Best Russian mystery movies

The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

A loose remake of “12 Angry Men”, “12” is set in contemporary Moscow where 12 very different men must unanimously decide the fate of a young Chechen accused of murdering his step-father, a Russian army officer. Consigned to a makeshift jury room in a school gymnasium, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.

This is a story of a small town girl named Nastya. Her newly married husband Ivan drives her to his hometown to meet his family. Upon their arrival Nastya feels she made a wrong decision: she is surrounded by weird people and she sees creepy photos all around the house. Ivan disappears while his family prepares Nastya for a mysterious traditional Russian wedding ceremony. She struggles to calm herself down hoping all this will end and they will live happily ever after. Only if she stays alive...

The year 1829. Nikolay Gogol, a young Third Section clerk, is desperate: his own books seem shallow and mediocre, so he keeps buying entire print runs just to burn them all. He is suffering from violent epileptic seizures and struggles to keep on working. Investigator Yakov Guro accidentally witnesses one such fit and realizes that Gogol's visions contain clues that could help solve actual crimes. Together, Gogol and Guro take on a particularly weird and baffling case that brings them to a small village of Dikanka, where everyone has a huge secret to hide.

A mysterious Dark Horseman slays young girls near the village of Dikanka, and he has already butchered 11 ladies. Nikolai Gogol, a scribe from Saint Petersburg has to take charge of the investigation, but the closer he gets to solving the case, the more fits he has, causing macabre visions. When he learns the next victim is his beloved, Liza, he doubts that he can protect her and resist the murderer. Fortunately, he meets somebody who can help him: Khoma Brut, the witch hunter, martial artist and philosopher. Together they spend three dreadful nights in an old chapel reading the funeral service for Ulyana, the witch, and calling upon the ghastly evil spirit Viy.

A young Englishwoman is drawn to an island in the Black Sea in an attempt to discover her mysterious connection to a remove convent--a crumbling edifice that has been constructed over a labyrinth of Lovecraftian horrors.

When the police finally catch an elusive serial killer, no one can prove his guilt, resulting in the lead detective making it personal.

Petersburg at the end of the 19th century was embraced by a massive enthusiasm for the occult sciences and esotericism. British medium Olivia Reed arrives in the capital of the Russian Empire on tour and gathers crowds of people at her public spiritualistic sessions. At this time, a series of ritual mysterious murders takes place in the city. Girls are abducted on the streets, their mutilated bodies are found in various parts of the city. The investigation is carried out by a young police officer Rostov and his assistant Ganin. With each new victim, things are becoming more confused. Suspicion leads Rostov to Olivia, and he decides to turn to her in the hope that her genuine or imaginary ability to summon the spirits of the dead can help to get on the trail of the killer.

Soon after Gogol's death, Binh names him guilty for the deaths of the Cossacks and the young women at the hands of the Dark Horseman, since he was the one who ordered them to be hidden in the barn. Bomgart is unable to perform a post-mortem analysis on the Gogol's body, while Vakula's daughter Vasilina (who secretly has magic abilities) proclaims denial about Gogol's demise.

Early autumn, godforsaken Russian countryside. A local hunter Michail witnesses a skirmish in the middle of the forest - three men want to kill the forth, Andrey. Kind-hearted Michail helps Andrey escape and together they run from the villains who chase them. Thus, two totally different men start a long and dangerous journey together, constantly arguing with each other regarding their ideology, morals and opinions about life. But life will put everything on its place and make the men understand who they really are.

A young writer brings a collection of short stories to a big Moscow publishing house. The manuscript stays at the office and mysteriously influences the lives of anyone who opens it and reads at least one page. There are four stories in the manuscript, and four readers whose lives are changed after reading them. The situations range from realistic to absurd to thrilling to create a rich portrait of life in contemporary Russia and showcase the thoughts, feelings and ambitions of people who live there.

Police Major Igor Grom is known throughout St. Petersburg for his punchy character and uncompromising attitude towards criminals of all stripes. Incredible strength, analytical mindset and integrity — all this makes Major Thunder a real superhero. His life is perfect: during the day he catches criminals with his partner Dima Dubin, and spends the evenings in the company of journalist Yulia Pchelkina. The complete idyll is interrupted by the appearance in the city of a mysterious villain calling himself a Ghost. He offers Thunder to play a dangerous game, the stake in which is the lives of ordinary people.

Third film based on Boris Akunin's "Priklucheniya Erasta Petrovicha Fandorina" series of novels. On a train from St. Petersburg to Moscow general Khrapov was killed and no one else but Erast Petrovich is under suspicion because the killer pretended to be Fandorin. There are initials BG on the handle of the knife Khrapov was stabbed with, the initials belong to a terrorist organization which keeps both capital cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg) in fear. This time Fandorin is not the only one trying to solve the crime, general Pozharski, a famous detective takes over the investigation...

Tim and Dan - fellow losers from a provincial town. Studies over, they don't want to work and don't have girlfriends. On the way to a dream and hope to get everything at once guys are taken to perform the task of the local bandits.

The movie is set in Belarus, where a team of counter-intelligence officers is given only three days to find a German radio operator posing as a Soviet soldier, behind soviet lines, on the eve of a major offensive.

Fantastic story of the first half of the XIX century about a monk named Ivan who must fight the dark forces in his monastery.

On a college trip to remote Northern forests, one of the students - Marina - encounters a burial site of an ancient witch, and is possessed by the spirits of the past. Now Marina and her companions must take part in the millennia old fight between good and evil, involving lake witches, sorcerers, and ancient forces from the myths.

Russia, early 90s. A fictional story inspired by financier Sergey Mavrodi, his securities company "MMM", and the pyramid scheme he ran that left upwards of fifteen million investors with nothing when it crashed.

In 1990s St. Petersburg, police major Konstantin Grom is trying to find and neutralize the new criminal boss, nicknamed Anubis, while his ten year old son Igor is trying to earn money by getting involved in dubious adventures

In a large house in the middle of the steppes, the Shamanovs meet for a family gathering. When suddenly the eldest brother Victor appears after a 25 year absence, unspoken family conflicts come to light. Nobody suspects that Victor is escaping his dark past and that killers are looking for his hiding place.

Twenty five years old Kolya starts to work as a cemetery night guard after moving to Moscow from province.

In the film adaptation by Director Anton Rosenberg, the audience opens the world of the game and the armed conflict that occurred in the Norvinsk region, a special economic zone on the border between Russia and Europe. The main operating parties are two private military companies – USEC and BEAR, commencing fierce battles, including the fights with the remaining gangs in the city called Scavs. The protagonist is in the occupied city of Tarkov, the exits of which are blocked by UN peacekeepers and Russian military troops.

The film speaks about universal themes of love, hate and search for love. The portrait of three women represents these three states. Tanya Neubivko has never been in love but optimistically is searing for it. Her unfortunate and even dangerous encounters with strangers on dates almost got her killed. Rita is happily engaged and planning a wedding after a routine medical check-up. Nadya is a very unhappy doctor who hates her husband and finds relief in alcohol. The story takes place in a surreal hospital with the leaking roof and hollow walls and constantly smoking doctors, where Rita is destined to die.

Documentary film-investigation of financial frauds of persons close to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika.

In spring 1938 in the mountains in the north of Chile a fiery UFO, later named "Chilean Sphere ", fell down. The investigation of this episode, made by a film crew, has led to a sensational discovery. It appeared that before the Second World War (in the thirties) in the USSR a secret space program had been developed. The Soviet scientists and military authorities managed to launch the first spacecraft 23 years prior to Jury Gagarin's flight! "The First on the Moon" tells about everyday life, heroic deeds and tragedy of the first group of the Soviet cosmonauts. It is the first Russian film shot in a very rare genre 'mockumentary' or 'documentary fiction'.

When Artem Kolchin, Denis Nikiforov, arrives in the U.S. to fight for the championship, he soon finds himself fighting for his life after he sends a young, aggressive boxer, who provokes him into sparring, into a coma and ultimately killing him. That is when Artem finds out that the young boxer was none other than the only son of Felix Mendez, the powerful Mexican mafia kingpin, played masterfully by Victor Herminio Lopez, and when the real fight begins.

The autistic postman had been diligently delivering mail since childhood. The whole town knew and loved him, and a few families held a special place in his heart. One day, he couldn’t bring himself to deliver a death notice. Instead, he wrote a “letter from the front”. From then on, he replaced death notices with letters, and no one ever suspected the deception because the postman was a talented man – his letters seemed to be written by different people. But this didn’t last long, because during wartime, the military authorities closely monitored the mail.

This is a story about a guy who killed a man. This is a story about a woman for whom this guy killed for. This is a story about a man who was killed. Three lives in a destructive twisted triangle. This is a story about bad choices which led to horrible fate. This is a story about love, lies, infidelity and manipulation. This is a story about blood, nightmares, forgiveness and faith. This is a story about crime and punishment. This is a story about The Killing.

Pretty Sasha finds herself in a whirlpool of intrigue and criminal games after her lover, a talented painter, is murdered. Chased on one side by brutal criminals who don't leave witnesses, and on the other by the cops who consider her the #1 suspect, Sasha is forced to act alone to solve the mystery of her lover’s death and keep herself alive and free at the same time. Gradually she unravels the tangle of mysteries and deceptions, only to learn that her lover was forging paintings which had been sold for millions of dollars, and no-one really is who they say they are.

In Chernobyl, the Global Kintech Corporation conducts illegal construction. A special interstate commission is trying to interfere with these plans, but right during a press conference, a group of unknown terrorists attacks its leader.

Based on Boris Akunin's novel 'Azazel' (English title 'The Winter Queen') set in Moscow in 1876. The novel started a long series quite popular in Russia. In 'Azazel' a young police officer - Erast Fandorin - investigates an odd suicide of some rich young man and finds a complex conspiracy, trying to take over most European countries - from Britain to Ottoman Empire - with the best intentions, of course.

Olga Nikolayevna kills her little son Kolya and then herself. Andrey, the most laid-back and friendly cop in Russia, gets on the case.

Moscow, 1902. The famous director Konstantin Stanislavsky, in search of inspiration for staging a new play, decides to get acquainted with the life of the city "bottom". He turns to Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a recognized expert on the Moscow slums, for help.

In the cyberpunk period the Police of Starica City have become even more professional. But the criminals in Russia are not standing still either - they have become very honest. In this video, you will see a tangled case that would have gone unsolved without help of the cyber dog.

Once upon a time, the great soprano Sofia Mayer conquered the world with her voice, her beauty and the legend she carefully built around herself. Now only the legend remains — the diva herself hasn't performed for years, nor been seen in the glittering circles of society she once dominated. But the woman who fascinated and thrilled the world for so long would like to crown her career with one more triumph. And she'll use every dirty trick she knows to achieve it.

The popular rapper comes on tour in St. Petersburg. His fans adore and wait, he is at the peak of fame, he is confident in himself. Together with the star, his manager, musicians and a girl come. Suddenly an attempt is made on a musician. He miraculously manages to escape death, but his manager decides to hire a security guard. It turns out that the guard is ... a girl. She is a professional in her field, but in the brutal world of rap, a woman has a difficult time.

"The Intergalactic organization plans to destroy humanity for bad behavior. Only one astronaut rebelled against such a decision and ended up on Earth... He must have time to return to the Intergalactic Base Station in 72 hours in order to save the Earth"

Two classmates are trying to find a mysterious lake inhabited with a few feet long fishes.

Major Korenev (Fox) continue to fight criminals after terrorists gang liquidation.

A special "Inside Lapenko" in the detective genre, telling about the mysterious events that took place in December 1886...

An English historian travels to Morocco to work on a study of the painter Delacroix. He hears of a rare series of engravings and embarks on a search for them that takes him through the mysterious streets of the ancient medina. He becomes obsessed with the figure of a beautiful blond woman dressed in white that he sees there. but it appears that she may have died years before.

A retired detective is trying to catch a serial killer who uses Russian letters to find his victims.

Two veteran meteorologists spend their days on a remote mountain weather station, accompanied by a young boy working as a cook. Their every-day lifestyle, made of creating matchstick models on one side, researching the big-foot myth on the other, and the boy's constant need to find places for hiding is briefly interrupted by a visit from two tourists: husband and his young wife - traveling to visit a cave near the weather station, so they'd mark their five year anniversary. Their arrival is the primer for an unknown series of events that puts an experienced inspector and his young colleague where we find them at the beginning of the movie: on a deserted weather station, where everyone seems to have vanished into thin air. The hank slowly unrolls as viewer discovers the truth behind everything, step by step, until the final loop of a long story line unravels and present him the final surprise.

For two months a serial killer has been terrorizing the city of St. Petersburg. Every Wednesday a girl between 9 and 12 years old is the victim. The brutality of the maniac plunges city residents into horror. Parents are afraid of leaving their children alone on the street. The press reinforces the atmosphere of fear and hysteria.

During the siege of Leningrad a Nazi bombshell destroys the storage of an experimental medicine institute where deadly dangerous viruses were kept. Severe winter weather prevents an epidemic from breaking out in the besieged city. But the spring is coming, and Leningrad is on the brink of bacterial catastrophe. Doctor Maritskaya and NKWD officer Andreew have only three days to save the city.

Fashion photographer Roman Belov was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of four people. Roman is absolutely sure of his innocence, but cannot remember what really happened on the fateful night. In prison, a mysterious man who calls himself Master appears in his dreams and offers to help him find the real killer. But how to investigate if you are locked in a stone bag? And what price will have to be paid for the services of a person who can penetrate dreams?

The film is based on real events that took place in Samara in 1956 and known as the "Standing Zoe." During the holiday girl, without waiting her betrothed, removes the icon from the wall and Nicholas begins to dance with her, but suddenly freezes in place. This state continues for many months. Residents of the provincial town are frightened by this extraordinary event, which is cluttered with rumors and speculation. To try to understand the situation, there goes metropolitan newspaper journalist ...

A group of American tourists travels across Eastern Europe. By accident, they get to Chernobyl, where they face some local evil. These are the ghosts of killed citizens who tried to flee the city through military cordons. But it turns out that not all inhabitants of the Exclusion Zone are dead. The group have to reveal the mystery of an unusual girl from the dead city and try to get out from this place alive.

Sveta and Maxim, a happy newlyweds, are moving to their hew apartment only to discover that there is something mysterious and wrong about their new building.

1943 year. Alma-Ata. The hero of the film is a young Michurin fruit grower who revives a medicinal apple variety and investigates a strange crime. The script was written based on the book by Mikhail Zoshchenko "Before the Sunrise".

Detective story set up in the time and place of young Pushkin, at Tsarskosel'sky Liceum.

Group of Cossacks are coming to Moscow to buy an ox. Moscow turns out to be a devilish hole crowded with witches. Some local witch seduces one of the Cossacks, Kolka Smagin and robs him of his eyes, giving him alien blue ones instead. Now Kolka and his uncle Zarubin are ready to start World War III in order to get the eyes back. The quest begins.

Sasha and Ilya, a bored young couple on a verge of breakup, are spending a New Year's Eve at a secluded beach house in Northern France then a carcass of an unidentified creature is washed ashore nearby. Later that day on his way back from a local bar Ilya meets Masha, a lost Russian girl, who seems to have gotten off the train at the wrong station and has nowhere to spend the night.

Matvey: a simple guy from a small province. What differentiates him from others are his physical attributes such as his strong legs, powerful lungs and an incredible endurance. He uses these talents to help his team win football matches but also takes advantage of his skills when it comes to small criminal adventures. This worries Dasha, his girlfriend, who tries to endlessly protect Matvey, whilst her friends are hopelessly attempting to persuade her to leave. After all, there are better options out there... Especially Vadim. Suddenly, Matvey receives an incredible offer: to go audition for a Premier League football club in Moscow. Not wanting to leave Dasha behind, he realizes he needs to obtain money for them to travel together.

The remake of the soviet classic with a modern setting. Troshkin, a children's party entertainer, uncannily resembles the notorious criminal "Smilik". After the thief steals a valuable artifact, Troshkin is forced to act as his dead ringer in order to restore his reputation and good name.

Vampires appear in the Russian Empire of the 19th century. Count Draculov, originally from distant Transylvania, decides to buy a new mansion in Moscow. The deal is led by a young lawyer Pyotr Smirnov. During a conversation with the customer, Peter accidentally takes out a photograph of Varvara's bride, which the count immediately liked. Draculov leaves Petya in the mansion under the supervision of werewolf harlots, and he goes to Moscow in search of a girl. Peter goes on the trail of the count to protect his bride from a three-hundred-year-old vampire. The son of the famous professor, Vasya van Helsing, is trying to figure out all the further tangled events.

An aging writer has been in depression for many years, after breaking apart from his wife. The only thing that connects him to the real world is a teenage daughter, whom he should take care of. But one day in his life appears Anna, a mysterious and beautiful woman whom he finds in a forest.

Kukuschka is a bird, who follows the sun. It seems to her as if she already could touch It, but the Sun is still far away. Suddenly she is not alone anymore, but for two it's even more difficult to keep going so fast. She will reach the Sun, may be tommorow may be the day after.

Provincial story, beautifully played out in the spirit of the sinister detective. Dina, the student of Pedagogical Institute, comes to the practice to the little town paralyzed with fear. A series of mysterious murders seemingly dissimilar girls forcing residents to think that it is a work of a maniac.