Looking ahead, the preeminent murder-mystery scribe Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile is set to dock in the near future. Until the sinister ship sails into theaters, there are must-see movies for every fervent murder-mystery movie fan.
Radioland Murders (1994)
Mel Smith's Radioland Murders is a fun, family-friendly PG murder-mystery parody that blends the best of the whodunit genre with the tropes and tenets of 1930s radio.
As the newfangled radio station WBN is set to launch in 1939, the employees at the network struggle to overcome stress, angry sponsors, and upset bosses. Just as the program goes live on air, an ominous voice interrupts to declare that of the radio performance cast are turning up dead, one by one. Program director Penny Henderson (Mary Stuart Masterson) and her husband Roger (Brian Benben) are forced to solve the murders before they die, too.
The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud (1975)
For a terrifying horror whodunit made in the 1970s, look no further than the Reincarnation of Peter Proud. Michael Sarrazin stars as the titular character who solves his own cryptic murder from a past life.
Peter Proud is a college professor ravaged by nightmares in which he sees a man being beaten to death with an oar on a lake. Odder yet is how the killer in his dreams is his real-life girlfriend, Marcia (Margot Kidder). Through drips and drabs of recalled memory, Peter begins to realize his nightmares are not dreams at all, but clues to how he was murdered in a past life.
Deathtrap (1982)
The film stars Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve in a riveting cat-and-mouse mystery with a shocking finale.
Sidney (Caine) is a disgraced playwright looking to make a comeback with his new production called Deathtrap, written by his mentor Clifford (Reeve). Sidney concocts a scheme to kill Cliff and the production off as his own, but when Cliff arrives at Sidney's weapon-laden home, a twisty unpredictable series of rug-pulling revelations stun the viewer at every turn.
Angel Heart (1987)
Alan Parker's Angel Heart is a tensely absorbing murder mystery that takes place in 1948 New Orleans. Mickey Rourke stars as Harry Angel, a private eye hired by the devilish Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to find a missing doctor named Johnny Friend.
Upon arriving in the Big Easy, Harry becomes embroiled in a series of gory murders that point to his own guilt. However, as Harry slowly uncovers the mystery, the movie becomes a full-fledged supernatural horror film under the guise of a throwback whodunit.
The Name Of The Rose (1986)
Based on the 1980 Umberto Eco novel, Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose fuses the historical drama template with a calculated murder mystery set in the 14th century. The late Sean Connery plays William of Baskerville, a Franciscan monk who attends a conference to find seven murdered colleagues.
With his neophyte partner, William sets out to solve the murders and identify a culprit. Along the way, William is met with resistance from Church officials who may or may not be involved in the crimes.
Brick (2005)
While Rian Johnson has received all the praise in the world for his wildly entertaining whodunit Knives Out, people tend to forget his feature debut Brick was also a neo-noir murder mystery with just as satisfying results.
Brick stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Brendan Frye, a high-school outcast who speaks in a retro 1940s detective lingo. When his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) is found dead in a tunnel, Brendan takes it upon himself to investigate the murder. Less of a locked-room whodunit, Brick pays homage to the classic detective yarns of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
The Last Of Sheila (1973)
One of the hardest obscure murder-mysteries to solve is The Last of Sheila, a movie written by the unlikely partnership of Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim.
The film begins with the hit and run murder of Sheila (Yvonne Romain), with the driver's face hidden from view. One year later, Sheila's husband Clinton (James Coburn) invites Sheila's closest friends for a yacht party scavenger hunt. With each guest given a distinct clue, they must the info to find out who among them is responsible for Sheila's death.
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
Otto Preminger will always be associated with such classic murder mysteries as Laura and Anatomy of a Murder, but his 1965 film Bunny Lake is Missing is a mesmeric whodunit of a different stripe.
After moving to a new town, Ann Lake goes to pick up her daughter Bunny from school one day. However, everyone at school claims no such person named Bunny Lake exists. As the locals paint Ann as an insane paranoiac, she tries to first prove her daughter exists, and then figure out what happened to her.
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye features one of the coolest and most carefree depictions of classic fictional detective Philip Marlowe. Elliot Gould plays the character who becomes entangled in a complex murder plot in which he is also the suspect.
Upon driving his pal Terry (Jim Bouton) to the Mexican border, Marlowe is met by police on his return home and told his Terry's wife has been murdered. When Terry kills himself soon after, Marlowe is no longer implicated, allowing him to snoop around three interrelated murders connected to a vast conspiracy.
Green For Danger (1946)
Green for Danger is the best murder mystery that very people know about. The story traces the death of a medical patient at the hands of one of five potential suspects who treated the deceased man for surgery.
Following the death of the patient, quirky Scotland Yard Inspector Cockrell (Alastair Sim) arrives to examine the facts of the case. With two men and three women present at the time of the patient's death, Sim uses his unconventional methods to eliminate one suspect after another. With acerbic dark humor, fantastic dialogue, and superb photography, Green for Danger is an absolute must-see.
