7 Best Mystery and Thriller Movies of 2025, So Far 

It’s an indisputable truth that if you and your best friends are planning a trip to a remote cabin in the woods, something will certainly go very wrong. 

Companion takes that premise and asks another question, in turn—what if your best friend was actually a robot, programmed to appease you at all times? 

Starring Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher in lead roles, this Drew Hancock film asks interesting questions about autonomy, agency and companionship by way of artificial intelligence, even as it later morphs into a tight and self-contained crime thriller with a thoroughly satisfying ending.  

Steven Soderbergh has been rather productive lately, with two releases this year—Black Bag, a sexy espionage drama and Presence, a supernatural thriller.

Of the two, Black Bag is clearly the more compelling contender, packed with mind-bending performances by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett and a smart, sleek narrative. The plot focuses on a counterintelligence officer who is tasked with snuffing out the traitor and one of the prime suspects is his wife.

Entertaining and delicious, Black Bag prioritizes character dynamics over action, and shines through its layered performances.  

My personal favorite of 2025 (so far), I’m not kidding when I say Sinners was sinfully good. Part horror thriller, part period drama and part love letter to Black culture, this Ryan Coogler film stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles and offers a fresh, anti-colonial take on vampire lore.

The movie follows the twins, Smoke and Stack as they go about setting up a juke joint for the local Black community, only to be thwarted by a group of vampires in the middle of the night.

With a gorgeous blues soundtrack and a gripping narrative, Sinners makes for a rather haunting watch.  

Most women know the feeling of a charming Tinder date going horribly wrong—and Drop (directed by Christopher Landon) leans into that fear and crafts a clever and subversive narrative around it.

The film follows Violet (played by Meghann Fahy), a widowed single mother who goes on a date after many, many years. But the evening soon turns into a nightmare when she receives mysterious texts urging her to kill her handsome date, or risk losing her son and sister.

Relatable and riveting, Drop is an intense watch with phenomenal acting and a smart screenplay that makes excellent use of technology and won’t let you pause for a single second. 

While we don’t know if this is the final Mission: Impossible film, it’s definitely going to be the last film for a long while, as per the Tom Cruise and the director, Christopher McQuarrie.

And as the latest entry in this long-running franchise, it does a good job at tying up lose ends, concluding character arcs and offering the heart-pumping stunts, performed by Cruise himself, that the series is famous for.

The film tackles a rogue AI as its ultimate adversary with Ethan Hunt on a race against time to save the world from nuclear annihilation. En route, he breaks into a sunken submarine located some five hundred feet below sea level and fights off a bad guy atop a bi-plane—both stunning set-pieces that will definitely go down in cinematic history.

If you love action thrillers or have faithfully followed the Mission: Impossible films over the years, don’t miss this final send-off. 

The Amateur is a rather enjoyable action thriller, directed by James Hawes and starring Rami Malek in the lead, based on a novel by Robert Litell. Malek plays Charlie Heller, a CIA cryptographer whose wife gets killed in a London terrorist attack.

However, since his senior operatives won’t do anything about it, he is forced to take matters into his own hands and investigate the incident.

Decently acted with emotional stakes and engaging sequences, The Amateur may not necessarily be a groundbreaking artistic accomplishment, but it’s certainly entertaining enough if you’re looking for a fun time at the movies. 

Finally, if you’re looking for some laughs and a thriller that doesn’t take itself too seriously, Deep Cover is a comedic crime caper that you can stream while curled up on your couch with a cup of hot cocoa.

It stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed playing improv actors recruited by the police to infiltrate a gang—a premise that leads to some chaotic shenanigans and dollops of absurd hilarity.

If you’re in the mood for a light-hearted and amusing watch with some crazy antics, this Tom Kingsley-directed flick might be up your alley. 

Featured still from “Black Bag” via Focus Features