What's up with lukewarm thrillers?

Hasn't there been a surge of thrillers/whodunits/murder mysteries in Indian( and international) movies offlate? Not complaining because it's my favourite genre. But my problem is none of them are really nailbiting! You could smell the plot twist or killer miles away and from then onwards it's a tedious wait for climax.

There were some movies where even if you knew the twist you could still watch the movie because it is engaging but they are few and far inbetween.

Is it because movies have already explored ALL possible angles that can be explored that it has become predictable in most? There is no new omg level twist that could be logically incorporated?

I liked Monica oh my darling but as a plot it was a tedious walk to climax, saved by good acting and direction and music.

Today, I saw gaslight,again predictable and it was a never ending wait for climax which was also very predictable but it's an okay okay one time watch.

Same with the knives out movies. Both parts,very obvious whodunits.

We haven't really had a, say, Orphan level suspence in a long while.

On that note, please suggest your favourites.

Knives Out was very good IMO....it was not predictable.

Some other favorites are:

Memento - Directed by Christopher Nolan, this movie follows the story of a man suffering from short-term memory loss who is trying to solve his wife's murder

The Prestige - Another movie by Christopher Nolan, this one is about two rival magicians who engage in a fierce competition that leads to unexpected consequences.

Shutter Island - Directed by Martin Scorsese, this movie follows the story of two US Marshals who are investigating the disappearance of a patient from an asylum located on a remote island.

Se7en - A classic thriller directed by David Fincher, this movie is about two detectives who are on the hunt for a serial killer who is targeting people based on the seven deadly sins.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Based on the novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson, this movie is about a journalist and a computer hacker who team up to solve a series of murders that are linked to a wealthy family.

The first Knives out, I found phenomenal.

The plot straying from whodunnit to rooting for the ‘criminal’ and back to whodunnit - was outstanding

The actors all aced it!

Second one was blah except for the back actress whose name I don’t remember now!

Whodunnits are overdone and saturated I feel like. I read thriller books too and after Gone Girl every write tries to emulate that shock value of the perceived victim turning out to be the bad guy.

I can recommend you a few quick read one time thriller books

The Silent Patient

The wife upstairs

The housemaid

Verity

Making a note of all of these because it’s my absolute favourite genre too! Knives out 2 was meh, why did it feel comical with Craig’s accent?

Maybe I have read too much Agatha Christie, that's why knives out 1 didn't really shock me. It was very, very hercule poiriot-isque! But I agree with you both on the acting part. After watching 2nd knives out I felt it was more about the elaborate psyche of suspects and perpetrators than really building up a suspence. Even then steam ran out pretty fast for me.

Speaking of, I think the whole elaborate psyche discussion was done very well in Hitchcock's Rope.

Thanks for the recommendation Minty blue, have seen all of them and my favourite is Shutter Island. Brilliant movie👌🏼 Reat of your list is also great choices.

@phosphorus: Thank you for the books! I've only read silent patient and verity,so will read the other two now. Thank you again.

Keep the suggestions coming 👍🏼

Originally posted by: Maroonporsche

Watch Badlapur

Did already. Good one that... discovered Varun can act well if necessary 😆

Originally posted by: sev.puri

Making a note of all of these because it’s my absolute favourite genre too! Knives out 2 was meh, why did it feel comical with Craig’s accent?

Tell me about it. It felt more like a spoof of the genre than genre itself. They just threw good money and nice ensemble of cast to parody themselves.

I need more movies like Ittefaq. Loved it.

I hope Gumraah will be good and unpredictable too.

I'm reading The Maid right now because it won award of best thriller, but it's such a drag so far and seems predictable. Hoping for an unpredictable twist.

Sidney Sheldon, BA Paris, Riley Sager write some great thrillers.

Originally posted by: Chocru

Hasn't there been a surge of thrillers/whodunits/murder mysteries in Indian( and international) movies offlate? Not complaining because it's my favourite genre. But my problem is none of them are really nailbiting! You could smell the plot twist or killer miles away and from then onwards it's a tedious wait for climax.

On that note, please suggest your favourites.

Aditya Roy Kapoor's upcoming film Gumraah is the remake of a clever spin of identical twins who hate each other. The police knows one of them committed a murder. Each of them comes up with stories from their post pointing out to the other twin as the murder. If you don't mind subtitles you can watch the original Tamil film Thadam on Sun Nxt. Youtube also has a dubbed Hindi version of the original.

Mumbai Police has Prithviraj Sukumaran as an amnesiac cop who has to solve his best-friend's murder. Except he had solved it once before his memory loss and now he has no clue how to go on.

Supernatural whodunnits are my favorite genre. Have you seen the TV series Grimm(2011) about a cop who discovers that he's the scion of a family of supernatural enforcers/hitmen and solves crimes with the help of a werewolf? Or even David Boreanaz's Angel(2000) about a vampire running a detective agency?

Mera Saaya has Sunil Dutt fighting in court to prove that an imposter is claiming to be his dead wife. Except that Sadhana has clever replies for every argument that he presents in Court.