trailers.fm
trailers.fm / Guide / Mystery + 1980s
Mystery films from the 1980s
The best 100 of 274
- 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
Fanny and Alexander
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
- 6
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
- 7
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
- 8
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
- 9
Angel's Egg
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.
- 10
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.
- 11
The Vanishing
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation when they stop at a busy service station. Saskia is abducted in broad daylight and three years pass with no answers or closure surrounding her disappearance. Rex has nearly given up al
- 12
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.
- 13
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
- 14
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.
- 15
Bianca
Michele, a young mathematics professor, moves into a new flat. Lonely, depressed and neurotic, he spends his time obsessively monitoring the couples around him, especially his neighbors, a young pair struggling to make their relationship wo
- 16
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.
- 17
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
- 18
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
- 19
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.
- 20
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
- 21
Tenebre
A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.
- 22
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.
- 23
Terrorizers
An uncompromising look into urban life from the eyes of a voyeuristic photographer, a rebellious teenager, and a married couple teetering on the edge of adultery.
- 24
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
- 25
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.
- 26
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.
- 27
Opera
A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.
- 28
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
- 29
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.
- 30
Confidentially Yours
After he's implicated in several murders, a real estate agent goes on the lam while his intrepid secretary does some private investigating of her own to locate the killer.
- 31
Cocoon
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
- 32
Music Box
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
- 33
One Deadly Summer
Shortly after Elle Wieck moves to a small French village, she begins dating Pin-Pon, a quiet young mechanic who has grown obsessed with the beautiful newcomer. But Elle has her own reason for the relationship...
- 34
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
- 35
Rouge
Amid the opulent teahouses of 1930s Hong Kong, a humble courtesan and the wayward scion of a wealthy family fall in love and embrace death by suicide pact. Fifty years later, her ghost returns to find him, drawing a young contemporary coupl
- 36
Patlabor: The Movie
A mysterious suicide and a series of unmanned robot run-aways sparks off a Police investigation into the suspicious software on-board thousands of industrial robots around Tokyo.
- 37
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.
- 38
The 4th Man
A writer whose lover is a woman widowed three times begins to suspect she may be responsible for her husbands' deaths.
- 39
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?
- 40
City of the Living Dead
A psychic seemingly dies of fright during a séance where she sees a vision of a Dunwich priest hanging himself in a church cemetery. New York City reporter Peter Bell investigates and learns that the priest's suicide has somehow opened a po
- 41
Masks
In this deadly game of cat and mouse, Roland Wolf is writing a book on the life of game show host Christian Legagneur--or is he?
- 42
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.
- 43
Zerograd
Going on a business trip, the hero of the film suddenly finds himself in a fantastic city. It is very similar to our world, only the hidden absurdity of everyday life here has become apparent.
- 44
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?
- 45
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
- 46
Le Pont du Nord
Marie is just out from prison when she runs into Baptiste, a young paranoid needing companionship. In their pursuit of a mysterious briefcase carried by Marie's former lover, they roam the street of Paris, transformed into a giant board gam
- 47
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
- 48
Nagina
The story follows Rajni, a shape-shifting cobra (Ichchadhari Naagin) who marries a civilian, Rajiv, to avenge the death of her spouse at the hands of an evil saint. Rajiv, who comes from a wealthy family, returns to India after studying in
- 49
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.
- 50
Dogra Magra
A young man murders his new bride and goes insane. He wakes in an asylum with no memory, left in the hands of two mysterious doctors who relate his condition with his biological identity.
- 51
Yokohama BJ Blues
BJ is a relatively unknown blues singer who scraps some bars in Yokohama. He does not earn much with it and to make ends meet he also acts as a private detective.
- 52
Revenge of the Dead
A young journalist buys a used typewriter and notices some text still legible on the ribbon; he reconstructs the story of a scientist who discovered that some types of terrain have the power to revive the dead.
- 53
Portrait in Crystal
When a naive sculptor spills blood on his newest statue, he awakens a mass-murdering crystalline spirit in the underworld. Along with his trusted companion Fatty, he backflips his way through mystical realms to uncover who is trapping souls in his statues..
- 54
Gang of Four
Anna, Joyce, Claude, and Cécile are four young actresses sharing a Paris apartment while attending intense acting workshops led by their demanding teacher Constance. As they rehearse scenes and navigate the tensions of living together, their personal lives begin to grow complicated when Joyce becomes involved with a mysterious older man whose presence slowly pulls the others into a web of secrets and suspicions, blurring the boundary between the roles they perform and the lives they're actually living.
- 55
Khamosh
A young actress is found to have committed suicide at the filming location. Things take a different turn when further investigation reveals it to be a cold-blooded murder and the killer is someone within the film crew.
- 56
Kagero-za
A 1920s playwright meets a beautiful woman who may be the ghost of his patron's deceased wife.
- 57
Bat Without Wings
When a notorious fiend known as the "Bat Without Wings" returns to his small village after a five-year absence and kidnaps a young maiden, it's up to her family and a resourceful swordsmen to brave the horrors of the underworld to bring her
- 58
Zigeunerweisen
A surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.
- 59
Love Unto Wastes
Four young people spend their time living the wild life - until one of them is brutally murdered in a burglary. The survivors come under the scrutiny of an eccentric cop, and their underlying fears and regrets slowly but surely emerge.
- 60
Suspicion
A car going at 25 mph plunges into the sea at Shinko Harbour, Toyama prefecture. Inside is the local business magnate Fukutaro Shirakawa, who perishes. Riding alongside him and surviving unhurt is his second wife, Kumako. It soon comes to light that Kumako’s husband was insured for 300 million yen and she is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband for the insurance money. The newspapers denounce her as an evil woman, while the public is in no doubt about Kumako’s crime. Ritsuko Sahara is chosen as her defence attorney but the pair clash over almost everything...
- 61
The Red Spectacles
Summer 1995. With the arrival of the "Age of Cats", the former Kerberos police unit is now disbanded. However one member remains, a stray dog who returns to his old roost after a three-years exile. This wild dog no longer has a master, but
- 62
Suddenly in the Dark
A wife starts to suspect her husband's infidelity after the arrival of their new, young housekeeper, who carries a mysterious wooden doll with herself.
- 63
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.
- 64
El cafre
Trucker accepts an assignment to haul an extremely dangerous load of explosives from Tijuana to Mexico City.
- 65
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.
- 66
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.
- 67
To Sleep So as to Dream
An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.
- 68
The Sign of Four
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to track down the Great Mogul, the second-largest diamond in the world.
- 69
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.
- 70
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
- 71
Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse
Holmes & Watson investigate a cursed family.
- 72
Detective Story
A private detective and a college student find themselves in hot water while investigating the murder of a night club owner.
- 73
The Duel of the Century
This mystery-tinged 'Martial Arts World' epic was one of director Chu Yuan and novelist Ku Lung's last together for the Shaw Studios, but it's another action-filled winner. Liu Yung and Sun Chien team to investigate the martial arts murders
- 74
The Manor of Araucaima
In an old and mysterious tropical mansion cohabit the supposed owner, a friar, a convalescent pilot, the Haitian servant, the mercenary guardian and the Machiche, a mature and dominant female. A young model arrives there to unleash all kinds of passions.
- 75
A Taxing Woman's Return
Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath.
- 76
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.
- 77
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.
- 78
Resurrected
A Falklands War soldier missing, believed dead, turns up claiming amnesia.
- 79
Web of Deception
Jane is unknowingly being blackmailed by her co-worker May. When May's roommate Queenie needs a large amount of money to bail her twin sister out, May suggests stealing the blackmail money Jane is keeping locked away in her mansion for now.
- 80
Call from Darkness
Keiko Inagawa pays a visit to neurologist Aizawa about her fiancé Tatsuo Tamura. A mysterious case involving the disappearance of Tatsuo’s three brothers, one after the other, is yet to be resolved and now Tatsuo, seized with the idea that he too may disappear, has had a nervous breakdown. Aizawa suggests that Tatsuo recount his dreams as a means of solving the mystery, since human beings have an instinct that foretells the near future in the form of a dream. Keiko and Tatsuo eventually discover that the three disappearances have a strange connection…
- 81
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...
- 82
Midnight Matinee
Even though a devastating murder took place during a small town's horror film festival two years earlier, townspeople want another festival.
- 83
The Convict Killer
Teng Piao went to jail for fifteen years on a frame up for drug smuggling. Now that he's out, along with his iron chain, Teng Piao is hungry for revenge. The man he wants to beat with his chain is Black Leopard Lam Fei. The problem for Ten
- 84
Praying Mantis
A man and a woman drift ashore after a typhoon. The man, dead, is an escaped perpetrator, and the woman, alive, is a hairdresser Masako. A detective in charge of an embezzlement case is tracking the whereabouts of disappeared money and susp
- 85
- 86
Decoder
F.M. discovers that different sonic frequencies induce different patterns of behaviour in listeners, first in his own studio but later in the local "H-Burger" restaurant where the passive muzak appears to be wiping people's emotions.
- 87
Love Massacre
Set in San Francisco, Love Massacre follows college student Ivy as she tries to help her friend Joy recover from a breakup. Ivy soon becomes involved with Joy's married brother Chu Chung, who spirals into senseless violence as he breaks into Ivy's dormitory and goes on a delirious killing spree.
- 88
Barrios altos
Veronica, recently divorced with a son, begins to organize her life and adapt to the new situation. Her problems are soon relegated to the back ground when Carlos, her masseuse, is murdered. Knowing himself in danger, Carlos left a final message on her answering machine: she had to retrieve a package hidden in a railway station toilet. From that moment, Veronica will not know peace.
- 89
Next of Kin
After Linda inherits a retirement home, she witnesses a series of strange events which seem connected to a dark and unspeakable evil.
- 90
Escape from Death
Anne is convinced she has found her husband's corpse, but Dr. Mark can only find out that the man has gone home. When he comes back, his wife does not trust Mark, who believes she suffers from schizophrenia.
- 91
Love Letter in the Sand
During a month of unusually heavy rain in Tokyo, a mystery assailant has been brutally assaulting and killing people with a metal bat. When a handsome young man with amnesia is found outside an area hospital, the nurse who discovered him begins to suspect that he may in fact be the assailant. But her own strange erotic fixations with him, and the questionable involvement of the doctor tasked with the amnesia victim, lead them all down an increasingly twisted path of deeply-rooted trauma and violence.
- 92
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
- 93
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.
- 94
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
- 95
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.
- 96
Litan
Married couple Jock & Nora are visiting the town of Litan during Litan's Day, with its carnivalesque atmosphere. When Nora wakes that morning from dreaming the bizarre death of her husband, she sets out across town to find him and warn him. But as she does, she encounters stranger and stranger people and events erupting into a frenzy in front of her. Now, she and Jock must elude all of the impediments in their way of reaching safety on the outskirts of town.
- 97
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.
- 98
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.
- 99
Mister Designer
A famous artist strives to find the secret of eternal life through the beautiful mannequins he creates.
- 100
Corpse Mania
A necrophiliac killer is murdering the prostitutes at Madame Lan's brothel.