::POLICE PROCEDURALS::
THE GIST OF THE LIST: Films which follows the investigation of a crime and the ultimate exhaustive search for the culprit - a search which may even span decades. Some of these films are told within two parallel story lines - one following the investigation by police detectives and the other following the criminal and his exploits - while others remain a mystery until a surprise revelation in the end.
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
[LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER]
OTHER LISTS:
CAMMANDO (MEN-ON-A-MISSION) THRILLERS
CON THRILLERS
COURTROOM THRILLERS
CULT EUROPEAN SUPERHERO MOVIES
DARK COMEDIES WITH PESKY CORPSES, BOTCHED KIDNAPPINGS, MURDEROUS BLUNDERS & ACCIDENTAL DEATHS
DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
DINNER PARTIES FROM HELL
DON'T PERFORM THE AUTOPSY! I'M NOT DEAD!
GOTHIC HORROR
HEIST THRILLERS
HEROIC BLOODSHED + BULLET BALLET + GUN-FU
HOLLYWOOD GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
INNOCENT FUGITIVE ON-THE-RUN THRILLERS
ITALIAN GIALLO (+ ITS OTHERS)
LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES
LO-FI SCI-FI
ONE ROOM THRILLERS
PARALLEL UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE REALITIES, FEVERISH DREAMS
POLICE PROCEDURALS
PRISON ESCAPE THRILLERS
RURAL-COUNTRY THRILLERS
THEOLOGICAL FILMS
THRILLING SHORT FILMS
THRILLING TV EPISODES
THRILLING TV MOVIES
UNKNOWN + UNAVAILABLE THRILLERS
VANISHED PERSON THRILLERS
List activity
2K views
• 3 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
64 titles
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.MY RATING: 9
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJames StewartRichard ConteLee J. CobbChicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerAnthony MannStarsRichard BasehartScott BradyRoy RobertsThis film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.MY RATING:7.5
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBarry FitzgeraldHoward DuffDorothy HartA step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsWilliam LundiganDorothy PatrickJeff CoreyAn obsessed cop tracks an elusive serial killer who strangles his victims on rainy nights.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko AwajiDuring a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsJack WarnerDirk BogardeJimmy HanleyThe daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorCharles FrendStarsJack HawkinsJohn StrattonDorothy AlisonThe sleuths of Scotland Yard try to solve a series of burglaries.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorLadislao VajdaStarsHeinz RühmannSigfrit SteinerSiegfried LowitzHaving doubts about the guilt of the obvious suspect in the murder of an eight year old girl, a police detective decides to investigate the case on his own.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYutaka SadaTatsuya NakadaiAn executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorTomu UchidaStarsRentarô MikuniSachiko HidariKôji MitsuiThree thieves escape from a heist, one of them killing the other two. He is sheltered by a prostitute and sought after by the police, but only after ten years his true motivation unravels.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsTony CurtisHenry FondaGeorge KennedyA series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.MY RATING: 7
- DirectorJanusz MajewskiStarsZygmunt HübnerBarbara BrylskaRyszard FilipskiFormer police captain tells a reporter about his last job - a private investigation on the mysterious death of a girl who was a court witness.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsEdward FoxTerence AlexanderMichel AuclairIn the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorYoshitarô NomuraStarsTetsurô TanbaGô KatôKensaku MoritaDetectives investigate the murder of an old man found in a Tokyo rail yard.MY RATING: 9
- DirectorTadeusz ChmielewskiStarsTomasz ZaliwskiPiotr LysakHenryk BistaA psychological detective story about a police hunt for the murderer of young boys during the Christmas season. The police commissioner ends up tracing the clues to his own home, where he has an adolescent son with whom he has difficult relationship.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsWilliam HurtLee MarvinBrian DennehyA Moscow police officer investigates a vicious triple homicide and stumbles upon a high-level international political conspiracy.MY RATING: 7
- DirectorGakuryû IshiiStarsKaho MinamiTakeshi WakamatsuEtsushi ToyokawaEvery Monday at 6 pm a young woman is murdered in the subway. The psychiatrist Setsuko Suma is called in to assist the police. The trail leads to another psychiatrist - Dr Rei Aku - who Setsuko used to date. As she get closer to the solution, she gets more and more convinced that Aku's deprogramming of former sectmembers is important.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorChris GerolmoStarsStephen ReaDonald SutherlandMax von SydowDuring the 1980s, Soviet authorities hunt for a serial killer who picks his victims in railway stations and commuter trains and lures them into the woods.MY RATING: 6.5
- DirectorMathieu KassovitzStarsJean RenoVincent CasselNadia FarèsA murder detective must follow the footsteps of a brutal killer within the secrets of a classist college.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorSean PennStarsJack NicholsonBenicio Del ToroPatricia ClarksonA retiring police detective pledges to catch the killer of a young child.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoKim Sang-kyungKim Roe-haIn a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorErik Van LooyStarsKoen De BouwWerner De SmedtJan DecleirVincke and Verstuyft are the best detectives of the Antwerp police department. They are confronted with the murder on a leading executive and put all their effort to catch the murderer.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorJorge Sánchez-CabezudoStarsCarmelo GómezJudith DiakhateCelso BugalloThe discovery of a mysterious cave coincides with the the murder of a young girl, causing a small town to fall into a cycle of violence, deception and greed in the search for the killer and whatever lies at the bottom of the cave.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorBaltasar KormákurStarsIngvar SigurdssonÁgústa Eva ErlendsdóttirBjörn Hlynur HaraldssonA murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorAndrea MolaioliStarsToni ServilloDenis FasoloNello MasciaThe body of a young woman is found in a small and quiet town in North Italy. A detective from the nearby main city is called to solve the mystery.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- CreatorSøren SveistrupStarsSofie GråbølMorten SuurballeLars MikkelsenPolice detective Sarah Lund investigates difficult cases with personal and political consequences.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorPark Jin-PyoStarsSol Kyung-guKim Nam-juGang Dong-wonOne day, the only son of famous news anchor HAN Kyung-bae, disappears without a trace. Soon, the kidnapper calls the mother demanding a $100,000 ransom. The police assign a veteran inspector to the case and assemble a top-notch task force to work under his command. But the kidnapper constantly outwits the police and continues calling the parents with yet more instructions for the money drop.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJake GyllenhaalRobert Downey Jr.Mark RuffaloBetween 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorNa Hong-jinStarsKim Yoon-seokHa Jung-wooSeo Yeong-hieA disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorMario MuñozStarsHumberto ZuritaPlutarco HazaEmilio GuerreroSET IN MEXICO! A series of murders leads Commander Trujillo to a town close to a salt mine, where he meets Víctor Zepeda - a lonely teenager who works in his father funeral home.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorWojciech SmarzowskiStarsArkadiusz JakubikMarian DziedzielKinga PreisThe story takes place in two parallel time planes. The first plot follows the events of one autumn night in 1978. Edward Srodon, a zootechnician, makes an accidental stopover in a farmhouse of Dziabas family in the remote area of Bieszczady Mountains. He stays for the night. The initial distrust between the guest and his hosts is quickly dispelled with moonshine and turns into a camaraderie, intimacy and even friendship. A plan of making a joint business arises, as well as passion and lust, which lead to a surprising and tragic consequences... Second plot is set on a winter day, during the Martial Law in Poland. An investigating team of Milicja Obywatelska (People's Militia) is visiting the crime scene. Lieutenant Mroz is trying to solve the multiple murder case from four years ago. The tool he has to his disposal is the reconstruction of events with help of the chief suspect, Srodon.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorNiels Arden OplevStarsMichael NyqvistNoomi RapaceEwa FrölingA journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorJuan José CampanellaStarsRicardo DarínSoledad VillamilPablo RagoA retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorBaran bo OdarStarsUlrich ThomsenClaudia MichelsenWotan Wilke Möhring13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.MY RATING: 7.5
- CreatorMåns MårlindHans RosenfeldtBjörn SteinStarsSofia HelinRafael PetterssonSarah BobergWhen a body is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, right on the border, Danish inspector Martin Rohde and Swedish Saga Norén have to share jurisdiction and work together to find the killer.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorKyu-maan LeeStarsPark Yong-wooRyu Seung-ryongSung Dong-ilThe film is based on a true case from the early 1990s that is known among Koreans as the "disappearance of the frog children." In 1991, five elementary school students told their parents that they were going to hang out on a nearby mountain to catch frogs. They went missing.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorNuri Bilge CeylanStarsMuhammet UzunerYilmaz ErdoganTaner BirselA group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorNobuhiro DoiStarsHiroshi AbeYui AragakiJunpei MizobataA man is stabbed to death in Tokyo's Nihonbashi area. The victim staggers with the knife still in the wound for eight minutes before collapsing under the winged statues of two Kirin on the famous Nihonbashi bridge. The suspect, on the other hand, is now in coma, having fled the scene and been hit by a truck. On hearing this news, his girlfriend, Kaori Nakahara, insist that he is innocent. The case falls to Kyoichiro Kaga, a brilliant detective. Kaga realizes that behind this apparently open-and-shut case is a tangled web of mystery involving both victim and suspect, and their families. What was the victim thinking as he died? Will Kaga unravel the mystery at the heart of the case?MY RATING: 7
- CreatorChris ChibnallStarsDavid TennantOlivia ColmanJodie WhittakerThe murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.MY RATING: 8
- StarsRolf LassgårdHelena Af SandebergJonas KarlssonA newly put-together police force tries to solve the old mystery of the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorMikkel NørgaardStarsNikolaj Lie KaasPer Scheel KrügerTroels LybyPolice inspector Carl Mørck is put in charge of a department of cold cases, joined only by his assistant Assad. They dig into a case about a missing woman.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorGeun-seop JeongStarsUhm JunghwaKim Sang-kyungSong Young-chang15 years ago, a mother lost her child in a kidnapping case. A similar crime happens again and she won't let him go this time.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsHugh JackmanJake GyllenhaalViola DavisWhen Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorMikkel NørgaardStarsNikolaj Lie KaasFares FaresPilou AsbækThe murder of young twins initially implicates a group of upper class students as the killers, though the case takes a turn or two from its starting point.MY RATING: 7.5
- DirectorYi'nan DiaoStarsFan LiaoGwei Lun-MeiXuebing WangAn ex cop and his ex partner decide to follow up on investigation of a series of murders that ended their careers and shamed them, when identical murders begin again.MY RATING: 8
- CreatorSally WainwrightStarsSarah LancashireSiobhan FinneranJames NortonYorkshire-based crime drama centering on the personal and professional life of Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorAlberto RodríguezStarsJavier GutiérrezRaúl ArévaloMaría VarodTwo cops lost in the deep south of Spain. One serial killer to catch. A lot of secrets and lies to disclose.MY RATING: 8
- StarsTchéky KaryoAnastasia HilleJames NesbittTony and Emily Hughes' vacation turns into a nightmare when their 5-year-old son Oliver disappears from a large celebrating crowd in Northern France.MY RATING: 9
- DirectorCédric AngerStarsGuillaume CanetAna GirardotJean-Yves BertelootFor several months in 1978 and 1979, inhabitants of Oise live in fright and terror as a serial killer disturbs the peace and quiet.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorFrédéric TellierStarsRaphaël PersonnazNathalie BayeOlivier GourmetAn investigation by a young inspector who quickly becomes obsessed with stopping a monster.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- CreatorNic PizzolattoIssa LópezStarsVince VaughnColin FarrellRachel McAdamsAnthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.MY RATING: 9
- StarsFrançois-Xavier DemaisonPierre-François Martin-LavalAlix PoissonWhen a teenage girl does not return home from a festival, her parents contact the police.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- CreatorBaltasar KormákurStarsÓlafur Darri ÓlafssonIlmur KristjánsdóttirBjörn Hlynur HaraldssonIn a remote town in Iceland, police desperately try to solve a crime as a powerful storm descends upon the town.MY RATING: 8.5
- DirectorTakahisa ZezeStarsKôichi SatôGô AyanoNana Eikura1989 is 64 Shouwa year in Japanese calendar, thus unsolved girl kidnapping-murder case is called "64(rokuyon)" that got up in this year in Criminal Investigation Department in Prefectural Police Department.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorTakahisa ZezeStarsKôichi SatôGô AyanoNana EikuraIn 2002, a new kidnapping case takes place. The kidnapper introduces himself as "Sato" (sugar) and demands twenty million yen for ransom.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorHans Petter MolandStarsNikolaj Lie KaasFares FaresPål Sverre HagenTwo intertwined cases linking the past with the present require the aid of Department Q to catch an elusive serial killer while time is running out.MY RATING: 7
- CreatorRichard PriceSteven ZaillianStarsRiz AhmedJohn TurturroBill CampAfter a night of partying with a woman he picked up, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.MY RATING: 8
- DirectorMichal KollarKamil MisztalStarsMaciej StuhrOldrich KaiserMarián GeisbergHot summer of year 1992. The world has seen the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia fall. This is what happens to detective Richard Krauz (played by Maciej Stuhr, the son of legendary Polish actor Jerzy Stuhr), when he is handed a case of a mysterious body, found in the course of the reconstruction of a cemetery. The body has a nail stuck in its skull, indicating the person did not go silently into the night. Richard wants to keep it ethical, but once he discovers that communist secret police was behind the torturing and the particular body is a sexton, related to a history of blackmailing crimes committed on priests, he soon finds himself on a slippery slope as the trail leads to an expert on interrogations within the communist secret police, the so-called "Red Captain".MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorLee Kyoung-miStarsSon Ye-jinKim Ju-hyukHan Cheol-wooTHE TRUTH BENEATH follows a mysterious 15-day scandal of a politician and his wife as their daughter goes missing just before the national elections.MY RATING: 6.5
- CreatorDavid E. KelleyStarsBrendan GleesonHolland TaylorJharrel JeromeA demented killer taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again.MY RATING: NOT VIEWED
- DirectorYue DongStarsYihong DuanYiyan JiangYuan DuA man who is laid off from a steel factory desperately wants to chase a serial killer in a small city in Southern China.
- DirectorJohn Lee HancockStarsDenzel WashingtonRami MalekJared LetoKern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.