Movies like Zeitspiele (1980)
The best movies like Zeitspiele (1980) are Run Lola Run (1998), Boss Level (2021) and The Serpent's Egg (1977). If Zeitspiele hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Zeitspiele
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)7.7/10 from 220 votes
- NewestNot Without Hope (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanRun Lola Run (1998)Also in German
Run Lola Run (1998)
Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoss Level (2021)
A former special forces agent is trapped in a time loop and relives his death over and over again. To escape the terrible situation, he must track down those responsible and stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Serpent's Egg (1977)
In 1923 Berlin, following the suicide of his brother, an American acrobat struggles to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism, and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island (2023)
When his brother is killed, LAPD officer Mark leaves the city to return to the island he grew up on. Seeking answers and ultimately vengeance, he soon finds himself in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who's taken over the island paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimer (2004)
A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Time (2011)
In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest struggle to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who suddenly comes into a fortune of time finds himself on the run from a corrupt police force known as the "time keepers".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJay Kelly (2025)
Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager, Ron.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHard to Die (1990)
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings six months previously, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Anxiety (1977)
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDer Fuehrer's Face (1943)
A marching band of Germans, Italians, and Japanese march through the streets of swastika-motif Nutziland, serenading "Der Fuehrer's Face." Donald Duck, not living in the region by choice, struggles to make do with disgusting Nazi food rations and then with his day of toil at a Nazi artillery factory. After a nervous breakdown, Donald awakens to find that his experience was in fact a nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hit List (2011)
A disgruntled man creates a hit list with a stranger during a drunken night out and must then race to try to save those he marked for extermination as the bodies begin to pile up and all fingers point to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Night at the Opera (1935)
The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRollerball (1975)
In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Aisles (2018)
Christian, a reclusive young man from Leipzig, gets a job working the night shift at a big-box store. He's trained to stocks goods and operate a forklift by Bruno, a wistful former truck driver, who introduces Christian to a colorful group of overnight workers, including Marion, with whom Christian develops a troubled infatuation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse's next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Producers (1968)
A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Seventh Continent (1989)
Chronicles three years of a middle-class family seemingly caught up in their daily routines, troubled only by minor incidents. Behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, however, they're planning something much more sinister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorder Hunters (2025)
After his police officer brother is killed by a drug dealer who flees to the protection of his cartel-connected uncle in Mexico, an American man with a diverse law enforcement/military background goes south of the border to get revenge
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaycheck (2003)
Michael Jennings is a genius who's hired – and paid handsomely – by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he's incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he's told he isn't getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn't paid – and why he's now in hot water.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Zeitspiele and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Zeitspiele?
The closest matches to Zeitspiele are Run Lola Run (1998), Boss Level (2021) and The Serpent's Egg (1977). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Zeitspiele?
Start with Run Lola Run (1998), the closest match to Zeitspiele.
What is the highest-rated movie like Zeitspiele?
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), rated 7.7/10 by 220 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Zeitspiele?
Not Without Hope (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Zeitspiele?
Yes: Run Lola Run (1998), In the Aisles (2018) and Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922).
How are movies similar to Zeitspiele chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Zeitspiele, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.