The 6 Best Mystery Movies of the Last 6 Years, Ranked

There's nothing quite like a great mystery film. Pretty much any and all movies revolve around not knowing what's going to happen next, but history's best mystery movies take that concept to a whole other level, telling stories that revolve entirely around a central enigma that the main characters must proceed to investigate and solve. It's tough to truly nail the mystery genre, but over the course of the last six years, there have been six particular mystery movie masterpieces which have proven to perfectly understand everything that makes fans of the genre click. Whether it's a family detective movie like The Sheep Detectives or an award-winning thriller like It Was Just An Accident, the best mystery films that the big screen has seen since 2020 are all bound to go down in history as some of the best movies of the decade by the time 2030 rolls in. What's even better is that, as delectably diverse as the mystery genre can be, these six masterpieces offer something for virtually everyone. Some of them are intense, others are funny, others take themselves entirely seriously, and others are willing to have some silly fun with their central mystery. Regardless, they're all masterfully suspenseful and all-around essential viewing for fans of the genre. 6 'The Sheep Detectives' (2026) Hugh Jackman as George the shepherd petting one of his sheep in The Sheep Detectives Image via Amazon MGM Studios Leonie Swann's German mystery novel Three Bags Full is one of the most inventive and freshly original detective stories that literature has ever seen, if only because its main detectives aren't humans at all, but rather a group of sheep. It's an idea that lent itself flawlessly to a family-friendly cinematic adaptation, but even then, the trailers for Kyle Balda's The Sheep Detectives made it seem like little more than a silly romp. In the end, not only did the movie end up being one of the biggest surprise hits of 2026 so far, but genuinely one of the best mystery flicks the world has seen since the 2020s rolled in. Just like its trailers showed, The Sheep Detectives knows precisely when to have some goofy fun with its premise, offering plenty of elaborate gags and delightfully effective family-friendly humor. When things get more serious, however, they get surprisingly serious, with the movie being one of the most unexpected tear-jerkers of the last six years. It's a beautiful, life-affirming ensemble piece about the importance of grief and mortality for the human condition, a movie so wonderfully mature and complex that it can easily be counted among the best family movies of the last 10 years. 5 'The Batman' (2022) Robert Pattinson in The Batman Image via Warner Bros. With The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan completely changed the game, both when it came to Batman movies and to superhero and comic book cinema as a whole. And if there's any film worthy of competing with it for the title of best Batman film to date, it's undoubtedly Christopher Reeves' The Batman, one of the best thriller movies of the last five years. Yes, it's primarily a superhero action flick, but its status as a true detective mystery movie is undeniable—and it's one of the best that we have seen over the course of the 2020s, at that. With an absolutely perfect Robert Pattinson in the lead role and some of the strongest production values the superhero movie genre has seen in years, The Batman only continues to get better as the years pass. Its many action sequences are absolutely enrapturing, and its take on the Batman mythos and the character himself is as unique as it is riveting; but the best part is that it mainly succeeds as a nail-biting mystery movie. Never before had the big screen seen the Caped Crusader engaging in true detective work this intensely, and the result is one of the most deliriously entertaining blockbusters that the world has seen throughout the last six years. 4 'Decision to Leave' (2022) Image via CJ Entertainment Few countries produce mystery thrillers quite as engrossing as those produced in South Korea, and few South Korean filmmakers have ever produced more consistently phenomenal work than Park Chan-wook. One of the hyper-acclaimed auteur's latest is Decision to Leave, a neo-noir romantic mystery where a married detective takes on a murder investigation that leads him to slowly develop feelings for the murdered man's wife. The absolute masterpiece that ensues takes full advantage of every second of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Indeed, Decision to Leave is one of the best neo-noir mystery movies of all time, a testament to everything that defines Park as a universally lauded director. The film wears its Alfred Hitchcock influences on its sleeve (Vertigo being an abundantly clear point of comparison), but feels like an entirely unique subversion of usual romance thriller and mystery thriller tropes nonetheless. It's intelligent, psychologically complex, visually gorgeous, perfectly acted, and all around just another piece of evidence that Park Chan-wook is one of the greatest mystery filmmakers currently working. COLLIDER . Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one. 🪜 Parasite 🌀 Everything Everywhere ☢️ Oppenheimer 🐦 Birdman 🪙 No Country for Old Men FIND YOUR FILM → QUESTION 1 / 10 TONE 01 What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don't just entertain — they leave something behind. A Something that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I'm watching one kind of film and then reveals I'm watching another entirely. B Something overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once. C Something grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I'm watching. D Something formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do. E Something lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 10 THEME 02 Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What's yours? A Class, inequality, and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity. B Identity, family, and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart. C Genius, moral responsibility, and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back. D Ego, legacy, and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you're still alive to watch it happen. E Evil, chance, and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 10 STRUCTURE 03 How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means. A Genre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different. B Maximalist and genre-blending — comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, all in one ride. C Epic and non-linear — cutting between timelines, building a mosaic of cause and consequence. D A single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I'm living it in real time, no cuts to safety. E Spare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 10 VILLAIN 04 What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you? A A system — invisible, structural, and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face. B The self — the ways we sabotage, abandon, and fail the people we love most. C History — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect. D The industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance. E Pure, implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 10 ENDING 05 What do you want from a film's ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like? A Shock and inevitability — a conclusion that recontextualises everything that came before it. B Earned emotion — I want to cry, laugh, and feel genuinely hopeful, even if the world is a mess. C Devastation and grandeur — an ending that makes me sit in silence for a few minutes after. D Ambiguity — something that leaves enough open that I'm still thinking about it days later. E Bleakness — an honest refusal to pretend the world is tidier than it actually is. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 10 WORLD 06 Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what's even possible. A A gleaming modern city with a hidden underside — beauty masking rot, wealth masking desperation. B A collapsing suburban life that opens onto something infinite — the multiverse of a single ordinary person. C The corridors of power and science at a world-historical turning point — where decisions echo for decades. D The grimy, alive chaos of New York and Hollywood — fame as both destination and trap. E Vast, indifferent landscape — desert and highway where violence arrives without warning or reason. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 10 CRAFT 07 What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable. A Production design and mise-en-scène — every frame composed to carry meaning beneath the surface. B Editing and tonal control — the ability to move between registers without losing the audience. C Score and sound design — music that becomes inseparable from the dread and awe of what you're watching. D Cinematography as performance — the camera not recording events but participating in them. E Silence and restraint — what's left unsaid and unshown doing more work than any dialogue could. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 10 PROTAGONIST 08 What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you. A Someone smart and resourceful who makes increasingly dangerous decisions under pressure. B Someone overwhelmed and ordinary who turns out to be capable of something extraordinary. C A brilliant, tortured figure whose gifts and flaws are inseparable from each other. D A self-destructive artist whose ego is both their superpower and their undoing. E A quiet, principled person trying to make sense of a world that has stopped making sense. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 9 / 10 PACE 09 How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately. A I love a slow build when I know the payoff is going to be seismic — patience for a devastating reveal. B Give me relentless momentum — I want to feel breathless and emotionally spent by the end. C Epic runtime doesn't scare me — if the material demands three hours, give me three hours. D I want it to feel propulsive even when nothing is technically happening — restless energy throughout. E Deliberate and unhurried — I want dread to accumulate in the spaces between the action. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 10 / 10 AFTERMATH 10 What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want? A Unsettled — like I've just seen something I can't fully explain but can't stop thinking about. B Moved and energised — like the film reminded me what actually matters and gave me something to hold onto. C Humbled — like I've been in the presence of something genuinely important and overwhelming. D Exhilarated — like I've just seen cinema doing something it's never quite done before. E Haunted — like a cold, quiet dread that stays with me for days. REVEAL MY FILM → The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is… Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works. BEST PICTURE 2020 Parasite You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it's ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image. BEST PICTURE 2023 Everything Everywhere All at Once You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn't want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it's about. BEST PICTURE 2024 Oppenheimer You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort. BEST PICTURE 2015 Birdman You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it's about. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor's ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn't be possible. Michael Keaton's performance and Emmanuel Lubezki's restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all. BEST PICTURE 2008 No Country for Old Men You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 3 'Monster' (2023) Image via Toho Another exceptional auteur who has altogether re-defined Asian cinema as a whole over the course of the 21st century is Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose coming-of-age psychological drama and mystery thriller Monster is the only mystery movie from the 2020s on Letterboxd's Top 500 highest-rated movies for a reason. All in all, it's one of the only true thriller masterpieces from the 2020s, the sort that only a master like Kore-eda could have possibly crafted. Structured much like Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, it's a cinematic study of truth itself. Absolutely perfect for those who love mystery movies that are as twisty as possible, Monster toys around with and cleverly subverts audience expectations in order to deliver a story all about the toxicity of prejudice and judgments. Structured much like Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, it's a cinematic study of truth itself, and though that may sound like an idea too ambitious for any director to execute satisfyingly, Kore-eda is no normal director. Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, this absolutely timeless masterpiece is not only one of the most thematically complex mystery movies of the last six years, but downright one of the best movies of the 2020s in general, regardless of genre. 2 'It Was Just An Accident' (2025) It Was Just an Accident Image via NEON Powerhouse films delivered by powerhouse Asian filmmakers have been in no kind of short supply over the course of the last six years, as proven by the Palme d'Or winner It Was Just An Accident by Jafar Panahi, one of the greatest Iranian filmmakers in history. Panahi, since he was under an official government filmmaking ban, produced the movie in secret using a real shoestring budget and completely bare-bones filmmaking techniques. It's a cinematic miracle delivered to humanity straight from the movie gods that the result actually came to see the light of day, because this is truly one of the most stunning artistic achievements that cinema has delivered in decades. Starting with an instantly engrossing hook and leading all the way to one of the most perfect final movie shots of the 21st century, It Was Just An Accident is a revenge mystery thriller and moral drama all about the devastating psychological toll of the trauma and endless cycle of violence generated by authoritarianism. Despite being full of gorgeous visuals and perfect performances that would have never had you believe this was a low-budget production, It Was Just An Accident's low-key nature allows the riveting narrative and its thematic meditations to lead the way. 1 'Anatomy of a Fall' (2023) Sandra Voyter and Vincent Renzi standing and facing each other in Anatomy of a Fall Image via NEON Winner of the 2023 Palme d'Or, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall is nothing short of one of the best legal thrillers of all time. Far from just being any ol' legal thriller, though, this enrapturing mystery drama is also about the elusiveness of objective truth, exploring the theme that has always fascinated the legal drama movie genre: How does people's subjective perception shape reality itself? Brilliantly metatextual and impeccably written (which earned the movie a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award), it's one of the best international movies of the 2020s so far. If you're a mystery movie fan, what's not to love about Anatomy of a Fall? Its cast is absolutely phenomenal, Sandra Hüller in particular delivering what's perhaps the best performance the genre has seen this decade; Triet's direction is perfectly paced and visually stunning; and the ambiguity of the narrative keeps the film consistently nail-bitingly suspenseful from start to finish. For anyone who loves this genre, Anatomy of a Fall should be considered essential viewing.