The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond Shaw, now a vice-presidential candidate, is the hero he remembers him being. As Marco's doubts deepen, Shaw's political power grows, and, when Marco finds a mysterious implant embedded in his back, the memory of what really happened begins to return.

Genres: Thriller, Drama, Mystery

What to watch after The Manchurian Candidate

• The Siege (1998) — Same feel: tense, paranoid
• The Sum of All Fears (2002) — Daniel Pyne wrote for both
• Deja Vu (2006) — Same feel: tense, complex
• Courage Under Fire (1996) — Same subject: gulf war
• Shanghai (2010)
• Safe House (2012) — Denzel Washington appears in both