10 Whodunit Movies With Perfect Mysteries From Start to Finish

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Raquel-Welch and Ian-McShane in The-Last-of-Sheila

Published Jun 29, 2026, 11:11 PM EDT

William likes taking edibles, watching movies with his dogs, and then writing about those movies, because what else is there to do while the world burns?

Who done it? That's the central question at the heart of one of the most popular varieties of mystery. A whodunnit is structured differently than other mysteries. It presents all the suspects of its central crime up front, and from there it begins to process the clues so that the audience may try to puzzle out who the real culprit is for themselves. They can have as many plot twists and turns as any other mystery, but there's an interactive quality that makes them undeniably entertaining. Some of the most popular crime writers of all time turned out a whodunnit or two in their time, and many of them have made their way to the big screen as well.

While true whodunnit movies aren't as ubiquitous as they are in the literary world, there are still enough to make for a stellar murder mystery weekend. Some are funny, others are more sinister, but they've all got some mysteries that will pique your interest and have you trying to parse out the terrible truth. Whether you're a true crime fanatic or just a casual player of Clue, these ten whodunnits will keep you curious with their perfect mysteries.

'The Thin Man' (1934)

Based on the novel by acclaimed crime writer Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man is better known for the chemistry between lead actors William Powell and Myrna Loy, as crime-solving couple Nick and Nora Charles, than it is for its central mystery, but it's still a cracking whodunit. The film's success led to five sequels featuring the characters, but the original is still the best, offering a tantalizing mystery and a sinister list of suspects.

The titular Thin Man is inventor Clyde (Edward Ellis), who goes missing after confronting his mistress about stolen money. That's when former detective Nick and his socialite wife Nora get involved, and the bodies begin to pile up. Is the Thin Man a suspect or a victim? Who is responsible for his disappearance and why? There's a long list of suspects, and Nick gathers them all in the finale for a classic whodunit wrap-up. The entire film is a classic, and it's all played with a light touch, making it one of the most fun murder mysteries ever made.

'And Then There Were None' (1945)

Three men looking at a dead body in And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie is among the most famous mystery writers, having created iconic characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, along with authoring several singular mystery classics. Her seminal whodunit And Then There Were None, also known under some other far more racist titles, is the most frequently adapted of her work, with the most famous being the 1945 version. Directed by René Clair, the film collects a group of strangers in an island mansion, and kills them off one by one.

Eight guests are invited by a mysterious host named U.N. Owen to a manor on a remote island. The only thing the guests, as well as the two newly hired servants, have in common is that they have all been accused of prior murders. When they each begin to meet their own demises, the survivors begin to turn on one another as they try to sort out who the real killer is among them. It's an iconic set-up for a whodunit that's influenced dozens of others that have come after it, and its mystery will keep you guessing until the last minute.

'The House of Fear' (1945)

Basil Rathbone, as Sherlock Holmes, walks with a pistol and candelabra in The House of Fear

The most iconic fictional detective of all time is, without a doubt, Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Of all the actors to take on the role of Holmes, the one most associated with the role is Basil Rathbone, who appeared in fourteen feature films as the detective alongside Nigel Bruce as Watson. While most of those films don't conform to the whodunit template, The House of Fear is the murderous exception.

Based on Doyle's short story The Five Orange Pips, the film follows Holmes as he visits a Scottish castle where a group of men, known collectively as the Good Comrades, live together. When the men begin to die off, each after receiving an envelope of orange pips, their insurance agent believes one of them is killing the others in order to collect a larger payout. It's not the greatest of the Rathbone outings, but The House of Fear is still a classic Sherlock mystery and an enthralling whodunit.

'The Last of Sheila' (1973)

One of the few whodunits not based on any prior source material, The Last of Sheila was instead inspired by real-life scavenger hunts that co-writers Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim had often arranged for their celebrity friends. The film likewise focuses on a group of Hollywood players attempting to solve a murder, and it has since become a major influence on more modern mystery films, most evidently in Rian Johnson's Glass Onion, in which Sondheim himself made a cameo appearance.

Invited on a yacht pleasure cruise around the Mediterranean by their producer friend, the guests take part in a mystery game which seems to allude to the death of the producer's wife a year prior. When the producer himself turns up dead, the guests then begin to play an entirely new game of whodunit. The Last of Sheila has a terrific ensemble cast, which includes Dyan Cannon, James Coburn. James Mason and Raquel Welch, and a clever script by Perkins and Sondheim that finds genuine mystery in the sordid secrets of the Hollywood elite.

'Murder on the Orient Express' (1974)

As star-studded as the cast of The Last of Sheila is, it can't compare to the incredible ensemble that fills out Sidney Lumet's essential adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. As Belgian detective Poirot, Albert Finney leads a cast of Hollywood royalty that includes Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Ingrid Bergman in an Oscar-winning performance. It's the most stylishly produced version of a murder mystery that's been adapted multiple times for film and television, but never bettered.

Set on the titular train, Poirot finds himself among a group of international travelers, one of whom is murdered in the middle of the night. Poirot discovers that every passenger on the train had a motive for murdering the victim, which leaves him until the train reaches its destination to suss out the perpetrator amongst the suspects. Murder on the Orient Express remains one of the best adaptations of Christie, with the author herself praising it, with the exception of her criticism that Poirot's mustache wasn't fabulous enough.

'Clue' (1985)

Based on the beloved board game, Clue is another whodunit with a classy cast, although with a far more comedic bent to its mystery-solving than any of the previously mentioned films. Originally developed by John Landis before writer Jonathan Lynn took over as director, the film included three different endings, all of which were eventually included when it was released on home media. Clue initially received a mixed response from critics and failed at the box office but has since become a cult classic thanks to the performances of its talented cast and its perfectly hilarious mystery.

Following the basic premise of the board game, the film features a group of strangers invited to a manor, where they are each given their color-coordinated code names before being confronted by Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving), who has blackmail material on all of them. Boddy quickly becomes a dead body, and the strangers are left to decide which one of them was capable of the murder before the police arrive. The casting is pitch perfect across the board, from Mr. Green (Michael McKean) to Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), but the MVP is Tim Curry as the butler Wadsworth, who gets to sleuth with increasing manic energy as the plot gets ever more convoluted.

'Scream' (1996)

Scream - Ghostface looking down at a knife

One of the most iconic horror franchises of all time also happens to be the longest-running modern whodunit franchise as well. Wes Craven's Scream is a meta satire of the slasher subgenre and its conventions, but unlike Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, the identity of the film's knife-wielding killer, Ghostface, is a mystery. As the bodies of teen victims begin to pile up, the survivors are left running for their lives like the cast of Scooby-Doo while trying to unmask the murderer.

The first film in Craven's franchise follows a group of high school students stalked by a mysterious assailant who has an obsession with horror movies. The deaths create a media circus, with teen Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) caught at the center of it, while still struggling to process the murder of her mother a year prior. Scream reinvigorated slashers in the '90s and led to a series of sequels and even more horror films that tried to draft off its success, but none of them feature a mystery as intriguing as the original.

Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky

Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.

🏕️Jason

🔪Michael

💤Freddy

🎈Pennywise

🪆Chucky

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.

ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe. If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again. DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.

ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people. BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things. ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?

APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me. DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.

AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see. CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.

NEXT QUESTION →

You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't.

AThe one who says "we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens. BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.

NEXT QUESTION →

What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.

AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind. BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy. DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.

NEXT QUESTION →

What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.

AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it. BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional. Creativity over brute force.

NEXT QUESTION →

It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours?

AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me. BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed. EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it.

REVEAL MY VILLAIN →

Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason Voorhees

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn't strategise, doesn't adapt, doesn't outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.

Michael Myers

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.

But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael's power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.

Freddy Krueger

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

You are harder to destabilise than most. You've faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven't looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy's greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.

Pennywise

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

The Losers Club didn't survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise's worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.

Chucky

Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

You don't have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Gosford Park' (2001)

Emily Watson as Elsie in Gosford Park smoking a cigarette.

Despite the success of Scream, whodunits didn't gain much traction in the '90s, and it wasn't until Robert Altman's Oscar-nominated Gosford Park that the genre would get a proper reintroduction with a throwback murder mystery set in a manor. Written by Julian Fellowes, who would later go on to create the series Downton Abbey, the film features the same upstairs-downstairs examination of the British class system, all filtered through the subversive mind of Altman and wrapped up in a classic whodunit.

Set on a country estate where a group of wealthy guests has gathered for a shooting weekend, tensions are already high amongst the guests and staff well before one of them is murdered, which exposes even more fractures within the social ranks. Altman has always been a keen observer of characters, and that suits the film well here. As the camera wanders and conversations overlap, we're forced to listen intently and focus to figure out which of the cast of characters might have cause to kill.

'Hot Fuzz' (2007)

Danny (Nick Frost) and Angel (Simon Pegg) eating ice cream in 'Hot Fuzz'

The second entry in the Cornetto Trilogy, following the zombie rom-com Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz combines even more genres together, including buddy-cop action, cult horror, slapstick comedy and a dash of whodunit. While the murder mystery elements eventually take a backseat during the action-packed third act, and we're deprived of the classic killer reveal, the film is too damn fun and funny to nitpick.

Supercop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is too efficient an officer, so he's sent away by his lackluster superiors to a quiet village in the West Country, where he's partnered with the bumbling Danny (Nick Frost). Angel's need for action is quickly satiated when he discovers that the accidental deaths that plague the village are more than likely the result of a gruesome murderer. Hot Fuzz is easily one of the best comedies of the 2000s, with Edgar Wright's energetic direction and the chemistry of Pegg and Frost powering its perfect little mystery.

'Knives Out' (2019)

The cast of Knives Out sitting in the drawing room

Easily the biggest and most popular reinvigoration of the whodunit on film in the 21st century, Rian Johnson's Knives Out not only delivered a brilliantly clever modern evolution of the genre as a whole, but also introduced one of its greatest new detectives in the form of Daniel Craig's southern fried performance as gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc. While the two subsequent efforts featuring the character, Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man, offer unique twists in their murder mysteries, the original is a modern whodunit masterpiece.

When famed author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) dies of an apparent suicide on his country estate (where else?), it seems like an open-and-shut case, except for the fact that Blanc has been anonymously summoned by someone who suspects foul play. This is bad news for Thrombey's nurse Marta (Ana de Armas), who believes herself responsible for his death after accidentally giving him a lethal dose of morphine, and finds herself drawing suspicion from his privileged family when she is named as the sole benefactor of his estate. The truth, as is often the case in Johnson's films, is far more complicated than it initially seems, and Knives Out offers one delightful twist after another in its perfectly concocted mystery.

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