Netflix's newest murder mystery is here to welcome the holidays with macabre style. The Pale Blue Eye, directed by Scott Cooper and adapted from the book of the same name, follows Christian Bale's Augustus Landor as he is enlisted to investigate a brutal murder on the campus of West Point Military Academy. As the killer becomes brazen, cadet Edgar Allan Poe is tapped to help Landor in his investigation.
Stories like Murder in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, penned by Poe, shaped the genre we know today. Poe's influence can be seen everywhere, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes to the works of modern master Stephen King. These stories and films draw us into the detective's world as they hunt for the criminal and piece together complex clues. Here is a list of movies to help you get ready to help Detective Landor on December 23.
10 'Blade Runner 2049' (2017)
Blade Runner 2049 follows Ryan Gosling's Officer K as he hunts down and terminates rogue androids known as "replicants." On a routine mission to retire a rogue replicant, K, also a replicant, discovers evidence of something that could get him terminated himself.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049 does not get enough credit for being a neo-noir detective story. 2049 is a science fiction movie, first and foremost, but the mystery at the center moves the plot forward and provides us with the necessary exposition and story points.
9 'See How They Run' (2022)
See How They Run is all the mystery of an Agatha Christie novel and laughs to spare. The setting is the night of the hundredth showing of the stage version of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. But during the celebration, the director in charge of making the film adaptation is found murdered.
See How They Run is briskly paced and, even more, briskly scripted. The setup is a well-worn genre trope, as our narrator (and eventual murder victim) reminds us: if you've seen one whodunit, you've seen them all. However, See How They Run manages to squeeze in some timely commentary on how we consume violence-related entertainment and the ethics of embellishment in storytelling.
8 'Vertigo' (1958)
After an accident on a San Francisco rooftop, Detective Scottie Ferguson, played by the always-engrossing James Stewart, develops an intense fear of heights and the condition of vertigo. But Scottie is sucked back into the investigative world when an old friend asks for help with his wife's bizarre behavior.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo saw some critics lament the pacing in its original reviews. But the deliberate pacing is what makes the film work so well. Scottie pushes forward with his investigation, for better or worse, until the shocking finale. Regardless of its original critics, Vertigo has since gone on to be preserved in the Library of Congress and is routinely placed in the top ten lists of greatest films ever made.
7 'Zodiac' (2007)
Zodiac, directed by David Fincher, is based on a real-life investigation into one of America's most notorious murderers, the Zodiac Killer. The film follows San Francisco detectives as they try to stop and identify a killer intent on not only taking lives but mocking law enforcement every step of the way.
Zodiac was praised for performances for many things, in particular, the performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. Noted also for its historical accuracy, Zodiac sucks you into the fog-covered Bay Area with the killer and the detectives and never looks back. Perhaps fittingly, the real-life Zodiac Killer has never been identified and remains one of America's most infamous mysteries.
6 'The Wailing' (2016)
The Wailing is a Korean film about Jong-goo, a police officer in Korea, who is called out to investigate a murder in the small mountain village of Gokseong. As more strange incidents occur and a mysterious illness eventually overtakes Jong-goo's daughter, it becomes a race against time for answers. Is there something more lurking in the Korean mountains than an illness?
Clocking in at nearly three hours, this Korean mystery-horror hybrid is as relentless as the entity invading the village. A palpable heaviness seeps in as we go from the Japanese stranger's dilapidated, occult-laden home to the shaman's ritual attempt to banish the illness. This film snares you from the start and refuses to let go, making it an excellent mystery and intense exorcism film.
5 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' (2022)
Director Rian Johnson's 2019 film Knives Out was such a hit, with an ensemble cast led by Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, that a sequel was bound to happen. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is that sequel, and we again follow Detective Blanc as this time he investigates a murder at a Greek resort.
Much like the Agatha Christie adaptations that influenced it, Glass Onion uses its ensemble cast, fantastic writing, and stellar direction to craft a memorable and complex mystery. It doubles down and improves on what the first film did well, making it the rare sequel that may be just as good, if not better, than the original.
4 'Insomnia' (2002)
Insomnia follows troubled cop Will Dormer during a murder investigation in rural Alaska. Dormer's already questionable history becomes even murkier after a tragic accident while in pursuit of the killer. Tormented by guilt and a seemingly endless case of insomnia, can Dormer outrun his past and catch up with the killer before it's too late?
Director Christopher Nolan's first few movies, like Memento, are complex noir-like mystery films. His work here on Insomnia is top-tier Nolan, even if it isn't metaphysical as his other films. However, the character studies and themes that become staples of his later filmography are present, and they are as poignant as they are now. The original Norwegian film of the same name is also worth a watch.
3 'Murder on the Orient Express' (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express sees Detective Hercule Poirot, aboard the Orient Express to visit a friend, approached to help solve a murder onboard the train. What follows is a classic of the "whodunit" genre and one of the best mysteries put to film. Agatha Christie was famously resistant to having her books adapted, but this became one of only two adaptations she is said to have liked.
The ensemble cast is much of the reason it was so successful, but the cast is often only as successful as the script given, and the screenwriting team was nominated for an Academy Award. Though it didn't take home Best Screenplay, Ingrid Bergman won Best Supporting Actress.
2 'The Pit and the Pendulum' (1961)
The Pit and the Pendulum, from frequent collaborators Vincent Price and Roger Corman, is about a young man named Francis Barnard investigating his sister's disappearance. But Nicholas, Barnard's brother-in-law, isn't giving up the details that easily. Francis is forced to investigate on his own, leading to increasingly gruesome conclusions.
Pit is (very) loosely based on the Poe story but is sufficiently creepy, with a relatively compelling mystery, much like any good Poe story. It also finds time to add a dash of ghostly charm that the print version omitted. Also, the screenplay was written by famed horror author Richard Matheson, who had previously written the novel I Am Legend.
1 'Prisoners' (2013)
On a rainy Pennsylvania Thanksgiving night, two young girls are abducted from their neighborhood. Though an arrest is made quickly, the suspect is just as soon released, raising the ire of the fathers and families. Keller Dover, the father of one of the missing girls, decides to take matters into his own hands.
Prisoners is as complex and mysterious as the maze motif features so prominently in the film. It is no mere mystery; it examines crime and its effects on communities. It is about grief and anger in the face of unimaginable loss and a critique of religion and the hope it provides but the danger it poses when weaponized.