What movies are secretly murder mysteries?

November 13, 2023 10:03 AM

Re-watching the Scream movies over Halloween, I realized for the first time that they are basically just murder mysteries. Swap a few small things around, and Hercule Poirot wouldn't be *that* out of place.

What other movies aren't listed under "mystery" as their primary genre, but do a good job scratching the mystery / detective / procedural itch?

posted by Number Used Once to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

The Sixth Sense, perhaps? If you think about it, one of the obvious questions about any ghost story is how did this person die? The Others also falls into this category.
posted by SPrintF at 10:09 AM on November 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

I think this is true for a lot of horror, but the first one that came to mind was The Ring, at least the American remake. The main character's a journalist solving the mystery of where the tape comes from, and she also solves a murder in the process.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 10:28 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

9 years ago I posted this AskMe referencing The Others, which might have some good ideas : What are some good ghost story movies that aren't quite horror?
posted by HeroZero at 10:37 AM on November 13, 2023

Off the wall answer, but Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Also, Soylent Green, but that one might be too obviously a mystery.
posted by chrisulonic at 1:52 PM on November 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

It's not a mystery, but the Rudolph movie has a blatant murder. Yes, the inescapable 1964 classic. The Island of misfits toys has a bird explicitly called out as unable to fly. At the end, the elves are (umbrella) paradropping said toys. Elf looks at the bird, looks at the umbrella while bird flaps nervously, looks back at the bird and chunks broken bird over the edge without a landing softening umbrella. Horrifying.
posted by Jacen at 7:32 PM on November 13, 2023

These are both suggested in HeroZero's older question, but I've always thought that The Changeling (1980) and The Devil's Backbone (2001) would make a great double feature. Both start as conventional haunted house stories, but rather than having the main characters terrified & tormented by the ghosts, they decide to investigate who the ghosts are and what they want.

My other suggestion is A Bay of Blood (1971). Basically the entire Friday the 13th series ripped this one movie off, but it's way more of an interesting, twisty mystery than one would usually expect from an earlier slasher. Caveat that his one really is more of a horror and is at times creepy/gory/disturbing.
posted by mannequito at 7:46 PM on November 13, 2023

Strange Days is a sci fi flick which gets its DNA from 1940s noir detective movies; there's not one but two murders caught on 'tape'. It's one of my favorite films.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:18 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Unconditional Love (2002) is a quirky, off-beat delight. Don't be fooled by some of the old advertising - this film is not a romantic comedy. In fact, I would skip the trailer altogether as it is very clunky.

Kathy Bates plays a housewife who has one hell of a bad day when her husband of 25 years leaves her and then her favorite pop-star, Victor Fox, is murdered. Naturally, she decides to leave her now-empty Chicago apartment and fly to England on a pop-star pilgrimage of sorts, where she teams up with Victor Fox's "valet", played by Rupert Everett. Shenanigans ensue. Also features one of the funniest celebrity cameos I think I've ever seen on film.
posted by panther of the pyrenees at 11:44 AM on November 14, 2023

Each of the Harry Potter movies! Not as much as in the books, but they all have a pretty big mystery/conspiracy that has to be revealed at the end of the story.
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 1:00 PM on November 22, 2023