25 Best Mystery Movies with Twist Endings

A great mystery gives you all the clues, then reveals you missed them. These twenty-five films play fair while keeping you guessing, from classic whodunits to modern puzzles.

Modern Masters

1. Knives Out (2019)

Rian Johnson revives the whodunit with style. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc investigates a dead patriarch surrounded by terrible heirs. The structure constantly shifts your allegiances.

2. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Craig returns for tech billionaire satire. Edward Norton’s Miles Bron hosts a murder mystery that becomes real. The central twist is deliciously mean.

3. The Prestige (2006)

Nolan structures his magician rivalry like the trick it explains. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman destroy each other pursuing obsession. Every scene contains clues.

4. Memento (2000)

Nolan’s breakthrough runs backwards through revenge. The reversed structure puts you in Guy Pearce’s confused headspace. The ending reframes everything.

5. Gone Girl (2014)

Fincher’s marriage thriller shifts at the midpoint. Ben Affleck’s suspicious husband and Rosamund Pike’s missing wife play a game where the audience is the real target.

More Mystery Essentials

1. The Usual Suspects (1995) - Keyser Soze
2. Se7en (1995) - Seven sins
3. Zodiac (2007) - Unsolved
4. Oldboy (2003) - Why fifteen years
5. Arrival (2016) - Time’s gift
6. “The Sixth Sense” (1999) - Shyamalan’s breakthrough
7. “Primal Fear” (1996) - Norton’s debut
8. “The Others” (2001) - Kidman’s house
9. “Identity” (2003) - Motel mystery
10. “Shutter Island” (2010) - Scorsese’s asylum
11. “The Game” (1997) - Fincher’s paranoia
12. “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) - Nash’s reality
13. “Mystic River” (2003) - Eastwood’s Boston
14. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (2011) - Fincher’s Sweden
15. “Prisoners” (2013) - Villeneuve’s missing
16. “Enemy” (2013) - Villeneuve’s double
17. “Nightcrawler” (2014) - Gilroy’s sociopath
18. “The Gift” (2015) - Edgerton’s past
19. “Get Out” (2017) - Peele’s social
20. “Parasite” (2019) - Bong’s basement

The Joy of Being Fooled

Great mysteries make you complicit. You think you’re ahead, then the reveal shows you weren’t. These films understand that pleasure. Browse our full mystery collection.