Some of the best movies in cinematic history have been so-called mystery horror movies. It’s a hard subgenre to pull off because you’re basically leading your audience through a somewhat unsettling scenario while still keeping them on the edge of their seats because they want to know how all the pieces come together at the end of the movie. The constant push and pull creates a very exciting combination that creates some of the most immersive experiences you can get on the silver screen. Let’s take a look at some of the movies that did it best.
Shutter Island
It’s sort of cheating because Scorsese combined with DiCaprio does everything best, but Shutter Island sure was one hell of a ride. It’s one of those movies where the plot twists may not be the most surprising ones, but they’re executed so perfectly in the larger story that they still somehow manage to catch you off guard.
Se7en
Creating a movie that’s built on a dark thriller format using very in-your-face religious and “good vs evil” themes is so difficult to pull off. It’s been tried hundreds of times, but nothing comes close to how chilling the David Fincher movie with a very sublime Brad Pitt will leave you. Despite not shying away from gruesome imagery, the movie leaves most of the horror to the audience’s imagination – which is exactly what makes it such a horrendous experience.
Saw
The first Saw movie cemented James Wan as a horror director, and there’s a very good reason for that. While on the surface, Saw is nothing more than just some gore-heavy horror movie, it deals with very real psychological themes and human nature. And let’s not forget, the first Saw movie is nowhere near as gore-heavy as the more recent ones (who, sadly, are also less story-heavy).
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