Mystery movie perhaps has farm worker throttling personnel (8)
I believe the answer is:
thriller
'mystery movie perhaps' is the definition.
'farm worker throttling personnel' is the wordplay.
'farm worker' becomes 'tiller' (to till is to cultivate farmland).
'throttling' indicates putting letters inside.
'personnel' becomes 'hr' (Human Resources).
'tiller' placed around 'hr' is 'THRILLER'.
'has' is the link.
(Other definitions for thriller that I've seen before include "Book or film designed to keep us in suspense" , "Exciting novel/film, etc" , "Suspenseful adventure story" , "Very exciting contest" , "Let her trill in exciting book or film" .)