Whether you’ve seen Rian Johnson’s Daggers in the Back: The Mystery of the Glass Onion during its brief run in theaters or just watched it on Netflix after its release, you may be looking for other movies in the same vein as well. Similar mysteries to sink your teeth into, starring a brilliant and eccentric detective. So we have collected a list of excellent complementary films to the Daggers in the Back saga.
Glass Onion, Benoit Blanc’s second adventure after Daggers in the Back (2019), takes Daniel Craig’s cunning detective to a private island in Greece and into the arms of a new all-star cast, starring Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn , Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista. This is the first of two sequels to Daggers in the Back that Johnson will direct for Netflix (in a landmark deal for the writer-director).
Take a look at the list to see other magnificent and sinister murder mystery moviessome of which influenced Puñales por el espalda.
1. Murder on the Orient Express (2017) / Death on the Nile (2022)
Where to see: Disney+
One of iconic mystery novelist Agatha Christie’s most beloved masterminds is Hercule Poirot, a character who has been brought to film and television dozens of times over the decades, and many of Christie’s Poirot books have been taken from the page to the screen. And he rarely goes wrong with them, so look them up. For more recent Poirot adventures, check out Kenneth Branagh’s remakes of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile (and A Haunting in Venice, hitting theaters in September 2023). A genius mind, a luxury cast and a cunning case to solve.
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
Where to see: Movistar+, Filmin
If we talk about legendary fictional detectives, we have to include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Like Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle’s work has been adapted to nearly every form of storytelling—theatre, radio, screen—for a hundred years. And you can choose from any era. But for this list, we’re going to go back to the adolescence of talkies and focus on The Hound of the Baskervilles, from 1939, which features one of the most famous Holmes on the big screen (Basil Rathbone, who played him in 14 movies) in one of Conan Doyle’s most famous stories.
3. Brick (2005)
Where to see: Movistar+
Before Daggers in the Back, there was Rian Johnson’s Brick, from 2006, to let us know just how far his love for film noir and mysteries went. Introduced as a 1920s detective story centering on the students of a suburban California high school, Brick stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man trying to solve the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Inspired by the writings of Dashiell Hammett, and drenched in attitude and aptitude, Brick is a cult classic not to be missed.
4. Sheila’s end (1973)
Where to see: of the movie
That wonderful film directed by Herbert Ross (Bye-bye Girl, Footloose) and written by Psycho’s Anthony Perkins and Broadway musical legend Stephen Sondheim, is one of the shots for the famous game of faces from Daggers in the Back. , starring ’70s stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, Joan Hackett, James Mason, Ian McShane and Raquel Welch. Set on a yacht, Shiela’s End centers on a film producer who hopes to solve the mystery surrounding the death of his wife by inviting the suspects aboard his ship.
5. The Crooked House (2017)
Where to see: Prime Video, Film
Again, there are plenty of Agatha Christie adaptations to choose from, most of them starring Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple (an old lady who solved murders). But there are also plenty of non-Poirot/Marple works, and 2017’s The Crooked House, starring Max Irons, Terence Stamp, Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson, Stefanie Martini and Christina Hendricks, is a devilishly funny film. The story centers on a young detective who is called to investigate the death of a wealthy tycoon who has been poisoned in his own bed.
6. The Name of the Rose (1986)
Where to see: Netflix, Movie
Based on the novel by Umberto Eco, which was one of the best-selling mystery books of all time, it is set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327. The Name of the Rose stars Sean Connery as a friar Franciscan famous for his deductive skills. His sharp and cunning mind is put to the test when a series of murders take place during the monastery’s theological dispute between the Franciscans and papal emissaries. F. Murray Abraham and Christian Slater co-star.
7. Wind River (2017)
Where to see: Prime Video, Film
Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River of Yellowstone and Comancheria features off-duty Avengers couple Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner as an FBI agent and a tracker for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, respectively, who are hired to solve the murder of a teenage girl on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. It is a magnificent neo-western/noir story set in the cold and bitter nature. No bombastic detectives here, just regular investigators seeking justice in a wicked web of secrets.
8. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Where to see: Rent or buy on the main platforms
While writer-director Shane Black helped revolutionize two-cop action movies with his script for Lethal Weapon, he’s also a fan of two-cop mystery (okay, action) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from 2005 (as well as 2016’s Two Good Guys) is an example of the unlikely crime hunters uncovering conspiracies while redeeming themselves in the process. It all starts with a murder and then escalates into something much bigger, launching our underdogs into a shit storm they never anticipated. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, as a burglar and a private investigator, stumble upon a murder case filled with mayhem.
9. Daggers in the Back (2019)
Where to see: Netflix
Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is brought in to investigate the death of a wealthy best-selling whodunit writer, all while the writer’s nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas), fears she’ll be blamed for a possibly lethal mistake. Daggers in Back was a hit in theaters, released in 2019 and going strong (until movies generally stopped being in theaters in 2020). Rian Johnson gave us a great, gripping mystery with a new detective.
