Duel (1971)

The first film directed by Steven Spielberg is a masterpiece of suspense and horror. The story is incredibly simple and there’s hardly any dialogue. A man driving his car is pursued and harassed by a petrol tanker whose driver is barely seen and never identified.

The genius of the film is that it keeps you guessing to the end. There’s nothing as trite as an explanation for the unrelenting determination of a psychopath to kill another man. 

Dennis Weaver is the only real character. He plays a businessman whose plans to drive to a meeting become an effort to simply stay alive. 

It’s tense and claustrophobic, shot in such a way that enhances the drama. The downbeat ending satisfies, too.