15 Best Detective Movies That Will Keep You Guessing

The most gripping detective movies, praised by both critics and the Academy, include The Silence of the Lambs, Chinatown, L.A. Confidential and Knives Out. Below are 15 films, from a 1941 noir to a 2026 release, each with a spoiler-free setup, director, cast, runtime, Oscars, Rotten Tomatoes critics score and where to watch in Ukraine as of September 30, 2026.

The list covers every major flavor of the genre: finding the killer among the guests in a house or the passengers on a train, noir with private eyes, police investigations, serial-killer hunts and a courtroom drama. At the end you’ll find a comparison table and tips on what to watch with kids, when you’re short on time or when you want a Ukrainian dub.

How we picked

• The story centers on an investigation led by a private eye, a police officer, an FBI trainee, a journalist or a court.
• The acclaim is verified: Academy Awards per the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cannes Film Festival awards and the share of positive critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which is at least 84% for every film here as of September 30, 2026.
• Different eras: eight films from 1941–1997, two from the 2000s and five recent ones from 2019–2026.
• No spoilers: we describe only the setup and never name the killer, the solution or the ending.
• The order is by release year, so a film’s number is not its rank.

That’s why Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners isn’t here, for example: it’s popular, but its share of positive reviews is 81%.

1. The Maltese Falcon

San Francisco. A client comes to private detectives Sam Spade and Miles Archer and asks them to tail a man. Archer is killed that very first night, and Spade gets drawn into the hunt for a falcon statuette encrusted with jewels.

It’s an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s novel and John Huston’s directorial debut. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Screenplay and Sydney Greenstreet’s supporting role. MEGOGO has it with a Ukrainian translation.

2. Rear Window

Photographer L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies has broken his leg and hasn’t left his Greenwich Village apartment for weeks. Out of boredom he watches the neighbors across the courtyard, and he starts to suspect that one of them has killed his wife.

The film is based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich and earned four Oscar nominations, including Directing and Screenplay.

3. In the Heat of the Night

In the small town of Sparta, Mississippi, an industrialist who came to build a factory is murdered. A police officer arrests a Black stranger with a fat wallet at the train station, and the man turns out to be Virgil Tibbs, a homicide detective from Philadelphia. The local police chief, Bill Gillespie, a racist, reluctantly accepts his help.

The film won five Oscars from seven nominations: Best Picture, Actor (Rod Steiger), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Sound. We found no official option on Ukrainian streaming services as of September 30, 2026.

4. Chinatown

Los Angeles, 1937. A woman calling herself Evelyn Mulwray hires private detective Jake Gittes to follow her husband, the chief engineer of the city’s water department. The job looks like a routine case of a cheating spouse.

Out of 11 Oscar nominations, the film won one, for Original Screenplay. One of the lead roles is played by John Huston, the director of The Maltese Falcon, which opens this list.

5. Murder on the Orient Express

Hercule Poirot is traveling from Istanbul to London on the Orient Express. Overnight the train gets stuck in the snow, and in the morning one of the passengers is found murdered in his compartment. The killer is still on board, so everyone is a suspect.

It’s an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, with six Oscar nominations and a win for Ingrid Bergman in a supporting role. The 2017 version with Kenneth Branagh is on MEGOGO with a subscription and on Sweet.tv, but critics rated it much lower: 60% versus 89%.

6. The Silence of the Lambs

FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to talk to Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and cannibal killer held in a prison hospital. The FBI hopes he will help them catch a serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill.

It became the third film in history to win Oscars in all five major categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. On Kyivstar TV it comes with Ukrainian and English audio tracks.

7. Se7en

Detective William Somerset is working his last week before retirement, and his replacement, David Mills, has just moved to the city with his wife. Together they investigate a series of murders, each tied to one of the seven deadly sins.

Sweet.tv includes it in its subscription with a Ukrainian audio track, and MEGOGO lets you buy or rent it with a Ukrainian translation.

8. L.A. Confidential

Los Angeles, 1953. Three very different cops, a careerist, a fame-seeker and a hot-tempered enforcer, each investigate in their own way a mass murder at an all-night coffee shop called the Nite Owl.

The film is based on James Ellroy’s novel. It won Oscars for Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress, Kim Basinger. MEGOGO lets you buy or rent it with a Ukrainian translation.

9. Memories of Murder

South Korea, 1986. Murdered women are found in the countryside. The local detectives, who have neither experience nor forensic experts, beat confessions out of suspects, and a detective from Seoul is sent to help them.

The story is inspired by the real case of South Korea’s first serial murders, in Hwaseong. Bong Joon Ho later made Parasite, which won the Oscar for Best Picture.

10. Zodiac

San Francisco, the late 1960s. A killer who calls himself the Zodiac sends coded letters to the San Francisco Chronicle. Cartoonist Robert Graysmith, reporter Paul Avery and Inspector Dave Toschi spend years trying to pick up his trail.

The screenplay is based on Graysmith’s nonfiction books, and the film competed at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. MEGOGO and Sweet.tv include it in their subscriptions with a Ukrainian audio track.

11. Knives Out

Famous crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead the morning after his 85th birthday. The police lean toward suicide, but someone anonymously hires private detective Benoit Blanc. It turns out that almost every family member had a motive.

We found no official option on Ukrainian streaming services as of September 30, 2026: Kyivstar TV’s rights to show it have expired. The sequels, Glass Onion (2022) and Wake Up Dead Man (2025), are on Netflix.

12. Decision to Leave

Hae-jun, an insomniac detective from Busan, investigates the death of a man who fell from a mountain cliff. The dead man’s widow, Seo-rae, becomes the prime suspect, and the longer the investigation goes on, the more attached the detective becomes to her.

Park Chan-wook won the Best Director prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for this film, and in 2026 he became president of the festival’s jury, a first for Korean cinema.

13. Anatomy of a Fall

A man is found dead at a chalet in the mountains near Grenoble, apparently killed by a fall. His wife, the writer Sandra, becomes the prime suspect, and their visually impaired 11-year-old son becomes one of the key witnesses.

The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for Original Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, and Sandra Hüller was nominated for Best Actress. MEGOGO includes it in its subscription with a Ukrainian translation.

14. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Young priest Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer, is transferred after a fight to a small parish under the domineering Monsignor Jefferson Wicks. When a seemingly impossible murder happens in the church, Benoit Blanc takes the case.

The film opened in limited release in the US on November 26, 2025, and arrived on Netflix on December 12. In Ukraine it’s available there with a Ukrainian dub and subtitles.

15. The Sheep Detectives

Shepherd George Hardy reads mystery novels to his flock every evening. When he is found dead one morning, the sheep decide to find the killer themselves, following the rules from the books they’ve heard.

The film is based on Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel. It opened in Ukrainian theaters on May 7, 2026, and is now on Prime Video with a Ukrainian audio track and subtitles.

Comparison: 15 gripping detective movies

Film	Year	Subgenre	Runtime, min	Critics (RT), %	Where to watch
The Maltese Falcon	1941	Film noir	100	99	MEGOGO, Apple TV
Rear Window	1954	Mystery thriller	112	99	Apple TV
In the Heat of the Night	1967	Police procedural	109	96	—
Chinatown	1974	Neo-noir	131	98	Apple TV
Murder on the Orient Express	1974	Classic whodunit	127	89	—
The Silence of the Lambs	1991	Psychological thriller	118	95	Kyivstar TV, Apple TV
Se7en	1995	Neo-noir	127	84	Sweet.tv, MEGOGO, Apple TV
L.A. Confidential	1997	Neo-noir	136	99	MEGOGO, Apple TV
Memories of Murder	2003	Police procedural	129	95	Apple TV
Zodiac	2007	True crime	157	90	MEGOGO, Sweet.tv, Apple TV
Knives Out	2019	Classic whodunit	130	97	—
Decision to Leave	2022	Romantic thriller	138	94	Apple TV
Anatomy of a Fall	2023	Courtroom drama	150	96	MEGOGO
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery	2025	Classic whodunit	144	92	Netflix
The Sheep Detectives	2026	Mystery comedy	109	95	Prime Video

How to pick a detective movie for tonight

You can narrow the list down by mood, time and who you’re watching with.

• Guess the killer along with the detective: Murder on the Orient Express, Knives Out and Wake Up Dead Man are classic puzzles with a closed circle of suspects.
• Noir: The Maltese Falcon, Chinatown and L.A. Confidential.
• Hunting a serial killer: The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Memories of Murder and Zodiac, the darkest films in the list.
• Short on time: The Maltese Falcon runs 100 minutes, In the Heat of the Night and The Sheep Detectives 109 each. The longest film in the list is Zodiac at 157 minutes.
• With kids: The Sheep Detectives is a family comedy rated PG in the US and 7+ on Prime Video.
• With a Ukrainian dub: The Silence of the Lambs on Kyivstar TV, Se7en and Zodiac on Sweet.tv, Wake Up Dead Man on Netflix and The Sheep Detectives on Prime Video. MEGOGO has The Maltese Falcon, Se7en, L.A. Confidential, Zodiac and Anatomy of a Fall with a Ukrainian translation.
• Not in English: Memories of Murder and Decision to Leave are Korean films, and Anatomy of a Fall is French.
• A detective from the comics: Matt Reeves conceived The Batman (2022) as a noir investigation in which the hero hunts a serial killer called the Riddler. We explain where it fits in our guide to the Batman movies in order.
• Sci-fi with a mystery: They Cloned Tyrone is a sci-fi comedy with a detective plot from our list of the best sci-fi movies of 2023.

Sources and methodology

Analysis of public sourcesChecked 30 September 2026

1. Academy Awards ceremony results — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences oscars.org
2. Anatomy of a Fall — Festival de Cannes festival-cannes.com
3. Critics scores — Rotten Tomatoes rottentomatoes.com
4. MEGOGO catalog megogo.net
5. Apple TV in Ukraine tv.apple.com

FAQ

Which detective movies won the Oscar for Best Picture?

Two films in this list: In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Each won five Oscars, and The Silence of the Lambs won in all five major categories.

Where can I watch these detective movies in Ukraine?

As of September 30, 2026, The Silence of the Lambs is on Kyivstar TV, Se7en and Zodiac are on Sweet.tv, Zodiac and Anatomy of a Fall are included with a MEGOGO subscription, and MEGOGO also lets you buy or rent The Maltese Falcon, Se7en and L.A. Confidential. Wake Up Dead Man is on Netflix, The Sheep Detectives is on Prime Video, and nine films from the list can be bought or rented on Apple TV. We found no official option for In the Heat of the Night, the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express or Knives Out.

Which of these can I watch with kids?

The Sheep Detectives: it’s a family mystery comedy rated PG in the US and 7+ on Prime Video. Rear Window and the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express are also rated PG.

What new detective movies came out in 2025–2026?

From this list: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (on Netflix since December 12, 2025) and The Sheep Detectives (released in Ukrainian theaters on May 7, 2026, and now on Prime Video). Their shares of positive reviews are 92% and 95%.

Which detective movies are based on real events?

Zodiac is based on Robert Graysmith’s nonfiction books about a real San Francisco serial killer, and Memories of Murder is inspired by South Korea’s first serial murders in Hwaseong.