65 Most Underrated Mystery Movies You Need To Watch

"Brick" is the first film by writer-director Rian Johnson, who made a little movie called "Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi" and then followed that up with the best whodunnit in years in "Knives Out." Like "Knives Out," "Brick" sees Johnson tackling a classic mystery subgenre and twisting it to create something excitingly new. Here, that subgenre is hard-boiled noir, and the twist is that the film is about high school kids. It's a bold swing, making teens talk in slang that comes so fast and is so specific it could take an audience half the movie to catch up, but it works surprisingly well.

The story begins when Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) receives a mysterious phone call from his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) in which she mentions several things that he doesn't quite understand, including a "bad brick." The mystery deepens and becomes more sinister when Emily's body is discovered soon after the call. The movie then follows Brendan as he speaks with members of various cliques at school and attempts to figure out exactly what led to her death.

It's a fantastically stylish movie that tells the kind of private investigator story we might see in a noir from the '40s, with the same fast-talking and double-crossing. Only, instead of dark and rainy streets, the backdrop is a small southern California town. "Brick" is an underrated movie from a talented filmmaker that you really need to see if you haven't already.

The most newsworthy aspect of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is the nearly one-hour-long 3D take that makes up the film's back half, something that's likely not available in its original intended form to most at-home viewers. But the third dimension of that sequence is only one aspect of what makes it incredible and we think the movie is well worth seeking out for mystery fans, even if they can't get hold of a 3D Blu-ray and TV.

The story follows Luo Hongwu (Huang Jue), who returns to his hometown for his father's funeral but finds himself searching for his old flame Wan Qiwen (Tang Wei). The central mystery is rather simple: Where is Wan Qiwen? But the film uses this simple question, and Luo's quest to find her, to address questions of memory and its relationship to dreams. It slips back and forth between the present and the past, showing the audience moments of the two lovers when they were together.

As the film goes on and enters its bravura long take, it seems that Luo has entered a dream, but a dream where he can find some version of Wan and be at peace. "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is a very unique movie and one that all film fans, not just mystery fans, need to watch.

"Body Double" is Brian De Palma's most overt Hitchcock riff in a filmography full of films that pay respect to the master of suspense. The plot of "Body Double" is a mix of two of Hitchcock's best films, both starring "Anatomy of a Murder" star James Stewart — "Rear Window" and "Vertigo." But it manages to be something wholly original due to its surprisingly brutal violence and its focus on the adult entertainment industry in its latter half.

The movie begins when Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) takes on a housesitting job at a home in the Hollywood Hills from Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry). The home belongs to a wealthy friend of Sam's who is out of town, and while the home has a bevy of astounding attributes and amenities, Sam is particularly interested in drawing Jake's attention to a telescope he has set up to spy on a neighbor across the street. The neighbor is a beautiful woman who does the same sensual dance at the same time every night, something Sam is all too pleased to let Jake in on.

While the initial mystery of the film seems to be "who is this woman?" it quickly morphs into something much more deadly when she is murdered. And yet another layer is added when Jake sees adult film performer Holly Body (Melanie Griffith) do the same dance that the woman used to do, leading him to take it upon himself to investigate the connection between Holly and the woman who has been murdered. It's a thrilling movie that updates Hitchcock for the era of the slasher and erotic thriller, with some of De Palma's boldest directorial choices and a fantastically over-the-top score from composer Pino Donaggio.

"The Wailing" is a big movie. Not necessarily in scale, as it really only focuses on and takes place in the small village of Gokseong (which also serves as the film's Korean title). But in its over two and a half hour runtime the movie covers a huge amount of plot and invokes worlds beyond our own to tell a story that centers on universal themes of family and doubt.

The story begins when a strange disease that drives people to kill those closest to them begins to spread throughout the village. Investigating police officer Jong-soo (Kwak Do-won) becomes personally involved when his daughter Hyo-jin (Kim Hwan-hee) seems to have contracted it. The plot moves seamlessly between murder mystery and supernatural horror: The initial question is who has killed these people and why, but then we start to wonder how the disease works and where it has come from.

"The Wailing" succeeds as both of those types of mysteries. Its focus on a police officer makes the first part of the movie follow in the footsteps of other mystery horror films centered on serial killing. But when the disease is discovered and Hyo-jin becomes sick, what seemed like a human evil is revealed to be something greater and much more difficult to uncover.

"Blood and Black Lace" is the first Giallo on this list, and is prototypical for the entire genre. While "The Girl Who Knew Too Much," Mario Bava's previous film, is often considered the first Giallo, "Blood and Black Lace" is both a more influential and a better movie. It's incredibly lurid for a film released in the early 1960s, both in terms of its extreme color saturation and the violence and sexuality depicted. It established some of the key tropes of the genre going forward, including a black-gloved killer and frank depictions of sexuality.

The story centers on a fashion house and the models who work there as they begin to be killed by a mysterious figure seemingly in search of a diary that includes incriminating evidence. But the diary contains so much incriminating evidence about so many different things in the fashion house that it seems any of the models or other employees have the motivation to kill to get their hands on it. There are many characters, red herrings, and a significant exposition drop towards the end of the film that reveals who has been doing the killing.

The mystery at the heart of the movie is engaging and keeps the audience guessing, but it's the colorful and over-the-top style that makes "Blood and Black Lace" one of the most underrated mystery movies you need to watch.

"A Shot in the Dark" is the first (but certainly not last) movie on this list that is an all-out comedy. This first sequel to "The Pink Panther" is better than its predecessor in almost every way. Loosely based on a play by Marcel Achard, "A Shot in the Dark" is both a more exciting detective story and a much funnier comedy than "The Pink Panther" as it centers on Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau.

The story begins when a chauffeur is murdered at the home of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders). Because he employs a large number of staff members, there's a significant pool of suspects. But the case seems clear cut — the beautiful maid Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer) was in the room with the man when he was murdered and was found with a literal smoking gun. The two were romantically involved, so the murder could easily have been a crime of passion, yet Clouseau is convinced of Maria's innocence and sets out to prove that she is not the murderer.

The setup is classic whodunit stuff, with a large cast of characters who could all potentially be guilty. But what makes "A Shot in the Dark" an underrated mystery movie you need to see is Sellers' brilliant comic performance as Clouseau. He is a clumsy fool who makes slapstick into an art form, yet he manages to be just as funny with his words as he is with his body.

While "Blood and Black Lace" is certainly a foundational film for the Giallo subgenre due (in part) to its depiction of sexuality, it looks downright tame next to "What Have You Done to Solange?," which arrived in theaters eight years later. "What Have You Done to Solange?" is a much sleazier affair, both in its violence and in its considerable amount of nudity. But there's much more to the film than sleaze, which is why it lands on our list of underrated mystery movies you need to watch.

What makes the film a must-see is the mystery at its center. "What Have You Done to Solange?" follows college professor Enrico Rosseni (Fabio Testi), who becomes a suspect when one of the young women at the school, who also happened to be his mistress, is killed. But as the body count grows and Rosseni is absolved, the mystery of who is killing these young women and why leads Rosseni to Solange, who attended the college briefly before disappearing. What happened to Solange and how the killings relate to her then becomes the central focus of the film, and the reveal is certainly not something most (if any) viewers will see coming.

"My Name is Julia Ross," based on the book "The Woman in Red" by Anthony Gilbert (the pseudonym of Lucy Beatrice Malleson), is equal parts gothic horror and classic 1940s noir. The story centers on the titular Julia Ross (Nina Foch), who, desperate for work, takes a job as a live-in secretary to a wealthy older widow. But a few days after accepting the job and moving in, she awakens to find herself in a room in the mansion on a cliff over the sea (classic gothic horror iconography) that she cannot leave.

All of her things are gone and she is continually referred to as "Marion" by the staff of the home. When she attempts to tell them that her name is Julia they seem to pity her. She soon meets the widow's son Ralph (George Macready), who tells her that she is his wife Marion and that she has experienced a nervous breakdown. The rest of the movie then follows her attempts to escape and unravel the mystery of why the widow and her son are keeping her prisoner and attempting to convince everyone that she is someone else.

It's a tight story, both in scope and runtime (the movie lasts just over an hour), but it never lacks tension or atmosphere. We're in constant fear for Julia's safety and cannot help but wonder why such an elaborate scheme has been concocte

"Station West," based on the novel of the same name by Luke Short, is one of a few films from the classic Hollywood era that mixed the Western and noir genres to great success. What makes "Station West" stand out is that it's the best mystery movie and arguably the best of them all at mixing the iconography of Westerns and noir. The movie follows Haven (Dick Powell, who just a few years earlier was the first actor to portray iconic noir P.I. Philip Marlowe in "Murder, My Sweet"), a military intelligence officer who gets sent to a small town to investigate the murder of two soldiers who were robbed and killed while protecting a shipment of gold.

"Station West" is a solid mystery film, with its investigating military man and whodunit set up, but what makes it really special is the way that it blends the staples of Western and noir films so seamlessly. Haven literally rides into town at the start of the movie and out again at the end, and the film has a memorable femme fatale in Charlie (Jane Greer), who can compete with any of the women from the most famous noir films. Because it so perfectly hits these classic beats, it's a great introduction to both the noir and Western genres for any mystery fans who are more familiar with modern mystery movies.

"The Handmaiden," based on the book "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters and helmed by "Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook, is one of the best Korean movies of the 2010s and is certainly one of the most underrated mystery movies of all time. The story follows young pickpocket Nam Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), who is enlisted by a con artist to serve as the handmaiden to Izumi Hideko (Kim Min-hee), a young woman whose uncle made a fortune by helping the Japanese colonize Korea. The goal is to steal her huge inheritance.

The plot may not sound like the setup for a typical mystery — there isn't a dead body, a missing person, or anything else resembling a standard driving question for a mystery film. The question that drives "The Handmaiden" is "why are these characters behaving this way?" It's a film that tells its story in three parts, each of which recontextualizes the part that came before in such a way that we never know exactly who is scheming against who until the film's pitch-perfect finale.

"The Handmaiden" is an unconventional movie in many ways and one that mystery fans need to see, not just for the brilliant way in which the film unfolds, but also for its gorgeous period setting and the incredible performances from all the lead actors.

While there is a "Gaslight" movie from 1940, also based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton, it's the version from 1944 starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and Joseph Cotten that we think is a mystery movie you need to see. The story inspired the term "gaslighting," meaning to manipulate someone to the point that they doubt their sanity.

The plot centers on the beautiful Paula (Bergman), who left London for Italy as a child after the murder of her caretaker aunt. She returns to her childhood home after she marries the charming but mysterious Gregory (Boyer). The movie puts its cards on the table fairly early on as we see Gregory purposefully manipulate Paula into questioning her memories, but the mystery that drives the film's plot holds throughout: Who is Gregory, and what does he really want from Paula? The film also follows Scotland Yard's Brian Cameron (Cotten) as he investigates the cold case murder of Paula's aunt and the strange experiences Paula describes to him. Like "My Name is Julia Ross," it beautifully mixes noir and horror filmmaking to create something truly special.

"Murder by Death" is another all-out comedy, one that serves as a side-splitting send-up of the country house whodunit subgenre. The film follows a group of world-famous detectives, each based on major fictional detectives, who get invited to the home of eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) for dinner and a murder. Twain wants to show the detectives that he is a better criminologist than all of them, and offers a million dollars to whoever can solve a murder that will occur at midnight. Things, unsurprisingly, do not go to plan, and soon there's a genuine mystery afoot.

More than the central whodunit, the great joy of "Murder by Death" is the cast of parody characters based on famous fictional detectives played by major stars. We get David Niven and Maggie Smith as Dick and Dora Charleston, heightened versions of Nick and Nora Charles of "The Thin Man" fame, Peter Falk doing his best impression of Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon" as Sam Diamond, and many others. The movie is definitely dated, but most of the jokes are at the expense of mystery stories themselves, making it a must-see for fans of the genre.

"Cure," from celebrated Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, follows in the footsteps of "Se7en" as a modern serial killer mystery film that blurs the lines between a pure crime procedural and horror because of the gruesomeness of the crimes. Several murders have been committed by different people using different methods. Each victim has an X carved into their throat by the killers, who are then stunned by their own behavior.

The movie follows detective Kenichi Takabe (Kōji Yakusho), who investigates the murders with the help of psychiatrist Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki). Takabe struggles to connect the murders in any logical way until he entertains the possibility of the murderers being hypnotized. It's a somewhat surprising central plot point for a mystery that is this dark and serious, but the way that hypnotism is portrayed in "Cure" is fascinating, beautiful, and genuinely frightening — especially as the film goes on and the viewer becomes somewhat hypnotized by the increasingly unconventional form.

"Cure" is part of the same movement in Japanese film that gave us "Ringu" and "Ju On: The Grudge," and it deserves just as much attention as those films. It also ranks among "Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho's favorite films of all time. "Cure" is a must-see for fans of serial killer mysteries, and one that's sure to linger with viewers after the credits roll.

"The Player," by "The Long Goodbye" director Robert Altman, begins with an inviting mystery but uses that mystery more as a jumping-off point to explore the Hollywood of the early 1990s. This smart satire opens with an iconic long shot that comments on itself and immediately sets the tone for the rest of the film as a movie about movies. Studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) receives an anonymous postcard with a threatening message, one that makes him believe a writer he once rejected is going to take violent action against him soon. As the movie goes on, more postcards appear, leading Mill to investigate writers he has previously met with and rejected in the past. All the while, the hotshot young executive Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) seems to be making moves for his job.

The movie certainly has its thrilling moments, as the letters are unnerving and at one point the mystery mailer manages to sneak a rattlesnake into Mill's car. But what makes "The Player" one of the most underrated mystery movies ever is actually not its mystery — it's the world it depicts around that mystery. This is a world full of celebrities (there are so many cameos in the movie that it's impossible to spot them all in a single viewing), wealth, and glamor that's built on backstabbing, self-centeredness, and flat out disregard for other people. "The Player" shines a light on this world with a deft touch, keeping viewers glued to their seats from start to finish.

Paul Feig's "A Simple Favor" is a joyous mix of thriller, mystery, and dark comedy that contains some career-best performances from the always-magnetic Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. The pair manage to play both the comedy and the heavier genre elements with the same level of commitment, making for a memorable movie experience. Lively in particular is showstopping, dressed in perfectly tailored suits as she flits between threatening and charming with ease.

The story, adapted from the novel of the same name by Darcey Bell, follows a single mommy vlogger named Stephanie (Kendrick), who befriends her mysterious and alluring neighbor Emily (Lively) shortly before Emily goes missing. Stephanie then takes it upon herself to investigate, and the movie delivers a twisty mystery that keeps viewers guessing while also keeping them laughing. It's also one of the few movies in recent years to truly evoke the heyday of the erotic thriller.

For a film that serves as a sequel to what is arguably the best horror movie of all time, "The Exorcist III" (based on the novel "Legion" by William Peter Blatty) plays more like a serial killer mystery than a supernatural horror movie. But when it takes an inevitable supernatural turn, it becomes one of the most original and disturbing horror movies to deal with possession and exorcism.

The story begins when a series of murders that match the modus operandi of a serial killer who has been dead for more than a decade commences. The film then follows Lieutenant William F. Kinderman (George C. Scott) as he investigates these attacks, one of which claims the life of his friend, a priest. Over the course of his investigation, he is led to a patient at a psychiatric ward who may know something about the murders and seems to have some sort of connection to the death of Father Karras in "The Exorcist."

"The Exorcist III" is a fantastic mystery movie and an unnerving horror at the same time, bringing the two together in a unique way.

It may seem odd that the sequel to one of the most iconic mystery horror movies of all time is on an underrated mystery movies list, but "Psycho II" is sadly underrated, if not outright forgotten. Made more than twenty years after the original movie, "Psycho II" manages an incredible feat: It picks up the story of Norman Bates and makes him the most sympathetic character. It certainly helps that Anthony Perkins returns to the role and plays Norman, who has been released from a psychiatric hospital and declared cured, with so much innocence and sweetness that it's impossible not to root for him.

The mystery of the film begins when Norman starts to receive phone calls and notes from his mother, and the question arises: "Is Norman still seeing and hearing his mother persona or is someone purposefully driving Norman mad?" We won't reveal anymore, but the film does a beautiful job of ensuring that the audience can't quite know for sure right up until the end. It's very different to its predecessor, but it's worthy of a reappraisal as it's certainly a fantastic mystery movie and may be one of the best slasher sequels of the 1980s.

Heavily inspired by the classic slashers of the 1970s and '80s, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" centers on a group of teenagers who go out to a remote ranch for a party and the murders that occur over the course of their first night there. It's a classic story, but what makes "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" special is its simultaneous reverence and uncertainty about the slasher genre. The movie recreates plot points and the visual style of early horror movies, particularly "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," but some of the twists and turns in the film's back half subvert the usual tropes of slasher films in fascinating ways.

"All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" uses its simple slasher and whodunit set up to create something that feels like one of the most important contributions to the genre in the 21st century, and for that, we think it's an underrated mystery movie that you need to watch.

Thanks to Jane Campion's return to film with "The Power of the Dog," "In the Cut" is beginning to receive a broad critical reappraisal. Based on the novel of the same name by Susanna Moore, "In the Cut" is an erotic thriller unlike any other. The film doesn't have the sheen of something like "Basic Instinct" and instead presents a dirty and threatening vision of New York in the early 2000s that serves its story about a teacher who becomes involved with a detective searching for a killer of women.

Along with Campion's specific visual style, "In the Cut" also offers some of the best performances from stars Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo. The film marked a major change in Ryan's career, who up until that point was largely thought of as America's rom-com sweetheart. Her performance feels real, full of feminine desire and fear in a way that is seldom brought to the screen. And Ruffalo manages to create a character who is equally threatening and alluring. We're afraid of his tough detective Malloy and the rough way that he talks, but also understand why Ryan's Frannie is attracted to him and begins a relationship with him.

It's a movie whose central mystery lends a backdrop to the romantic, or at least sexual, story at its core, but makes sure to satisfy the questions that the mystery poses. Campion delivers a climax that's as thought-provoking as it is thrilling.

The screenlife subgenre is here to stay, and 2018's "Searching" is one of the best examples we've seen thus far. While most screenlife movies are full-on horror flicks, which have seen varying degrees of success, "Searching" functions entirely as a mystery movie as John Cho's David Kim searches for his missing daughter Margot using a variety of technological tools at his disposal.

"Searching" manages to make the most of the screenlife format to maximize its impact both as an emotional story about a father missing his daughter and as a suspenseful missing person mystery. We often see text that is written then deleted and rewritten, showing us what David really wants to say and how desperate he is to find his daughter. And discerning audience members can spot files and images that become important later on in the narrative.

"Searching" isn't just one of the best examples of how the format can be used to create an incredibly exciting mystery film — at this point, it's the greatest example of how screenlife can be used to get the audience emotionally invested in its characters. It does this throughout, but almost all of that grows out of an opening sequence that serves as a powerful emotional introduction to the movie's characters.

"Personal Shopper" is one of Kristen Stewart's best films and won director Olivier Assayas the Best Director award at Cannes the year it premiered, but it's still significantly underseen. The movie, which Assayas wrote specifically for Stewart, follows her as Maureen, a personal shopper to a famous model who is mourning the loss of her twin brother Lewis. But Maureen is also a medium, as was her brother, and they made a pact that whichever of them died first would give the surviving sibling a sign from the other side. What begins as a simple mystery morphs into something more sinister when she encounters a malevolent spirit at his old home.

The mystery and sense of danger are amplified when she begins to receive strange text messages from an anonymous source. It's unclear whether the texts are coming from Lewis, a living person, or another spirit — perhaps the threatening one that Maureen encountered at Lewis' home. The movie takes some twists and turns, but the real gem here is the atmosphere that Assayas creates, which somehow unnerves and comforts at the same time. It's one of the movies on this list that is more interested in the mystery than the answers. The invitation that it extends to engage in that mystery is surprisingly warm despite the presence of malevolent spirits.

British horror studio Hammer, best known for its "Dracula" films starring Christopher Lee, also released several smaller, less lavish productions — often also starring Christopher Lee. "Taste of Fear," also known as "Scream of Fear," is one such smaller production, but don't let the more modest scale fool you: "Taste of Fear" is a great movie that fans of mystery films will no doubt adore. In fact, Christopher Lee said that he thought it was the best Hammer movie of all time.

The story follows young wheelchair-user Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg), who gets an invitation to move in with her estranged father. When she arrives at his home, her father isn't there, only her stepmother Jane (Ann Todd). One night Penny believes that she sees her father's body, and that's just the beginning of the strange happenings at the estate by the sea. She's told that she must be imagining things by her stepmother and her stepmother's friend Doctor Gerrard (Lee). The movie follows in the footsteps of "Gaslight" and also "My Name is Julia Ross," as it mixes gothic horror imagery with noir mystery.

The important film noir "Crossfire" made history when it became the first B-movie to be nominated for best picture at the Oscars. It was also one of the first films to address antisemitism, yet it's still often forgotten about today. The story, based on the novel "The Brick Foxhole" by Richard Brooks, centers on the murder of a Jewish man (the victim was a gay man in the novel but the Hays Code did not allow depictions of homosexuality on the big screen) by a member of the military.

The film follows the twin investigations by Captain Finlay (Robert Young), the official investigator set to the task by the military police, and Sergeant Keeley (Robert Mitchum), who wants to prove his friend Corporal Arthur "Mitch" Mitchell (George Cooper) is innocent. As the movie goes on it becomes clear that the only motive for the murder was prejudice and hatred, as none of the suspects knew the murdered man for more than a few hours. It's a gripping watch that lovers of the mystery genre won't be able to look away from.

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"The Great Muppet Caper" is the only movie on this list made for kids, so it's little surprise that there isn't any unbearable tension, significant suspense, or any murder. But what "The Great Muppet Caper" does offer is a delightful time with some of the world's most beloved puppet characters, a slew of celebrities (in both major and cameo roles), and near non-stop jokes that are just as funny now as they were when the film was released in 1981.

Wealthy British fashion designer Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg) has had a bunch of jewels stolen, which leads investigative reporters Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear to travel to England so they can solve the mystery. Hijinks ensue when there's a case of mistaken identity: Kermit believes Miss Piggy (Oz) to be Lady Holiday. There's also a full-on Busby Berkeley number that never gets old. We're along for the ride as our heroes work to catch the thieves in the act.

"The Great Muppet Caper" answers the question of its central mystery early on, and the motivations for the thieves are addressed in hilariously simple fashion later in the film. But the musical numbers, the clever jokes, and the simple joy of seeing puppets investigate a crime make it an underrated mystery movie that holds up to this day.

"Diabolique," sometimes referred to by its French title "Les Diaboliques," follows in the footsteps of films like "The Seventh Victim," "My Name is Julia Ross," and "Gaslight" by beautifully mixing the horror and noir genres. It's the story of two women — the wife and mistress of a man, whom they both hate. They execute a plan to murder him, but things become more mysterious (and much scarier) when the body goes missing.

The women, wife Christina (Véra Clouzot) and mistress Nicole (Simone Signoret), then spend the rest of the film attempting to discover what has happened to the body. But as they try to find the missing corpse, strange things begin to occur, like students at the school where they work saying they have seen the murdered Michel (Paul Meurisse) and dark figures in the background of school photos.

It's an incredibly well made movie that centers on a pair of women — something that must be celebrated in the largely male-focused noir genre — and cranks up the tension throughout by always keeping the viewer guessing. In fact, it's so good that Robert Bloch, the author of "Psycho," called it his "favorite horror film of all time" in an interview. "I think that is the epitome of what the horror film should be," he said. "You'll note that there is very little bloodshed."

"Ruben Brandt, Collector" is unlike any other animated movie, which makes sense given that the film is the first (and, at the time of this writing, the only) feature film from visual artist Milorad Krstic. The visual style of the movie is entirely Krstic's own, but what makes it more interesting is that throughout the film, there are versions of famous works by a variety of artists. They somehow fit into the style of the film, creating what feels like the visual art equivalent of song covers. But the visual joys of "Ruben Brandt, Collector" are only the beginning.

This memorable movie melds a variety of film genres, including heist, action, spy-thriller, and, of course, mystery. The result is a narrative that's equally thought-provoking and fun. The story, also by Krstic, follows the exploits of art therapist Ruben Brandt (voiced by Iván Kamarás) and his patients, who travel the world stealing famous works of art that haunt Ruben's dreams. Detective Mike Kowalski (Csaba Márton) is hot on their tails. While there is the mystery of who is stealing the paintings for Mike, the real question that drives the movie is "why is Ruben haunted by these paintings?" — the answer is delightfully satisfying and unexpected.

"Ruben Brandt, Collector" boasts some of the most unique animation you can find anywhere as well as a thrilling story full of great action sequences and a mystery that's sure to delight fans of fine art.

"You Were Never Really Here," based on the novella of the same name by Jonathan Ames, is neo-noir stripped down to its barest elements. It's a sparse movie with a lot of room to breathe, but that doesn't mean that it isn't also a riveting and powerful film.

The story begins when Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), an ex-military man who now works as hired muscle specializing in rescuing trafficked young women and girls, is tasked with finding and returning Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov) to her state Senator father Albert Votto (Alex Manette). He does so easily, his skillset made apparent in a fascinating anti-action scene shown entirely through surveillance camera footage where he single-handedly raids an underground brothel. But things get more complicated when, after returning with Nina to the hotel room he has been directed to as a meeting place, he learns that the Senator has committed suicide. That's when the police enter the room, kidnap Nina, and attempt to kill Joe.

Joe is committed to rescuing the girl and unraveling the mystery of why the police would kidnap her. "You Were Never Really Here" is an exciting mystery movie, but what makes it truly special is the way that director Lynne Ramsay places the audience into Joe's headspace — he struggles with PTSD, both from his time in the military and from the abuse he and his mother endured at the hands of his father. It's this psychological portrait that makes the movie both difficult to watch and incredibly rewarding.

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"Martyrs" is best known for being an extremely difficult to watch horror movie, and it certainly is that — it is often cited as the example of the New French Extremity movement. But what many of these discussions ignore is how effective it is as a mystery movie.

It opens with a scene set in 1971 in which a young Lucie Jurin (Jessie Pham) escapes from captivity in an abandoned slaughterhouse, where she was held and tortured for over a year. When she is discovered by authorities, Lucie is sent to an orphanage and befriends Anna (Erika Scott), who takes it upon herself to help Lucie feel safe. Years later, a seemingly normal family begins their day, but their breakfast is interrupted by Lucie (now played by Mylène Jampanoï), who attacks and kills them all with a shotgun.

That's only the beginning of the extreme violence that "Martyrs" serves up, but these opening sequences also invite the audience to question why Lucie went to this house. Anna (played by Morjana Alaoui in the present) arrives at the home where Lucie has slaughtered the family and cannot understand how this seemingly average family could have been connected to her abduction and torture as a child. But, as the movie goes on, things are revealed that answer some questions but only pose other, more troubling, ones.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

"The Vanishing" is a strange and disturbing mystery movie because its central question is so different from other mysteries. The story begins when Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna ter Steege), Dutch tourists on vacation in France, pull in at a rest stop and Saskia seems to vanish into thin air. But instead of simply following Rex on his search for Saskia, "The Vanishing" offers answers early on by introducing Ray (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu).

In a flashback we see Ray planning his abduction and rehearsing exactly how he might lure women back to his car. As the movie goes on, it plays somewhat like a cat and mouse game as Ray reaches out to Rex anonymously and keeps tabs on his search for Saskia. But the real mystery here is what exactly Ray did after abducting Saskia. It's a question that the film answers with a shocking ending, but for a film with a missing person premise, it's surprising how much information "The Vanishing" offers viewers.

"Them," like "Martyrs," is often considered part of the New French Extremity movement, but unlike Martyrs, which offers a mystery that only grows in scope, the mystery at the heart of "Them" is very simple. The movie opens with a scene of a mother and daughter being killed after pulling over on a dark country road. It then brings us into the home of Clémentine (Olivia Bonamy) and Lucas (Michaël Cohen), a French couple living in Romania where Clémentine has taken a job as a teacher.

On her way home from school one day, Clémentine passes the car of the mother and daughter we saw in the opening, and that night she and Lucas are attacked as well. It begins as taunting: Their car is moved in their driveway, and when they return to the home after attempting to check on the car (which is stolen as they approach) their TV has been turned on and their kitchen sink is running. But it soon takes a violent turn as Clémentine and Lucas attempt to escape their tormentors.

The attackers are largely faceless figures toying with our protagonists for unknown reasons for most of the movie. It's a thrilling film that doesn't use much violence (especially when compared with "Martyrs") but delivers incredible tension.

The often-referenced film "The Stepford Wives" made a significant impact on pop culture, but the original (it was remade in 2004) remains largely underseen. Based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin (who also wrote the book from which "Rosemary's Baby" was adapted), "The Stepford Wives" is a movie that manages to retain both its satirical and cinematic edge all these years later, even if you already know what's going on in Stepford.

And that's exactly the driving question of the movie, as Joanna (Katharine Ross) moves from Manhattan to the titular Connecticut suburb with her husband and their two daughters for a quieter life. But while life in Stepford is certainly quiet, it also seems wrong, as almost every woman that Joanna meets expresses no interest in anything outside of housework and pleasing their husbands.

When Joanna's friend Charmaine (Tina Louise), who arrived in town around the same time she did, returns from a trip with her husband, she no longer exhibits the same interest in the reading group that she and their friend Bobby (Paula Prentiss) had organized. Instead, she only seems interested in what she can do to make her husband's life easier. Baffled by the sudden change in her outlook, Joanna and Bobby begin to investigate. It's a surprisingly tense and frightening movie as Joanna and Bobby learn more about the town's secrets and about the desire the men in their lives have to control women.

Hollywood has a long history of actors becoming directors, and sometimes the first films from these actors turned directors are so good they make us wonder why they didn't make the leap sooner. "Gone Baby Gone," Ben Affleck's feature film directorial debut, is one such movie. Based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane (who has had a number of his books adapted for the screen, mostly with great success), the film follows private investigators Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). The couple gets hired to find missing four year old Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien) by her aunt and uncle.

Kenzie and Gennaro's investigation takes the movie into the dark underworld of Boston, where they try to dig up as much information as possible. The mystery of where Amanda is and who might have abducted her is far from simple, however, and soon Kenzie is questioning the people who hired him. "Gone Baby Gone" is a difficult movie to watch as it asks questions about what we believe is best for children, especially the children of addicts who love their kids but may not be equipped to properly care for them. But through all of that darkness and difficulty, it never loses its narrative momentum and succeeds as a thrilling mystery movie with a number of surprises.

After setting the record for the fastest movie to ever make it to a billion dollars at the box office with "Furious 7" and helming the most successful film in an ongoing superhero universe with "Aquaman," James Wan decided to make a movie for himself. And what a movie it is.

"Malignant" begins with a sequence that looks like it could be from a parody of the gothic horror movies discussed on this list, as doctors and nurses panic in their cliffside asylum about getting a violent patient under control. But, when we then jump to the present and characters are still talking in wild clichés, it becomes clear that the movie is in on its own joke. It's a thrill ride in terms of horror, action, mystery, and comedy. It follows a woman named Madison (Annabelle Wallis), who begins to witness murders through strange visions. The film moves deftly between genres and never lets up on delivering excitement and surprises.

"Malignant" was Wan's first original horror movie in years when it arrived in theaters and it's easy to see that he wanted to use all of his credibility to deliver a movie like nothing else — he definitely succeeded. While it was mostly well-received by critics, it hasn't been widely seen and didn't make much of a splash at the box office, so we think it belongs firmly among the other underrated mystery movies on this list.