Movies like Knife in the Water (1962)
The best movies like Knife in the Water (1962) are The River Wild (1994), Cassandra's Dream (2007) and On Fire (2023). If Knife in the Water hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated12 Angry Men (1957)8.6/10 from 10,592 votes
- NewestTrain Dreams (2025)Released 2025
The River Wild (1994)
Gail and Tom Hartman are struggling to stay together and decide to take a white-water rafting holiday adventure in Montana for their son Roarke's 10th birthday, only to meet up with a pair of mysterious men whose desperation grows, turning their vacation into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCassandra's Dream (2007)
The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Fire (2023)
Inspired by true and harrowing events, an ordinary man finds his world suddenly torn apart as devastating wildfires rip through the surrounding countryside. With precious moments ticking by, he must flee with his son and pregnant wife if they have any hope of surviving the rapid forces of mother nature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtortion (2017)
A doctor desperately tries to save his wife and their 5 year old son after their vacation in the Bahamas takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Bedroom (2001)
Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music teacher. His son is involved in a love affair with a local single mother. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWildlike (2015)
Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie is sent to live with her uncle in Juneau when her mother can’t care for her anymore. The living situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, and she runs away to rejoin her mother in Seattle. While on her dangerous journey of sleeping in cars and breaking into hotel rooms, she’s drawn to Rene, a lonesome backpacker looking for tranquility in the wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEye of the Needle (1981)
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Time (2003)
Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead of Winter (2025)
A widowed fisherwoman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl's only hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sea of Trees (2016)
In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of love and redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLifeboat (1944)
During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mechanic (1972)
Arthur Bishop is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on one of his victim's sons, Steve McKenna, as his apprentice. Arthur puts him through a rigorous training period and brings him on several hits. As Steven improves, Arthur worries that he'll discover who killed his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Two Faces of January (2014)
After he kills a detective, a con artist and his wife must trust a potentially dangerous stranger to help them get out of Greece.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMud (2013)
Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKey Largo (1948)
A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhite Squall (1996)
In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon at the helm, the oceangoing voyage is intended to teach the boys fortitude and discipline. But the youthful crew are about to get some unexpected instruction in survival when they get caught in the clutches of a white squall storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Hank Stamper and his father, Henry, own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank's wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank's half brother Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild Things (1998)
When teen-socialite Kelly Van Ryan and troubled bad girl Suzie Toller accuse guidance counselor Sam Lombardo of rape, he's suspended by the school, rejected by the town, and fighting to get his life back. One cop suspects conspiracy, but nothing is what it seems...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Went That Way (2024)
Set in 1964, a three-day journey along Route 66 begins when Bobby Falls, a 19-year-old serial killer, hitches a ride with Jim Goodwin, a celebrity animal handler travelling with his precious cargo: his TV chimpanzee, Spanky.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPurple Noon (1960)
Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Calm (1989)
An Australian couple takes a sailing trip in the Pacific to get over the recent loss of their son. While on the open sea, they come across a sinking ship with one survivor who is not at all what he seems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Knife (1967)
In 1960s Belgrade, a young and much-loved singer Aleksandar Kiš is murdered in his flat. His body is discovered by Ana, his model lover. For Inspector Marko and his team, the case seems unsolvable. The subsequent investigation pieces together the victim’s past and reveals the price of his success: ambition, cynicism and many enemies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Jaws 2 (1978)
Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this12 Angry Men (1957)
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSummer '04 (2006)
A character study of a family on vacation. The emotional abyss and problems are behind the seemingly nice facade of an intact family as they experience guilt, love, and jealousy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Resurrection (1999)
A jaded homicide detective has been put on the case of a ruthless killer in the city of Chicago, who leaves a trail of horribly mutilated and dismembered corpses along with perversely ironic biblical quotes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hitcher (1986)
On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Knife in the Water?
The closest matches to Knife in the Water are The River Wild (1994), Cassandra's Dream (2007) and On Fire (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Knife in the Water?
Start with The River Wild (1994), the closest match to Knife in the Water.
What is the highest-rated movie like Knife in the Water?
12 Angry Men (1957), rated 8.6/10 by 10,592 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Knife in the Water?
Train Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Knife in the Water chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Knife in the Water, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.