Unlike fluffy, formulaic rom-coms that you can put on in the background while unwinding after a hard day’s work, mystery and thriller movies often require the viewer’s full and undivided attention to be properly appreciated.
Whether you’re piecing together clues to solve a murder mystery before the on-screen detective does it or you’re wracking your brain trying to make sense of a thriller’s mind-bending finale, these films tend to reward close observation—and rewatching them with a special someone promises to be just as entertaining and engaging.
Add some romance elements into the mix, and you’ve immediately amped up the suspense.
Are the butterflies in your stomach because you’re attracted to the femme fatale, or because you’re worried that something terrible is going to happen to the characters? Did that black-and-white seduction scene make your heart skip a beat, or was that just an act concealing even more clandestine affairs?
These exciting films we’ve shortlisted all have a prominent romance arc to them. They're guaranteed to set your heart racing and keep you guessing till the last scene.
Perfect for a movie night with a significant other or a solo date night, they balance the sexual tension with the right amount of subtlety and foreboding. After all, isn’t love the greatest mystery of them all?
Here are six mystery and thriller films oozing with romance.
The Prestige
One of my favorite Christopher Nolan movies, The Prestige unfolds in Victorian London. It follows two rival magicians who try their best to outdo the other.
Adapted from a novel by Christopher Priest and starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in leading roles, the film is ingeniously plotted, making you question if it’s science or magic that powers the seemingly impossible illusions that these magicians perform.
Throw in some tragic lovers, an appearance by David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, and period aesthetics, and you have the recipe for a thriller that will keep you on your toes till the very end—with the curtain closing to thunderous applause.
Ex Machina
Directed by Alex Garland, Ex Machina explores whether humanoid robots can pass the Turing test—if they are truly sentient and capable of consciousness.
A modern Gothic romance thriller with a twist, much of the story in Ex Machina takes place in an isolated house inhabited by a greedy CEO, a mute servant, a robot called Ava, and a programmer who is invited to test the robot’s artificial intelligence.
Of course, things swiftly go south, and the unexpected ending makes the audience question who was the real protagonist of the tale all along.
Black Bag
A psychosexual spy thriller by Steven Soderbergh, Black Bag focuses on George Woodhouse, a senior intelligence officer (played by an astute Michael Fassbender) tasked with investigating a leak of a top-secret software.
All five of the suspects, including his wife (an entrancing Cate Blanchett) are secret agents themselves. He invites them all to dinner—and susses out who is cheating on whom.
But there are secrets within secrets, testing the limits of his own monogamous marriage.
By the third act, the cards fall neatly into place, smartly and sexily, with a satisfying resolution and an excellent score throughout.
Rear Window
Most Alfred Hitchcock movies would fit the bill for mystery/thriller/romance, but I’d like to highlight the masterfully crafted Rear Window. In this film, much of the action takes place in a single location, playing around with ideas of voyeurism, blended with a cute love story.
The movie follows a cynical photographer temporarily disabled by a leg fracture. He turns into a sort of Peeping Tom, and the views from his window lead him to come up with a tight-knit theory about a neighbor who murdered his wife.
With the help of his girlfriend, he’s able to investigate his theory—with dangerous consequences.
Hitchcock manipulates the audience’s anxieties to great effect. Packed with witty dialogue and carefully-composed window frames, Rear Window makes for a compelling watch.
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca remains a classic for a reason. It starts out as a Gothic romance, then turns into a murder mystery, and finally a suspense-driven thriller with sapphic undertones.
It’s been adapted for the stage and screen numerous times, with Hitchcock’s Academy Award-winning 1940 version being one of the best ones. It was even turned into a musical.
The 2020 remake focuses more on the toxic romance between the main players, with Armie Hammer stepping into the role of the cold, yet charismatic Maxim de Winter.
The Handmaiden
Finally, if you’re in the mood for a queer love story that will keep you at the edge of your seat, you must check out the Korean film The Handmaiden. It skillfully plays around with perspective, repeating some of the same scenes in a different light to completely change their meaning.
Set in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, it focuses on a Japanese heiress and her handmaiden who go on the run together. But whom is actually playing whom remains a mystery till the last scene, making it a very thrilling and sexy watch.
