5 Flawless Mystery Movies Better Than Knives Out - MCE Notices | California State Portal

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is one of the finest mystery movies of the last twenty-five years, and while it completely reinvigorated interest in the classic “whodunit” sub-genre and spawned a successful series of sequels, there are a select few mystery masterpieces that narrowly surpass it.

The mystery genre has spanned decades, bled into many other sub-genres, and continually kept audiences enthralled and surprised. When a mystery movie hits its mark, it can be utterly transformative for viewers, and these five masterpieces of the genre are the perfect examples of that fact.

Memento Is A Mind-Boggling Crime Masterpiece

Director Christopher Nolan is one of the single most important filmmakers in Hollywood today. He has continually raised the bar for numerous genres, and he has become an essential pillar of contemporary blockbuster filmmaking. Before he changed movies forever with masterpieces like The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar, though, he brought viewers Memento, a perfectly crafted murder mystery thrill ride.

Following a man with short-term memory loss as he struggles to piece together a series of clues (and his own fragmented memories) surrounding his wife’s murder, Memento showcased the heights of Christopher Nolan’s immense talents early in his career. Guy Pearce is absolutely electric in the lead role, and the twists and turns present in Memento are still shocking audiences to this day.

Brick Is Rian Johnson’s First Foray Into The World of Murder Mysteries

Image via Focus Features

Before Knives Out, director Rian Johnson cut his teeth on the mystery genre with 2005’s Brick. His directorial debut, Brick follows a teenage loner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as he attempts to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Utilizing the inherent drama and confusion of high school life and social dynamics to mirror classic noir mysteries of Hollywood’s past, Brick is a superb debut for Rian Johnson, and arguably a superior mystery tale to Knives Out.

While Knives Out is one of the most delightfully fun and consistently surprising mysteries in years, Brick is a much more emotionally resonant, genuinely unsettling picture. It’s the kind of film that feels as though a long-time director was responsible for it, and the fact that it was Johnson’s very first feature is absolutely astonishing. A masterful, clever delight, Brick deserves just as much hype as its director’s later movie mysteries.

Blue Velvet Is A Surreal and Terrifying Mystery From A Directing Legend

Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) raises a knife over Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) in Blue Velvet.

David Lynch, the director behind such masterpieces as Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and the iconic Twin Peaks television series, is no stranger to the bizarre or macabre. His films are often enigmatic and bizarre nuts to crack, but that’s exactly what makes him one of the most effective and important mystery filmmakers of all time. Perhaps his greatest cinematic achievement is 1986’s Blue Velvet, a small-town mystery crime thriller that must be seen to be believed.

One of the most influential mystery movies of the last fifty years, Blue Velvet features Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan as a young man who, after discovering a severed human ear in a field, gets in over his head in a terrifying and immensely dangerous investigation. Shocking reveals, brutal violence, and some of the finest supporting performances in film history all make Blue Velvet an essential ’80s thriller, and it has remained an all-time mystery film for decades.

Zodiac Is A True Crime Mystery That Remains Unsolved Today

Robert Graysmith looking nervous in a basement in Zodiac

The infamous Zodiac killer is one of the most terrifying real-life serial killers in modern history, and David Fincher’s 2007 masterpiece, Zodiac, perfectly encapsulates the investigation and mystery surrounding his crimes and his true identity. A detail-oriented, spine-tingling masterpiece, Zodiac is David Fincher’s opus, even beating out spectacular mystery masterpieces like Se7en and Gone Girl.

Zodiac is the ultimate true-crime film. It takes full advantage of the historical information about the case and the people who worked it, and it forms into one of the most enthralling, genuinely frightening mystery films of the last 20 years. It also boasts an incredible ensemble cast, superb visuals, and some of the most unforgettable on-screen violence ever. It’s a mystery tour de force that tops just about any modern film in the genre.

Citizen Kane Is The Definitive Movie Mystery

Charles Foster Kane stands with his hands behind his back surrounded by newspapers. — Orson Welles directed one of the best movies ever made with his very first attempt.

So many movie fans today look at Orson Welles’ iconic 1941 masterpiece, Citizen Kane, and toss it aside as overrated or not deserving of all the hype, but that simply couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite the fact that the film has been dissected and studied by countless people over the years, Citizen Kane remains a genuinely miraculous achievement of storytelling. The film’s central mystery, the investigation into the importance of its title character’s final words, “Rosebud”, might be well-known to most modern audiences today, but that doesn’t make it any less effective.

The film also happens to be Orson Welles’ directorial debut, a fact that makes its groundbreaking quality and expertly handled story feel even more unbelievable. Citizen Kane is simply worthy of all the hype. It’s the kind of movie mystery that all other genre pictures are trying to live up to, and it will likely remain that way for decades to come. Nothing quite compares to the impact of the eighty-five-year-old classic, and it still topples modern masterpieces like Knives Out today.