20 iconic murder mysteries everyone should watch at least once

No one can give you mysterious thrills quite like Agatha Christie and depending on who you ask, this is the best adaptation of her novels. No offense to Kenneth Branagh, but come on. This movie's got a cast that includes Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, David Niven, Angela Lansbury and Peter Ustinov as the mustachioed detective, some of the best costumes and backdrops ever put on screen and a sense of fun that makes the story of snobs enjoying a cruise on the Nile kinda delightful. 

Each actor in The Usual Suspects delivers a masterful performance, but Kevin Spacey delivers one of the most memorable performances in movie history with an ending that few saw coming upon their first viewing.

Alfred Hitchcock believed it was far scarier for audiences to see the murder take place than be kept in the dark-- while we tend to disagree, it's hard to argue with Hitchcock after watching Rear Window. One of the great thrillers, the mystery comes from anticipating what the protagonist is going to do after he witnesses a murder.

The more you zoom in on this murder mystery, the blurrier it becomes. In Blow Up, a photographer sees a murder in the background of his photograph but can't put the pieces together. Like trying to piece together a collage or random cutouts, there's really no way for the protagonist to solve the mystery. Haunting, mesmerizing and artsy, this is one of the most enigmatic films on our list.

This is just a good ol' fashion murder mystery--a bunch of snobs show up to a mansion, one dies and everyone's gotta figure out who did it. With a twist from Agatha Christie, the movie sees the suspects show up and get picked off one by one. Everyone's a suspect, but only one of these snobs did it, a guessing game that keeps you puzzled until the movie's yarn unfolds. 

Someone is a murder suspect in this movie, but who? We gotta stay on our toes as the detective solves the movie. With Leslie Nielsen in the role, the jokes surface far more than the clues and we wouldn't have it any other way. 

Does this count as a murder mystery? You betcha! The Coen Brothers' classic sees a cop follow two murderers amidst a snowy backdrop. With a quirky tone, Fargo remains a murder mystery with a chipper twist.

You armchair detectives out there probably followed the breadcrumbs of Glass Onion back to The Last of Sheila. A murder mystery about a hideous movie producer inviting his friends to play a game of Clue that leads to murder, this film has inspired more cinematic yarns than just about any other film on our list. The title character may be dead, but we haven't heard the last of Sheila.

I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife! The final line of this mystery is by far the highlight of the film, which is kind of a tacky genre spoof. But the last line, in the hallway, from the detective, is what earns this film a spot on our list. 

A man arrives in town only to realize that his friend isn't there, or anywhere, because he's been murdered. A masterful feat of paranoia, cinematography and atmosphere, this movie remains one of the great thriller mysteries.

There's something incredibly perverse about this movie, in which three men find themselves transfixed with the protagonist who is dead. She was beautiful, kind, perfect and perfectly composed, they say, but she's the protagonist in a noir movie from the 40's. As they try to solve the murder, things come up that the characters can't anticipate--secrets from the grave--that make this one of the great movie mysteries.

An instant classic in the murder mystery department, this film sees Ryan Gosling track down an actor who has gone missing. Funny, romantic and mysterious, it's another example of Gosling being an absolute treat to watch. 

The secrets of this movie are buried deep in the minds of those who watch it. It's an incredibly haunting film, in which a man and his girlfriend stop at a gas station where she is never seen again. Did the character run away, was she kidnapped or murdered, or worse? The twists in this film may never vanish from my brain. 

The Silence of the Lambs sees a cannibal serial killer track down another serial killer on the loose--it's dark, magnificent and magnificently acted, best served with fava beans and a nice Chianti. A mystery movie with a side of distinct flavor, if you will. 

Is there a darker murder mystery than this film? Forget about it, it's Chinatown. One of the most perverse of all mysteries, the film sees a detective put his nose in a conspiracy he probably shouldn't have. 

A musical that's a murder mystery? You may be shocked to find a murder mystery tucked inside this musical about sisters searching for true love, but it's there. It just doesn't overshadow the ebullient energy of the film.

Alain Delon, that's all you need to know about this Riviera vacation that turns into a murder mystery, that Alain Delon is on screen. Sauntering, sizzling and soaking up the sun, Delon had audiences watching this film in a pool of, well, I'll leave it at that.

Christopher Nolan gets in your head with this murder mystery about a man who can't remember anything from the day before, especially how his wife was murdered. It's fun to put the missing pieces of his brain together throughout the film.

Francis Ford Coppola had just made The Godfather movies, but decided to make a small thriller about a political conspiracy? The result is actually remarkable--a movie about a man unraveling to the floorboards of his mind when he thinks he hears an assassination in the background of his sound tapes. It's a seriously gripping movie.

A woman's husband is killed by pirates on the open seas, or is he--in The Princess Bride, true love prevails in the most beautiful of ways. It's a wonderful film.