Best Mystery Movies of 1996

A killer known as Ghostface begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the 'rules' of horror films as they try to survive a real-life one.

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

U.S. Marshall John Kruger erases the identities of people enrolled in the Witness Protection Program. His current assignment is to protect Lee Cullen, who's uncovered evidence that the weapons manufacturer she works for has been selling to terrorist groups. When Kruger discovers that there's a corrupt agent within the program, he must guard his own life while trying to protect Lee's.

Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, is a school teacher and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent.

A US Army officer, who made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up, has been reassigned to a desk job. He is tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor. At first all seems in order. But then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses...

John Smith is a mysterious stranger who is drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era gangs. In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. As the death toll mounts, Smith takes the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive.

In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.

When the San Francisco Giants pay center-fielder, Bobby Rayburn $40 million to lead their team to the World Series, no one is happier or more supportive than #1 fan, Gil Renard. When Rayburn becomes mired in the worst slump of his career, the obsessed Renard decides to stop at nothing to help his idol regain his former glory—not even murder.

The wife and mistress of a cruel school master collaborate in a carefully planned and executed scheme to murder him. The plan goes well until the body, which has been strategically dumped, disappears. The psychological strain starts to weigh on the two women when a retired police investigator begins looking into the man's disappearance on a whim.

Two parents deal with the effects when their son is accused of murdering his girlfriend.

A modern, punk adaptation of Shakespeare's classic. Told irreverently, this film attempts to impact the viewer in the same way theatre-goers were effected in Shakespeare's time. Bawdy, Violent, Humorous, and Romantic.

The ghost of a girl who died in 1955 appears to a troubled teen living in her old house.

After losing her husband and two daughters in a robbery, Mallory must face up to her bereavement and ensuing depression.

A hardened New Orleans cop, Dave Robicheaux, finally tosses in the badge and settles into life on the bayou with his wife. But a bizarre plane crash draws him back into the fray when his family is viciously threatened.

Ray Liotta stars as David Krane, a medical examiner who has been acquitted for his wife's murder. Obsessed with finding the real killer, a possible solution presents itself in an experimental serum designed by a neurobiology professor (Linda Fiorentino), which has the ability to transfer memories from one person to another, but with potentially fatal consequences.

When her mother leaves town to visit a sick relative, Margaret's concern for her father grows. She does not know what he is working on in the basement and cannot figure out why his behavior has changed.

Jim Rockford, is framed for the murder of another rival detective with whom Jim was seen having an argument.

Mary Giordano is a bright, intelligent student who goes to a catholic school. She also has a addiction to mystery novels and detective magazines, which inspire her to do her own detective work. When she starts snooping around on the case of a murderer of teenage girls, it gets her in hot water with her mentor Detective Jerry Gunn. But it also starts a team up with police cadet Tony Campbell. The two work together to find the murderer. But the closer Mary gets to solving the murder, the more danger she puts herself in of being the next victim.

An friend of Jim's continues to seek his help for her murdered son, but when she winds up dead not long after an altercation with the mafia man, Jim must must do what it takes to put both her soul and her son's, at rest, himself.

The fourth of eight "Rockford Files" reunion TV movies.

A football player is framed for the murder of his team's owner, whose wife he happens to be sleeping with.

Ben and Ellen use the elevator in their building when all of a sudden, Hank, the blood covered security man of the building rushes into the elevator, claiming that there is a dangerous alien-like creature in the building.

Ray Lorkin, chief lawman in the tiny rural settlement of Wala Wala, Australia, fears that long-simmering tensions between the area's aborigine natives and white settlers are on the verge of erupting. When it's discovered that Kate, the white wife of local schoolteacher Les, has despoiled a sacred site by secretly meeting her aborigine lover, Tony, there, a shocking murder threatens to rip the small town apart.

Fed up with boarding school and frustrated with the way others have planned his life, John Baker Jr. wants a change -- anything to shake up his staid routine. The moment arrives when he stumbles upon a woman, Patty Vare, unconscious in a field. Deciding to risk it, John takes her to his dorm to look after her, much to the disapproval of his friends. John's decision proves fateful as he and Patty grow close to one another. However, she may be keeping secrets from him.

Late one night, Billy and Kade Ruckman see their neighbor, Michael Chambers, murder a woman, but Chambers has a story all set to convince their mother Vicky, that it was just a rehearsal scene from an opera. The only ones who can help them find the body in Chambers' house before he moves and gets rid of all evidence, are their friends, Jimmy, Eddie, and J.J., who are determined to find the body before Chambers finds them.

On a mission of mercy, Jennifer Hart is in Germany to donate bone marrow to Maximilian, a young leukemia patient. Following the operation, she plans to spend a romantic anniversary in Munich with her husband Jonathan. The bone marrow clinic's director, Peter Donner, is surprised by Jennifer's uncanny resemblance to his French fiancée, Simone Grohe. When she goes missing, Jennifer steps in to play the role of Simone to save Peter the embarrassment of an explanation to his cousin and benefactor Karl von Ostenberg at the lavish engagement party. But, of course, it is Karl who kidnapped Simone - in order to control the fate of Peter's inheritance - and now Jennifer is in as much danger as Simone! Once again the Harts tackle danger and mystery with their usual devil-may-care charm and romance

A segment from the 'Unsolved Mysteries' TV series inspired this story, in which a nurse (Megan Ward) claims that she's possessed by a murdered co-worker's spirit which identifies the killer.

A naive 16 year old waitress falls for a corrupt, married police officer. When she falls pregnant, her lover plots her murder.

A girl awakes from a coma to find her world has collapsed around her and she remembers nothing. But as she does remember she finds out all is not how it should be and someone is out to get her.

Laid-back private eye Jim Rockford and his brown Pontiac Firebird become embroiled in another case when he runs across an old flame, blind book editor Megan. Her no-good playboy cousin Patrick is involved with the Russian Mob, which puts everyone's life in danger. The weary Rockford must also deal with his old friend Angel, who is painting Jim's trailer to work off a debt.

A young woman moves with her mother to her mother's hometown and is haunted by the ghost of a dead teenager.

A bellhop living with his mentally impaired brother becomes involved with an unbalanced woman and a scheme to steal guests' valuables.

An Australian widower living in New Guinea starts a relationship with a woman very similar to his much-beloved wife, but their life together turns out to be far from the imagined romantic ideal.

A precocious youngster's visions of a mysterious woman and a series of child murders leads her mom to seek help from the authorities.

After the death of their child a couple go to stay in an island home. The woman starts to hear the noise of a baby crying and is followed by an old blind women who warns her to get out of of the house before it is too late.

Alex Ritt, a music video director comes to Italy to direct a video for pop sensation Stefania Stella. He soon encounters a mysterious killer who videotapes his victims for the police. As the horrible murders continue, Ritt is unknowingly pushed into the killer's games and he soon becomes a target of the police. The video-killer is on the loose and Ritt must find out the truth before it's too late.

Once she'd been a dancer. Now she lies on a sidewalk, her blood seeping into the snow. The detectives of the 87th precinct are learning about ice: in a mulitimillion dollar showbiz scam, in the glittering diamonds that spill out of a dead man's vest, in the veins of a small time pusher. As the detectives scramble for evidence, as the city shivers, a killer is one step ahead, and the heat is still on.

John Waylan is a candidate for U.S. senator; near the end of the campaign he is accused of ordering and participating in a massacre in a Vietnamese village. The accusation kills his career, and severely endangers his marriage. When he and Kathy flee to an isolated cabin, he awakes one morning to find her gone. Questions are asked, answers are given or hinted at, as the tension and suspense build.

Teenager Ann resents the arrival of Sharon and the fact that her brother Jerry has a crush on the newcomer. When Jerry dies in an accident, Ann blames Sharon and frames her for another death.

Defense attorney Jennifer Garrick acquires a Pinocchio puppet from a condemned serial killer. Her pre-teen daughter, Zoe, mistakes the puppet as a birthday present and grows attached to her new friend. Suddenly, accidents begin to happen to those who cross Zoe. Zoe claims it's her Pinocchio doll but her therapist thinks otherwise. Pinocchio promises he'll behave if Zoe will cut his strings...

After a strange storm in the Carribean causes a boat to sink, a family finds itself stranded on an island in the "27th dimension".

Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, called Henrie O., is a world-famous journalist and writer. She's invited by her old lover Chase Prescott to his secluded island home. Chase, a wealthy businessman with money woes, hopes Henrie O. can discover the person he thinks is trying to kill him. It seems like she has her work cut out for her. Possible suspects include Chase's much younger wife, his son, and many others.

A detective is hired by a rich woman to find her runaway step-sister. Little does he know that the step-sister is actually being held by a cult of women who seek to propagate their male cult-leader of 30 years ago by capturing his son, and the detective's client is in on the deal.

A family, trying to pull themselves together after losing their infant son, moves into a new home, where, almost immediately, the mother begins experiencing paranormal phenomena. She finds it playful at first, but as it grows increasingly malevolent, she is unable to convince her husband of it, and she must contend with it to protect her family from its influence.

This intellectual, witty Australian drama offers an intriguingly sophisticated look into adultery. Too say too much about this plot would give away the secrets and surprises that gradually unfold, so what follows is the barest sketch. The story features two couples from Melbourne (both played by the same actors) whose lives and romantic troubles seem to overlap or perhaps intertwine in unexpected ways. University lecturer Christopher and his wife Sorrel comprise the main couple. A recent trip to Europe seems to have brought their marriage close to ruins. Avery and Gillian also experience marital turmoil when Avery gets involved with an older French seductress, Catherine.

The Century club VR club virtual reality in Los Angeles. When there is a brutal murder, a beautiful female-investigator begins the investigation. However, she soon realizes that the case might interfere with her sexual fantasies.

A controversial talk show host becomes involved in the murder of a beautiful woman in a war for ratings.