Best Mystery Movies of 1988

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.

The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris and, 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.

Sherlock Holmes is as dashing as ever, but with a little secret: Dr. Watson is the brains behind the operation. When Reginald Kincaid, the actor he has hired to play Holmes becomes insufferable, Watson fires him and tries to go out on his own, but finds that he has done too good a job building Holmes up in the public's mind.

Dexter Cornell, an English Professor becomes embroiled in a series of murders involving people around him. Dexter has good reason to want to find the murderer but hasn't much time. He finds help and comfort from one of his student, Sydney Fuller.

In New York, people are slain and strangled to death brutally on the open street. All witnesses agree that the murderer was in a cop's uniform. Soon the police search and find a suspect in its own ranks: Jack Forrest, suspected of murdering his own wife and the rest of the unfortunate individuals to die by the Maniac Cop’s reign of terror. To prove his innocence, he investigates the case with his partner, Theresa Mallory.

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.

Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy Doo are on their way to a Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for Girls, where they have been hired as gym teachers. Once there, however, they find that it is actually a school for girl ghouls.

Shaggy is turned into a werewolf, and it's up to Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy's girlfriend to help him win a race against other monsters, and become human again.

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.

Sir Charles Baskerville dies on the moor under mysterious circumstances and rumors abound about a demonic hound. When the American heir arrives to take charge, a family friend calls in Holmes and Watson to get to the heart of the mystery.

Jack the Ripper was a 1988 two-part television movie/mini-series portraying a fictionalized account of the hunt for Jack The Ripper, the killer responsible for the Whitechapel murders of 1888. The series coincided with the 100th anniversary of the murders. Using historical characters involved in the genuine 1888 hunt for the killer, the film was written by Derek Marlowe and David Wickes

A Scotland Yard police inspector, battling the booze, investigates the Jack the Ripper murders and discovers a conspiracy that leads all the way up to the Queen.

An unconscious man is washed ashore on the beach of a small French village during a heavy storm. A retired doctor takes care of the unconscious stranger. When the mysterious man recovers, he can't remember a thing...he does not know his name, he does not know where his flashback memories come from, and he does not know why the access code for an anonymous Swiss bank account is implanted in his thigh. As he seeks his own identity, things quickly become dangerous. There are attempts to kill him, he is well known in first class hotels across Europe, and worst of all, there are strange similarities between his memories and reported actions of the notorious terrorist, Carlos the Jackal.

Shows a couple (Adam and Eve) and various objects, simultaneously, in time, space and movement.

In the 14th century a village seeking escape from the Black Death are guided by a boy's vision to tunnel into an abandoned mine and emerge into 20th century New Zealand.

Locked in a school closet during Halloween 1962, young Frank witnesses the ghost of a young girl and the man who murdered her years ago. Shortly afterward he finds himself stalked by the killer and is soon drawn to an old house where a mysterious Lady In White lives. As he discovers the secret of the woman he soon finds that the killer may be someone close to him.

Emily Boynton, the stepmother to three children, blackmails the family lawyer into destroying a second will of her late husband that would have freed the children from her dominating influence. She takes herself, the children, and her daughter-in-law on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. At a dig, Emily is found dead and Hercule Poirot investigates.

An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.

McGriff and Albaby are probably doing the worst law enforcement job in the world - they are plain clothes U.S. military policemen on duty in war-time Saigon. However, their job becomes even harder when they start investigating the serial killings of local prostitutes. Their prime suspect is high ranking U.S. Army officer which brings their lives in danger.

After leaving work one night, Los Angeles attorney Jeff Mills and his colleague rescue a young, beautiful woman from an abusive boyfriend. Jeff soon becomes romantically involved with her and embroiled in the web of intrigue that follows her, despite a string of ominous happenstances and repeated warnings from his secretary.

Years after a desperate teenage Linda gives up her baby for adoption, she finds herself face-to-face with Martin, a young man claiming to be her long-lost son. Linda embraces Martin and in him finds a welcome reprieve from her unhappy marriage to the neglectful Henry. But soon Martin grows violent and becomes obsessed with Henry -- a philandering man whose only offspring is an expansive model train set that devours his waking hours.

Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp team up to solve a murder at the Academy Awards in 1929 Hollywood.

Mason defends a man he had sentenced to prison when he was an appellate-court judge. Now, 18 months after the sentencing, a new witness turns up to prove the man's innocence. Mason steps in to defend the man.

A young doctor is suspected when a series of Jack the Ripper copycat killings is committed. However, when the doctor himself is murdered, his identical twin brother claims to have seen visions of the true killer.

A woman suddenly disappears after an early morning walk, and her husband is accused of murder.

The fate of a young Australian boy is somehow linked with that of a young Roman boy who had traveled to Australia by ship during the time of the Roman Emperor, Nero.

A magnet moves on a floor. A moth beats against a window. A doll child watches the magnet; threads of metal filings gather around the magnet.

To prove his brother's innocence, undercover officer Nick enrolls in high school again, dealing with crushes, bullies, humiliations, popularity swings, and quirky teachers and staff to find the real murderer.

After witnessing her lover being murdered by his jealous wife, Angela seeks refuge in a church where she encounters a young priest named Michael, who gives her sanctuary. But the killing was not a simple act of passion, as the victim had ties to organized crime, and, surprisingly, so does Michael, whose father is a powerful don. When the priest finds himself falling in love with Angela, his religious vows and family ties are both severely tested.

Police Inspector Ghote lives a middle-class life in Bombay along with his wife, Pratima. He has been employed with the Bombay Police for many years. He is assigned to investigate the deadly assault on a Parsi man named Perfect, who is the Secretary of Lala Heera Lal, a wealthy man with underworld links. Inspector Ghote commences his investigation and is displeased when his superiors ask him to work with a Swedish Forensic Expert by the name of Axel Svennson.

A New York private eye searches for a socialite who supposedly drowned 10 years before.

A Scotland Yard police inspector, battling the booze, investigates the Jack the Ripper murders and discovers a conspiracy that leads all the way up to the Queen.

The Testimony of Randolph Carter is based on Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter," with some additional story material lifted from other Carter tales, especially "Through the Gates of the Silver Key." The film was shot on VHS using home equipment in 1987. It was filmed at various locations throughout Colorado. Part of the budget came from The Colorado College Award in Literature, a grant to fund independent educational projects.

Pennsylvania, 1928. Billy Kelly, a sixteen-year old boy, meets a mysterious traveler claiming he's the messenger of God. Falling under under the spell of this "doctor" Reese, he will soon discover Reese has murderous plans for his future. Based on a true story.

Mara McAndrew's marriage is falling apart. Her husband, Donnie, a Vietnam veteran, suffers troubling flashbacks about the war, leaving him unresponsive to her needs. Mara wants out, but she also wants Donnie's money. When Mara meets a mysterious stranger, Reed, at a local bar, she believes she has found the right person to help her out of her predicament. But Mara worries that Donnie's sister, Jill, is on to her.

A bandleader whose career is nosediving makes a deal with the owner of a bar to sell his soul for success.

A blind woman, her husband and another couple sail off to find cash hidden on an island near Cuba.

It's all about a cheating housewife, a nosy neighbor, and a woman named Madame Rona, who's really a man! Confused? Well, add to this recipe an insatiable shutterbug who gets it on with his models, an over-sexed secretary who takes dick-tation, and a philandering magazine mogul, and you have the makings of the hottest whodunit of the year!

A group of people are killed one by one while participating at a million dollar treasure hunt in a mysterious Italian castle.

A schoolteacher (John Waters) becomes obsessed with the idea that his wife (Joy Bell) did not die in a car accident, as everyone else thinks.

Olympic gymnastics coach Francine Lake and her twelve gorgeous students train on the Island of Crete. The rigors of training preclude most sexual activity with the locals, thus the girls spend their evenings in quiet frustration.

A European woman living in Greenwich Village sees her life starting to come apart. She's broke, seems to be hallucinating and seeing people she dreams about appear in her real life, and on top of that finds herself accused of a pair of murders.

Ambitious reporter, Liz Bartlett, secretly wishes that Jerry Caper, her business associate were dead. Yet her hidden desire soon becomes a reality when he is brutally murdered. Investigative reporter, Dan Walker is assigned to the murder case and becomes intrigued by the pretty reporter. they begin a passionate affair but Dan can't dispel his suspicion of Liz's guilt. When a second murder is commited, Dan probes deeper, looking for clues in Liz's past. But just as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, Dan follows a lead, bringing him face to face with the killer in a shocking ending, filled with suspense.

A coven of devil-worshiping monks living in New York City search for victims for their sacrificial ceremonies.

After her picture perfect husband is murdered in a prostitute's apartment, Beverly Hills homemaker Catherine is devastated. But she doesn't spend too long mourning, because she's soon on a mission to put her husband's killer behind bars. To do so, she forms an unlikely partnership with Marla, the Hollywood hooker who serviced the deceased. Under Marla's guidance, the pair navigate the seedier side of Los Angeles to put this mystery to rest.

To stay out of the slammer, down-on-his-luck bounty hunter Vince Holloway reluctantly agrees to do the bidding of two crooked IRS agents. Tasked with recouping $20 million of laundered drug money, Holloway heads south of the border to the Blue Iguana, a bar crawling with thugs, killers, smugglers, evil women, and crazy action.

A family living in an isolated cabin in the woods are terrorized by a gang of escaped convicts. Their leader, a serial killer, is a disturbed Vietnam veteran. What the gang doesn't know is that the family's father is also a Vietnam veteran, and he has no intention of letting his family come to any harm.

Investigative reporter Jack Anderson hosts a two-hour investigation of the Kennedy Assassination featuring interviews with experts, eyewitnesses, government officials and authors. Includes dramatic recreations of key events.

A female police detective enlists her boyfriend to help her track down a murderer picking off the dancers at an upscale male strip club in Los Angeles.