10 Chilling Mystery/Thriller Movies To Watch If You Loved Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners

Any self-respecting movie fan who hadn’t already heard of Denis Villeneuve was forced to sit up and take notice when his 2013 thriller, Prisoners, took the world by storm and began a hugely successful streak of English language films from the director.

If you loved the movie and are on the hunt for mystery stories like it, make sure to check out these similar chilling thrillers that share a number of Prisoners‘ best qualities.

10 Jar City (2006)

Icelandic novelist Arnaldur Indriðason wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of the third book in his popular series of mysteries featuring the no-nonsense detective Erlendur Sveinsson.

Jar City is an uncommon murder mystery story not just because of its cultural setting but also its complex emotions stemming from rich characters and a carefully unraveled crime, the effects of which echo across decades.

9 The Silence (2010)

Grief, tragedy, and trauma are explored in a similarly powerful and engaging way to Villeneuve’s Prisoners in this German thriller about the disappearance of a young girl in the modern-day which bears an uncanny resemblance to a horrible unsolved case from the 80s.

Told from the perspective of both the protagonists and the antagonists, The Silence delves into the psychology of its characters in a rich and unusually rewarding way whilst still being an unremittingly tense and chilling thriller.

8 Memories of Murder (2003)

Bong Joon-ho’s breakout movie steadily became recognized as a modern classic and it’s easy to see why. His characters are both larger than life and relatably human while the story itself is grounded in a reality that is very specific in terms of time and place while also being universally familiar.

The story dramatizes South Korea’s first serial murder case and the uncertainty over fact and fiction in the mystery is perhaps even more intense than a movie like Prisoners, and the result is uniquely haunting.

7 Zodiac (2007)

Master of the disturbing thriller David Fincher retold the story of the titular serial killer through the eyes of several key figures who worked to discover their identity.

Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a starkly different character than his tough detective in Prisoners with his similarly outstanding performance as the timid Robert Graysmith and the impressive overall ensemble is part of what makes Zodiac such a captivating thriller.

6 Incendies (2010)

Denis Villeneuve’s previous movie to Prisoners, this adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s play of the same name gained the director global notoriety and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

A similarly labyrinthine plot to Prisoners, yet horrifying in so many more extreme and real ways, Incendies is another perfect example of Villeneuve’s talents for both incredibly shocking violence and even more unexpected catharsis.

5 Wind River (2017)

Set in the Wind River reservation in Wyoming, this dark mystery thriller from writer and director Taylor Sheridan stars Jeremy Renner as a wildlife tracker who teams up with Elizabeth Olsen’s FBI agent to solve a grizzly murder.

Fans of Sheridan’s previous crime screenplays (Sicario and Hell or High Water) will recognize the icy stoicism of the characters and the almost bleak perspective on life in the American periphery, as will fans of Prisoners.

4 The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

This Argentinian murder mystery drama won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars and was later remade into the English language with a robust cast but the original is the more authentic experience and the one worth recommending the most heartily.

An emotional and enveloping crime saga set across the turbulent history of modern Argentina, The Secret in Their Eyes examines injustice–and the extraordinary lengths that people can go to in order to try to rectify it–in an electrifying and affecting way.

3 Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Ben Affleck’s first feature film as a director saw him directing his brother, Casey, as a private detective trying to solve the case of a missing girl in this adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel with great success.

If anything, it’s possible that the emerging director did too good of a job of recreating the hysteria of a case surrounding the abduction of a young girl as its similarities to real-world events actually impacted parts of its release.

2 Mystic River (2003)

Another adaptation of a Dennis Lehane crime novel set in the author’s hometown of Boston, this mystery drama revolves around three childhood friends who have all grown up to live on various sides of the law but are brought inescapably back together through a murder.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and featuring an all-star cast on Award-winning form, filmmaking pedigree doesn’t get much higher than it does here. Mystic River was nominated for six Oscars, all in major categories, winning both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, respectively, and a fan of Prisoners‘ powerhouse performances is obligated to seek it out.

1 The Clovehitch Killer (2018)

A young man from a strict but loving household steadily begins to suspect that his upstanding father may, in fact, be a serial killer who has evaded justice for years in this creepy combination of the coming-of-age story and the amateur detective mystery.

The veneer of suburban family life is blown apart in a similar way to Prisoners and the maddening search for the truth is enough to suck the audience right into the story even without the terrific performances backing it up.

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