10 Amazing Movies Under 90 Minutes Long
They're short, but they still get the job done.
It feels like films are always getting longer. With most blockbusters clocking in at a minimum of two hours and some of the bigger ones getting closer to three, it's natural to start craving smaller, more digestible stories that don't outstay their welcome.
And when you discover that dumb flicks like Transformers: The Last Knight are 154 minutes long, this mentality becomes even easier to adopt. It's rare that such a gargantuan runtime is even necessary, and with short-form entertainment like YouTube videos and TV episodes taking up more of our leisure time each year, it's understandable that many would want their movies to have a similarly brisk pace.
But a short length doesn't always guarantee an entertaining time, and there are plenty of stinkers on the brief end of the runtime scale. It's hard for a feature-length movie to cram a cohesive, satisfying story in less than 90 minutes, so the ones that pull this off are usually rather memorable.
And these ten movies are just that, offering everything you could possibly want from a cinematic experience in a slim, bite-sized package.
10. Red Eye
Runtime: 85 minutes
The 2000s was the decade of the plane-set thriller, a trend that capitalised on the fear of flying and terrorism that permeated a post-9/11 world.
And Red Eye might be the best of the lot. From horror aficionado Wes Craven, the movie revolves around a woman (Rachel McAdams) who's cornered mid-flight by a stranger (Cillian Murphy) who demands that she assist him in his terrorist plot.
It's electrifying stuff, with an ice-cold Murphy and a sharp-witted McAdams trading blows and barbs at such a rapid pace that you'll never be able to stop for breath, before the finale explodes into violent slasher territory, with the threat of gore creating a different kind of tension that'll keep you hooked until the very end.
Craven's direction (and really, the whole movie) is quite minimalist, and Red Eye definitely didn't rewrite the thriller book. Instead, Craven took that book and crafted an effective movie that accomplished what it set out to do, no frills attached.