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Ever since film emerged as a storytelling platform, the murder mystery movie genre has captivated audiences and kept them on the edge of their seats. These stories easily foster a level of involved viewership that can be difficult to recreate in other genres, as fans must be engaged with every aspect of the film in order to find clues on screen and within the script.
In recent years, exciting mysteries such as Knives Out, Gone Girl, and Happy Death Day have explored the ways that the genre can be expanded upon and reimagined, but there are several classics and hidden gems that fans can sit down and start solving, too.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
A horror mystery film loosely based on Lois Duncan’s novel of the same name, the film adaptation begins with four recent high school graduates accidentally hitting a pedestrian with their car, killing him instantly. The teens decide to dispose of the body and swear to never tell a soul about what occurred.
A year later, each of them begins receiving ominous letters hinting that the sender knows about the crime they committed the previous summer. Scream writer Kevin Williamson adapted I Know What You Did Last Summer for the screen, resulting in a fun yet suspenseful slasher that blurs the line between killer and victim.
Tesis (1996)
Alejandro Amenábar wrote and directed this Spanish thriller about a film student named Ángela who, while conducting research for her thesis project, is shocked to discover a violent, disturbing snuff film in which a woman is tortured and killed. She is even more horrified when she realizes that the victim in the film was a fellow student at her university.
With the killer's identity in question, Ángela sets out to uncover who committed this crime. Tesis is an intense mystery that asks its viewers to question the impact of the film industry’s fascination with violence as well as the psychological reasoning behind it.
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, and Cynthia Erivo star in this 2018 crime drama as four strangers who arrive at a desolate hotel on the border of California and Nevada. Not all the hotel guests are who they claim to be, and undercover FBI agent Dwight Broadbeck soon discovers some of them are involved in illegal activities.
The script fuses the western, mystery, gangster, and adventure genres to create a complex, twisty story that keeps viewers guessing until the very end.
The Advocate (1993)
In Medieval Europe, it was not unheard of for an animal to be put on trial for committing a crime. The Advocate, also titled The Hour of the Pig, tells the story of a Parisian lawyer Richard Courtois, played by Collin Firth, who moves to a quaint village and is assigned to defend a pig who was accused of murdering a young boy.
As time passes and Courtois begins to learn more about the other residents of the village, he begins to consider the possibility that the pig was actually framed and a serial killer is on the loose.
11:14 (2003)
11:14 uses five different viewpoints to piece together two deadly car accidents that occurred on the same night. While this could easily lead to an overwhelmingly confusing film, director and writer Greg Marcks handled the material well, and the story’s structure makes it more interesting to watch without becoming convoluted beyond the point of understanding.
The script incorporates a lot of dark, although sometimes childish, comedy into its mysterious, thrilling storyline, but that doesn’t detract from its intricately constructed storyline that will keep any viewer on the edge of their seat.
The Name of the Rose (1986)
The Name of the Rose is a historical, Sherlock-style mystery based on the novel of the same name by Italian historian Umberto Eco. The film features monks William von Baskerville (Sean Connery) and Adso von Melk (Christian Slater) as they attempt to solve a series of murders that are plaguing a Benedictine monastery.
While many of the other monks believe these killings are evidence of the devil at work, William is certain that there is a human culprit behind these killings. The Name of the Rose separates itself from others in the genre with its unconventional setting and its religious and theological themes.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Hollywood great Billy Wilder directed Double Indemnity, a 1944 noir about an insurance salesman named Walter Neff, who falls for the murderous and manipulative Phyllis Dietrichson. Phyllis reveals to Walter that she wants to increase her husband's life insurance payout by adding a double indemnity clause to his policy and then kill him to receive the insurance sum.
Walter agrees to help her, even committing the murder of her husband himself. However, Walter soon discovers that this was not Phyllis’s first killing, and unless he moves quickly, it won’t be her last. Double Indemnity has received a lot of praise since its release almost 80 years ago and is often considered to be one of the best American films ever made. Today's viewers will be happy to know it stands the test of time, delivering on the high-quality dialogue that Wilder scripts were known for.
Death on the Nile (1978)
Based on the famous Agatha Christie novel, Death on the Nile follows a group of tourists who are traveling across Egypt via a steamboat. Two of the passengers, Simon Doyle and Linnet Ridgeway, have just been wed. Linnet is a wealthy heiress, and there are plenty of people who are dangerously envious of her wealth, beauty, and even her marriage to Doyle.
This complicates things for another tourist, investigator Hercule Poirot, after Linnet is killed on board the ship. It isn't always easy to recreate an Agatha Christie novel, but Death on the Nile is a classic murder mystery that contains several twists and surprises. The resulting film adaptation is still beloved by audiences today, as evidenced by Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming remake, set to come out in 2022.
Rebecca (1940)
Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with and marries a wealthy widower named Maxim de Winter. However, once she moves into his manor, she begins to feel as though she will never be able to measure up to the standard that was set by his first wife, Rebecca.
One night, during a costume party during which the new bride plans to win her husband over, a sunken ship is discovered nearby, and the body of Rebecca is found inside. The second Mrs. De Winter (never given another name through the novel or film adaptation) demands the truth from her husband. Upon getting it via a tearful confession, she decides to go all-in and helps him prove his innocence. Adapted from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier which is widely regarded as one of the most critically-acclaimed novels of the 20th century, Rebecca remains an atmospheric must-watch.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is about a petty thief named Harry who accidentally gets a role in a film, and in order to prepare for this role he is required to observe private investigator Gay Perry. While accompanying Perry, Harry finds himself thrown into a murder investigation that also happens to involve his high school best friend, Harmony.
The film is full of twists and turns, humorous and dark moments, and interesting oddities. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a perfect choice for anyone who loves murder mysteries but is looking for something that takes the genre in a different direction.