Selection
Detective movies
Evidence, theories and an investigator nobody is glad to see.
A proper detective story plays fair: every clue is shown and you can beat the investigator to the answer. Classic whodunnits sit here beside grim police dramas and slow European stories where the solution matters less than the town around it.
Results
Frequently asked
- How is a detective film different from a thriller?
- In a detective story the crime has already happened and you reconstruct it alongside the hero. In a thriller the threat is ahead and the job is to be in time. Plenty of films do both.
- What if I am tired of clever solutions?
- Try the Nordic and European entries: there the investigation is an excuse to show people and place. They usually sit in the second half of this list.
Related selections
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- Time travel moviesLoops, paradoxes and attempts to fix the past.
- Strange little townsEveryone knows everything — and nobody says a word.