Movies like A Friend of the Family: True Evil (2022)
The best movies like A Friend of the Family: True Evil (2022) are Victim/Suspect (2023), Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017). If A Friend of the Family: True Evil hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAthlete A (2020)7.5/10 from 299 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
Victim/Suspect (2023)
Investigative journalist Rae de Leon travels nationwide to uncover and examine a shocking pattern: Young women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbducted in Plain Sight (2017)
A family falls prey to the manipulative charms of a neighbor, who abducts their adolescent daughter. Twice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCapturing the Friedmans (2003)
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAileen: Queen of the Serial Killers (2025)
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America (2023)
Survivors, whistleblowers, and experts recount the Boy Scouts of America's decadeslong cover-up of sexual abuse cases and its heartbreaking impact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPredators (2025)
In the mid-aughts, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator drew millions of weekly viewers to watch sting operations: men planning to meet minors for sex would instead be confronted by polished host Chris Hansen, then by the police — all on hidden camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMommy Dead and Dearest (2017)
Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Kill a Tiger (2023)
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnknown Number: The High School Catfish (2025)
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012)
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMemories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021)
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAthlete A (2020)
Follow the Indianapolis Star reporters that broke the story about USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's abuse and hear from gymnasts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Vanessa Guillen (2022)
Vanessa Guillen was 20 years old when she was found murdered at a US Army base. Rather than submit to silence, her family fought for justice and change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCosmetic Criminals (2024)
A short mockumentary detailing the rise of intergenerational cosmetic theft through the eyes of an affected family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
20 Years on Death Row (2018)
An in-depth examination to Keith Doolin, a former long-distance truck driver with no previous criminal convictions, currently incarcerated on death row in San Quentin prison around 20 miles north of San Francisco. He was convicted of the murder of two women in 1995 and after 20 years maintaining his innocence whilst awaiting execution he is still in limbo, going through California’s capital appeals system. Keith Doolin’s case is now a race against time. In late 2016, voters in California elected to speed up the death penalty process whilst Doolin’s defence lawyers claim they have uncovered credible new key evidence that will exonerate Doolin and could save his life and free him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Akte Münsterlandmörder (2022)
4 women, murdered and forgotten. About a serial killer who kept the Münsterland and its surrounding regions in fear from 1971 to 1974 and then disappeared without a trace. The film uncovers new theories and provides possible answers to the questions: Who was this unknown? Who knows the truth?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Crimes Against Humanity (2017)
A reflection about the urgent necessity of a Universal Jurisdiction enabled to act where other initiatives fail. We are resolved to give voice to the forgotten victims of the Spanish Franco regime and determined to become an agent of change for the dissemination of some events which have left a mark on the Spanish society and which are still unknown nowadays by most of the population, who thinks to know them, but actually got a manipulated version in the best-case scenario.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson (2025)
Explores the personal toll on James Safechuck and Wade Robson after they went public with accusations against pop icon Michael Jackson. The two men continue to seek justice as they face backlash from his global army of fans. With exclusive access to court hearings, the film shows the extent to which the Jackson estate has fought to prevent Robson and Safechuck from having their day in court.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lie: The Murder of Grace Millane (2024)
The shocking murder of 21-year-old British backpacker, Grace Millane, in New Zealand grabbed headlines around the world in 2018, as did the ensuing investigation and trial. This chilling true-crime documentary revisits the night of her tragic murder with previously unseen footage and expert analysis, exploring the alarming, regressive attitudes laid bare in the subsequent trial, and highlighting important, broader issues of violence against women in today’s society.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence (2007)
Documentarian Jeffrey Morgan set out to the track one woman's search for the truth about her great-great-aunt's 1908 murder. But his film quickly became a fascinating study of racism, revenge and family secrets. In the process of uncovering information about her ancestor's violent death at the hands of an African-American suspect, the woman learns that her family tree might have also produced a few murderers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Into the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2020)
When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Amanda Knox Saga (2014)
Amanda Knox served four years in an Italian prison for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007, always insisting on her innocence. In 2011, she was acquitted on the basis of DNA evidence but prosecutors successfully appealed and her acquittal was struck down. In 2014 she was again found guilty in absentia after a retrial and sentenced to 28 years and six months in jail. The saga came to and end when Italy's highest court overturned the convictions of Ms Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito in March 2015. Known burglar Rudy Guede was arrested a short time later following the discovery of his bloodstained fingerprints on Kercher's possessions. He was later found guilty of murder in a fast-track trial and is currently (as of 2019) serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Who Killed These Women? (The Tinley Park 5) (TBA)
"Who Killed These Women?" is an intense examination into the largest unsolved mass shooting in modern day America today. On Feb 2, 2008 a killer executed five women inside a Lane Bryant department store in suburban Chicago. One person managed to survive as she shifted her head at the last second as the bullet grazed her neck.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Friend of the Family: True Evil?
The closest matches to A Friend of the Family: True Evil are Victim/Suspect (2023), Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Friend of the Family: True Evil?
Start with Victim/Suspect (2023), the closest match to A Friend of the Family: True Evil.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Friend of the Family: True Evil?
Athlete A (2020), rated 7.5/10 by 299 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Friend of the Family: True Evil?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Friend of the Family: True Evil?
Yes: Victim/Suspect (2023), Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017).
How are movies similar to A Friend of the Family: True Evil chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Friend of the Family: True Evil, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.