Crime from the 1990s: the best movies
24 crime films from the 1990s, ranked by audience rating. The best of the decade, and it still holds up tonight. Updated September 25, 2026
Se7en leads with 8,4 out of 10, ahead of Herod's Law (8). Ratings range from 6,7 to 8,4. All were released between 1990 and 1999.
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Se7en
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
Herod's Law
In the 1940s, a small Mexican town has seen its last three mayors assassinated in rapid succession. A naive janitor is recruited to become the new mayor, and he believes he will modernize the little town and usher in a reign of peace. But the system corrupts him very quickly, and he takes to abusing his power while associating with an unscrupulous assortment of opportunists, hypocrites and criminals.
L.A. Confidential
Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
Cure
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Andrea Beaumont leaves her father to return to Gotham, rekindling an old romance with Bruce Wayne. At the same time, a mysterious figure begins to hunt down Gotham's criminals, wrongly implicating Batman in the murders. Now on the run from the law, Batman must find and stop the culprit, while also navigating his relationship with Andrea.
Scream
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Detective Conan: The Time Bombed Skyscraper
Once brilliant teenage detective Shinichi Kudo was given a poison that reverted him to a 4-year-old. He's adopted the pseudonym Conan Edogawa so no one (save for an eccentric inventor) will know. Now he's got to solve a series of bombings before his loved ones become victims. Who is this madman and why is he doing this? Only the young genius can save the day but will even he be up to the task?
A Pure Formality
Famous writer Onoff is now a recluse. The Inspector is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the station one night, disoriented and suffering a kind of amnesia. In an isolated, rural police station, the Inspector tries to establish the events surrounding a killing, to reach a startling resolution.
Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century
Kaitou Kid dares to challenge the police once more, setting his sights on the Russian Imperial Easter Egg. With the date, time, and place, the Osaka police force scrambles to stop him. But this time, Kid may have bitten off more than he can chew—Conan Edogawa, Heiji Hattori, and numerous others are also trying to get their hands on the jeweled egg.
Glengarry Glen Ross
An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. Unscrupulous salesmen try to hawk dubious real estate to suckers.
Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.
The Player
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?
Case Closed: The Fourteenth Target
Ran’s secret past revealed! Ten years ago, something happened between her mom and dad. Now, plagued by nightmares, Ran is starting to remember… Meanwhile, a murderous card dealer breaks out of jail to seek revenge. His target: Ran’s father. Can Conan stop him in time and save his girlfriend’s family?
Arlington Road
Bedraggled college professor Michael Faraday has been vexed — and increasingly paranoid — since his wife's accidental death in a botched FBI operation. When a seemingly all-American couple set up house next door, Michael begins to suspect there’s more to them than meets the eye.
Fight Back to School
Chow Sing Sing is about to be kicked out of the Royal Hong Kong Police's elite Special Duties Unit. But a senior officer decides to give him one last chance: Star must go undercover as a student at the Edinburgh High School in Hong Kong to recover the senior officer's missing revolver.
Insomnia
Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.
In the Line of Fire
Veteran Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan is a man haunted by his failure to save President Kennedy while serving protection detail in Dallas. Thirty years later, a man calling himself "Booth" threatens the life of the current President, forcing Horrigan to come back to protection detail to confront the ghosts from his past.
Breakdown
On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.
Thursday
A former Los Angeles drug dealer moves far away to Texas, making a new life for himself as a married architect in the suburbs. His old crime partner unexpectedly shows up with heroin and gangster business, attracting a slew of violent unsavory characters.
Presumed Innocent
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
The Interview
A duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted?
The Bone Collector
Lincoln Rhyme was the department's top homicide detective and leading expert in criminal forensics until an injury left him paralyzed, depressed, and incapable of working. But when a gruesome murder in Manhattan leaves detectives baffled, they call on Rhyme to help solve the mystery. Amelia Donaghy, a rookie cop whose quick thinking preserved a gruesome murder scene, is enlisted by Rhyme to be his on-the-scene forensics expert. With Amelia reluctantly acting as Rhyme's able-bodied go-between, the pair piece together cryptic clues the killer leaves behind at the scene of the crime, hoping to catch the grisly serial killer.
Shadows and Fog
With a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.
Clockers
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the killer. Detective Rocco Klein doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.
What to know before choosing
Crime splits into two families that have nothing in common: the investigation, which promises an answer, and the criminal film, which follows people you know from the first scene are going to fall. The first wants your attention; the second works when you are tired. Both are here, and the rating does not tell them apart: read the summaries. This is the genre where a good and a bad evening hang on that single detail.
The 1990s are the most replayed decade in streaming, and the one in which American auteur cinema had the most money. Its films carry a confidence in the screenplay rarely found afterwards. Beware the digital effects of the first half of the decade, though: they have aged worse than anything in the history of the medium.
Frequently asked questions
How were these 24 films chosen?
They come from the TMDB catalog, filtered on audience rating and on a minimum number of votes — without that second filter, a film rated 9 out of 10 by eleven people would outrank a classic. No place is for sale: no platform, distributor or studio can enter this list other than by being well rated.
Which film in this list is rated highest?
Se7en (1995), with 8,4 out of 10 from 23,833 audience votes.
Where can I watch these films?
Taro eira shows, film by film, which platforms carry it in the US and at what price — subscription, rental or purchase. The per-platform lists are further down this page.
How often does this list change?
It is recomputed every day. Ratings move slowly, catalogs move fast: availability is what mostly pushes titles in and out.
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No. Taro eira is free, asks for no account and no subscription, and the two-or-three-question flow works without installing anything.
See also
- Crime
- Crime from the 2020s
- Crime from the 2010s
- Crime from the 2000s
- Crime from the 1980s
- Crime from the 1970s
- Crime before 1970
- Action from the 1990s
- Adventure from the 1990s
- Animation from the 1990s
- Comedy from the 1990s
- Documentary from the 1990s
- Drama from the 1990s
- Family from the 1990s
- Fantasy from the 1990s
- Biopic from the 1990s
- Horror from the 1990s
- Musical from the 1990s
- Romance from the 1990s
- Sci-fi from the 1990s
- Thriller from the 1990s
- War from the 1990s
- Western from the 1990s
How this list is built
Films come from the TMDB catalog, filtered on audience rating and vote count, then cross-checked against real availability in the country. No paid placement, no partnerships. How we choose the films.
Film data and posters: TMDB. This app uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.