Top 20 Best Detective Movies of All Time

'The Life Of David Gale' revolves around Bitsey Bloom, a journalist racing against time to exonerate renowned professor David Gale. He is accused of murdering social activist Constance Harraway and sentenced to death.

Later, journalist Bitsey Bloom schedules an interview with the professor. In the final days of David's life, Bitsley gradually realizes his innocence. She understands that David's time is running out, and what she must do now is seek the truth and rescue the professor.

Vanished Without a Trace is an American 2007 neo-noir mysterious crime horror film directed by Ben Affleck, marking his directorial debut. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Stockard based on the 1998 novel 'Gone, Baby, Gone' by Dennis Lehane.

In Vanished Without a Trace, a 4-year-old girl is abducted while home alone. The town police make efforts to investigate, but after several days, there are no clues or traces of the girl. At this point, the girl's aunt seeks the help of a renowned private detective. However, this detective not only disrupts the case but also upheaves the family's private life.

The Art Heist is an adaptation of the 2001 TV series of the same name, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle. It revolves around the theft of a valuable painting in a renowned art auction house. Despite the attempts of an art gallery staff member to resist the thieves, the painting ultimately goes missing.

Unfortunately, the staff member, after suffering injuries during the confrontation with the thieves, develops short-term memory loss. Questions about the missing painting and suspicious glances all focus on this staff member. Subsequently, a hypnotist is called in to assist in the investigation, and she happens to be the former lover that the staff member cannot remember.

The Enigma Killer is the alias of a serial murderer who terrorized San Francisco for 25 years, instilling fear throughout the city. The perpetrator even communicated with the authorities through the media, mocking the ineffectiveness of the police through a series of letters.

Journalists Paul Avery and Robert Graysmith show significant interest in these mysterious letters.

They decide to follow the clues in the letters to assist the police in finding the right path, escaping the 'ineptitude' that persisted for over two decades. However, Zodiac is not a simple and easily apprehended criminal.

The film, produced by acclaimed director David Fincher, is based on the real-life case.

The film Secrets on the Rails, based on the popular novel of the same name by Tate Taylor. Similar to the original, the film portrays the central character, Rachel Watson.

Rachel routinely takes the train to work every day. Her daily route becomes familiar and intimate. Every time the train stops in the cozy suburb, she sees the image of a happily married couple. However, one day, Rachel witnesses something she shouldn't have, and that day changes her life forever.

Reversed Moments is a film with events and plot twists that unfold in 'reverse time': the beginning of the film is the ending, and the narrative gradually unfolds in reverse.

The film follows the journey of Leonard Shelby, a man with short-term memory loss, as he seeks the assailant who raped and murdered his wife. All Leonard remembers is events before the murder, and anything after that, he cannot remember for more than 10 minutes. Therefore, he always has to take notes, capture photos, and even tattoo himself to remember everything. Following the blurry remaining clues, Leonard slowly unveils the horrifying secrets of his past.

In The Enigma of 23, Walter Sparrow leads a peaceful life with a loving wife and obedient son. He works as an animal control officer. Life remains calm and serene until he comes across a peculiar novel titled The Number 23.

Out of curiosity, Walter starts reading it and quickly realizes the troubling parallels between the plot and his real life. Gradually, the world in the book begins to invade reality, turning into Walter's horrifying obsession.

Lost Memories begins with Christine Lucas, a woman who has lost her memory after a violent attack many years ago. Each day, Christine wakes up in a state of anxiety, only remembering what happened within the last 24 hours or before she plunges into deep sleep.

The journey to uncover the past and expose the perpetrator is assisted by her husband and a psychiatrist. However, one day, Christine realizes that the only person she can truly trust is herself.

Vanished Memories recounts the story of a carpenter named Keller Dover living in a small town. He faces a horrific event, a nightmare in life when his young daughter is abducted. The only clue he has is an old, run-down RV owned by Alex Jones parked on the street.

Loki, a young and cocky detective, is tasked with investigating the case. Loki issues an arrest warrant for Jones, but the evidence against him gets dismissed. Subsequently, the police are forced to release him. In the end, Keller decides to take matters into his own hands and seeks to apprehend Alex Jones without relying on the legal system.

Enigmatic Heights is a mesmerizing American psychological thriller from 1959, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, with the involvement of Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay is by Alec Coppel and Samuel A.

After retiring early as a detective from the San Francisco Police Department, John Ferguson - Scottie, along with his longtime friend and former fiancée, Midge Wood, a lingerie designer, becomes haunted by two successive women. First is the elegant and sophisticated blonde Madeleine Elster, the wife of his college acquaintance Gavin Elster, who hires John to follow her, believing she may pose a danger to herself, as Gavin thinks she is possessed by the spirit of Carlotta Valdes, Madeleine's great-grandmother, whom she knows nothing about but whom Gavin claims committed suicide in a mental imbalance at the age of twenty-six, Madeleine's current age.

The second is Judy Barton, whom John encounters on the street one day. Judy is a working-class girl, but what obsesses John about her is that, despite her working-class style and brown hair, she is the detestable image of Madeleine, whom he tries to transform Judy into. The initial question John poses is whether there is any connection between Madeleine and Judy.

What unfolds between John and the personas of Madeleine and Judy is influenced by the reason John retired early: an incident at his recent workplace reveals that he suffers from acrophobia, leading to a severe vertigo whenever he looks from a height.

Enigmatic Equations unfold at Oxford University, plagued by a series of continuous murders. What makes these killers unique is their use of mathematical symbols to connect with each other.

Unable to endure the painful events repeating, a professor and a student join forces to decipher the series of symbols, uncover the culprit, and put an end to the nightmare within the university.

Martin (Elijah Wood), a mathematics research student, enrolls at Oxford with hopes of meeting his mentor, Professor Arthur Seldom (Sir John Hurt). He finds accommodation at Mrs. Eagleton's (Anna Massey) residence, but within the house, an oppressive atmosphere prevails due to the landlady's demeanor. Indeed, Mrs. Eagleton, coincidentally a friend of Seldom, is a haughty and unsympathetic woman, who also stifles her daughter Beth (Julie Cox). At the university, things take a bleaker turn when Martin is placed in his idol's position in one of Seldom's lectures.

But his personal life takes a turn for the better as he starts an affair with Lorna (Leonor Watling), a beautiful girl he meets in a soccer game. One night, Seldom and Martin, drawn to Mrs. Eagleton's home, discover her lifeless body. They face police questioning and decide to conduct their own investigation immediately.

The Enigmatic Falcon is a 1941 American film written and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut. It is based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel of the same name and owes credit to the 1931 film adaptation.

Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. It's for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two are partners, but Sam isn't overly fond of Miles. A woman of the direct sort, named Miss Wonderly, walks into their office, and by that night everything's changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Fiveby. It seems Miss Wonderly is surrounded by dangerous men.

There's Joel Cairo, a man who uses scented calling cards with the aroma of gardenia. There's Kasper Gutman, with a large circumference and counterfeit politeness. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is under police suspicion for a murder. Many murders are yet to unfold, all because of these dangerous men and their desire for a statuette of a bird: The Maltese Falcon.

Enigma of Laura is a 1944 American noir film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The film stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb, along with Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel Laura by Vera Caspary.

Lieutenant Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), found dead in her apartment before the film begins. McPherson builds a psychological portrait of the deceased from the suspects he interviews. He is aided by a prominent portrait of Laura mournfully hanging on her apartment wall.

But who could want to kill a girl that every man she met fell in love with? Making matters worse, McPherson finds himself falling under her spell as well. Then one night, while unraveling the case halfway through, a bizarre and serious oddity occurs, causing him to rethink the entire case.

Echoes of the Past is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring from his 1946 novel Build My Gallows High, with uncredited revisions by Frank Fenton and James M. Cain.

Jeff Bailey, a gas station attendant in a small town, has a mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet gambler Whit Sterling. En route to the meeting, he recounts his story to girlfriend Ann. Flashback: Once, Jeff was hired by Sterling to find his lover, Kathie, who shot Whit and ran away with $40,000. He traces her to Acapulco, where Kathie's kindness makes Jeff forget everything about Sterling. Back in the present, Whit's new job for Jeff is clearly a trap, but Jeff's caution only tightens the noose around him.

Enigma is a classic horror-thriller film directed by German filmmaker Fritz Lang. Enigma is hailed as one of the masterpieces in the horror-thriller genre and is considered Fritz Lang's finest work.

M is a cinematic milestone of German and global cinema, born in 1931 through the collaboration of Fritz Lang and his (then) wife, Thea von Harbou. In their cinematic legacy, if Metropolis stands as one of the earliest representatives of the sci-fi genre, then M is a precursor to the later film noir genre. Produced almost 90 years ago, M remains a thought-provoking piece for modern audiences, evoking profound reflections on humanity, crime, and justice.

Intrigue of Darkness is a 1958 American film written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars in the lead role. The screenplay is based on the contemporary novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. The cast includes Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich.

Mexican Drug Enforcement Officer Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas has to interrupt his honeymoon at the Mexico-U.S. border when an American contractor is killed after someone planted a bomb in his car. He is killed at the U.S. border but clearly, the bomb was rigged on the Mexican side.

Therefore, Vargas postpones his return to the City of Mexico, where he is working on a case against the crime and drug organization led by Grandi family. U.S. Police Captain Hank Quinlan is in charge on the U.S. side and he quickly has a suspect, a Mexican named Manolo Sanchez. Vargas soon catches Quinlan and his sergeant, Pete Menzies, as he catches them fabricating evidence to frame Sanchez. With his new American wife, Susie, safely hidden in a hotel on the U.S. side of the border—or so he thinks—he begins to scrutinize Quinlan's previous cases.

Frosty Gambit is a 1996 dark comedy crime film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jerry works in his father-in-law's car dealership and faces financial difficulties. He tries various different schemes to come up with the needed money for reasons never truly explained. It must be noted that his embezzlement plot of a substantial amount from his father-in-law's business is on the verge of being discovered. When all else fails, he had previously arranged for two men to kidnap his wife in order to ransom her back from her wealthy father (who seemingly has no time in the day for his son-in-law).

From the moment of the kidnapping, things go awry, and what was supposed to be a non-violent crime turns bloodier by the minute. Jerry is despondent over the bloodshed, leaving a pregnant police chief from Brainerd, MN, who is tenacious in solving three murders within her jurisdiction.

Enigma is a 1995 Neo-noir crime thriller directed by David Fincher, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, featuring an acclaimed cast including Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey. The film is distributed by New Line Cinema.

A film about two homicide detectives (Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt) diligently tracking a serial killer, who justifies his crimes as a release for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The film takes us from the lingering torment of one victim to the next, with the social pariah 'John Doe' (Kevin Spacey) explaining to detectives Somerset and Mills - each time a sin.

The Sin of Envy is prominently placed, and the gruesome ingenuity of the murderer is depicted graphically with the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir. Somerset is seasoned and cultured but lacking the patience to study the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi, while Detective Mills (Pitt) is bright but green and brash, mocking his attempts to delve into the mind of a murderer.

The Enigma of Gaze is an Argentine crime drama film from 2009 directed, co-written, produced, and edited by Juan José Campanella, based on the novel 'La pregunta de sus ojos' by Eduardo Sacheri, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The film is a collaborative production between Argentina and Spain.

In 1999, retired federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old case as the main source material. That case is the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. Besides witnessing the extreme grief of the victim's husband, Ricardo Morales, Benjamin, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly appointed department chief Irene Menéndez-Hastings are personally affected by the case as Benjamin and Pablo follow the killer's trail, hence the reason the case didn't end properly always haunts him.

Despite the department having two other suspects, Benjamin and Pablo remain convinced that a man named Isidoro Gómez is the actual murderer.

While he acknowledges that historical accuracy is not crucial to the novel, the process of reviewing the case is closure for him. He attempts to talk to those involved in the case, most notably Irene, who still works in the judiciary and whom he has always been attracted to but never pursued due to their age difference and social class differences.

Another issue is that Gómez is still at large, and no one knows if he's alive or dead. But as Pablo mentioned at the time, passion is something unchangeable in behavior, and now Benjamin realizes that premise still holds.

Echoes of Investigation is an intense South Korean crime thriller film released in 2003, directed by Bong Joon-ho. The film features the acting talents of two cinema stars, Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung.

In 1986, in the province of Gyunggi, South Korea, a second young and beautiful woman is discovered dead, raped, bound, and gagged with lingerie. Detectives Park Doo-Man and Cho Yong-koo, two local detectives brutal and clueless, investigate the murder using brutality and torturing suspects, with no actual results.

Detective Seo Tae-Yoon from Seoul comes to assist the investigation and believes a serial killer is murdering women. When the third woman is found dead with the same modus operandi, the detectives uncover clues leading to the identity of the killer.