Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mystery and movies

Good mystery movies to watch?

jsturgill — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:44:31 -0800

I'd like to get some good mystery movie recommendations from the 80s on. It's OK if they veer toward the thriller, like Michael Clayton, ridiculous like Ford Fairlaine, noirish like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, or are a more standard outing with a strong, interesting, well developed detective lead like Zero Effect. Drawing room mysteries totally A-OK too. Super bonus points if I can stream them now on Hulu plus or Netflix.

Help me relieve my boredom.

custard heart — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:05:23 -0800

I'm sick and in bed and bored out of my gourd. Recommend guilty pleasure-type movies for me! Bonus points for government conspiracy / mysteries. I'm stuck in bed with a respiratory infection and I'm getting pretty bored. I've watched all the tv shows I care to, and now I want recommendations of the kinds of movies that are good for a sick, squishy mind like mine right now. Anything too high-brow will probably bore or annoy me, as my brain is a bit mushy, and my concentration isn't great since I have to blow my nose every five g.d. minutes.

Specifically I'm looking for schlocky Hollywood films. Bonus points for early to mid 90's. I love mysteries, and movies featuring conspiracies are pretty captivating -- we're talking Pelican Brief, National Treasure, the 9th Gate, Da Vinci Code. Sandra Bullock in "The Net". Like, my standards of quality here are not what they would normally be. I don't like aliens or scary special effects. Horror films are great, but they should be about ghosts and not monsters feature gratuitous blood/guts. Protagonists should uncover a web of secrets leading to a revelation of some vast mystery of conspiracy. Film noir-type detective movies are okay -- (I love Hitchcock) but films that are too good make me inspired to get up and do stuff, and I kind of want to feel OK about laying around being sick and doing nothing. Guilty pleasures here, folks.

Nothing foreign!
Not too obscure, please. I will likely be committing piracy via internet to watch this.

Feel free to recommend your favourite not-too-highbrow films as well... I'll probably be in bed for another two days at least and I'm kind of done with napping. Nothing too depressing or political, and thinking too hard will make my brain hurt. Documentaries OK.

Rain and Intrigue

fire&wings — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:15:29 -0800

What are some films similar in atmosphere to Polanski's The Ghost Writer (The Ghost) I'm talking about intrigue, foreboding, darkness and cold, stormy weather. Other examples might be Identity and Shutter Island.

What movie is this?

Kattiara17 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:55:00 -0800

Please help me remember what movie I'm thinking of. Trying to figure out the name of a movie I saw years ago. I want to say it came out in the early to mid 90's, give or take. It was aimed at either kids or teens, not an adult movie. The main details I can recall: a decent portion of it (maybe all?) took place in a desert. There were definitely two teen/young adults, a boy and a girl, (possibly a younger brother/sister/pet that accompanied them as well - or not). At one point the two mains are separated, but then they find each other again and have an emotional/dramatic reunion (still in the desert). I think possibly someone is chasing them, but don't remember specifics. Might have been an adventure movie. I know this is very vague, but does anyone have a clue what I'm thinking of?

It's never the creepy janitor.

burnmp3s — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:20:33 -0800

What horror films feature a mystery killer? I like watching cheesy horror movies because for me even the most poorly made ones are entertaining. My favorite ones are "slasher" films, where a crazed maniac kills off the rest of the cast one by one, usually with a knife. More specifically, I like slasher movies where the killer is a seemingly normal person who is later revealed to be the killer. Its fun to try to pick out the killer from the group, because there are always plenty of red herrings and missing details along the way to make it difficult.

I want to make a list of these kinds of films. They need to follow these two rules:

1. The killer's identity can't be revealed until near the end of the film. Usually this means that the killer wears a mask when he kills people, but sometimes the murders are shot from the killers point of view. If it turns out there are multiple killers, that is fine too, as long as they are all revealed near the end.

2. The normal person that turns out to be the killer must be at least a minor character in the film. If the character has never been on-screen or just made a cameo appearance as a pizza delivery boy at the beginning of the film, it doesn't count.

Here are the films I already have on the list:

Alice, Sweet Alice
Cherry Falls
Club Dread
Cry Wolf
Cutting Class
The Graveyard
Mindhunters
Psycho Beach Party
Scream 1, 2 and 3
Sleepaway Camp
Urban Legend and Urban Legends: Final Cut

old movie title

comfortinsound — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:24:37 -0800

I'm trying to find the title of a movie which frightened me as a child (40's/50's) In the movie, a young girl's mother has died & she has nightmares or fantasies about a killer who wears a feather. At the climax she sees the shadow of that feather coming for her & it turns out to be a lady's hat(the woman who is about to become her evil stepmother)maybe played by Bette Davis? & she is saved by her father. I had nightmares about this movie & have tried unsuccessfully over the years to find out more about it. Have searched all the movie sites & google & asked all the movie buffs I've known. Does anyone know this movie?

Help my mom identify this film before insanity drives her to starts spam the front page with youTube links

CRM114 — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:27:02 -0800

Help my mom identify a 1960s film based on a Guy de Maupassant short story. Mom is trying desperately to recall the title of a film based on "The Necklace", a Guy de Mautpassant short story. Mom swears up and down that the female lead is Ingrid Bergman, but a look at her film listing on IMDB reveals nothing that fits the bill.

A synopsis of the film, to the best of Mom's recollection:

The protagonist and her husband are invited to an extravagant gala, but the lady feels that she would only embarrass herself without some appropriate jewelry. She accepts an offer from a wealthy friend to borrow a beautiful necklace to wear to the event. The woman loses the necklace and then struggles to replace it, only to find that the necklace was a cheap fake and that all of her labors were for naught.

Has this run any bells, Mefites?