Sometimes we watch movies to relax…some other times we just want to torment ourselves by watching movies that mess with our heads. If you belong to the second category and you are someone who likes to push your intelligence into unfamiliar territories, then this list of mind puzzling movies will help you do exactly that.
These movies have some of the most impressive IMDb scores out there, and you should watch these at least once. Let’s know more about the movies that play out like a puzzle.
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30 Mind Puzzling Movies You Cannot Miss
30. The Number 23 (2007)
IMDb Rating: 6.4
Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him. As his obsession increases, more and more similarities seem to arise, and the more he realizes that the more he feels like he is going crazy. This is one of the best puzzling movies out there and is definitely going to make you question your intelligence.
29. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
IMDb Rating: 6.5
A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years — which could shake the foundations of Christianity. Sounds intriguing and sensational, doesn’t it? This movie is going to take you for a ride, just like the book did to me!
28. Fermat’s Room (2007)
IMDb Rating: 6.7
Four mathematicians who do not know each other are invited by a mysterious host on the pretext of resolving a great enigma. The room in which they find themselves turns out to be a shrinking room that will crush them if they do not discover in time what connects them all and why someone might wish to murder them.
27. Enemy (2013)
IMDb Rating: 6.8
Inspired by José Saramago’s 2002 novel, The Double, this is a movie about a man who seeks out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie. Jake Gyllenhall plays a double role as two men who look exactly the same, but their personalities are completely different from one another. Unsurprisingly, this movie received several accolades for the way it was directed and performed.
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26. Triangle (2009)
IMDb Rating: 6.9
The story revolves around the passengers of a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean who, when struck by mysterious weather conditions, jump onto another ship only to experience greater havoc on the open seas.
25. Exam (2009)
IMDb Rating: 6.9
The final eight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a test with one question. It seems simple yet confusing, and soon, tensions begin to unravel.
24. Stay (2005)
IMDb Rating: 6.9
This movie focuses on the attempts of a psychiatrist to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality. This is one of the best mind puzzling movies that will keep you glued to the screen until the very end.
23. National Treasure (2004)
IMDb Rating: 6.9
This one is an iconic movie for a reason, and definitely one of Nicholas Cage’s best and most popular performances. This movie revolves around a historian who races to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries. How he retrieves it and all the adventures he goes through form the crux of the movie.
22. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
IMDb Rating: 7.1
Adopted from Philip K. Dick’s short novel, this movie is about the affair between a politician and a contemporary dancer whose love story is affected by mysterious forces trying to keep the lovers apart. David Norris (Matt Damon) fights and struggles the manipulation of a malevolent organization that constantly manipulates him into believing that whatever they are doing, is for his own good.
21. El método (2005)
IMDb Rating: 7.3
On a troubled day in Madrid, with strikes and protests against the World Bank and the IMF on the streets, major corporation Dekia holds interviews to recruit a top executive from seven applicants. Their doubts start when they have to sign a clause accepting the Grönholm method, which nobody had ever heard of.
It soon becomes clear that the tests are dirty mind games. They must guess who among them is the HR mole, and repeatedly eliminate one of their own from the procedure. Their priorities, ethics, and loyalty are put through the ultimate tests, and that is why this movie is undoubtedly one of the best mind puzzling movies to watch.
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20. Cube (1997)
IMDb Rating: 7.3
Six complete strangers of widely varying personalities are involuntarily placed in an endless kafkaesque maze containing deadly traps, out of which they have to try and get out alive. They are trapped in weird and dangerous cube-shaped rooms, from which the movie’s name is inspired. Everyone does not make it out alive, of course, and what makes the movie so thrilling is the way everything plays out.
19. Identity (2003)
IMDb Rating: 7.3
Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rainstorm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they’re being killed off one by one. Using the reverse chronology structure, the backgrounds of all the characters are shown before they arrive at the motel in the present.
Even though this movie received mixed reviews at the time of its release, it has slowly turned into a cult movie with a loyal and dedicated following today.
18. Loft (2008)
IMDb Rating: 7.4
Five close friends, all of them married, share a loft to meet their mistresses. One day, they find the body of a young woman in the loft. Since there are only five keys to the loft, the five men begin to suspect each other of murder. This Belgian erotic mystery thriller is one of the most popular and cult mind puzzling movies of all time, and you should definitely give this one a watch.
17. Predestination (2014)
IMDb Rating: 7.4
The movie revolves around the life of a time-traveling Temporal Agent, and how on his final assignment, he must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him every time. He travels back in time to 1975 to try and prevent a bomb attack, but it turns out to be one of his most difficult and challenging missions to date.
His last mission ends up being an interesting, adventurous, unique, and mind-bending tale of love, identity, and time-travel taboos. The movie also ends on a probable cliffhanger which leaves you wanting more.
16. The Next Three Days (2010)
IMDb Rating: 7.4
A remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle (Anything for Her) by Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans, this movie revolves around a married couple whose life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of murdering her boss, is wrongly convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The husband then hatches a plan to break his innocent wife out of prison and leave the country so that they can live a peaceful life with their son.
15. Source Code (2011)
IMDb Rating: 7.5
A soldier wakes up in someone else’s body and discovers he’s part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train. A mission he has only 8 minutes to complete. Going by the synopsis, you can understand how thrilling, exciting and heart-pumping this movie really is.
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14. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
IMDb Rating: 7.6
Do I really need to speak about this? This one is not just one of the best mind puzzling movies out there, it is undoubtedly one of the most popular ones too. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as his stalwart partner, Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.
13. Zodiac (2007)
IMDb Rating: 7.7
A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages, while he keeps on committing murders. We follow the investigators and reporters in this lightly fictionalized account of the true 1970s case as they search for the murderer, becoming obsessed with the case. Based on Robert Graysmith’s book, the movie’s focus is on the lives and careers of the detectives and people working at the newspaper desperately trying to unmask him.
12. The Machinist (2004)
IMDb Rating: 7.7
Who can ever forget Christian Bale’s insane transformation into an emaciated man for this cult role? He plays an industrial worker who hasn’t slept in a year and begins to doubt his own sanity. He starts to experience unusual visions and occurrences at home as well as at work, including a strange man following him, but nobody else seems to notice that.
11. Saw (2004)
IMDb Rating: 7.7
Two strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there or why, and soon discover they are pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer. This movie has such a cult following, that it has spawned numerous parts, but nothing can match the frenzy and terror of the first one. The iconic villain, Jigsaw is counted as one of the best antagonists of all time.
10. The Game (1997)
IMDb Rating: 7.8
Wealthy San Francisco financier Nicholas Van Orton gets a strange birthday present from his wayward brother, Conrad: a live-action game that consumes his life, and soon, the lines between the virtual world and the real world start to blur. And the more the game starts to consume him, he starts to realize that there is a larger conspiracy at play that threatens to destroy his life and ruin him for good.
9. Mr. Nobody (2009)
IMDb Rating: 7.9
In a utopian future, Nemo is the oldest and last man to ever have the choice of immortality. The film explores Nemo as a young boy faced with an impossible decision: should he stay with his father or leave with his mother?
The film is based on all of his possible lives that could occur, which are all dependent on his one decision. This is one of the most brain-twisting and best mind puzzling movies I have ever watched.
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8. Prisoners (2013)
IMDb Rating: 8.1
When Keller Dover’s daughter and her friend go missing, takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family, especially when the police seem to arrest the suspect and let him go?
7. Donnie Darko (2001)
IMDb Rating: 8.1
Troubled adolescent, Donnie Darko, receives a disturbing vision that the world will end in 28 days. With the help of various characters, including a 6-foot rabbit called Frank, he slowly discovers the mysterious physical and metaphysical laws that govern his life and that will lead up to the destruction of the universe.
6. Shutter Island (2010)
IMDb Rating: 8.1
U.S. Marshall, Teddy, and his partner, Chuck, travel to a secluded island home to a mental facility called Shutter Island. The reason for Teddy’s arrival is to investigate the disappearance of a missing patient, named Rachel. As Teddy and Chuck dive deeper into their investigation to find out where Rachel has gone, they reveal the dark secrets of Shutter Island.
5. Memento (2000)
IMDb Rating: 8.5
Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One storyline moves forward in time while the other tells the story backward revealing more each time, making it one of the most gripping and mind puzzling movies out there.
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4. The Prestige (2006)
IMDb Rating: 8.5
This movie revolves around two stage magicians engaging in competitive one-upmanship in an attempt to create the ultimate stage illusion. This science fantasy psychological thriller film is one of the best works of Christopher Nolan and received Academy Award nominations Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
3. Indiana Jones Series (1981) (1984) (1989) (2008)
IMDb: 8.6
Do I even need to talk about this iconic franchise of movies? Many ardent fans believe that it deserves a bigger and better rating than what it has on IMDb. The movie is about archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones who is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis get their hands on it.
2. The Usual Suspects (1995)
IMDb Rating: 8.6
A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begins when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup. This iconic movie won two Academy awards and still remains one of the most iconic Hollywood movies there is.
1. Inception (2010)
IMDb Rating: 8.8
A thief, who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO. This movie is at the top of the list due to a reason, and it’s because this is probably Christopher Nolan’s best work to date. The movie’s ending is debated still today, and that speaks a lot about it.
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