CuratedMovie

20 Best Detective Movies

A curated MovieDB guide to 20 best detective movies, selected for strong audience interest, quality signals, and clear search intent. Browse story summaries, ratings, trailers, and where to watch in your country.

Poster for Psycho from 20 Best Detective Movies

Showing 20 of 20 titles

Rank 1

Movie

Se7en

Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.

★ 8.41995Details & where to watch

Runner-up picks

Movie

Psycho

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

★ 8.41960

Movie

Prisoners

After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.

★ 8.12013