Movie · 2018 · Thriller, Drama, Crime · 1h 25m · R · DA
Curator score: 9.2/10 (70.6K ratings)
The crime is bigger than you think
Overview
Police officer Asger Holm, demoted to desk work as an alarm dispatcher, answers a call from a panicked woman who claims to have been kidnapped. Confined to the police station and with the phone as his only tool, Asger races against time to get help and find her.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.2/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Gustav Möller
Production
Nordisk Film Denmark
Cast
Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Olsen, Jacob Lohmann, Katinka Evers-Jahnsen, Jeanette Lindbæk, Simon Bennebjerg, Laura Bro, Morten Suurballe, Guuled Abdi Youssef, Caroline Løppke, Peter Christoffersen, Nicolai Wendelbo, Morten Thunbo, Maria Gersby Cissé, Anders Brink Madsen, Tommy Bach, Jan Christensen, Christian Lassen
Where to watch
fuboTV
Curator Review
Verdict
A taut, single-location thriller that wrings real suspense from voice, timing, and performance. It’s especially effective if you like stripped-down crime dramas that feel urgent, claustrophobic, and emotionally fraught.
Best for
fans of high-concept thrillers
viewers who like single-location tension
people who enjoy performance-driven crime dramas
audiences who prefer suspense over spectacle
Skip if
you need constant visual action
you dislike confined, dialogue-heavy films
you prefer mysteries with lots of procedural detail
you’re already spoiled on the central twist
Overview
The Guilty is a masterclass in controlled tension. By limiting the action to a police dispatch room and letting the phone calls do the heavy lifting, it turns ordinary procedure into a pressure cooker. The result is lean, immediate, and often punishing in the best way.
Worth noting
What makes it work is how much the film asks of its lead performance. Asger is not simply reacting to a crisis; he is being forced to confront his own instincts, biases, and past mistakes in real time. That gives the thriller a moral unease that lingers after the plot mechanics are over.
Bottom line
It’s not a movie for viewers who want constant movement or elaborate set pieces. But for anyone who appreciates precision, restraint, and a premise that tightens like a noose, this is exactly the kind of compact thriller that lands hard.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Lucy (4.5★) · 911 likes
“someone needs us”
phenomenal, the intensity was so well maintained that it only felt minutes long. the script is solid as a rock and the plot twists were so alarming that i could feel my own heartbeat thudding wildly in my chest. i would definitely definitely check this out, especially since the runtime is a perfect 85 minutes long
matt lynch (3★) · 569 likes
I have this problem where I get ahead of stuff really fast. I've seen too many goddamn movies and a lot of times plot twists just announce themselves to me immediately. I don't do it on purpose and I don't say this to brag. It irritates a lot of my friends and generally ruins sturdy premise-based thrillers like this for me. Anyway.
Marianna Neal 🇺🇦 (4★) · 379 likes
I'm pretty sure this movie's goal was to give me a panic attack... No joke, there were a couple of moments when I had to pause it to get my sh*t together. This story is nuts. This thriller is nuts. Watching someone take phone calls for 85 minutes has never been so stressful. One of the best single location movies out there. I'm going to go take a shot of something strong now. Bye.
Allison M. 🌱 (3.5★) · 350 likes
In the vein of Locke, this super low-budget but effective thriller had me on the edge of my seat. It had the appropriate twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. It played with my emotions and had me in tears. How come Danish films are often just so good?
Vegan alert:Iben’s favorite food is pork sausage.
Vegan points:The police dispatcher doesn’t eat pork.
•lily• (4★) · 241 likes
This film is guilty for almost giving me several heart attacks
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
For viewers who like suspense rooted in ordinary people unraveling under moral strain.