When sleep won't come, the worst thing to watch is something forgettable. You need a film absorbing enough to quiet a busy mind - but not so disturbing it keeps you awake for different reasons.
The 2020s have already produced films that will be studied for decades - lean, precise, unafraid to take audiences seriously.
Mystery cinema works because it turns passive watching into active thinking. Every frame is a question.
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy lurking directly beneath their neighborhood.
FBI Agent Lee Harker is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer. As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Nicolas Bannister, a rugged and solitary veteran living in a near-future Miami flooded by rising seas, is an expert in a dangerous occupation: he offers clients the chance to relive any memory they desire. His life changes when he meets a mysterious young woman named Mae. What begins as a simple matter of lost and found becomes a passionate love affair. But when a different client's memories implicate Mae in a series of violent crimes, Bannister must delve through the dark world of the past to uncover the truth about the woman he fell for.
Six people unwittingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive... and discovering they've all played the games before.
What separates a good mystery from a great one is the quality of its misdirection. Every film in this list earns its twists - nothing feels cheap, nothing feels random.
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia - a young actress who just moved to town with her husband - notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
A pre-wedding reunion descends into a psychological nightmare for a group of college friends when a surprise guest arrives with a mysterious suitcase.
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.
Oliver, a lonely autistic boy, seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses the boy's devices against him, his parents must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
Some films don't just tell stories - they change what stories can be. These are the ones that shifted what came after them.
The best mystery films send you back to the beginning the moment they end. You want to watch them again knowing what you know.