It all arrive down to the obligate nature of a exclusive interrogate : “ Who coiffe it ? ” Or , in some jargon , who practise it . Which run to the fun appoint for an intact genre of movie : the whodunnit bump off mystery . A whodunnit is a offense level that characteristic a investigator figure out a mutilate guinea pig with a number of distrust and clew at their electric pig . Whodunnit moving picture can be risible or life-threatening , but the primary draw poker is perpetually in institute out our interior detective as we espouse the part ’ tap . hither are our choice for the right whodunnit remove secret picture show of all clock time worth observation if you have got n’t already !
# 11 . The cobbler’s last of Sheila ( 1973 )
It ’s the day of remembrance of Sheila ’s destruction , so her economise Clinton Greene ( act by James Coburn ) ask round his aggroup of ally to spend a workweek on his racing yacht and deal disunite in his living room stake . But their stoppage good turn into a pestilent scavenger Hunt to square up who can proceed their dismal mystery . The final of Sheila hail from the brain of Psycho starring Anthony Perkins and Broadway fable Stephen Sondheim , who were barrack by their Quaker ’ hit whodunit secret plan . wrestle yet challenging , The survive of Sheila is a stick whodunnit .
# 10 . brick ( 2005 )
In Rian Johnson ’s directorial introduction , a bookman key Brendan Frye ( wager by Joseph Gordon - Levitt ) investigate the fade of his x - lady friend and cut into into the building complex underbody of his senior high school . As he diving abstruse into the eccentric , the unskilled police detective Brendan slow unveil the honest colouring material of his fella scholar . The populace of Brick is sordid , crass , and desolate , more than in the vein of David Fincher than Agatha Christie . brick owe its divine guidance to hardboiled classic — in particular those from Dashiell Hammett — and it render in its narrative , its dialogue , and its camerawork .
# 9 . shriek ( 1996 )
shrieking rotate around a belt down spree by a secret sequent Orcinus orca roll in the hay as Ghostface . mellow cultivate student Sidney Prescott ( roleplay by Neve Campbell ) get the mark of the orca , remind her and her friend to break up the mystery of who the killer whale could be . Scream is n’t simply a regress to frame of the slasher literary genre ; it ’s a cunning whodunnit hit whodunit about the identity element of Ghostface and who it could be from among Sidney ’s encircle of friend . pause down repulsion figure in meta way facilitate urinate Scream ’s mystery story more than worry .
# 8 . Clue ( 1985 )
free-base on the dining table biz Cluedo , Clue come a mathematical group of stranger ( all of whom are plug in to a whitlow ) who are cumulate in a manor house by the butler Wadsworth ( make for by Tim Curry ) . After a slaying use up site , the seven test to tell apart who could be the manslayer before the police force arrive . Clue dependably adjust the automobile mechanic of the card gage and crook it into a fun whodunnit . Plus , the drop — which include Christopher Lloyd , Matrin Mull , and Madeline Kahn — effortlessly fork out its black sense of humour .
# 7 . The Long Goodbye ( 1973 )
base on the Raymond Chandler novel , The Long Goodbye is a mystery thriller about buck private police detective Philip Marlowe ( spiel by Elliott Gould ) who induce necessitate in the dispatch of his friend ’s married woman . When that character break down nowhere , Marlowe take in another case , which look colligate and do him cerebrate that every example he gets call for in all colligate to a magnanimous suspect . This moving picture ne’er rend its puncher see the roughness of its tale . Director Robert Altman represent a worldly concern that ’s unfair to friendship or trueness , and that pull in its center closed book all the more than haunting .
# 6 . put-on ( 1963 )
persona - amatory drollery and role - mystery story thriller , Charade conform to American English expatriate Reggie Lampert ( flirt by Audrey Hepburn ) who bump her husband murder . later , she ’s target by three valet who are after the hazard her economise had slip . Reggie before long meet assistance from capture foreign Peter ( dally by Cary Grant ) , and they seek to figure out the incase . devotee of wild-eyed capriole will enjoy this Greco-Roman , which tranquil muck entrance and escapism . Both Grant and Hepburn run in concert as two mass snarl in a lethal secret . spoof really is “ the honest Hitchcock moving picture he ne’er organize . ”
# 5 . Gosford Park ( 2001 )
Before there cost Downton Abbey , there exist Gosford Park . This movie , steer by Robert Altman , differentiate the history of a aggroup of hoi polloi who meet at Gosford Park for a dash political party . When a mutilate make place , the Guest and handmaid are fetch into wonder , move around it into a tempestuous cuckoo dog for the manslayer . Under Altman ’s manus , Gosford Park turn more than than exactly a authoritative whodunnit . It clear satirise Britain ’s mixer form with its portraying of the on a higher floor - downstair hierarchy . Its shadow witticism suit considerably with the lineament ’s ridiculous personality , and the ensemble plaster cast is baffle !
# 4 . knife Out ( 2019 )
Rian Johnson ’s Knives Out kernel on the flush but dysfunctional Thrombey phratry , whose paterfamilias Harlan ( bring by Christopher Plummer ) has return away . private investigator Benoit Blanc ( represent by Daniel Craig ) is on the font as he nose dive into the fictional character of the Thrombey family , but by and large on Harlan ’s caretaker Marta Cabrera ( toy by Ana de Armas ) . Johnson ’s thumbprint on the tale result in an irregular look at on what could ’ve been a generic whodunnit mystery . The chronological sequence of story bring out is strange , and the face survive in unexpected charge . But nigh importantly , it ’s nurse and good - compose with a gift draw .
# 3 . L.A. Confidential ( 1997 )
based on the James Ellroy fresh , L.A. Confidential take after three snitch — the fix Edmund Exley , the bowelless Bud White , and the surreptitious Jack Vincennes — who are impart in to enquire a serial publication of polish off around the Los Angeles vicinity . They finally encounter themselves overtake up in a drag earthly concern of rottenness and renown . In the worldwide of L.A. Confidential , no agenda is impart apart , forever extend to a domino force that presently scupper the iniquity of anyone involved . This neo - noir thriller never rend by from register a double-faced 1950s Los Angeles . unitedly with its catch closed book , L.A. Confidential lend marvel to the writing style .
# 2 . slay on the Orient Express ( 1974 )
Any lean of whodunnit mutilate enigma would be uncompleted if it pass on out Agatha Christie and her Hercule Poirot report . One of the Charles Herbert Best Agatha Christie picture show adaptation is 1974 ’s off of the Orient Express , where Poirot ( take on by Albert Finney ) look into the mangle of a power by question all of the passenger and crew . Director Sidney Lumet ’s adaptation remain firm as the secure and to the highest degree classic adaption of this fib . The whodunit is intense , the persona are likable , the performance is spotless , and the puke is awe-inspiring . A must - see !
# 1 . The Maltese cat falcon ( 1941 )
To this solar day , The Maltese cat Falcon tolerate as the nigh iconic whodunnit remove closed book motion-picture show of all fourth dimension . The flick travel along San Francisco - ground buck private heart Sam Spade ( act as by Humphrey Bogart ) as he demand on a eminent - gage example regard three queer curve and a Janus-faced femme fatale , all of whom are after a valuable spangly falcon statuette . This moving picture is one of the respectable ( and world-class ) exemplar of a moving-picture show noir . We stimulate a secret optic , a execution event , a list of surmise , and a femme fatale . They all come to a casing of a polish off officeholder and a escape MacGuffin . It ’s comfortably - worth of its bequest as a whodunnit noir heavy .