Topic summary
Mystery films
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Mystery film.
Definition and characteristics
Mystery films mainly focus on a crime or a puzzle, usually a murder, which must then be solved by policemen, private detectives, or amateur sleuths. The viewer is presented with a series of suspects who have a motive to commit the crime but did not actually do it, and whom the investigator must eliminate during the course of the investigation. At times the viewer is presented with information not available to the main character. The central character usually explores the unsolved crime, unmasks the perpetrator, and puts an end to the effects of the villainy.