The 40 most popular 1980s mystery movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Door
1988 · 1h 34m
country: Japan
Yasuko, a housewife, lives in an urban high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and her son Takuto. Annoyed by spam calls and door-to-door salesmen, Yasuko slams the door on a salesman’s hand when he tries to squeeze a flyer through the apartment's chained front door. He leaves, but the next day, her nightmare starts.


The Thing
1982 · 1h 49m
country: United States
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.


Midnight Matinee
1988 · 1h 31m
country: Canada
Even though a devastating murder took place during a small town's horror film festival two years earlier, townspeople want another festival.


The Name of the Rose
1986 · 2h 10m
country: France
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 authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.


Blue Velvet
1986 · 2h
country: United States
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.


The Great Mouse Detective
1986 · 1h 14m
country: United States
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.


Clue
1985 · 1h 34m
country: United States
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 suss out the culprit before the body count rises.


Mississippi Burning
1988 · 2h 8m
country: United States
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 against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.


Day of the Dead
1985 · 1h 41m
country: United States
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.


Above the Law
1988 · 1h 39m
country: United States
Nico Toscani is an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalized brand of justice—expert and thorough bone-crushing.


Videodrome
1983 · 1h 28m
country: Canada
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 show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.


Lifeforce
1985 · 1h 42m
country: United Kingdom
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, commencing an apocalyptic descent into chaos.


Blow Out
1981 · 1h 48m
country: United States
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 dead — a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.


Body Double
1984 · 1h 54m
country: United States
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.


Angel Heart
1987 · 1h 53m
country: United Kingdom
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 voodoo.


The Entity
1982 · 2h 5m
country: United States
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.


Halloween III: Season of the Witch
1982 · 1h 38m
country: United States
After a terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital clutching the year's most popular Halloween mask, Dr. Daniel Challis sets out to investigate the strange events and finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.


Dressed to Kill
1980 · 1h 45m
country: United States
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.


Frantic
1988 · 2h
country: United States
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.


Trail of the Pink Panther
1982 · 1h 36m
country: United Kingdom
The Pink Panther diamond is stolen once again from Lugash and the authorities call in Chief Inspector Clouseau from France. His plane disappears en-route. This time, famous French TV reporter Marie Jouvet sets out to solve the mystery and starts to interview everybody connected to Clouseau.


Cruising
1980 · 1h 42m
country: United States
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.


The Secret of NIMH
1982 · 1h 23m
country: United States
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.


Psycho II
1983 · 1h 53m
country: United States
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?


Fanny and Alexander
1982 · 3h 8m
country: Sweden
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.


Cocoon
1985 · 1h 57m
country: United States
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.


American Gigolo
1980 · 1h 57m
country: United States
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.


Evil Under the Sun
1982 · 1h 57m
country: United Kingdom
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.


Angel's Egg
1985 · 1h 11m
country: Japan
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.


Curse of the Pink Panther
1983 · 1h 49m
country: United States
Inspector Clouseau disappears, and the Surete wants the world's second best detective to look for him. However, Clouseau's enemy, Dreyfus, rigs the Surete's computer to select, instead, the world's WORST detective, NYPD Sgt. Clifton Sleigh. Sleigh obtusely bungles his way past assassins and corrupt officials as though he were Clouseau's American cousin.


The Vanishing
1988 · 1h 46m
country: Netherlands
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 all hope when he suddenly begins receiving letters from her abductor.


Crossroads
1986 · 1h 39m
country: United States
A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.


It's Called 'Murder', Baby
1983 · 1h 34m
country: United States
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.


Prom Night
1980 · 1h 33m
country: Canada
At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years prior.


Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School
1988 · 1h 33m
country: United States
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' daughters but there's a villainess out to enslave the girls.


Evils of the Night
1985 · 1h 24m
country: United States
Sex-hungry teens are kidnapped by auto mechanics, who take them to a rural hospital run by aliens who need their blood as the key to their own longevity.


Gorky Park
1983 · 2h 8m
country: United States
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 conspiracy involving the highest levels of the government.


The Final Conflict
1981 · 1h 48m
country: United States
Damien Thorn has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ.


The Presidio
1988 · 1h 37m
country: United States
Jay Austin is now a civilian police detective. Colonel Caldwell was his commanding officer years before when he left the military police over a disagreement over the handling of a drunk driver. Now a series of murders that cross jurisdictions force them to work together again. That Austin is now dating Caldwell's daughter is not helping their relationship.


Fletch Lives
1989 · 1h 35m
country: United States
Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.


Psycho III
1986 · 1h 33m
country: United States
When Maureen Coyle, a suicidal nun who resembles Norman's former victim, Marion Crane, arrives at the motel, all bets are off and "Mother" is less than happy.
The 1980s codified the blockbuster — high concept, wide release, heavy merchandising — while home video quietly built a second life for films that flopped in theaters. Practical effects hit their peak just before CGI arrived.
Mystery films are structured around withheld information, trusting the audience to work alongside the investigator. The genre ranges from cozy whodunits to bleak, unresolved character studies.