84 Best Mystery Movies to WatchBest TV-MA Movies to Watch (Page 5)

Chicken Nugget is absolutely absurd. We’ve seen science fiction create fantastic, futuristic worlds and technology only today’s scientists can dream about, but we’ve never seen the genre delve into a silly premise like this, with two men protecting their loved one, who happens to be a chicken nugget. Some viewers might be put off by the absolutely over-the-top performances in the first few episodes, but consider: if your daughter turned into a chicken nugget, the daughter you’ve raised alone for years, and she, in food form, is always at the brink of being eaten, wouldn’t you too be rightfully distraught? Chicken Nugget plays on the hilarious ridiculousness of the premise, but it does have some genuine heart toward its wacky characters, a heart that’s slowly revealed after its first few episodes.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Ahn Jae-hong, Ryu Seung-ryong

Director: Lee Byeong-heon

Rating: TV-MA

Following the 1999 film, 6ixtynin9: the Series is an unexpected adaptation about the unexpected package. The loss of the package drives the violence of the film, as gang members tries to recover the money, and as protagonist Toom tries to survive. This is despite the package being easily replaceable by the original sender. In turning the movie into a show, the story expands to a whole set of characters in Toom’s apartment building, as well as a whole set of potential victims. Additionally, in bringing the late 90s plot into the post-pandemic world – a world with mass layoffs, government incompetence, and democracy protests, 6ixtynin9 feels cathartic. The series captures that sense of pure survival we’ve been facing these past few years.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Actor: Davika Hoorne, Patara Eksangkul, Ploi Horwang, Thanaporn Rattanasasiwimon, Trisanu Soranun

Director: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Rating: TV-MA

More lush period piece than scary science fiction, Gyeongseong Creature promised a terrifying creature, but it starts slow, dedicating more of its time to its humans than immediately battling monsters. This helps establish the romance, especially as hardened private eye Yoon Chae-ok appeals to privileged pawn broker Jang Tae-sang’s sense of duty, as well as the historical context behind the story. In doing so, the show confronts the violence of the Japanese occupation of Korea through implication rather than directly recreating these horrors. It’s all the more satisfying when the action begins, as Chae-ok and Tae-sang shift their priorities from doing a job to actively undermining the evil hospital’s efforts. Gyeongseong Creature might not let its creature loose early, but its true horror lies not with the monster created, but with the abuses permitted by war.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Claudia Kim, Han So-hee, Jo Han-chul, Kim Hae-sook, Park Seo-jun

Director: Jung Dong-yoon

Rating: TV-MA

It wasn’t until recently that Chinese science fiction has become popular, as plenty of the stories can now take flight through non-traditional internet channels and the translation work of Asian Americans like Ken Liu. 3 Body Problem by Liu Cixinis one of those translations, and with the Game of Thrones showrunners along with Alexander Woo, Netflix has created their own take on the ambitious, innovative sci-fi novel. It doesn’t quite match up, but the show is able to take the novel’s unique blend of abstract theoretical physics with intriguing mystery and meditations on how scientific exploration is driven and stopped by religion and politics. The multiple storylines and times that can get confusing, but ultimately, the show is still able to sustain its tension through great world building and intimate drama. With the source material fully completed, we’re hoping that the showrunners don't run into the same snafus that plagued Game of Thrones’ ending, but so far, Netflix’s take on the 3 Body Problem is a decent introduction to Liu’s sci-fi masterpiece.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Alex Sharp, Ben Schnetzer, Benedict Wong, Eiza González, Jess Hong, John Bradley, Jonathan Pryce, Jovan Adepo, Liam Cunningham, Marlo Kelly, Rosalind Chao, Saamer Usmani, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng

Rating: TV-MA

If you’re a fan of slow-burn mysteries and genre blends, you might enjoy Outer Range, a carefully paced mix of Western, sci-fi, and family drama. 

Josh Brolin stars as the patriarch Royal Abbott, who, while defending his ranch from a neighboring family, also discovers a strange void in his pasture. The void leads to even stranger depths as the show takes a turn for the supernatural. A ranch drama with a paranormal twist, Outer Range has been compared to family epics like Yellowstone and eerie mysteries like Twin Peaks—vastly different shows whose only throughline is that they are absurdly but impressively extensive in scale.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Thriller, Western

Actor: Imogen Poots, Isabel Arraiza, Josh Brolin, Lewis Pullman, Lili Taylor, Noah Reid, Olive Abercrombie, Olive Elise Abercrombie, Shaun Sipos, Tamara Podemski, Tom Pelphrey, Will Patton

Rating: TV-MA

Detective Forst isn’t a mindbending, totally original crime thriller that would revolutionize the detective genre, but sometimes we just want something familiar. The thriller adaptation of Remigiusz Mróz’s book series mostly sticks to the classic tropes, with eerily strung up bodies being investigated by the gruff, hardened detective, portrayed well by Borys Szyc. It’s not immediately clear what brought Forst to the mountains– whatever it was, it’s enough to gain the mistrust of his new station, and it’s possibly the reason behind his splitting migraines– but that’s part of the fun, as an additional mystery alongside who is behind the murders. That being said, the show plans to depict a whole series, so the ending of its first season might exasperate viewers who just want a complete story. Still, with the striking scenery of the Tatra Mountains, Detective Forst is at least stunning enough to watch, even with all the moody murder mystery tropes onboard.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Aleksandra Grabowska, Borys Szyc, Kamilla Baar, Szymon Wróblewski, Zuzanna Saporznikow

Director: Daniel Jaroszek

Rating: TV-MA

A lot goes on in Constellation, Apple TV+’s latest addition to its growing collection of sci-fi shows. It begins as a survival space thriller, then it evolves into a conspiracy mystery with hints of supernatural horror, all while being a family drama centered on the elusive mother-daughter bond. For all that hoopla, however, Constellation moves at a very languid place. It can also get very confusing very fast as it attempts to be all the abovementioned things and juggle multiple possibilities (relating to quantum physics, mind you) at the same time. To quote series creator Peter Harness’ other credited show, Doctor Who, it’s all very wibbly wobbly timey wimey. If you’re one to dive into a sci-fi story’s heady and complex world, however, then Constellation comes highly recommended.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Barbara Sukowa, James D'Arcy, Jonathan Banks, Julian Looman, Noomi Rapace, William Catlett

Rating: TV-MA

Released earlier in 2023, Lady Voyeur is reminiscent of those 80s-90s erotic thrillers that you or your parents weren’t allowed to watch, albeit with a modern hacking subplot. The Brazilian Netflix mini-series balances its erotic and its thriller sides– with Eros ruling the consensual scenes, and fear powering the mystery of Prado-Couto families. Relying on mirrors, CCTV cameras, and window reflections, the show follows the titular protagonist Miranda, seeing and being seen, as she gets roped into a conspiracy against her fling’s best friend and hotel conglomerate. It’s an interesting watch, though it lacks a tighter resolution to all its plotlines.

Genre: Drama, Mystery

Actor: Ângelo Rodrigues, Débora Nascimento, Emanuelle Araújo, Nikolas Antunes

Rating: TV-MA

After decades of terrifying tales, it’s no wonder that Junji Ito developed a cult following internationally, big enough for a streaming giant like Netflix to invest in a brand new adaptation. Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre is fairly faithful to its source material, keeping the plot points of supernatural beings and spine-chilling body horror in its selected twelve tales. That being said, being an anthology, the selection in Junji Ito Maniac greatly varies on how scary it is. On top of this, the series’ art style, made more cleanly for easier animation, is simply less scary than the black-and-white, shadowy sketches from the original manga. New and younger viewers might still get a thrill from the latest anime rendition of Junji Ito’s stories, though older fans might find that it pales to the original.

Genre: Animation, Mystery

Rating: TV-MA

Life can be funny sometimes, with the way accidents can lead us to what would make the entirety of our lives. Usually, these accidents lead us to a new career, maybe the love of our life, and sometimes a new life path altogether, but for recently discharged Lee Tang in A Killer Paradox, it leads to finding that his talent is killing evildoers, accidentally or otherwise. It’s funny to see Lee accidentally getting away with murder and the way his imagination conceives of his serial killer victims, but the show also gets into intriguing thought experiments about the morality of his actions, as well as the way we try to reconcile the tragedy of a lost life, with the terrible consequences of the actions they did with their lives. It’s enjoyable, with the great cast and the unique cinematography, but the writing, structure, and thriller aspects fail to maximize what’s so interesting about A Killer Paradox.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Actor: Choi Woo-shik, Lee Hee-jun, Son Suk-ku

Director: Lee Chang-hee

Rating: TV-MA