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English mystery films from the 1980s
The best 100 of 184
- 1
The Thing
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
- 2
Blue Velvet
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- 3
Mississippi Burning
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up agai
- 4
The Name of the Rose
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's aut
- 5
Blow Out
While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already d
- 6
Videodrome
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the
- 7
Clue
Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler must
- 8
The Secret of NIMH
A widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave mother struggles to transplant her home to firmer ground.
- 9
The Great Mouse Detective
When the diabolical Professor Ratigan kidnaps London's master toymaker, the brilliant master of disguise Basil of Baker Street and his trusted sidekick Dawson try to elude the ultimate trap and foil the perfect crime.
- 10
Angel Heart
A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of
- 11
Day of the Dead
As the world is overrun by zombies, scientists and military personnel in an underground Florida bunker must decide on how they should deal with the undead.
- 12
Dressed to Kill
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.
- 13
Missing
Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-u
- 14
Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School
Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy are on their way to Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Girls, where they've been hired as gym teachers. Once there, however, they find that not only is it actually an all-girl school of famous monsters' daughter
- 15
Evil Under the Sun
An opulent beach resort provides a scenic background to this amusing whodunit as Poirot attempts to uncover the nefarious evildoer behind the strangling of a notorious stage star.
- 16
Young Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British busines
- 17
Frantic
The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form filling bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.
- 18
The Draughtsman's Contract
R. Neville, a brash young draftsman, is hired to make a dozen landscape illustrations at the estate of Mr Herbert and his wife Virginia. Aside from monetary compensation, the arrangement includes a sexual liaison offered to Neville by Virgi
- 19
The Entity
A single mom is raped by an invisible force. Her psychiatrist believes the experience stems from childhood trauma, while she knows something supernatural is at play.
- 20
Body Double
After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous woman dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers—with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.
- 21
Fletch
When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a kna
- 22
The Great Muppet Caper
Kermit and Fozzie are newspaper reporters sent to London to interview Lady Holiday, a wealthy fashion designer whose priceless diamond necklace is stolen. Kermit meets and falls in love with her secretary, Miss Piggy. The jewel thieves strike again, and this time frame Miss Piggy. It's up to Kermit and the rest of the Muppets to bring the real culprits to justice.
- 23
Cocoon
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
- 24
Music Box
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
- 25
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private e
- 26
Cruising
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
- 27
Psycho II
Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?
- 28
Roadgames
A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer in a van who lures young female hitchhiker victims on a desolate Australian highway.
- 29
Something Wicked This Way Comes
In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?
- 30
Cutter's Way
Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely accused of murder, Cu
- 31
Bad Timing
Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, th
- 32
Chan Is Missing
Two cabbies search San Francisco's Chinatown for a mysterious character who has disappeared with their $4000. Their quest leads them on a humorous, if mundane, journey which illuminates the many problems experienced by Chinese-Americans trying to assimilate into contemporary American society.
- 33
Dead & Buried
After a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses appear to be coming back to life and living normally as locals in the small town.
- 34
No Place to Hide
A young art student frantically tries to prove that she is being stalked by a mysterious man who has threatened her life, and finds her sanity questioned by her stepmother, the family attorney, and even a psychiatrist.
- 35
It's Called 'Murder', Baby
In 1940s Los Angeles, private investigator Nick Popodopolis, is hired by actress Dixie Ray, to find her blackmailer. Edited R version of adult film, Dixie Ray Hollywood Star.
- 36
The Sign of Four
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to track down the Great Mogul, the second-largest diamond in the world.
- 37
The Ninth Configuration
Army psychiatrist Colonel Kane is posted to a secluded gothic castle housing a military asylum. With a reserved calm, he indulges the inmates' delusions, allowing them free rein to express their fantasies.
- 38
House of the Long Shadows
An American writer goes to a remote Welsh manor on a $20,000 bet that he can write a classic novel like 'Wuthering Heights' in 24 hours. However, upon his arrival he discovers that the apparently empty manor has several rather odd inhabitan
- 39
Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse
Holmes & Watson investigate a cursed family.
- 40
Harlequin
Up-and-coming senator Nick Rast's young son is terminally ill with leukemia. A mysterious faith healer, Gregory Wolfe, appears and seems to cure the boy. Rast's wife Sandy falls in love with Wolfe, but the powerful interests behind Rast's career, represented by geriatric monster Doc Wheelan are less happy with events.
- 41
The Killing of Angel Street
Jessica Simmonds returns from overseas to find her retired professor father in a bitter public fight to save the historic Sydney waterfront houses on Angel Street. After her father's mysterious death, she joins forces with local residents and a union leader against corrupt forces. Based on the real life mysterious disappearance of Juanita Nielsen.
- 42
Resurrected
A Falklands War soldier missing, believed dead, turns up claiming amnesia.
- 43
K-9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend
Sarah Jane Smith arrives at the home of her Aunt Lavinia in the cozy village of Moreton Harwood, only to find that Lavinia is nowhere to be found and that the Doctor has left her a parting gift in K·9 Mark III. With the help of K·9 and Lavinia's young ward Brendan Richards, Sarah Jane starts investigating her aunt's disappearance. In the process, they discover that Moreton Harwood is home to a coven worshipping the pagan god Hecate and preparing for a human sacrifice...
- 44
Midnight Matinee
Even though a devastating murder took place during a small town's horror film festival two years earlier, townspeople want another festival.
- 45
The Empty Beach
Before shady businessman John Singer disappeared off Bondi Beach, his name meant money--big and small, clean and dirty--a man absorbed in a world of greed and dishonesty. Singer's widow, Marion, believes he's still alive and she employs the
- 46
The Cold Room
A girl visiting modern day East Germany with her estranged father begins reliving the horrifying events that happened to a young girl living there during World War II.
- 47
Agnes of God
When a dead newborn is found, wrapped in bloody sheets, in the bedroom wastebasket of a young novice, psychiatrist Martha Livingston is called in to determine if the seemingly innocent novice, who knows nothing of sex or birth, is competent
- 48
Cop
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.
- 49
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
After finding her boss, a private detective, has committed suicide and has left her his agency, Cordelia Gray is asked to investigate the suicide of the man's son. During the course of her investigation, Cordelia becomes obsessed with the young man's memory and his increasingly suspicious death.
- 50
The Clairvoyant
Two uneasy friends, a police officer and a TV talk show host, each pursue the mysterious "handcuff killer" with the aid of an artist who sees - and draws - the killer's crimes before they're committed.
- 51
Shadows in the Storm
A daydreaming businessman named Thelonius Pitt takes a vacation in the Redwood Forests of California. The morning after he arrives, he meets a beautiful, mysterious woman named Melanie. She happens to look just like the woman he keeps seeing in his dreams. Thelonius and Melanie meet each other on the shore of a nearby river late at night. Melanie's husband finds them, and attacks Thelonius. Melanie pulls out a pistol and fires 3 shots, knocking her husband's body into the icy river below. The nightmare has begun...
- 52
The Jeweller's Shop
Burt Lancaster stars as the titular merchant in this classic adaptation of Pope John Paul II's best-selling play "The Jeweller's Shop," an inspiring drama about three married couples and their ups and downs in holy matrimony. With a faithfu
- 53
The Private Eyes
The lord and lady of a capacious manor are killed, and the lord's ghost seems to have returned to knock off the staff one by one, causing Inspector Winship and Dr. Tart to investigate the wacky house and its inhabitants.
- 54
Flowers in the Attic
After the death of her husband, a mother takes her kids off to live with their grandparents in a huge, decrepit old mansion. However, the kids are kept hidden in a room just below the attic, visited only by their mother who becomes less and
- 55
Grievous Bodily Harm
A schoolteacher (John Waters) becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife (Joy Bell) did not die in a car accident, as everyone else thinks.
- 56
D.O.A.
Dexter Cornell, an English Professor becomes embroiled in a series of murders involving people around him. Dexter has good reason to want to find the murderer but hasn't much time. He finds help and comfort from one of his student, Sydney F
- 57
The Chair
A psychologist, a psychiatrist and a prison warden open up a long-closed prison, unaware that the ghost of an electrocuted convict haunts it.
- 58
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
Cumberland, 1348. The plague is spreading in medieval England. The remote village of little Griffin is also threatened. But the 9-year-old boy has a recurring dream that holds the key to a tiny hope of survival: a lake with a coffin floating on it. A white church with an iron cross. A falling glove. A falling silhouette. A torch tumble through a dark shaft into infinity. With his brother he recognizes in it a prophecy to escape the Black Death. So they embark with a few men on a journey to a distant cathedral, where they want to set up an iron cross as an offering to God. Her path leads them through a deep and dark mine shaft into an unknown land and completely outlandish time - into the present-day New Zealand of the 1980s.
- 59
Brimstone & Treacle
A mysterious stranger inserts himself into a troubled family's life, blurring the lines between good and evil as he cares for their disabled daughter.
- 60
The Comic
In a future police state, a stand-up comic murders a competitor for a job, then gets mixed up with a stripper.
- 61
Evil Judgment
A girl starts her own investigation after the police fail to catch a local serial killer.
- 62
Die Laughing
A San Francisco cab driver find himself in possession of a monkey that is carrying a formula for turning atomic waste into a plutonium bomb. He finds himself framed for a murder and chased…
- 63
Torment
A detective sets out to capture a psycho who kills women, but the psycho turns the tables and goes after the detective's girlfriend.
- 64
Pandemonium
Azaria Chamberlain was not killed by a dingo but saved and raised by said dingos. She is raised in an incestuous dingo environment and travels back to Sydney transformed as the second coming... a new messiah for a new age.
- 65
The Mean Season
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
- 66
Gorky Park
Police Inspector Renko tries to solve the case of three bodies found in Moscow's Gorky Park but finds his attempts to solve the crime impeded by his superiors. Working on his own, Renko seeks out more information and stumbles across a consp
- 67
City of Blood
A medical examiner investigating a series of prostitute murders discovers that the culprit is an ancient tribal witch doctor come back to life.
- 68
Rough Cut
Two sophisticated jewel thieves join forces to steal $30 million in uncut jewels.
- 69
Compromising Positions
An ex-newspaper woman, who is now a suburban housewife, can't resist getting involved in an investigation of the murder of a philandering dentist who had been having affairs with several of her neighbors.
- 70
Sphinx
Egyptologist Erica Baron finds more than she bargained for during her long-planned trip to The Land of the Pharoahs - murder, theft, betrayal, love, and a mummy's curse!
- 71
The Stepford Children
Steven and Laura Harding, along with their kids David and Mary, have moved to the quiet community of Stepford. Steven joins the men's club, which is still assimilating their wives into robots. This time, they have begun to turn their out of
- 72
Murder by Phone
A disgruntled phone company employee develops a device whereby those answering a phone can be murdered, and it's up to Nat Bridger to stop the killer.
- 73
Not for Publication
A tabloid reporter and her new photographer, who've recently started working for the mayor of New York City, stumble upon evidence of conspiracy and political corruption that may involve their beloved mayor.
- 74
Black Rainbow
Martha Travis is a medium who makes contact with spirits "on the other side" and connects them with their loved ones still alive, in public performances. Trouble begins when she gives a message to Mary Kuron from her husband, Tom. But Tom i
- 75
Midnight Movie Massacre
Set in the '50s in a movie theatre showing a serial called "Space Patrol," this particular episode being "Back from the Future." The evil scientist on the serial goes back to the '50s and his crew members have to chase him. Meanwhile at the theatre, patrons busy themselves doing strange things. An alien has landed and is eliminating theatre staff and patrons.
- 76
Hellbent
A bandleader whose career is nosediving makes a deal with the owner of a bar to sell his soul for success.
- 77
The First Deadly Sin
A serial killer is stalking New York City. Inspector Edward Delaney is an NYPD detective, nearing retirement, who is trying to put together the pieces of the case. Are the victims somehow linked? What does the brutal method of death signify?
- 78
The Salamander
An Italian policeman investigates a series of murders involving people in prominent positions. Left behind at each murder scene is a drawing of a salamander. The policeman begins to suspect these murders are linked to a plot to seize contro
- 79
Gotham
A New York private eye searches for a socialite who supposedly drowned 10 years before.
- 80
The Jigsaw Murders
A jigsaw puzzle is the key in a detective's investigation of a gruesome murder.
- 81
Backfire
Mara McAndrew's marriage is falling apart. Her husband, Donnie, a Vietnam veteran, suffers troubling flashbacks about the war, leaving him unresponsive to her needs. Mara wants out, but she also wants Donnie's money. When Mara meets a mysterious stranger, Reed, at a local bar, she believes she has found the right person to help her out of her predicament. But Mara worries that Donnie's sister, Jill, is on to her.
- 82
Blood Cult
Female students on a college campus are being killed and their body parts used for blood sacrifices.
- 83
Mike's Murder
Betty has a crush on her tennis instructor Mike. He promises to call her for a date, but never does – she doesn’t know he sells drugs on the side. After botching a deal on someone else’s turf, Mike has to disappear for a while. He contacts Betty – then he’s killed before they can meet. Betty tries to find out what happened, leading her straight into a hornet's nest of vice.
- 84
Spellcaster
A group of people are killed one by one while participating at a million dollar treasure hunt in a mysterious Italian castle.
- 85
The Rosary Murders
A priest is put in a dilemma when the serial killer who has been murdering priests and nuns confesses to him.
- 86
Too Scared to Scream
A killer is brutally attacking several tenants that live in a high rise apartment building in New York City.
- 87
Give My Regards to Broad Street
When the mastertape of McCartney's latest album is misplaced, he must discover its whereabouts in less than 24 hours or else risk losing his recording company to the lowlife Mr. Rath.
- 88
The Big Easy
Remy McSwain is a New Orleans police lieutenant who investigates the murder of a local mobster. His investigation leads him to suspect that fellow members of the police force may be involved.
- 89
The Jar
A motorist who comes upon an auto accident finds a bottle at the scene. The bottle contains a demon who proceeds to possess him.
- 90
Lady in White
Locked in a school closet during Halloween 1962, young Frank witnesses the ghost of a young girl and the man who murdered her years ago.
- 91
Rollover
The wife of a murdered petrochemical company chairman and a banker investigating the liquidity of his new bank stumble upon an international financial scheme that could lead to global economic collapse.
- 92
Mio in the Land of Faraway
Under the watch of his unkind realtives, lonely Bosse's luck is changed when he is sent to the land where his real father is the King. In that country, he sets out on a quest, together with his new friend, to destroy the evil Knight Kato.
- 93
Girls School Screamers
Seven girls from the local Catholic school are chosen to go inventory the Wells estate. It sounds like a fun weekend until the girls hold a séance to try and contact Jennifer Wells, a 20-year-old who died mysteriously on the grounds in 1939. Their weekend gets even stranger when it is revealed one of the girls, Jackie, is a dead ringer for the deceased.
- 94
Track 29
Years after a desperate teenage Linda gives up her baby for adoption, she finds herself face-to-face with Martin, a young man claiming to be her long-lost son. Linda embraces Martin and in him finds a welcome reprieve from her unhappy marri
- 95
The Naked Face
Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince the cops of his innocence, Dr. Stevens is forced to go aft
- 96
Relentless
Two Los Angeles police detectives hunt for a serial killer who randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
- 97
Endangered Species
A retired New York cop on vacation in America's West is drawn into a sheriff's investigation of a mysterious series of cattle killings.
- 98
The Formula
While investigating the death of a friend and fellow cop, Los Angeles police officer Barney Caine stumbles across evidence that Nazis created a synthetic alternative to gasoline during World War II. This revelation has the potential to end
- 99
The Blue Iguana
To stay out of the slammer, down-on-his-luck bounty hunter Vince Holloway reluctantly agrees to do the bidding of two crooked IRS agents. Tasked with recouping $20 million of laundered drug money, Holloway heads south of the border to the Blue Iguana, a bar crawling with thugs, killers, smugglers, evil women, and crazy action.
- 100
Intruder
The overnight stock crew of a local supermarket find themselves being stalked and slashed by a mysterious maniac.