A group of suspects gathers in a parlor. A detective paces around, explaining the details of a crime. They list clues, motives, and alibis, before pointing to a culprit that no one saw coming…
You know exactly what story this is. You know the tropes and conventions, and the cozy yet exciting feeling that takes over when you realize the detective was ahead of you the whole time.
For decades, the whodunit has been a favorite of mystery seekers, but it also holds a special place as a particularly queer genre. With Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery hitting theaters this time last year, let’s take a look other movies in the canon and their timeless appeal for the LGBTQ+ community:
The Agatha Christie Catalog
No one wrote entitled rich people holding secrets quite like Agatha Christie. Reading her novels often feels like seeing a reality show unravel. So of course we have to start with adaptations of her work—and there are plenty to choose from.
Sure, there’s the quintessential films like Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile. But two deserve a bigger appreciation, if only for the amount of queer icons and actresses wearing loud dresses that they contain:
In Evil Under The Sun, detective Hercule Poirot goes to a private island to look for a disappeared diamond when a murder occurs (of course). The cast includes Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Dame Maggie Smith, and a delicious Diana Rigg as the epitome of the Christie rich socialite.
In The Mirror Crack’d, the late great Angela Lansbury stars as gossip Miss Marple in a case about an actress (played by the Elizabeth Taylor) who believes she’s the target of a killer. The film is worth it for the first encounter between Liz and Kim Novak (playing her nemesis) alone, and the cast is rounded by Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Geraldine Chaplin.
Both Evil Under The Sun and The Mirror Crack’d stream on BritBox, and are available for rental via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Clue
If there is one whodunit that is considered a queer classic, it’s Clue, the 1985 adaptation of the board game. What is it about Clue that makes us fall in love in every rewatch, reciting the lines over and over?
Maybe it’s the group of comedic performers, from Tim Curry and Christopher Lloyd to Lesley Ann Warren and an incomparable Madeline Kahn, that bring out the best of each other to create one of cinema’s greatest ensembles. Maybe it’s the script firing on all cylinders with lines like “It was a matter of life and death; now that he’s dead, I have a life” and “Communism was just a red herring.” Or, maybe it’s the over-the-top camp tone that both takes itself too seriously and not at all.
Whatever it is, if you haven’t seen this, grab your favorite candlestick and put it on top of your watch list.
Clue is available on FuboTV and to DirecTV subscribers, and is available for rental via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Related: 36 years ago ‘Clue’ flopped. Why is it so awesome?
The Last Of Sheila
In 1973, Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins (who were rumored to be in a relationship at the time) teamed up to write a story about a movie producer that invites former collaborators to his yacht for a weekend of games that soon turns dark.
It was inspired by Sondheim and Perkins’ real live scavenger hunts that they forced on their friends and—just like any good Sondheim project—it’s peppered with biting satire, clever wordplay, and a deeply queer sensibility. If you liked Glass Onion’s resort setting and penchant for games, check this one out. It’s a total gem.
The Last Of Sheila is available on the Turner Classic Movies app, and is available for rental via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Deathtrap / Sleuth
Trap two people in a small space and put their lives at risk. Secrets, resentment, and even some suppressed desire are bound to come out.
In 1972’s Sleuth, Michael Caine stars as a man who is invited to a remote castle by his lover’s husband, played by Sir Laurence Olivier. Ten years later, in 1982’s Deathtrap, Michael Caine is a playwright obsessed with a former student (Christopher Reeve).
These films are essentially two-character pieces, in which themes like professional envy, male friendship and mentorship, and misguided desire (in Deathtrap’s case, an explicitly queer one) are brought up to the surface through murder, mind games, and very tight close-knit sweaters.
Unfortunately, Sleuth is not currently available online, but Deathtrap can be rented via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Gosford Park
While whodunits are a great escapist genre, an essential ingredient is also social satire; a way to see how society (usually the people on top) operates when death looms over.
In 2000’s Gosford Park, writer Julian Fellowes (the creator of Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age) teams up with legendary director Robert Altman, known for his vast ensembles and juggling of multiple storylines, to tell an upstairs-downstairs story about a murder in an old English manor at the start of the century. Their collaboration brings out the best elements of the genre and of each other.
The expansive, top-pedigree cast includes everyone from Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, to Ryan Phillipe and Kristin Scott Thomas. Through these characters, the movie criticizes the class differences of the time, and makes you root for the underdogs. What’s more queer than that?
Gosford Park is available for rental via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Scream Series / Bodies Bodies Bodies
The expansive, top-pedigree Whodunits are not exclusive just to quaint English towns. They can easily take many forms, and incorporate themselves into other genres. includes everyone from Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, to Ryan Phillipe and Kristin Scott Thomas. Through these characters, the movie criticizes the class differences of the time, and makes you root for the underdogs. What’s more queer than that?
The Scream franchise, aside from being one of the best horror series in cinema, cleverly incorporates the whodunit structure by having the killer change identity. Apart from the jump scares and gut-rippings, the characters try to figure out in every installment who Ghostface is among a new group of suspects.
Most recently, the horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies takes a well-trod premise of the genre (people dying one by one inside a house), and populates it with a much more diverse and queer cast of characters than we’ve gotten so far.
Scream is available on the Starz app and to DirecTV subscribers Both it and Bodies Bodies Bodies are available for rental via AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, GooglePlay, and YouTubeTV.
Related: ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ stars talk chaotic queer energy
Paris in Santiago
After knives out, I went on a murder mystery binge. Loved Evil Under the Sun, Mirror Crack’d, The Lazt of Sheila & Gosford Park. It takes awhile for the story to unfold because of the introduction of murder suspects. But boy-howdy, it gets fun-crazy right away. I wish there were more murder mystery films that had humour and style and danger, not 2.5 hours of bore snore Gone Girl in drab grays and blues and rain. Ugh. There exists a desire for these kinds of movies, for crying out loud.
abfab
You must also see The Staircase with Colin Firth and Toni Collete. You will def add this your list of favorites.
brian6767
Can’t believe Murder By Death didn’t get included in this list! Classic!
Heron
That was a great film
missvamp
agreed, one of my faves, along with deathtrap. I love the Agatha Christie movies- past & present. clue is brilliant. house on haunted hill is another fun one- the original.
JTinToronto
Agreed. Murder By Death should be on this list. Amazing cast. Maggie Smith was brilliant. “Oh Dickie don’t let him park the car.”
Man About Town
The Last of Sheila is a delicious mystery, and though it’s an ensemble piece, Dyan Cannon steals the movie with her sly, dead-on portrayal of a ruthless Sue Mengers-like superagent. She also played the unsuspecting wife in Deathtrap.
fanelliboy
And it showed that Raquel Welch was a much better actress than she was given credit for by many.
abfab
Would Fantastic Voyage count? I mean, we were not sure who would end up the saboteur and Raquel was working that latex zip up suit, busting out all over the place.
djbear
I would love to see a similar article on queer mystery/sleuths in books. Recently, ReQueered has started to republish out-of-print books in this genre but there are some very popular contemporary authors of this genre as well, so maybe two articles might be possible.
Paris in Santiago
I did not know this. Thank you for posting!
bachy
Peter Ustinov is THE Hercule Poirot. No one has managed to match his charm and wit in the role. Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation reeks.
inbama
Yep! And his sluggish direction drains all the fun out.
bsg1967
Nope sorry but the definitive Poirot is David Suchet.
jaimedance3
How could you miss Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple! The original!
G R
Gosford Park is a Robert Altman classic and a prelude to Julian Fellowes (Oscar-winning screenwriter of GP) endeavors of Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age. A fantastic ensemble, a beautiful English country setting and a cleaver murder mystery.