David Fincherhas dug a perfect pocket for himself as a creator of movies undoubtedly beloved while remaining signature and risqué. His movies are celebrated by a wide range of genre fans, from true-crime podcast listeners to Silicon Valley groupies, frat boys to anti-frat boys, thrill-seekers hoping to have their brains turned into lemon juice to just your friendly neighborhood cinephile who likes pretty pictures. He’s genuinely one of the Hollywood auteurs in the modern industry, as much as he doesn’t like the term.
you’re able to look at any frame and immediately know if it’s a Fincher: impossible camera movements, unsaturated color palettes, and chiaroscuro lighting. Yet, the plots go in all directions. While he is best known for adapting books into feature films likeGone Girl, Fight Club,andThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, each of his films feels unique. Here are all of David Fincher’s movies, ranked.
Update June 09, 2025: This article has been updated following the release ofThe Killer, Fincher’s latest film.
This article may contain mild spoilers
12Alien³ (1995)
Alien³was the result of Fincher being a hired gun in one of the most infamous productions ever. The follow-up to James Cameron’sAlienstells the story of what happens to Ellen Ripley when her escape pod crashes on a planet where a prison for violent men has been installed. Of course, she has brought other survivors and a facehugger.
Why It Ranks at the Bottom
Sometimes, a studio head wants to make a movie, so they attempt it via an up-and-coming director who has too little clout with which to fight back. The result should have been a mess: a tug of war where there should have been a unified direction. This one had to follow up two of the most celebrated sci-fi movies of all time, and he did what he could.Alien³is not as great as the previous films, but it’s a solid genre shift that works better in its Assembly Cut version, and also if you previously research about the whole disaster that ensued when production came to a halt several times. The film’sdefinitely not as badas people paint it out to be.
You can streamAlien³on Hulu.
11Mank (2020)
Written by David Fincher’s late father, Jack Fincher,Manklooks at the writing of “The Last Supper of movies,“Citizen Kane.Mank’s subject, Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman in avery challenging roleaccording to him), the wordsmith behind Kane and dear friend of that script’s subject, William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance), navigates alcoholism and is attacked by representatives of the Hearst estate. This begins a new political age of democratic socialism versus semi-reformed capitalism in Tinseltown.
What’s Great About It
Mankdeserves credit for being engaging, daring in this age, and even wholesome given its paternal origins, but it’s entirely different from most other entries in Fincher’s filmography. The crown jewel is its clever dialogue to fit its namesake, which is a credit to be given to Jack rather than David. It’s a great exercise in drama filmmaking, made by a guy who truly understands the genre and makes a very interesting film about the events that birthed cinema auteurship.
You can streamMankon Netflix.
10The Game (1997)
The Gametells the story of Nicholas Van Orton(Michael Douglas), a man whose brother gives him a very special birthday present: a life-changing experience in the form of a real-life game. Van Orton seemingly accepts to participate, and right then and there, he starts a journey that will take him to unexplored depths. His life gets absolutely broken. And throughout the whole experience, you will keep asking yourself, “how far is too far?”
It’s arguably Michael Douglas' best performance of his entire career. Van Orton is a sour dude whose life takes a turn when thingsactuallygo too far. Finchers’s direction of the great script will leave you thinking for a while, up until the very divisive ending of which there isn’t another version, as much as we would like that. However, this doesn’t invalidate the gripping thriller that isThe Game, one of the director’s most underrated films and, undoubtedly, one of the best premises he ever worked with.
You can streamThe Gameon Tubi.
9The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story,The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,follows Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) as a man born as an old guy and aging younger with time. As weird as the premise sounds, Finchet grounds it in a very human story. This isa love storyframed under the concept of time and its relativity.
Written by Eric Roth, the miraculous improvement upon Fitzgerald’s premise proved a gorgeous exploration of which graces are dispensed liberally by existence and which should be redefined as sacred.The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonisn’t just a look at life, but through its reversing motif, a look at yours; it isn’t about whether Button’s flipped trajectory is blessed or cursed, but if our traditional one is. It’s a very underrated film that not many people associate with Fincher because of how sentimental it is.
You can streamThe Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonon Showtime.
8Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club
A hypermasculine championing of misogyny, militancy, and masochism. Or an unquestionable condemnation of those very things.Fight Clubis based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk and tells the story of a man who’s not very happy. His job is boring and he’s got nothing to look up to. But then the stranger Tyler Durden arrives and convinces him to form a “fight club”, while also falling for a very strange woman.
For some viewers, it’s a damning critique of capitalism and corporatism; another layer deeper, and Tyler Durden is a representation of Leninist statism against Marxist anarchism. In brief,Fight Clubat this point, has become the most accessible Rorschach test for film academics in modern history, and that alone raises it to a plane so ethereal that it earns its stripes here. It’s different to what you might expect from a traditional film, but Fincher streamlines it enough to be a fascinating and very funny character study about anxiety thatsome say has aged poorly.
You can streamFight Clubon The Roku Channel.
7The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
InThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mikael (Daniel Craig), a disgraced journalist, teams up with Lisbeth (Rooney Mara), an antisocial hacker, in order to solve an island mystery plaguing the Vanger family for decades: what happened the night 16-year-old Harriet Vanger went missing? The film is right up Fincher’s alley: twists cozying up with lethal suspense and a desperate need for information, all done with expert precision and even a bit of levity. Not to mention one of the most underrated and impressive scores of all time by Fincher’s regular partners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
Related:15 Unmade David Fincher Movies We’ll Never Get to See
Following the celebrated Swedish film adaptation of the Millenium series,Män som hatar kvinnor, Fincher’s venture had to fit a series-length square peg into a 2.5-hour round hole. Watching, you can feel there isn’t a moment to spare with plot and development, but where that could feel rushed in another film, it feels energizing and incendiary here. This is a very underrated film that,unfortunately, sufferedtoo much scrutiny by audiences and whose sequel was never green-lighted.
You can rent or buyThe Girl with the Dragon Tattooon Prime Video or Vudu.
6Panic Room (2002)
Panic Room
InPanic Room, Meg (Jodie Foster) has just moved into her new, luxurious home with her daughter, Sarah (Kristen Stewart), complete with an impenetrable panic room. When burglars (Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto and Forest Whitaker) break into the home, knowing a secret about the contents of the panic room, Meg and Sarah are trapped with no communication to the outside world.
Fincher’s skills at building a thriller were ever-present. But inPanic Room, they become a protagonist that perfectly fits with the simple story being told. It’s a home invasion movie that Fincher makes out to be a thrilling adventure with likable characters (including heroes and villains), and you never sense that it was aproduction nightmare. Do you like “well-designed” films? Then this one’s for you.
you’re able to rent or buyPanic Roomon Prime Video or Vudu.
5The Killer (2023)
The Killer
Read our Review
In Fincher’s latest,The Killer, a contract killer misses his target after weeks of preparation. Unfortunately, this causes a series of consequences that hit closer to the professional’s intimate side, sparking a necessary spree of violent revenge. It’s based on the French graphic novel series of the same name, and it was produced and released by Netflix.
Fincher’s return to the genre was met with a lukewarm reception at how simple the film feels. However,The Killeris far from being a bad film, and it’s one of thebest films of the year. This one shows the director returning to his roots with a script that doesn’t provide an innovative structure or narrative. This is just the breakdown of a Smiths-loving man’s thirst for revenge being quenched. Michael Fassbender is outstanding in the lead role.
You can streamThe Killeron Netflix.
4Zodiac (2007)
As the title suggests,Zodiacfollows the investigation into the Zodiac Killer, the known killer of five Californians with claims of up to 37. Just like the investigation itself, the film features danger, suspense, and a promise of revelation in every crevice of every frame. It’s told from the perspective of cartoonist Robert Graysmith, who believed he possessed the identity of the killer, who was never found. This transports him to the underbelly of a frightened city whose own desperation led to the killer roaming free.
No film will ever make you so careful to note which of your California friends have basements.Zodiacis a modern masterpiece of the drama thriller genre. The film’s beautifully shot, and the screenplay by James Vanderbilt is excellent. Sadly, the film went unnoticed in the awards season, but then it got the cult status it always deserved. Again, a fantastically designed film that’s alsovery underrated.
You can streamZodiacon Showtime.
3Gone Girl (2014)
InGone Girl, Amy Dunne has gone missing. There are no signs of her life. As usual, the husband is the first suspect, and thus begins, a fall down the rabbit hole of secrets, real dynamics of the marriage in question, and a woman whose real intentions come to flourish in a character reveal that stands among the greatest of Fincher’s catalog. You won’t believe your eyes, and youwill have trouble trusting your partneragain.
Gone Girltranslates Gillian Flynn’s celebrated novel perfectly onscreen with some of the greatest casting choices in recent history. The ways people tend to feel about Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are exactly how they subconsciously feel about Nick and Amy. All of the film rests on your predispositions, much to the plot’s delight. The Reznor/Ross score is again excellent, encompassing the creepy with the sterility of the suburbs. When the midpoint twist of “Who kidnapped or killed Amy Dunne?” is realized, and the movie really begins, the questions about “girl boss” variations of feminism and elitist assumptions of working-class abilities drive this movie to one of Fincher’s best endings.
