::LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES + IMPOSSIBLE CRIMES::
THE GIST OF THE LIST: The "Locked Room Mystery" - and with it the "Impossible Crime" - is a popular sub-genre of mystery-detective literal. They're cerebral puzzles, lateral-thinking riddles, enveloped within a tight crime narrative. Despite being a pure joy to read, few of these clever yarns have made it to screen... which is a shame.
[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
17K views
• 13 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
48 titles
- DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsHuguette DuflosKissa KouprineMaxime DesjardinsA professor's daughter is attacked in her sealed bedroom.Her fiance is suspected but a cub journalist finds the surprising culprit.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: The young lady had just retired to her room when sounds of a struggle ensue, and cries of "Murder!" and revolver shots ring out. When her locked door is finally broken down by her father and a servant, they find the woman on the floor, badly hurt and bleeding. No one else is in the room. There is no other exit except through a barred window. How did the attacker escape?
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsBarbara KentJohn HollandDorothy ChristyAlvin Merle, a womanizing Broadway matinée idol, is found strangled in his dressing room. The door is locked from the inside and there is no possible other way into the room. Merle is having an affair with his leading lady, while his wife, actress Ethel Wynn, appearing in another play in a theater around the corner, is doing the same with Frank Murray, the stage manager on Merle's play. Newspaper reporter Jim Ryan is investigating the case and meets Jean Royce, a young actress who had been fired from the play while in rehearsals. Everybody, including Michael, the old actor now relegated to being just a stage-doorman, has a motive. The explanation for the murder lies within the script of the play.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A womanizing man is found strangled in his dressing room. The door is locked from the inside and there is no other way into the room.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsWilliam PowellMary AstorEugene PallettePhilo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found dead in a locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. The police says it's suicide but Philo Vance disagrees!
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsSydney GreenstreetPeter LorreJoan LorringAfter an innocent man is executed in a case for which he was not responsible, a Scotland Yard superintendent finds himself investigating the murder of his key witness.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found stabbed to death in his bed inside a locked room that Greenstreet had to force open.
- DirectorMitsuo MurayamaStarsYoshirô KitaharaRyûji ShinagawaJunko KanôA ruthless serial killer with a peculiar method of stalking and killing his victims comes face to face with a police officer turned invisible by a scientific experiment. Who will emerge triumphant?THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A series of stabbings are occurring in impossible circumstances (i.e. locked rooms, etc.). The only clue is a mysterious buzzing sound which precedes each stabbing!
- DirectorMatti KassilaStarsJoel RinneElina PohjanpääMatti RaninA closed room mystery begins when an infamous tycoon is found dead in his bath tub. The famous police lieutenant Palmu is summoned to investigate.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A tycoon is found murdered in a bathtub despite the fact that the bathroom was locked from the inside.
- DirectorMatti KassilaStarsJoel RinneMatti RaninLeo JokelaA rich widow is found dead of gas poisoning in her flat in Helsinki. First the death is thought to be an accident, but lieutenant Palmu notices that the murderer has made a mistake, and Palmu and his assistants Kokki and Virta start an investigation into who has broken into the apartment through the balcony door and opened the gas tap when Mrs. Skrof was sleeping.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A woman is found dead due to gas in a locked apartment. People say it's suicide, but Inspector Palmu claims it's murder!
- DirectorJack WebbStarsJack WebbHarry MorganCarol ByronFriday and Gannon are working the day watch out of homicide when they respond to a late night call at the house of Jessie Gaynor. Her daughter Nora Hamlin is staying with her due to a separation from her husband. The call involves a gunshot heard from a locked study where Carl Hamlin's body is discovered. It is assumed at first that he killed himself but when Ray Murray from SID tells them that the bullet doesn't match the gun it turns into a murder case.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A shooting victim was found dead in a room where the only door and window were locked, and a chair was blocking the door. Suicide was suspected, but the bullet that killed him was a different caliber than the gun found near the body.
- CreatorAnthony WilsonStarsGeorge PeppardRalph ManzaMurray MathesonThe adventures of proud Polish-American freelance insurance investigator Thomas Banacek.Every episode is an impossible crime!
- DirectorHarvey HartStarsPeter FalkJanet LeighMaurice EvansA faded dance star of film and stage murders her husband and makes it look like a suicide; Lt. Columbo doubts her seemingly perfect alibi.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A murder is made to look like suicide and a locked window is the key!
- 1975–197649mTV-PG8.1 (133)TV EpisodeDirectorJack ArnoldStarsJim HuttonDavid WayneGeorge FurthInspector Queen calls in his son Ellery to help investigate the murder of a newspaper publisher, who first disappears from his private express elevator then is later found there dead by gunshot.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: How was newspaper publisher murdered in an express elevator between the 12th floor to the ground floor when, to all appearances, the elevator did not stop at any point between.
- 1975–197648mTV-PG8.6 (112)TV EpisodeDirectorRichard MichaelsStarsJim HuttonDavid WayneEdward AlbertInspector Queen and Velie are in hot water when a mob witness under their protection is mysteriously killed.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is poisoned in a locked room with guards at the door.
- 1975–197648mTV-PG8.2 (94)TV EpisodeDirectorJack ArnoldStarsJim HuttonDavid WayneGary BurghoffA private eye and Richard's mentor is murdered tracking down the murderer in a five-year-old case, and Ellery figures the same murderer is involvedTHE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is murdered on an airplane but no one can find the weapon on board.
- 1975–197648mTV-PG8.1 (103)TV EpisodeDirectorEdward M. AbromsStarsJim HuttonDavid WayneEddie BrackenA ruthless broadcast executive is murdered in his office during his lunch break - and everyone has a motive and an alibi.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is murdered in his private bathroom within his office... the problem is, there's only one door to his office and Ellery himself was outside the whole time!
- DirectorKôsei SaitôStarsToshiyuki NishidaIsao NatsuyagiHaruko WanibuchiFamous detective Kindaichi investigates a series of mysterious murders revolving around a wealthy family.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Famous detective Kindaichi must solve a locked room mystery!
- DirectorAllen ReisnerStarsAngela LansburyDiana CanovaJosé FerrerA popular nightclub hypnotist is discovered murdered during a private press-call.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A hypnotist invites six journalists to attend a private hypnotism session where he will tell them important information about his past but that when they awake they won't remember a thing he has told them. A group of people, including Jessica, are outside the room when they hear a shot from inside. Breaking in they discover the hypnotist dead while the six journalists are hypnotized and motionless.
- 1984–199647mTV-PG7.3 (640)TV EpisodeDirectorWalter GraumanStarsAngela LansburyChristine BelfordJames CocoJessica gets mixed up with a nasty scheme involving a theme park creator whilst visiting relatives.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A body is discovered behind the door of a locked office, Captain Davis arrives to investigate and initially considers a suicide, as no one else could have entered nor exited until two security guards dismantle the door. Naturally, Jessica thinks otherwise.
- DirectorLeo PennStarsPeter FalkAnthony AndrewsKaren AustinAn egocentric psychic murders his old mentor, a magician charged to expose him as fraud, by beheading him while he's rehearsing his guillotine trick.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A magic trick looks like suicide, but Columbo finds a book called "Locked Room Magic" which suggests it may have been a murderous trick!
- DirectorAnthony Pullen ShawStarsAngela LansburySusan BlakelyGeorge CoeWhile attending the premiere of a film adapted from one of her books in Milan, Jessica searches for the killer when the producer is murdered.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found dead while another man is hovering over him with the murder weapon. The door was locked from the inside so he must have been the killer but the man claims his innocence... and Jessica believes him!
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsAngela LansburyCheryl AruttGrand L. BushVoodoo black magic is the apparent cause of death of her host, leaving Jessica to figure out the truth while visiting an old friend in Jamaica.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is murdered inside a locked room.
- CreatorPeter S. FischerRichard LevinsonWilliam LinkStarsHal LindenHarry MorganPaula BeyersA magician and his con-man father solve mysteries using a combination of sleight of hand and con games.Every episode is an impossible crime!
- DirectorPaul LynchStarsAvery BrooksRene AuberjonoisAlexander SiddigIbudan, a criminal Odo has dealt with before, returns to DS9 only to be murdered shortly after - leaving Odo to be the prime suspect. Jake and Nog's trouble-making prompt Keiko to do something helpful for the station's children.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found murdered in a locked room with the added twist that the only DNA found in the room is that of the victim.
- StarsAlan DaviesCaroline QuentinStuart MilliganJonathan Creek, a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles, works from his home in a converted windmill. He uses his abilities to solve impossible crimes and mysterious murders.Every episode is an impossible crime!
- DirectorTony DowStarsAvery BrooksRene AuberjonoisNicole de BoerTo find an apparently untraceable murderer, Ezri Dax reluctantly calls up the residual consciousness remnant of her symbiont's past hidden psychopathic murderer host, Joran.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A lieutenant on the Defiant's flight crew is found in his room shot in the heart, with no sign of forced entry, or any entry at all.
- DirectorBruno PodalydèsStarsDenis PodalydèsJean-Noël BroutéSabine AzémaFollowing the attempted murder of Mathilde, daughter of renowned Professor Stangerson, Joseph Rouletabille, a young reporter, accompanied by photographer Sainclair, visits the Château du Glandier to try and shed some light on the mystery.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: The young lady had just retired to her room when sounds of a struggle ensue, and cries of "Murder!" and revolver shots ring out. When her locked door is finally broken down by her father and a servant, they find the woman on the floor, badly hurt and bleeding. No one else is in the room. There is no other exit except through a barred window. How did the attacker escape?
- 2000–201545mTV-147.7 (802)TV EpisodeDirectorDanny CannonStarsWilliam PetersenMarg HelgenbergerGary DourdanMatt Phelps sends his two kids to bed, and out of the blue, there is a drive-by shooting and his daughter Aimee is shot and killed in her bed. Grissom, Warrick and Capt. Brass investigate the case and Grissom learns that Matt Phelps is Warrick's mentor and friend. Warrick's investigation is conducted based on his emotions instead of on the evidences with serious consequences for Matt and a suspect. Meanwhile, Nick and Sam Vega investigate the mysterious death of a boss of a four-men Internet service company in the air-conditioned servers' room. They find many secrets in the team but no suspect and no murder weapon. Until Nick observes the duct of the air-conditioning.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Nick works on the case of a dead computer geek in a sealed room with only one exit. His three employees who were working on the other side of the door are all suspects.
- DirectorAllan ArkushStarsJill HennessyMiguel FerrerRavi KapoorA hiker is found dead along the Appalachian Trail, what looks like and accidental death begins to look suspicious after Jordan and Bug take a look at photos on the camera clutched in his hand. In the meantime Woody and Nigel look into a man who claims he's a vampire after a science fiction author he met with is found exsanguinated.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Within a locked room, the body of a writer is found with bite marks in the neck and drained of all blood. The murderer would seemingly have to walk through the wall... and vampire doesn't exist, right?
- DirectorJerry LevineStarsTony ShalhoubBitty SchramJason Gray-StanfordMonk is called to a crime scene where a pet seems to be the killer: Ian Blackburn is found in his the panic room, shot four times and his pet chimp holding the weapon. Did the chimp do it?THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Ian Blackburn is found in his the panic room with 4 shots and his pet chimp holds the weapon.
- DirectorParis BarclayStarsTony ShalhoubTraylor HowardJason Gray-StanfordMonk is put in an uncomfortable position when Natalie asks him to help investigate the apparent suicide of her old friend's commanding officer.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: An apparent suicide in a locked room within a submarine is (surprise, surprise) murder.
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsGerard ButlerJamie FoxxLeslie BibbA frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Clyde is somehow pulling off elaborate murders while locked in solitary confinement.
- StarsChisunShihô HarumiJingi IrieTHE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found murdered in a room where the door appears to be braced from the inside.
- DirectorCharlie PalmerStarsSean MaguireDanny John-JulesLenora CrichlowAn uptight London cop is sent to a remote Caribbean island to solve the murder of a fellow British policeman, found dead in a sealed panic room. To solve the crime, he must contend with sun, sand, surf, and a mysterious woman on the scene.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man if murdered inside a locked panic room.
- StarsSatoshi OhnoErika TodaKôichi SatôKei Enomoto (Satoshi Ono) works for a Tokyo based security company. By the request of attorney Junko Aoto (Erika Toda)'s, Kei Enomoto goes to the scene of a locked-room incident with Junko Aoto's senior attorney Gou Serizawa (Koichi Sato). The locked-room case involves the death of Ooishi, the president of a funeral company. Ooishi's body was found in a locked room of a mountain villa. The police concluded that his death was by suicide, due to his room being locked and the fact that Ooishi was suffering from terminal cancer. However, Ooishi's friend Maruyama and notary Kusakabe (Keisuke Horibe) doubt that his death was by suicide and asked Gou Serizawa to investigate. Now, Kusakabe takes Kei Enomoto and Gou Serizawa to the mountain villa and explains what transpired the day Ooishi's body was found.Every episode is an impossible crime!
- 2012–201555m7.7 (434)TV EpisodeDirectorTony TilseStarsEssie DavisNathan PageHugo Johnstone-BurtMiss Fisher goes undercover to investigate how Jack's unconscious ex-father-in-law came to lie near the slain best friend of Dot's sister (a lady of the evening) with the door bolted from the inside.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: Someone's father was murdered in a locked room! Impossible, they say! We know otherwise...
- DirectorAlrick RileyStarsKenneth CranhamGemma JonesRowena KingDI Richard Poole is perplexed by a fatal fire at the island convent.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A woman dies from a fire started in her room with the door locked from the inside... obviously, it's murder!
- DirectorJohn PolsonStarsJonny Lee MillerLucy LiuJon Michael HillHolmes returns to New York with a new apprentice and a renewed interest in working with the NYPD after being fired by London's MI6. Unfortunately, Joan, the NYPD's new go-to PI, must give her approval first.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A witness and U.S. Marshall are killed in an elevator in mid-descent by bullets that could only have originated from inside the elevator, yet there were no other occupants and the elevator never stopped.
- DirectorRichard SignyStarsRupert VansittartKate FahyJoanna DavidFormer surgeon Emma Redding is found dead in her room at the local retirement home, the door locked from the inside which suggests suicide. However her fiancé Colin Campbell and friends Judith Musgrove and Pam and Jim Chandler all say she was looking forward to the evening's dance. Jim, an old friend, was secretly seeing Emma but explains his reasons whilst Colin had invested money with Judith in a seemingly worthless building scheme which Emma had discovered. Another resident, David Whitton, admits that his daughter died whilst Emma was operating on her. As ever Goodman, having proved that Emma was murdered, unmasks the killer, despite the distraction of a visit from his wife Sally, seeking reconciliation. Goodman, however, decides to stay on the island and confesses to Fidel his attraction to Camille.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A woman in found dead in her room with the door locked from the inside and people say it's suicide... silly people, it's murder!
- StarsSatoshi OhnoErika TodaKôichi SatôThe return of Ohno Satoshi returns as Enomoto Kei in a special episode of The Locked Room drama.
- 2009–20147.2 (19)TV EpisodeDirectorCarlos Navarro BallesterosStarsMaría PujalteFernando Guillén CuervoOriol TarrasónA commercial flight lands at the airport. The president of the company, who was traveling on that flight, is found dead. At all times he has been watched by the hostesses and his bodyguard. The autopsy reveals that... He has drowned. There is water in his lungs. How can it be him?THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A guy drowns in sea water while travelling on a plane, with several witnesses around who didn't notice anything strange- namely, he didn't drink a single drop of water, and nobody touched him during the flight.
- DirectorColm McCarthyStarsBenedict CumberbatchMartin FreemanUna StubbsSherlock tries to give the perfect best man speech at John's wedding when he suddenly realizes a murder is about to take place.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A guardsman is stabbed inside a shower cubicle that is locked from the inside with no weapon inside the cubicle. As Sherlock puts it, they are looking for an invisible killer with an invisible knife who can pass through walls.
- DirectorRichard SignyStarsKris MarshallSara MartinsRoyce PierresonDuring the festival of Fete Mouri, the owner of a rum distillery holds a seance to contact the spirit of a murdered servant from the 1850s. When a murder takes place during the seance - with every one holding hands, could the murderer be the spirit?THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A person is murdered during a seance where everyone was holding hands... how?
- 2013–201856mTV-148.6 (163)TV EpisodeDirectorDeclan EamesStarsCraig McLachlanNadine GarnerCharlie CousinsWhen the local hardware store owner is mysteriously found dead in a hotel room, Dr Blake decides to spend the night in that same room to try and solve the crime.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man is found asphyxiated in a hotel room that has chair jammed under the door handle.
- DirectorMatt CarterStarsChris MacDonaldGenevieve GauntMark WilliamsFather Brown and Lady Felicia are visiting a museum owned by her Egyptologist friend Sir Raleigh Beresford, who has just married the much younger Caterina. Caterina insists on opening a sarcophagus, an action which allegedly carries a curse and some time later she is found dying in a locked room. Sir Ralph's son Leo was having an affair with Caterina, making him a prime suspect, but then Raleigh's adoring secretary Valerie admits to the murder. Father Brown does not believe her and discredits her account before unmasking the real killer.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A body is found alone in a room that was locked from the inside.
- DirectorDiana PatrickStarsMark WilliamsSorcha CusackWilliam GaminaraWhilst Father Brown and Mrs McCarthy are in the bank there is an armed hold-up but the robbers flee after the vault is opened to reveal the corpse of Billy Flanders, shady son-in-law of bank manager Samuel Harrogate. A note in the dead man's pocket incriminates Harrogate and Sullivan arrests him. Father Brown however realizes that the two bank clerks stand to gain by the manager's removal and later recognizes one of the robbers who tells the priest who planned the robbery. Father Brown comes to wonder why it was so important that he witnessed the failed heist before coming to discover the murderer's identity.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A body is found locked inside a bank vault. Suspicion naturally falls upon the only person with keys to the vault. Father Brown believes him to be innocent and sets up to discover how this seemingly impossible crime could have been committed.
- DirectorDouglas MackinnonStarsBenedict CumberbatchMartin FreemanUna StubbsSherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this Christmas special.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A bride shoots herself in the head in full view of people on the street. However, somehow she is able to leave the morgue and shoot her husband in full view of a police officer. When they re-check the morgue, the bride is there and certainly dead. How is this possible?
- DirectorOriol PauloStarsMario CasasAna WagenerJose CoronadoA successful entrepreneur accused of murder and a witness preparation expert have less than three hours to come up with an impregnable defense.THE IMPOSSIBILITY: A man enters a hotel room, murders a woman and knocks out her lover, and leaves despite the fact that the room is lock from the inside.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsColucheJean RochefortRoland DubillardSuperintendent Pichard investigates the death of a toilet attendant.
- DirectorYôichi TakabayashiStarsYûtarô BanHiroshi EbieHideki HanaokaWhen a woman and her bridegroom are found dead in a double suicide the day after their wedding, it is up to the detective to figure out what could possibly have motivated them. Carefully and systematically, he pieces together the inner lives of the two.