 1976 |
| 53. | Pulp Fiction | 1994 |
| 54. | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | 1969 |
| 55. | Wait Until Dark | 1967 |
| 56. | Frankenstein | 1931 |
| 57. | All the President’s Men | 1976 |
| 58. | The Bridge on the River Kwai | 1957 |
| 59. | Planet of the Apes | 1968 |
| 60. | The Sixth Sense | 1999 |
| 61. | Cape Fear | 1962 |
| 62. | Spartacus | 1960 |
| 63. | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? | 1962 |
| 64. | Touch of Evil | 1958 |
| 65. | The Dirty Dozen | 1967 |
| 66. | The Matrix | 1999 |
| 67. | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | 1948 |
| 68. | Halloween | 1978 |
| 69. | The Wild Bunch | 1969 |
| 70. | Dog Day Afternoon | 1975 |
| 71. | Goldfinger | 1964 |
| 72. | Platoon | 1986 |
| 73. | Laura | 1944 |
| 74. | Blade Runner | 1982 |
| 75. | The Third Man | 1949 |
| 76. | Thelma & Louise | 1991 |
| 77. | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | 1991 |
| 78. | Gaslight | 1944 |
| 79. | The Magnificent Seven | 1960 |
| 80. | Rebecca | 1940 |
| 81. | The Omen | 1976 |
| 82. | The Day the Earth Stood Still | 1951 |
| 83. | The Phantom of the Opera | 1925 |
| 84. | Poltergeist | 1982 |
| 85. | Dracula | 1931 |
| 86. | The Picture of Dorian Gray | 1945 |
| 87. | The Thing from Another World | 1951 |
| 88. | 12 Angry Men | 1957 |
| 89. | The Guns of Navarone | 1961 |
| 90. | The Poseidon Adventure | 1972 |
| 91. | Braveheart | 1995 |
| 92. | Body Heat | 1981 |
| 93. | Night of the Living Dead | 1968 |
| 94. | The China Syndrome | 1979 |
| 95. | Full Metal Jacket | 1987 |
| 96. | Blue Velvet | 1986 |
| 97. | Safety Last! | 1923 |
| 98. | Blood Simple | 1984 |
| 99. | Speed | 1994 |
| 100. | The Adventures of Robin Hood | 1938 |