Best Mystery Movies of 1982

1.

The Thing

6.6
8.2/10 IMDB

A team of American scientists investigate the empty, destroyed base of their Norwegian counterparts in Antarctica, only to discover a terrifying life force that can take the form of its prey.

Starring: Kurt Russell, Keith David, Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur ..
Directed by: John Carpenter
Release date: 1982-06-25
2.

Missing

5.5
7.7/10 IMDB

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-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, John Shea, Melanie Mayron, Charles Cioffi, David Clennon, Richard Venture, Jerry Hardin, Richard Bradford, Joe Regalbuto ..
Directed by: Costa-Gavras
Release date: 1982-02-12
3.

The Draughtsman's Contract

5.2
7.2/10 IMDB

A young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away.

Starring: Anthony Higgins, Janet Suzman, Dave Hill, Anne-Louise Lambert, Hugh Fraser, Neil Cunningham, David Meyer, Tony Meyer, Nicholas Amer, Suzan Crowley ..
Directed by: Peter Greenaway
Release date: 1982-11-12
4.

Evil Under the Sun

5.1
7.0/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Nicholas Clay, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Denis Quilley, Roddy McDowall, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Colin Blakely ..
Directed by: Guy Hamilton
Release date: 1982-03-05
5.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

4.9
6.8/10 IMDB

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 eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.

Starring: Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Alan Ladd, Carl Reiner, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant ..
Directed by: Carl Reiner
Release date: 1982-05-21
6.

Deathtrap

4.9
7.0/10 IMDB

A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.

Starring: Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon, Irene Worth, Henry Jones, Joe Silver, Tony DiBenedetto, Al LeBreton, Francis B. Creamer Jr., Stewart Klein ..
Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Release date: 1982-03-19
7.

The Entity

4.9
6.7/10 IMDB

Carla Moran, a hard-working single mother, is raped in her bedroom by someone — or something — that she cannot see. Despite skeptical psychiatrists, she is repeatedly attacked by this invisible force. Could this be a case of hysteria or something more horrific?

Starring: Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa, George Coe, Margaret Blye, Jacqueline Brookes, Richard Brestoff, Michael Alldredge, Raymond Singer, Natasha Ryan ..
Directed by: Sidney J. Furie
Release date: 1982-09-30
8.

Pieces

4.4
6.0/10 IMDB

A frustrated Boston detective searches for the maniac responsible for mutilating a number of university coeds.

Starring: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor, Gérard Tichy, May Heatherly, Leticia Marfil ..
Directed by: Juan Piquer Simón
Release date: 1982-08-23
9.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

4.2
5.1/10 IMDB

Dr. Daniel Challis and Ellie Grimbridge stumble onto a gruesome murder scheme when Ellie's novelty-salesman father, Harry, is killed while in possession of a halloween mask made by the Silver Shamrock mask company. The company's owner, Conal Cochran, wants to return Halloween to its darker roots using his masks -- and his unspeakable scheme would unleash death and destruction across the country.

Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O'Herlihy, Michael Currie, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Brad Schacter, Garn Stephens, Nancy Kyes, Jonathan Terry ..
Directed by: Tommy Lee Wallace
Release date: 1982-10-22
10.

The House on Sorority Row

3.8
5.9/10 IMDB

After a seemingly innocent prank goes horribly wrong, a group of sorority sisters are stalked and murdered one by one in their sorority house while throwing a party to celebrate their graduation.

Starring: Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson, Janis Ward, Robin Meloy, Harley Jane Kozak, Jodi Draigie, Ellen Dorsher, Lois Kelso Hunt, Christopher Lawrence, Michael Kuhn ..
Directed by: Mark Rosman
Release date: 1982-11-19
11.

Q

3.7
6.0/10 IMDB

New York police are bemused by reports of a giant flying lizard that has been spotted around the rooftops of New York, until the lizard starts to eat people. An out-of-work ex-con is the only person who knows the location of the monster's nest and is determined to turn the knowledge to his advantage, but will his gamble pay off or will he end up as lizard food?

Starring: Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, Richard Roundtree, David Carradine, James Dixon, Malachy McCourt, Fred J. Scollay, Peter Hock, Ron Cey, Mary Louise Weller ..
Directed by: Larry Cohen
Release date: 1982-09-08
12.

Trail of the Pink Panther

3.7
4.8/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Herbert Lom, Richard Mulligan, Joanna Lumley, Capucine, Robert Loggia, Burt Kwouk, Harvey Korman, Leonard Rossiter ..
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Release date: 1982-12-03
13.

Chan Is Missing

3.6
7.0/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew, Peter Wang, Presco Tabios, Frankie Alarcon, Judy Nihei, Ellen Yeung, George Woo, Emily Woo Yamasaki ..
Directed by: Wayne Wang
Release date: 1982-04-24
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Don't Go to Sleep
14.

Don't Go to Sleep

3.4
6.5/10 IMDB

One year after a young girl dies in a car accident, her sister begins seeing visions of her, while the family home is plagued by strange happenings.

Starring: Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, Robin Ignico, Kristin Cumming, Oliver Robins, Claudette Nevins, Ruth Gordon, Robert Webber, Marilyn Coleman, Tim Haldeman ..
Directed by: Richard Lang
Release date: 1982-12-10
15.

Hammett

3.4
6.4/10 IMDB

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.

Starring: Frederic Forrest, Peter Boyle, Marilu Henner, Roy Kinnear, Elisha Cook Jr., Lydia Lei, Richard Bradford, Michael Chow, David Patrick Kelly, Sylvia Sidney ..
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Release date: 1982-06-09
16.

Vice Squad

3.4
6.4/10 IMDB

An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.

Starring: Season Hubley, Gary Swanson, Wings Hauser, Pepe Serna, Beverly Todd, Joseph Di Giroloma, Maurice Emanuel, Wayne Hackett, Nina Blackwood, Sudana Bobatoon ..
Directed by: Gary Sherman
Release date: 1982-01-22
17.

Next of Kin

3.3
6.3/10 IMDB

In a rest home for elderly people, a daughter reads her mother's diary. Soon events that are mentioned in the mother's diary begin to happen to the daughter.

Starring: Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, Alex Scott, Gerda Nicolson, Charles McCallum, Bernadette Gibson, Robert Ratti, Tommy Dysart, Debra Lawrance, Vince Deltito ..
Directed by: Tony Williams
Release date: 1982-04-30
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Brimstone & Treacle
18.

Brimstone & Treacle

3.3
6.4/10 IMDB

A strange young man has a sinister effect on the family of a middle-aged writer.

Starring: Sting, Denholm Elliott, Joan Plowright, Suzanna Hamilton, Benjamin Whitrow, Dudley Sutton, Mary MacLeod, Tim Preece, Elizabeth Bradley, Hugh Walters ..
Directed by: Richard Loncraine
Release date: 1982-10-01
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Spider's Web
19.

Spider's Web

3.3
7.4/10 IMDB

Clarissa, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat, is given to daydreaming. 'Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library, what should I do?' she muses. Clarissa has her chance to find out when she discovers a body in the drawing-room of her house in Kent.

Starring: Penelope Keith, Robert Flemyng, Thorley Walters, Elizabeth Spriggs, David Yelland, John Barcroft, Holly Aird, Jonathan Newth, Brian Protheroe, David Crosse ..
Directed by: Basil Coleman
Release date: 1982-12-26
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : The Mysterious Stranger
20.

The Mysterious Stranger

3.2
6.8/10 IMDB

The film version of the same-titled book by Mark Twain. A young printer's apprentice imagines himself back in the days of Guttenberg, helping him to print the Bible. The next thing he knows he has conjured up a young spirit from the future who casts spells over striking printers and causes general mischief.

Starring: Christoph Waltz, Chris Makepeace, Bernhard Wicki, Herbert Fux, Bernd Stephan, Vanessa Knox-Mawer, Harry Hornisch, Erwin Steinhauer, Towje Kleiner, Fred Gwynne ..
Directed by: Peter H. Hunt
Release date: 1982-10-11
21.

I, the Jury

3.0
5.9/10 IMDB

Jack Williams was the best friend of Vietnam veteran and detective Mike Hammer. When Jack is murdered, Mike makes it his business to solve the crime. He is helped by his secretary Velda, and partly helped, partly hindered by the Chief of Police, Pat Chambers. On the trail of the killer, Mike discovers government conspiracies, and plots used by the CIA and the Mafia.

Starring: Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera, Laurene Landon, Alan King, Geoffrey Lewis, Paul Sorvino, Judson Scott, Barry Snider, Julia Barr, Jessica James ..
Directed by: Richard T. Heffron
Release date: 1982-04-22
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Investigator by Profession
22.

Investigator by Profession

3.0
7.2/10 IMDB

A locker room janitor at the train station notices that a suitcase was put in a locker by a man, but pulled out by another man. This suitcase appeared to be stuffed with money. This incident allows a police detective to uncover a huge criminal organization responsible for theft, smuggling and murder.

Starring: Georgi Burkov, Emmanuil Vitorgan, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Irina Miroshnichenko, Nikolai Pastukhov, Yuri Grebenshchikov, Nikolai Parfyonov, Klara Luchko, Vsevolod Shilovsky, Nikolai Prokopovich ..
Directed by: Aleksandr Blank
Release date: 1982-12-31
23.

Endangered Species

2.9
5.8/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, Paul Dooley, Hoyt Axton, Peter Coyote, Marin Kanter, Gailard Sartain, Dan Hedaya, Harry Carey, Jr., John Considine ..
Directed by: Alan Rudolph
Release date: 1982-09-10
24.

Hanky Panky

2.9
5.6/10 IMDB

The complete innocent, Michael Jordon, is drawn into a web of secrecy and government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she is later murdered, Michael is the chief suspect and on the run.

Starring: Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, Kathleen Quinlan, Richard Widmark, Robert Prosky, Josef Sommer, Johnny Sekka, Jay O. Sanders, Sam Gray, Larry Bryggman ..
Directed by: Sidney Poitier
Release date: 1982-06-04
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Rehearsal for Murder
25.

Rehearsal for Murder

2.9
6.9/10 IMDB

A year after his fiancée's death, a playwright schedules a rehearsal for his new play, which proves to be a trap for her killer.

Starring: Lynn Redgrave, Robert Preston, Patrick Macnee, Jeff Goldblum, Lawrence Pressman, William Russ, William Daniels, Madolyn Smith Osborne, Wallace Rooney, John P. Finnegan ..
Directed by: David Greene
Release date: 1982-05-26
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Witness for the Prosecution
26.

Witness for the Prosecution

2.8
7.1/10 IMDB

Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister is released from the hospital, where he stayed for two months following his heart attack. Returning to the practise of his lawyer skills, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering an elderly lady friend of his, Mrs. Emily French. While Leonard Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, she becomes the witness for the prosecution and strongly claims her husband is guilty of the murder.

Starring: Diana Rigg, Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Beau Bridges, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller, David Langton, Richard Vernon, Peter Sallis, Michael Gough ..
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Release date: 1982-12-04
27.

Murder Is Easy

2.7
6.1/10 IMDB

American computer whiz Luke Williams meets elderly Lavinia Fullerton on a London-bound train. She reveals she's discovered the identity of a serial killer in her village and is going to report it to Scotland Yard. When she's murdered after disembarking the train. Williams vows to pursue the case himself

Starring: Bill Bixby, Lesley-Anne Down, Olivia de Havilland, Helen Hayes, Timothy West, Leigh Lawson, Jonathan Pryce, Shane Briant, Patrick Allen, Freddie Jones ..
Directed by: Claude Whatham
Release date: 1982-01-02
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Hotline
28.

Hotline

2.7
5.8/10 IMDB

A crisis helpline assistant attracts the attention of a serial killer who delights in feeding her cryptic, nursery-rhyme style riddles when planning his next murder!

Starring: Lynda Carter, Steve Forrest, Granville Van Dusen, Monte Markham, Joy Garrett, James Reynolds, Harry Waters, Jr., James Booth, Arthur Malet, Frank Stallone ..
Directed by: Jerry Jameson
Release date: 1982-03-10
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : The Dorm That Dripped Blood
29.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood

2.7
4.9/10 IMDB

A crazed killer stalks college students who gave up their vacation to clean a deserted dormitory.

Starring: Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland, Dennis Ely, Woody Roll, Daphne Zuniga, Jake Jones, Robert Fredrickson, Chris Morrill ..
Directed by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow
Release date: 1982-04-02
30.

The Escape Artist

2.6
6.1/10 IMDB

The young and self-confident Danny bluffs at the local police-station that he will escape from prison within an hour. What follows is a flashback showing his childhood with his uncle and aunt, who are 'vaudeville'-artists themselves.

Starring: Griffin O'Neal, Raul Julia, Teri Garr, Joan Hackett, Desi Arnaz, M. Emmet Walsh, Jackie Coogan, Gabriel Dell, John P. Ryan, Elizabeth Daily ..
Directed by: Caleb Deschanel
Release date: 1982-05-04
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Pandemonium
31.

Pandemonium

2.6
5.2/10 IMDB

A former high school student who always wanted to be a cheerleader decides to reopen the cheerleading program at her former high school after years of closure for being targeted by a serial killer.

Starring: Carol Kane, Tom Smothers, Candice Azzara, Debralee Scott, Judge Reinhold, Marc McClure, Miles Chapin, Teri Landrum, Phil Hartman, David L. Lander ..
Directed by: Alfred Sole
Release date: 1982-04-01
32.

Ginger Meggs

2.6
6.0/10 IMDB

Ginger Meggs (Paul Daniel) is a young "Dennis the Menace" who first appeared in Australian comic strips in 1921. In this film meant for the pre-teen set, Ginger is constantly getting himself in trouble in spite of his good intentions -- at the same time, he prevaricates, he disobeys his teachers and parents, he skips school, or while in school, fights it out with the bullies -- all activities that are bound to capture the attention of children who can vicariously enjoy the forbidden behavior.

Starring: Terry Camilleri, Garry McDonald ..
Release date: 1982-12-16
33.

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

2.5
5.9/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Billie Whitelaw, Paul Freeman, Pippa Guard, Dominic Guard, David Horovitch, Elizabeth Spriggs, Dawn Archibald, Bernadette Shortt, James Gilbey, Kelda Holmes ..
Directed by: Chris Petit
Release date: 1982-09-08
34.

The Clairvoyant

2.4
5.5/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Perry King, Norman Parker, Elizabeth Kemp, Kenneth McMillan, Jon Polito, Joe Morton, Barbara Quinn, Antone Pagán, Cee Lo Green, Lou Bedford ..
Directed by: Armand Mastroianni
Release date: 1982-10-24
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Mysterious Two
35.

Mysterious Two

2.3
4.4/10 IMDB

Two Aliens visit the Earth in an effort to enlist converts to travel the universe with them.

Starring: John Forsythe, Priscilla Pointer, Noah Beery Jr., Vic Tayback, James Stephens, Karen McLarty, Robert Englund, Robert Pine, Lee Bryant, Bruce French ..
Directed by: Gary Sherman
Release date: 1982-05-31
36.

Murder by Phone

2.3
5.4/10 IMDB

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.

Starring: Richard Chamberlain, John Houseman, Sara Botsford, Robin Gammell, Gary Reineke, Barry Morse, Alan Scarfe, James B. Douglas, Ken Pogue, Neil Munro ..
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Release date: 1982-12-01
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Mystery at Castle House
37.

Mystery at Castle House

1.6
7.2/10 IMDB

A trio of kids have many exciting adventures while exploring a spooky mansion in the hope of finding their missing friends.

Starring: Ray Meagher, Simone Buchanan, Jeremy Shadlow, Aileen Britton, Henri Szeps, Carole Skinner, Scott Nicholas ..
Directed by: Peter Maxwell
Release date: 1982-01-01
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : The Eyes of the Amaryllis
38.

The Eyes of the Amaryllis

1.6
7.1/10 IMDB

In 1880, a little girl is sent to Nantucket Island to live with her grandmother. She discovers, however, that her grandmother is an odd woman who has some strange habits, one of which is keeping a vigil for a lover of many years ago who went out to sea one day and never returned.

Starring: Ruth Ford, Martha Byrne, Guy Boyd, Jonathan Bolt ..
Directed by: Frederick King Keller
Release date: 1982-08-20
39.

Deadly Games

1.5
3.9/10 IMDB

A masked maniac with a penchant for a monster-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice are rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan befriends local cop Roger and reclusive cinema projectionist Billy — but soon finds herself in the killer's sights.

Starring: Alexandra Morgan, Jo Ann Harris, Steve Railsback, Denise Galik, Dick Butkus, Colleen Camp, June Lockhart, Sam Groom, Jere Rae Mansfield, Robin Hoff ..
Directed by: Scott Mansfield
Release date: 1982-10-12
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Ta den ring
40.

Ta den ring

1.4
6.2/10 IMDB

Norwegian sci-fi/mystery series about Roland Marco, a scientist that believes certain sun-symbols can affect human behaviour. He wears an old ring carrying one of these symbols against his father's wishes, when terrible things suddenly start happening around him.

Starring: Anne Marie Ottersen, Jørn Ording, Kai Remlov, Lena Bergqvist, Sverre Bentzen, Halvar Björk, Knut Vardtun, Olle Ljungström ..
Directed by: Tor Åge Bringsværd, Jon Bing
Release date: 1982-09-24
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : House of Sin
41.

House of Sin

1.3
5.7/10 IMDB

Pretty young Evangeline Parker finds herself stuck on the side of the road after her car breaks down. Parker gets a ride from the sinister Marbus, who turns out to be the leader of a cult of depraved carnal freaks who reside in an old rundown house. Will Parker find a way to escape from the house of sin?

Starring: Jeanne Silver, Honey Stevens, Tigr, Copper Penny, Robert Kerman, Ashley Moore, Mistress Candice, David Christopher, Jinger Jaye ..
Directed by: Carter Stevens
Release date: 1982-03-12
Best Mystery Movies of 1982 : Imaginary Friends
42.

Imaginary Friends

0.0
7.1/10 IMDB

Ellen Pitblado is a widow who lives in recluse in 1930s Gloucestershire. When her scummy journalist nephew, Douglas, tries to force her to give him her money, she calls her mysterious lookalike gentlemen friends to her aid.

Starring: Lilli Palmer, Peter Ustinov, Roger Rees, Rosamund Greenwood, Amanda Leigh, Davyd Harries, Roy Evans, Cyril Cross ..
Directed by: Michael Darlow
Release date: 1982-11-13

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