Mysterious movies combine aspects of thriller, crime, horror, and drama to create intriguing atmospheres, mysterious characters, and sophisticated narratives that attract spectators. These movies have intricate plots centered on unexplained deaths, mental riddles, or paranormal happenings. To keep the audience guessing, hints and red herrings are progressively revealed. Shadows, ominous music, and gloomy lighting are used to create an unsettling atmosphere. Characters are frequently enigmatic, with hidden agendas and backstories. These films are both academically stimulating and intensely emotional because of their themes, which delve into the darkest sides of human nature and the unknown, forcing spectators to reevaluate reality and their views.

1. Drishyam (2015)

Nishikant Kamat is the director of the 2015 Indian Hindi-language murder thriller film Drishyam (transl. Visual). In the key characters are Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta, Mrunal Jadhav, and Rajat Kapoor. It is a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film of the same name. After its July 31, 2015, release, it became a critical and commercial triumph, grossing over ₹111 crores globally. In 2022, Drishyam 2—a follow-up—was launched. When the movie opened in China later in 2022, it brought in $4.05 million, bringing its total earnings above ₹147 crores globally.

An orphan named Vijay Salgaonkar left school in the fourth grade. After that, he starts his own firm and operates a cable TV service in Goa. He has two daughters: Anju, his adopted elder daughter, and Anu, his youngest daughter. He is married to Nandini. Aside from his family, his primary hobby is watching movies.

The remake rights for the movie were purchased by Panorama Studios in May 2021, following the triumph of the original Malayalam film Drishyam 2. Replacing their previous roles are Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta, Mrunal Jadhav, and Rajat Kapoor.

2. Jaane Jaan (Netflix – 2023)

Sujoy Ghosh is the writer and director of the 2023 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film Jaane Jaan (transl. My Dear Beloved), which was distributed abroad as Suspect X. The Devotion of Suspect X, a 2005 Japanese novel by Keigo Higashino, is the basis for the movie.

Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Vijay Varma play a single mother engaged in a murder. The movie is being produced by Northern Lights Films and 12th Street Entertainment in collaboration with Kross Pictures and Balaji Motion Pictures. Critics gave it favorable reviews when it debuted on Netflix on September 21, 2023, praising the lead actors’ performances in particular. Jaane Jaan became the year’s most-watched Indian movie on Netflix in terms of total hours seen worldwide, shattering the previous record for the largest opening weekend audience for an Indian movie.

3. Sajni shinde ka viral video (Netflix – 2023)

2023’s Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video is an Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller from Mikhil Musale, produced by Maddock Films’ Dinesh Vijan. The main actors in it are Subodh Bhave, Bhagyashree, Radhika Madan, and Nimrat Kaur.

Based on the life of Sajini Shinde, a physics teacher in a reputable Pune school, the movie tells her journey. Sajni, Shraddha, and other partygoers are in Singapore for Sajni’s birthday celebration at the beginning of the movie. She was nervous to go out and party at a nightclub, but Siddhant Kadam, her fiancé, gave her courage by encouraging her to act like a contemporary lady. Shinde made the decision to relax and enjoy the evening. After a few beers, Sajni went for a freewheeling dance. Shraddha unintentionally recorded the dance and uploaded the recordings to the school’s website. When her video went viral and sparked backlash in Ahmednagar, her birthplace, school, and city, Sajini—a young teacher from a tiny village caught between traditional beliefs and contemporary aspirations—found herself in a terrifying predicament. Under pressure from infuriated parents and committee members, Kalyanai, the principal, swiftly fired her from the school while she was returning to India. She did not accede to the Principal’s request to be reinstated.

October 27, 2023, saw the release of the movie.

4. Silence… Can You Hear It? (ZEE5 – 2021)

Aban Bharucha Deohans is the writer and director of the 2021 Indian Hindi-language thriller film Silence… Can You Hear It? Starring in the Zee Studios-produced movie are Arjun Mathur, Prachi Desai, and Manoj Bajpayee. The film’s narrative centers on a woman’s unexplained disappearance. ZEE5 carried a digital release of it on March 26, 2021. Desai makes his fourth cinematic appearance.

The movie had a mixed response. Although giving it a two-star rating out of five, The Indian Express described it as a “entertaining murder mystery”. It’s highly advised to see Silence… Can You Hear It?, according to Joginder Tutjeja of Rediff Movies. In a review for The Tribune, Gurnaaz Kaur wrote, “Do you hear the movie Silence? is an obnoxious boring “.

On April 16, 2024, a follow-up called Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout was released.

5. Badla (2019)

The 2019 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller Badla (transl. Revenge) stars Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Tony Luke, and Amrita Singh. It is directed by Sujoy Ghosh. The movie, which is a remake of the 2016 Spanish film The Invisible Guest, is produced by Universal Entertainment, Red Chillies Entertainment, and Azure Entertainment. The narrative centers on a businesswoman who, at an interview with a lawyer, maintains that she is being falsely accused of killing her partner.

Badla was a huge financial success when it was released on March 8, 2019,[8][9] and grossed over ₹1.38 billion (US$17 million) globally despite having a ₹370 million (US$4.6 million) production budget. It was highly praised by critics for its modified tale and script, language, images, cinematography, and acting performances. It was widely acclaimed.

Badla was nominated for four awards at the 65th Filmfare Awards, including Best Supporting Actress (Singh).

6. Hereditary (2018)

In 2018, Ari Aster made his feature directorial debut with the American psychological supernatural horror thriller Hereditary, which he wrote and directed. The movie, which stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne, centers on a bereaved family who loses their reclusive grandmother and is tortured by a demonic force.

A24 became interested in Aster’s work on short horror films, particularly The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, and approved Hereditary as his debut feature picture. Aster originally thought of it as essentially being divided into two halves, a family drama. In order to give the movie a dollhouse look, the majority of the interior scenes were filmed on specially constructed sets on a soundstage during the 2017 filming in Utah.

On January 21, 2018, Hereditary made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. On June 8, 2018, it was distributed in theaters nationwide. The movie earned nearly $82 million and favorable reviews, making it A24’s highest-grossing movie at the time. That record stood until Everything Everywhere All at Once came out in 2022.

7. Shutter Island (2010)

Martin Scorsese’s 2010 neo-noir psychological thriller Shutter Island is an American production. Laeta Kalogridis adapted it from Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel of the same name. The story follows a Deputy U.S. Marshal who arrives to Shutter Island to look into a mental health facility after one of the inmates disappears. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play the lead parts, while Michelle Williams, Ben Kingsley, and Max von Sydow provide supporting turns.

Shutter Island, which debuted on February 19, 2010, made $295 million in total revenue after earning mostly favorable reviews from critics and being selected as one of the top ten movies of the year by the National Board of Review. The soundtrack of the movie is well-known and has a lot of classical music by artists including Max Richter, Ingram Marshall, György Ligeti, John Cage, and Gustav Mahler.

Alongside The Ghost Writer, Shutter Island made $41 million in its first weekend at the box office, giving Scorsese his highest-grossing debut of all time. With $22.2 million during its second weekend, the movie held its top spot. In the end, it brought in $294,805,697 worldwide and ranked as Scorsese’s second-highest earning movie ever. It is the sixth film directed by Scorsese to open at number one at the box office, after The Departed, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and Cape Fear.

8. A Haunting in Venice (Hotstar – 2023)

Based closely on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe’en Party, A Haunting in Venice is an American mystery film from 2023 that is produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh from a script by Michael Green. It is the third movie in which Branagh plays Belgian investigator Hercule Poirot, and it acts as a follow-up to Death on the Nile (2022). Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh are among the ensemble cast members.

The narrative of the movie was mostly adapted from the lesser-known Poirot book Hallowe’en Party. The cast of the movie, which stars Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Kelly Reilly, and Michelle Yeoh, was revealed in October 2022. Rather than a traditional horror movie, Branagh called the movie a “supernatural thriller”.

20th Century Studios released A Haunting in Venice in the United States on September 15, 2023. Critics gave the movie favorable reviews, and it made $122.3 million globally.

9. Leave the World Behind (2023)

Sam Esmail is the writer and director of the 2023 American postapocalyptic psychological thriller film Leave the World Behind. It is based on Rumaan Alam’s 2020 book. Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la Herrold, and Kevin Bacon are among the actors who appear in the movie as they attempt to make sense of a rapidly breaking down phone, television, and other everyday technology that suggests an impending disaster.

On October 25, 2023, Leave the global Behind made its global debut as the opening film of the AFI Fest. However, the cast was unable to attend because of the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023. On November 22, it debuted in a small number of cinemas. On December 8, 2023, it became available on Netflix.

On October 25, 2023, Leave the international Behind made its international debut at the AFI Fest. On November 22, 2023, it was released in a few cinemas. On December 8, 2023, Netflix streamed it on streaming services. Critics gave it favorable reviews.

10. Arrival (2016)

Arrival is a 2016 American science fiction drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve and scripted by Eric Heisserer. Ted Chiang’s 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” served as the inspiration for Heisserer’s original screenplay. Amy Adams plays Louise Banks in the movie, a linguist recruited by the US Army to learn how to speak with alien visitors to Earth before hostilities break out. In supporting parts are Michael Stuhlbarg, Forest Whitaker, and Jeremy Renner.

On September 1, 2016, Arrival made its world debut at the Venice Film Festival. On November 11, 2016, Paramount Pictures distributed Arrival in theaters nationwide. Acclaimed by critics for Adams’s acting, Villeneuve’s directing, and the investigation of communication with alien intelligence, the film brought in $203 million worldwide. Arrival, which is regarded as one of the greatest movies of 2016, was chosen as one of the ten “Movies of the Year” by the American Film Institute and made an appearance on many reviewers’ year-end lists.

At the 89th Academy Awards, it was nominated for eight times, winning Best Sound Editing as well as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Aside from being nominated for a BAFTA, SAG, and Critics’ Choice award for her portrayal, Adams was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. In 2017, the movie won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. At the 60th Grammy Awards, Jóhannsson’s score was a nominee for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.