The Best Mystery Movies

Murders, detectives, cordoned-off crime scenes, and trench coats. These might be the first things that come to mind when you think of mystery movies, but they’re not essential ingredients. In fact, what exactly constitutes a mystery movie is, fittingly, a gray area.

Like the narratives it collects, mystery as a genre is malleable, multifaceted, and mutable to enough to describe films as disparate as Se7en and Picnic at Hanging Rock, the former a story about two cops hunting a serial killer who themes his murders around the seven deadly sins, and the latter, made in 1975, a dreamlike movie about schoolgirls going missing in Australia (and the kind of film Chloë Sevigny would definitely feature in if it were to be made now).

At its simplest, the mystery movie charts the solution of a problem or crime. There are two main types: the closed-mystery film, which conceals the identity of the perpetrator until late in the film, encouraging the audience to guess who it might be (Murder on the Orient Express), and the open-mystery film, which reveals the identity of the perpetrator at the beginning, such that the thrust of the film is about uncovering the intricacies of exactly how the crime took place (The Thomas Crown Affair). There are other mystery movies, however, which don’t fit neatly within those parameters: stories of a crime which is never solved, for example, or stories which aren’t about crimes, but are generally mysterious (Donnie Darko).

To prevent this all from becoming too much of a mindf*ck, we stripped our criteria right back when making this list of must-watch mysteries so that each that appears here is, well, a) mysterious in some way and b) not to be missed. From 1940s film noir to modern-day social thrillers, we’ve searched high and low to unearth some of cinema’s best kept secrets. Whether you’re looking for a classic “whodunnit” to unpick, or something more mind-bending to sink your teeth into, these are the best mystery movies of all time. Stay woke; there are some serious head-scratchers in here.

Director: Orson Welles

Stars: Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

Generally accepted to be the daddy of all films, Orson Welles’ directorial debut set out not just what makes for a good mystery movie (suspense, tension, and captivating screenwriting), but a good movie period (sophisticated editing, evocative cinematography, deep focus, montage, etc.). The story revolves around reporter Jerry Thompson’s mission to uncover the meaning behind “rosebud,” the last word uttered by newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane before he died, and while the final reveal might be a little underwhelming, the journey there is one of cinema’s most memorable experiences.

Director: Howard Hawks

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall

With puzzling plotlines, trench coats, trilbies, and sizzling chemistry between Humphrey Bogart’s Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall’s Vivian Sternwood, it’s little wonder that The Big Sleep is often considered to be the greatest film noir. Oozing style and wit, this is a movie that—although ostensibly driven by a PI’s efforts to stop a blackmail attempt and the crime, corruption, and murder cases he becomes embroiled in as a result—isn’t so much about the satisfaction of preempting plot twists (the story is almost laughably unwieldy), but Bogart and Bacall’s steamy onscreen love affair.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Stars: Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter

No mystery movies best-of list is complete without a Hitchcock classic, and Rear Window—​based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story It Had To Be Murder—​is one of the filmmaking giant’s finest. The film follows L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies, a photographer temporarily housebound with a broken leg, who, from the rear window of his Greenwich Village apartment, attempts to expose a murderous neighbor, on more than one occasion enlisting the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly. Psycho might top most must-watch lists, but this slow-burning thriller is every bit as gripping.

Director: Roman Polanski

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Jack Huston

Although the mysteries of his personal life have a habit of sometimes overshadowing his work, director Roman Polanski’s Chinatown is one of cinema’s greatest multi-layered mystery movies. On the surface, it’s pretty drab: a story of how a PI is hired to dig up some dirt on the chief engineers of LA’s water department. But in truth, it’s so much more: Jack Nicholson at his suave, one-liner-firing best, an Oscar-winning script, and a revelation worth waiting well over 100 minutes for. (Not that you’ll be bored in the least.)

Director: Curtis Hanson

Stars: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger

Keeping track of the labyrinthine plot of Curtis Hanson’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s 1990 neo-noir novel is no mean feat, but it’s worth it. As gritty as it is glamorous, this tale of sex, drugs, and violence in sleazy 1950s L.A. sees three (very different) cops investigate a grisly multiple murder at the Night Owl diner, and culminates in one of cinema’s most memorable shoot-outs. Plus, Kim Basinger as one of film’s greatest femme fatales.

Director: David Lynch

Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux

​The bizarre, perplexing, and downright inexplicable are at the heart of surrealist filmmaker David Lynch’s movies, and Mulholland Drive is one of the director’s most masterfully executed. Originally conceived as a TV pilot, it was turned into a feature film when ABC execs rejected it for being slow-moving, impenetrable, and including an extreme close-up of dog excrement. Watch it for its slick feel and dreamlike ambience, but don’t expect a ‘whodunnit’ guessing game. As esteemed critic Roger Ebert once said of it, “There is no explanation—there may not even be a mystery.” (Cue Twilight Zone music.)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Stars: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon

Clint Eastwood’s affecting drama is packed full of powerful performances from some of Hollywood’s best leading men, but that’s not the main reason you should watch it. Mystic River’s real greatness lies in how it combines elements of the police procedural with an anguished drama of how crime begets crime in a working-class Irish-Catholic neighborhood in Boston. What makes this film special isn’t so much unexpected plot twists as character revelations, with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins putting in Oscar-winning performances.

Director: David Fincher

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.

David Fincher is to mystery movies what Michael Bay is to big-budget action romps: the overlord. While 1995’s Se7en is often considered Fincher’s finest contribution to the canon, Zodiac—​the story of a cartoonist (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) obsessed with tracking down the serial killer behind the infamous (and unsolved) Zodiac murders in 1960s/70s California—is an altogether more mysterious offering that swaps Se7en’s cut-and-dry, closed-mystery plot for a more meditative, and ultimately more chilling, reflection on the dark side of human nature.

Director: Jordan Peele

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery

Mad TV alumnus Jordan Peele’s directorial debut combines elements of horror, social comedy, and the thriller to create what’s easily one of 2017's smartest films. When a young white woman (Allison Williams) takes her black boyfriend (Daniel Kaluuya) home for the first time, her family’s faux-liberal politics are gradually revealed to be hiding something entirely more sinister, with viewers kept guessing as to exactly what brand of madness is at work. This is a movie that plays mischievously with genre—not unlike Drew Goddard’s 2011 The Cabin in the Woods—​subverts race-based cinematic conventions, and is sure to make you laugh, cringe, and scream.