Murder mystery films originated in the early 1900s when crime films were popular. There were two main types - open mysteries which revealed the perpetrator early on, and closed mysteries or "whodunits" where the criminal was unknown. Alfred Hitchcock directed many famous murder mysteries in the 1920s-1930s that helped establish the genre. Through the 1950s-1990s, murder mysteries expanded widely on television and film, often combining with other genres like horror or fantasy. Into the 21st century, the genre continues to adapt novels and develop new psychological thrillers and suspenseful stories.

2. Background:
This was another split from the genre crime and murder. The
genre murder mysteries was created in the time when crime
films where out.
Murder mystery films were based on the books/novels made by
writers, which were in turn turned to films; at the time gangster
crime was being viewed in public.
There’s two story types for murder mystery films:
 Open : shows the perpetrator at the beginning of the film, showing
a ‘perfect crime’ where a protagonist is set to unravel the story and
highlight unveiling scenes in a closed style.
 Closed : where identity of the perpetrator is unknown a ‘whodunit’
movie where the perpetrator is unknown and the unraveling of the
story is to find him. This type of film has a importance of suspense
as the audience doesn't know the criminal.

3. 1900s-1930s
The first murder mystery genre dates back to the silent era films,
where the most successful novels where converted to the films
e.g. Sherlock Holmes Baffled, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
made in 1900s and published in 1903.
The most famous director for murder mystery genre is Alfred
Hitchcock who released the most famous for the Blackmail
(1929) and The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927). The
total amount of murder mystery films Hitchcock released in his
lifetime was
However the earliest true mystery films include The Gold Bug
(1910), from France, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue
(1914). Both are Edgar Allen Poe stories, who created detective
fiction (first private detective character).

4. 1930s-1950s
By 1030s the murder mystery films began to adapted the
genre of horror with the element of murder mystery this
lead to a lot of films being made with the release of
Murder in the right Morgue in 1932 by Universal Pictures
(being a horror-mystery film)
Universal pictures also released a hybrid of supernatural
and whodunit genre in 1942 Night Monster.
With this the first psychological mystery thriller film was
produced in 1945 Spellbound directed by Alfred
Hitchcock; with this in 1947 the film Fear in the Night was
released.

5. 1950s-1990s
In the 1950s the genre murder was explored a lot in this
era with lots this genre combined with other genre settling
in society as a very good genre, being sold very well.
There was a wide range of televisual series released such
as:
 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)
 Columbo (1971)
 Charlie's Angels (1976)
 Murder, She Wrote (1984)
 Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989)
 Law & Order (1990)

6. 1990s-2000s
1991- Films with female detectives have not fared well in this year. Kathleen
Turner as a private eye V.I. Warshawski, this was meant to be the start of a new
franchise based on a book series, but the film was a Box Office failure. (Due to
the use of the Detective being a women in the 1991)
1994- Witch Hunt was released being set in the 1953 it was a mock
fantasy/mystery. Where the detective uncovers witchcraft and murder in
Hollywood.
1995- Lord Of Illusion, was a supernatural horror story with a New York Private
Inspector.
1995- In the same year the Devil in the blue dress was released
1996- Made-for-television films was Dead man’s Island
1998: According to variety, 14 out of the top 50 grossing movies of 1998 were
mysteries. These include Rush hour, Lethal weapon, Enemy of the state, The x-
files, A perfect murder and Snake eyes.
1999- Sleepy Hollow set in 1799, featuring a constable who applies (Sherlock
Holmes techniques) scientific methods and forensic science to solve a series of
murders in the horror-fantasy film from Tim Burton.

7. 21st century murder mysteries:
The Harry Potter films (2001-2011) are fantasy stories that contain
many mysteries concerning the main characters especially the first 3
movies.
In 2003 The Reckoning was released a murder mystery set in the
medieval England.
In 2008 Yesterday Was a Lie was released, a Neo-Noir black and
white detective mystery combines science fantasy and film noir.
More recently, in 2012 The Raven was released, where the author
pursues a mysterious serial killer whose murders are directly inspired
by Allen Edgar Poe's life.(a fictionalized account of his last days)
Since the 1990s the genre murder mystery has developed from just
being translated from novels to movies. However now the genre has
been adapted by many writes and producers in various movies to
create suspense and it shows the psychological processes within
people who is the perpetrator.