The Gift (2000) - 1/5

This movie is overwrought and derivative. It uses small town depravity for cheap shock value and draws out its personal drama into melodrama. Despite its appearance, there’s no mystery for the audience to solve, as all relevant information is revealed at the end. No justice is served for any of the crimes in the film, except assumedly for the central case which takes up surprisingly little of the runtime.

Content warning: female nudity, domestic abuse, child sexual abuse

Closest comparison: It’s like Blue Steel by way of Dolores Claiborne.

Setting: Small Town Horror
Plot: Psychic Mystery
Tone: Tragedy

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) - 4/5

This is a tense detective movie that holds up very well, an astonishing accomplishment but par for the course with Fritz Lang. The mystery is mystifying, short on clues and long on adventure, and the solution is surprising, though something in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents would have been better. The twists and turns of the plot are equally clever and riveting.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Batman (2022) by way of M.

Setting: Crime
Plot: Detective
Tone: Thriller

The Pale Blue Eye - 3/5

This movie initially promises to provide a break from the dour mystery genre with a bit of a more lighthearted tone than its peers, but a few scenes make up for the rest of the film. Including Edgar Allen Poe as a main character is an interesting choice, and capitalizes only on certain aspects of the tone of some of his stories and poems while largely ignoring historical accuracy and any potential literary poetic value. The mystery solution is mostly fine, but leaves a few unanswered questions along with a sense of unfinished narrative.

Closest comparison: It’s like Antlers by way of The Raven (2012).

Setting: Military Drama
Plot: Dour Mystery
Tone: Psychological Tragedy

Terror by Night - 2/5

This movie is a condensed whodunnit that loses some of the intrigue in its briefness. It’s a bit dry and the culprit is fairly obvious too early, leaving nothing but impotent suspense and bland patter for a significant portion of the runtime.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Lady In Green by way of The Lady Vanishes.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Cozy Mystery

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) - 3/5

This movie is a straightforward Holmes mystery, faithful enough to the source but uninspired in its telling.

Closest comparison: It’s like Terror by Night with the production values of Knights of the Round Table.

Setting: Cozy Mystery
Plot: Murder Mystery
Tone: Mystery Thriller

Shadow of the Thin Man - 3/5

This is another in the Thin Man series, and leans even more into the family side of the series. The mystery solution is still solid, but sometimes takes a back seat to the antics of the child of the main characters.

Closest comparison: It’s more like Another Thin Man than the others in the series.

Setting: High Society
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Family

Another Thin Man - 3/5

This movie is the first sequel that starts the franchise heading in a more family friendly direction. The family-centered escapade scenes are quaint and could have been passable in their own right, but are not worth the accompanying decrease in effort that was put into the central mystery. As it is, the mystery is decent and the reveal is a bit obscure, but the story is fun and keeps the franchise going well enough.

Closest comparison: It’s like The Spanish Chest by way of The Thin Man.

Setting: Drama
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Comedy

Glass Onion (2022) - 1/5

This movie is starts off fairly strong, but finishes abysmally. The cinematography, costume design, sets, acting, etc. are all top notch but their impact all hinges on the solution to the murder mystery, and the solution here is simultaneously stupid, ignorant, and insulting. The film is also continually horny, and seems to exemplify the thing it’s mocking which is never a good sign. There’s an overt political subtext that overtakes the narrative at a certain point, and in the end many of the carefully laid clues don’t make sense.

Closest comparison: It’s like an attempt at a mystery like Knives Out, as clumsily executed as The King’s Man, with a veneer of Fool’s Gold.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Mystery

See How They Run (2022) - 4/5

This movie is an outstanding, self-aware cozy comedy that delivers impeccably on its task. It’s funny and clever, never overplaying its hand or underselling the mystery. It’s flush with style like Wes Anderson, but it never meanders aimlessly or forgets about the ending like his films can. Sam Rockwell’s accent goes in and out a bit but all of the characters, including his, are so layered that minor flaws in the performances are easy to overlook.

Closest comparison: It’s like Knives Out by way of The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Setting: Detective
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Comedy

The Mirror Crack'd (1980) - 4/5

This is a solid entry in the cozy mystery genre, albeit a little more edgy in a few places than your standard 1960’s BBC fare. It plays out like any other Agatha Christie story and although I can’t add much more without spoiling the mystery, I can safely say it’s one of the best Miss Marple mysteries I’ve seen.

Closest comparison: It’s like Sunset Boulevard by way of the BBC cozy mysteries.

Setting: Town Drama
Plot: Cozy Mystery
Tone: BBC TeleDrama

Death on the Nile (2022) - 2/5

This movie is a mostly straightforward adaptation of the Agatha Christie murder mystery, with a few notable facets. Firstly, it has an order of magnitude better production value than the BBC Poirot series, although Kenneth Branagh pales in comparison to David Suchet. Secondly, the film injects an absurd amount of over-the-top sexuality in a few places, as well as a heavy application of obnoxious, senseless woke-isms across the side characters like sprinkling arsenic on tiramisu.

Closest comparison: It’s like Murder on the Orient Express (2017) with a bunch of nonsense shoehorned in.

Setting: Adventure
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Mystery

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - 1/5

This is one of the worst representations of Sherlock Holmes I’ve seen. The core duo’s characterizations are all over the place, more caricature than character. The idea behind the mystery is halfway decent, but the execution and resolution are pitiful. It’s also overly long; you could legitimately start this film at 33:20 and not miss anything.

Closest comparison: It’s like Scooby Doo under the guise of Sherlock Holmes.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Detective
Tone: Mystery

Only Murders in the Building (Season 1, Hulu) - 3/5

This show is a fun, modern take on the cozy mystery genre. It takes its time and dwells more on the interpersonal drama than on the actual mystery, which will be engaging for some viewers and off-putting for others. The characters are quirky, as if they were designed to be so. But it’s a fun murder mystery with lots of fun twists and turns in the plot, and enough character motivation to keep the story trundling along. While it isn’t the ultimate mystery, the payoff is better than it needed to be.

Closest comparison: It’s like an early Poirot with the modernism of Knives Out.

Setting: Murder Mystery
Plot: Detective
Tone: Bumbling Comedy

The Riverside Murder (1935) - 2/5

This is another straightforward murder mystery, uninspired and ploddingly mundane. It has a few fun side characters but a sudden, forced romantic plot beat without the requisite subplot lead-up. The mystery is not so much discovered as revealed, with the killer being caught not by deduction but by catching him in the act.

Closest comparison: It’s like the Kennel Murder Case by way of Mystery of the 13th Guest.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Mystery

Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943) - 2/5

This movie is pointless as a mystery and useless as a suspense film. All of the relevant information is provided too late for the audience to solve the mystery and early on the film makes it clear that it’s not playing fair. The twists and turns of the plot are often not even possible, let alone plausible, and the audience is left to simply take for granted everything that appears on screen. The acting is fine, but certainly a product of its time. This movie is a mostly unoffensive waste of time.

Closest comparison: It’s just another ‘mystery’ in the vein of The Cat and the Canary and The Riverside Murder.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Thriller
Tone: Drama

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) - 3/5

This movie is an all-around decent representation of the ‘30s mystery genre. It’s equally about the investigation and keeping the story moving along, but the mystery and characters get somewhat pushed aside. There’s enough of an interesting case to keep the audience entertained for the duration, but it’s not compelling enough to be memorable after the credits roll.

Closest comparison: It’s a run-of-the-mill suit-and-tie mystery like any other

Setting: Drama
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Drama

The Cat and the Canary (1927) - 3/5

This silent film is a pretty straightforward eccentric inheritance mystery whose main point of interest in the modern era is as a historical piece. The plot is straightforward and the ending is banal, but it uses some advanced film techniques for the time to accomplish a few visual special effects that work surprisingly well. Fans of the silent era will get much more mileage out of this one than general audiences.

Closest comparison: It’s like One Body Too Many (1944) by way of Frankenstein (1910).

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Inheritance
Tone: Suspense

One Body Too Many (1944) - 3/5

This movie is a fun, straightforward whodunnit comedy, though over time the film quality has degraded to a pretty sorry state. Still, the performances from great actors like Jack Haley and Bella Lugosi come through mostly cleanly and carry the film. On the downside there are too many characters that are too similar to one another, and without more solid introductions they tend to run together. They seem to be having a lot of fun with the script and 75 minutes it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Closest comparison: It’s like Clue by way of Laurel and Hardy.

Setting: Murder Mystery
Plot: Murder Mystery
Tone: Comedy

Murder Mystery (Netflix, 2019) - 3/5

This movie is much better than many of Adam Sandler’s previous attempts at relationship cringe comedy. The cringe takes a back seat to better comedy and there are plenty of other funny moments to focus on instead. The mystery is about at the level of a good TV episode and serves to moves the plot along, but eagle-eyed viewers trying to solve the case before the end will be disappointed with eleventh-hour information reveals that are crucial to the solution. Still, it’s told well and a fun time if you just go along for the ride.

Closest comparison: It’s like an Adam Sandler comedy made out of an Agatha Christie mystery.

Setting: Adventure
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Comedy

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - 3/5

It's good. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's honestly pretty bland. For all the acting and directing talent available it is not very impressive, except for a few pretty great 'oners' if you're looking for them. If you're familiar with the story this movie holds no surprises for you. If not, it's a classic and this is a solid adaptation.