The Best Revenge Movies of All Time

“The Handmaiden” is an erotic psychological thriller from South Korea. The film is the work of Park Chan-wook, who also directed “Oldboy” (see No. 12). The story is based on the 2002 novel “Fingersmith,” set in Victorian Britain, but the film has been transplanted to Korea under Japanese colonial rule. A con man plans to marry a rich heiress and then have her committed to an asylum, leaving him with her fortune. He hires a pickpocket to infiltrate the household as a maid, hoping she will influence the heiress to marry him.

“Unforgiven” cleaned up at the Academy Awards, winning four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, for Clint Eastwood. Eastwood stars as Will Munny, a former outlaw who is dragged away from his tranquil farming life for one last mission. The movie begins with two cowboys slashing a prostitute’s face. The local sheriff makes the cowboys turn over some horses to the brothel owner as punishment. However, the prostitute and her associates are far from satisfied with this outcome and put a $1,000 bounty on the offenders’ heads.

A psychological thriller, “Memento” follows a man looking for vengeance against the mysterious person or persons who murdered his wife during an attack that almost killed him too and left with anterograde amnesia — the inability to form new memories. Every 15 minutes, then, he forgets everything that’s happened since the attack. In order to track the killer, he tattoos clues and information on his body and uses Polaroid photos to help him navigate the past.

“The Princess Bride” saw modest success at the box office but has since become a cherished classic. This goofy and enchanting story follows a farmhand named Westley and a woman named Buttercup who fall in love. Westley runs off to seek his fortune in order to marry Buttercup, but disappears. Years later, the Princess is betrothed to the local prince but kidnapped by men who want revenge against him. A cast of wild and wacky characters populates the world as the two heroes face danger in their quest to live happily ever after.

Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western masterpiece follows the interwoven stories of land wars connected to the building of a new railroad and a quest for vengeance against a wanted killer in a wayward desert outpost town. A mysterious gunslinging figure arrives on the scene as things start to heat up. The film was originally a flop at the box office, after studio executives cut 21 minutes out of the original for its U.S. release. Luckily, it has been restored to its original length and is now considered an absolute classic.