Last updated March 2024
Want to watch sensational, universally adored Best Mystery Movies 2001 ? We compiled an expert list of 30 marvelous, must-see Best Mystery Movies 2001 for your viewing pleasure. Critically celebrated by IMDB reviewers and widely loved by our own user community, these world-class titles earn top marks across the board. Help other fans discover hidden gems by voting for the titles you consider to be keepers. We appreciate your help highlighting elite content!
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Plot Summary:
At Princeton University, John Nash struggles to make a worthwhile contribution to serve as his legacy to the world of mathematics. He finally makes a revolutionary breakthrough that will eventually earn him the Nobel Prize. After graduate school he turns to teaching, becoming romantically involved with his student Alicia. Meanwhile the government asks his help with breaking Soviet codes, which soon gets him involved in a terrifying conspiracy plot. Nash grows more and more paranoid until a discovery that turns his entire world upside down. Now it is only with Alicia's help that he will be able to recover his mental strength and regain his status as the great mathematician we know him as today
Duration: 135 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 972000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Plot tags: mathematics, mental illness, schizophrenia, genius, paranoia, insanity, scientist, mathematician, imaginary friend, nobel prize, obsession, prodigy, psychiatry, imagination, mental disorder, intelligence, psychiatrist, professor, existentialism, paranoid schizophrenia, biopic, mentally unstable, conspiracy, economics, talented
Donnie Darko (2001)
Plot Summary:
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 837000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: mental illness, time travel, psychology, imaginary friend, insanity, schizophrenia, parallel universe, surrealism, suburbs, time loop, social misfits, youth, hallucination, dream, plot twist, supernatural ability, death, psychiatry, society, teenager, prophecy, schizophrenic, trippy, halloween, existentialism
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Plot Summary:
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality
Duration: 147 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 377000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Plot tags: surrealism, twists and turns, lesbian, amnesia, obsession, hollywood, nightmare, hallucination, doppelganger, alternate reality, filmmaking, dream, lesbian sex, plot twist, memory loss, lesbian love, psychology, suicide, violence, lesbianism, female protagonist, dangerous attraction, death, mental illness, mysterious character
The Others (2001)
Plot Summary:
Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 387000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain, USA, France, Italy
Plot tags: ghost, haunted house, supernatural, twists and turns, afterlife, nightmare, mansion, supernatural horror, haunting, mysterious character, macabre, spiritualism, psychic, isolation, uncover truth, plot twist, cemetery, able to see the dead, confined, children, old dark house, danger, parallel world, alternate reality, supernatural ability
K-PAX (2001)
Plot Summary:
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 191000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Germany
Plot tags: alien, mental institution, patient, planet, extraterrestrial, mysterious character, hypnosis, mental illness, psychiatrist, space and aliens, science, investigation, benign alien, crazy, hospital, research, self discovery, psychology, imagination, psychiatry, delusion, schizophrenia, outer space, amnesia, doctors and patients
Gosford Park (2001)
Plot Summary:
Multiple storylined drama set in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guest and downstairs servants at a party in a country house in England
Duration: 137 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Plot tags: murder, country estate, society, estate, high society, murder investigation, murder mystery, police investigation, butler, servant, twists and turns, unrequited love, hunting, master and servant, maid, housekeeper, valet, whodunit, adultery, actor, film producer, master servant relationship, rich snob, who done it, class differences
Lantana (2001)
Plot Summary:
Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers suspects that her husband John is cheating on her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges -- drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement
Duration: 121 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Australia, Germany
Plot tags: infidelity, therapist, adultery, therapy, police investigation, divorce, police, sexuality, nylons, unfaithfulness, betrayal, jealousy, psychiatrist, character study, human nature, disappearance, dishonesty, unhappy, marriage crisis, love and romance, sex, cheating wife, police officer, restaurant, photograph
Super Troopers (2001)
Plot Summary:
Five bored, occasionally high and always ineffective Vermont state troopers must prove their worth to the governor or lose their jobs. After stumbling on a drug ring, they plan to make a bust, but a rival police force is out to steal the glory
Duration: 100 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 111000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Plot tags: police corruption, police, stoner, weed, prank, cop, drug dealing, small town, partner, buddies, dishonesty, dumb, workplace, male nudity, stupidity, screwball, law enforcement, farce, state trooper, bromance, drug, mysticism, hitman, party, experiment
Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
Plot Summary:
A widowed mother and her son change when a mysterious stranger enters their lives
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 6.9/10
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Plot tags: small town, childhood, mysterious stranger, coming of age, single mother, stephen king, childhood memory, childhood friend, friendship, bullying, psychic, parents and children, family relations, selflessness, teaching the ways of the world, betrayal, children, adolescence, adaptation, rape, psychic power, father figure, maturity, supernatural, heartwarming
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Plot Summary:
David Aames has it all: wealth, good looks and gorgeous women on his arm. But just as he begins falling for the warmhearted Sofia, his face is horribly disfigured in a car accident. That's just the beginning of his troubles as the lines between illusion and reality, between life and death, are blurred
Duration: 136 min
IMDB Rating: 6.9/10
IMDB Votes: 282000
Genere: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Spain
Plot tags: virtual reality, dream, surrealism, tragic love, mind game, amnesia, love, disfigurement, psychology, obsession, lost love, alternate reality, love story, existentialism, hopes, hallucination, love triangle, disfigured face, death, plot twist, jealousy, redemption, seductive, love and romance, memory
The Pledge (2001)
Plot Summary:
A police chief about to retire pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer. Based on a story by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Duration: 124 min
IMDB Rating: 6.8/10
IMDB Votes: 65000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Plot tags: serial killer, investigation, murder, child murder investigation, murder mystery, child murder, twists and turns, small town, plot twist, obsession, psychology, promise, murder investigation, killer, private investigation, law enforcement, serial child killer, police investigation, character study, police, paranoia, rape, murderer, mother daughter relationship, serial rapist
From Hell (2001)
Plot Summary:
Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity
Duration: 122 min
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
IMDB Votes: 163000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Czech Republic
Plot tags: serial killer, jack the ripper, freemason, police investigation, conspiracy, prostitution, a vision, murder, violent, graphic violence, goth, psychic, conspiracy theory, murder of a prostitute, life is a bitch, drug addiction, insanity, supernatural, who done it, revenge, corruption, gory, surgery, illuminati, psychology
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
Plot Summary:
CW Briggs is a veteran insurance investigator, with many successes. Betty Ann Fitzgerald is a new employee in the company he works for, with the task of reorganizing the office. They don't like each other - or at least that's what they think. During a night out with the rest of the office employees, they go to watch Voltan, a magician who secretly hypnotizes both of them
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Romance
Country: USA, Germany
Plot tags: hypnosis, investigation, workplace, insurance investigator, heist, plot twist, justice, love and romance, unlikely criminals, power relations, murder mystery, false accusation, twists and turns, adultery, screwball, mafia, roman empire, relationships, mysticism, philosophy, insurance company, cognitive science, office party, jewel theft, jazz
Joy Ride (2001)
Plot Summary:
Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer
Duration: 97 min
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: kidnapping, prank, truck driver, survival, road trip, psychopath, truck, paranoia, twists and turns, brother brother relationship, revenge, murder, on the road, torture, serial killer, panic, chase, stalker, brutality, stalking, trap, redneck, road rage, motel, prank gone wrong
The Deep End (2001)
Plot Summary:
With her husband Jack perpetually away at work, Margaret Hall raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: gay, murder, lgbt, gay teenager, twists and turns, life is a bitch, danger, conspiracy, tragedy, murder mystery, police investigation, plot twist, fight, friendship, life & death, crime gone awry, character study, debt, woman in danger, violent content, death, blackmail, sex tape, dead body, graphic violence
Suicide Club (2001)
Plot Summary:
When 54 high school girls throw themselves in front of a subway train it appears to be only the beginning of a string of suicides around the country. Does the new all-girl group Desert have anything to do with it? Detective Kuroda tries to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped
Duration: 99 min
IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: suicide, conspiracy, gore, death, police investigation, gory, violent, surrealism, high school, brutality, macabre, hacker, student, website, extreme, youth, lesbian, dark humor, police, violence, kidnapping, hospital, vengeance, blood, blood splatter
Pulse (2001)
Plot Summary:
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One of them sees visions of his dead friend in the shadows on the wall, while another's computer keeps showing strange, ghostly images. Is their friend trying to contact them from beyond the grave, or is there something much more sinister going on?
Duration: 119 min
IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: ghost, internet, supernatural, afterlife, suicide, missing person, haunting, depression, macabre, technology, college student, apocalypse, lifestyle, confined, alienation, existentialism, coming of age, death, gore, cosmic horror, loneliness, supernatural power, epidemic, fear, extreme
Enigma (2001)
Plot Summary:
A romantic thriller based around the World War 2 project to crack the codes behind the Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages sent to their submarines
Duration: 119 min
IMDB Rating: 6.4/10
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, USA, Germany, Netherlands
Plot tags: world war two, nazi, code breaking, espionage, submarine, wartime, war, spy, mathematics, secret service, conspiracy, cryptography, idealism, moral ambiguity, mind game, traitor, genius, race against time, couple relations, world war, betrayal, mathematician, political intrigue, murder, chase
Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq (2001)
Plot Summary:
Paris. 1830. In the heart of the town, Vidocq, a famous detective, disappeared as he fights the Alchemist, an assassin that he has been pursuing for a few months. His young biographer, Etienne Boisset, decides to have revenge on Vidocq's death and takes the investigation on
Duration: 98 min
IMDB Rating: 6.4/10
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Crime, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: France
Plot tags: serial killer, steampunk, investigation, alchemy, who done it, alchemist, danger, female nudity, law enforcement, delinquent, uncover truth, occult, mirror, brothel, medieval, murder, virgin, criminal, mafia, killer, revenge, supernatural, macabre, murder investigation, goth
Session 9 (2001)
Plot Summary:
Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back
Duration: 100 min
IMDB Rating: 6.4/10
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Plot tags: mental institution, supernatural, psychology, mental illness, twists and turns, lobotomy, macabre, ghost, insanity, hospital, transformation, obsession, murder, secrets, slow burn, paranoia, storytelling, haunted, mind game, haunted by the past, blood, rivalry, mentally unstable, fear, gory
Don't Say a Word (2001)
Plot Summary:
When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he's horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a post traumatic stress disorder suffering young woman who knows a secret
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia, Switzerland, Canada
Plot tags: psychiatrist, kidnapping, mental illness, haunted by the past, race against time, murder, bank robbery, police investigation, torture, manipulation, mind game, spy, danger, doctor patient relationship, hostage, confined, woman in danger, dishonesty, criminal's revenge, mental disorder, vengeance, killer, home invasion, father daughter relationship, mother daughter relationship
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Plot Summary:
A college-age brother and sister get more than they bargained for on their road trip home from spring break. When the bickering siblings witness a creepy truck driver tossing body bags into a sewer near an abandoned church, they investigate. Bad move! Opening a Pandora's Box of unspeakable evil, the pair must flee for their lives -- with a monstrous "shape" in hot pursuit
Duration: 90 min
IMDB Rating: 6.2/10
IMDB Votes: 140000
Genere: Horror, Mystery
Country: USA, Germany
Plot tags: monster, macabre, supernatural, serial killer, demon, chase, scarecrow, devil, dead teenager, deadly creature, characters murdered one by one, scared, death, violence, halloween, destiny, brutality, gory, creature feature, torture, creature, brother, characters killed one by one, danger, strong violent content
The Hole (2001)
Plot Summary:
Four teenagers at a British private school secretly uncover and explore the depths of a sealed underground hole created decades ago as a possible bomb shelter
Duration: 102 min
IMDB Rating: 6.2/10
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Canada
Plot tags: claustrophobia, obsession, survival, psychology, school, bunker, underground bunker, twists and turns, danger, youth, trapped, male nudity, isolation, teenager, insanity, high school, torture, weekend, female psychopath, popular girl, celebration, trap, adolescence, nude, murder
Dagon (2001)
Plot Summary:
A boating accident off the coast of Spain sends Paul and his girlfriend Barbara to the decrepit fishing village of Imboca. As night falls, people start to disappear and things not quite human start to appear. Paul is pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's secret..they worship Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea...and Dagon's unholy offspring are on the loose
Duration: 98 min
IMDB Rating: 6.2/10
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Spain
Plot tags: curses spells and rituals, cthulhu, chase, monster, supernatural, small town, mutant, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, gory, nightmare, ritual, human sacrifice, fishing village, cosmic horror, sea, boat, body horror, sea monster, suicide, torture, manhunt, tentacle, one against many, metamorphosis, loss of loved one
Impostor (2001)
Plot Summary:
Gary Sinise plays Spencer Olham, a top-secret government weapons designer who is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 6.1/10
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: alien invasion, alien, cyborgs, androids and robots, manhunt, space, on the run, save the world, dystopian future, space and aliens, rivalry, danger, imaginary, race against time, distopia, dystopia, justice, alternate reality, fugitives, robot, future war, chase, paranoia, outer space, apocalypse
Original Sin (2001)
Plot Summary:
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp
Duration: 116 min
IMDB Rating: 6.0/10
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico, France, UK
Plot tags: femme fatale, obsession, sex, dangerous attraction, erotica, passion, couple relations, passionate sex, love story, husband wife relationship, ex boyfriend ex girlfriend relationship, sex scene, desire, sexuality, false identity, runaway, borderline personality disorder, love and romance, love, bdsm, murder, manipulation, confession, private investigator, carnival
The Glass House (2001)
Plot Summary:
After the parents of Ruby and her younger brother, Rhett, are killed in a car crash, their parents' best friends, Erin and Terry Glass, become their guardians. The children hear promises of a world of opulence and California fun -- all they have to do is move into the Glasses' gated house. Before very long, though, Ruby suspects that Erin and Terry may not be the ideal guardians they seemed to be
Duration: 106 min
IMDB Rating: 5.8/10
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: murder, orphan, adoption, unlikely criminals, youth, teenage life, custody, dishonesty, child abuse, suspicion, siblings, serial killer, lawyer, death, internet, captive, blood, women, supernatural, hostage, age difference, feminist, architecture, car accident, kidnapper
The Accidental Spy (2001)
Plot Summary:
A fun-filled story about an ordinary guy about to kick into an action-packed adventure. Jackie Chan plays a bored and unsuccessful salesman who never thought his life would amount to anything. All that changes one day when he becomes an instant hero by foiling an attempted bank robbery
Duration: 108 min
IMDB Rating: 5.8/10
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Plot tags: martial arts, spy, organized crime, kung fu classic, amateur detective, goofy hero, heroic mission, private detective, good versus evil, kung fu, one man army, bio weapon, warrior, kung fu fighting, combat, 007, robbery, working class, wuxia, heroes, spy spoof, reporter, heist, investigation, undercover
Head Over Heels (2001)
Plot Summary:
Ordinary single girl Amanda Pierce (Monica Potter) unexpectedly finds herself sharing an awesome Manhattan apartment with four sexy supermodels. Determined to bring Amanda into their world, the models give her the ultimate makeover. The plan works fabulously as Amanda connects with next door charmer Jim Winston (Freddie Prinze, Jr.). That is, until one night
Duration: 86 min
IMDB Rating: 5.4/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: fashion, comedy of errors, fall in love, roommate, stalking, neighbor, lifestyle, mistaken identity, couples, disorder, amateur detective, dishonesty, murder witness, destiny, love story, spying, teenager, apartment building, love, female protagonist, fashion model, painter, teenage girl, lady, girl
Valentine (2001)
Plot Summary:
Five friends are stalked and murdered by a masked assailant while preparing for Valentine's Day
Duration: 96 min
IMDB Rating: 4.9/10
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Plot tags: serial killer, valentine's day, psychopath, murder, revenge, gory, woman in danger, mystery killer, danger, violence against women, school, masked killer, death of friend, bullying, holiday horror, youth, vengeance, women, blood, public humiliation, stalker, holiday, mind game, obsession, prank