Grim Cold Blooded Mystery Thrillers. Like Se7en, The Crimson Rivers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by KyaBakwaasHai | created - 07 Nov 2018 | updated - 07 Nov 2018 | PublicGrim Cold Blooded Mystery Thrillers. Like Se7en, The Crimson Rivers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Rules for the List :
1. No Feel good or light mood thrillers are allowed, movies have to be dark in mood.
2. Must have murders, investigation, anxiety amongst investigators, clues that takes investigators forward but also raises false alarms. Murders or dead body shown on screen is also a must for the list.
3. Action movies with similar elements will be discarded.
4. Superhero movies will be discarded.
5. Horror movies heavy on gore, like saw, will be discarded.
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1. The Crimson Rivers (2000)
R | 106 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A murder detective must follow the footsteps of a brutal killer within the secrets of a classist college.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Jean Reno, Vincent Cassel, Nadia Farès, Dominique Sanda
Votes: 65,655 | Gross: $0.63M
To me, this is the best of the genre.
Its template, 2 people investigating a crime separately come together to solve it, was later copied or adapted by The Girl with the dragon tattoo series.
You can try its sequel too, but that movie is muddled with many other themes and comes off more as a Indiana Jones meets Se7en theme that might put off may lovers of this genre.
2. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,799,669 | Gross: $100.13M
Probably the one that defines this genre, or has all the elements of the genre.
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,365 | Gross: $10.10M
Rekindled the genre. Has many similarities with the crimson rivers.
4. Empire of the Wolves (2005)
R | 128 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disgraced policeman helps a young detective to hunt down a serial killer who targets Turkish women in Paris.
Director: Chris Nahon | Stars: Jean Reno, Arly Jover, Jocelyn Quivrin, Laura Morante
Votes: 12,185
Tries to imitate the crimson rivers. Stars Jean Reno as almost the same character as in the crimson rivers, just that he is retired now.
Not as good as any other movie on the list, but still it qualifies in the list more than most.
5. The Vanishing (1988)
Not Rated | 107 min | Mystery, Thriller
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Director: George Sluizer | Stars: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus
Votes: 44,250
Predates se7en, and has one of the sickest ending ever filmed.
6. Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Police inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases, joined only by his assistant Assad. They dig into a case about a missing woman.
Director: Mikkel Nørgaard | Stars: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Per Scheel Krüger, Troels Lyby, Øyvind B. Fabricius Holm
Votes: 32,982
If you like the girl with the dragon tattoo series, you'll also like this movie series.
This is also one of the rare movie series without a single bad movie. 4 movies have released by now.
7. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho
Votes: 216,555 | Gross: $0.01M
Must watch korean thriller about trying to catch a serial killer.
8. Zodiac (2007)
R | 157 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Between 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
Votes: 598,570 | Gross: $33.08M
Investigating the Zodiac Killer. Must watch this and memories of murder as they are the best "trying to catch a serial killer" movies.
9. Prisoners (2013)
R | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo
Votes: 809,916 | Gross: $61.00M
Brilliant Thriller. Also comes in the category of "two people trying to solve a crime separately come together in the end to solve it" category.
10. Cure (1997)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Stars: Masato Hagiwara, Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa
Votes: 23,078 | Gross: $0.09M
One of the best serial killer investigation movies of all time. Kurosawa's best movie till date.
11. Insomnia (1997)
Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
In a Norwegian city with a 24-hour daylight cycle a Swedish murder investigator has been brought in on a special case. Sleep deprived, he makes a horrible mistake which is discovered by the killer he has been hunting.
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg | Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Maria Mathiesen, Gisken Armand
Votes: 15,591 | Gross: $0.22M
Nolan remade it, but the original is my favorite.
12. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,490 | Gross: $32.00M
Probably the oldest movie that ticks all the columns of the genre. Serial Killer, Gruesome murders, Investigation, mystery, twist.
13. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,548,707 | Gross: $130.74M
This list could be renamed to "movies like the silence of the lambs" too. Lead actors make this movie special.
14. 8MM (1999)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare
Votes: 142,768 | Gross: $36.66M
From the writer of Se7en. Not at the same level, but completely qualifies for our list.
15. The Body (2012)
Not Rated | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A detective searches for the body of a femme fatale which has gone missing from a morgue.
Director: Oriol Paulo | Stars: Jose Coronado, Hugo Silva, Belén Rueda, Aura Garrido
Votes: 72,488
If you can guess the mystery before the last 10 minutes of the movie, you are Hitchcock level storyteller.
16. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
Director: Juan José Campanella | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Carla Quevedo
Votes: 222,452 | Gross: $6.39M
One of the best movies ever made, qualifies for our list but just borderline qualification.
17. Marshland (2014)
TV-MA | 105 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Two cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.
Director: Alberto Rodríguez | Stars: Javier Gutiérrez, Raúl Arévalo, María Varod, Perico Cervantes
Votes: 36,464
The plot is :- "In the MARSHLAND a serial killer is on the loose. Two homicide detectives who appear to be poles apart must settle their differences and bring the murderer to justice before more young women lose their lives."
Must watch if you love se7en
18. Mystic River (2003)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The tragic murder of a 19-year-old girl reunites three childhood friends still living in Boston--the victim's gangster father, a detective, and the disturbed man they both suspect of killing her.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Emmy Rossum
Votes: 485,961 | Gross: $90.14M
Qualifies, but borderline qualification.
19. Copycat (1995)
R | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.
Director: Jon Amiel | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara
Votes: 65,960 | Gross: $32.05M
Another Borderline qualification
20. The Treatment (2014)
Not Rated | 131 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A police inspector haunted by the childhood abduction of his brother becomes obsessed with the disturbing case of a dangerous serial kidnapper
Director: Hans Herbots | Stars: Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts, Johan van Assche, Laura Verlinden
Votes: 9,980
If you liked "the girl with the dragon tattoo" you'll like it too
21. Citizen X (1995 TV Movie)
R | 105 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
During the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.
Director: Chris Gerolmo | Stars: Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 22,317
Serial killer movies don't get any better than this.
22. Night Moves (1975)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Los Angeles private investigator Harry Moseby is hired by a client to find her runaway teenage daughter. Moseby tracks the daughter down, only to stumble upon something much more intriguing and sinister.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin
Votes: 17,719
Barely qualifies, but lovers of the genre must see this as a companion piece.
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