Movies like Der Sandmann (1995)
The best movies like Der Sandmann (1995) are The Calendar Killer (2024), Mindcage (2022) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). If Der Sandmann hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated10 Rillington Place (1971)7.3/10 from 228 votes
- NewestVerity (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanThe Calendar Killer (2024)Also in German
The Calendar Killer (2024)
Klara is going to die today unless she kills her husband instead. The Calendar Killer has given her that impossible choice. When Jules starts his night shift at a telephone safety helpline for lonely women on their way home, Klara's call reaches him. He soon becomes her last hope for survival and races against time to save her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindcage (2022)
Detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist's brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Calling (2014)
Detective Hazel Micallef hasn't had much to worry about in the sleepy town of Port Dundas until a string of gruesome murders in the surrounding countryside brings her face to face with a serial killer driven by a higher calling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Number 23 (2007)
Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Whisper Man (2026)
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThose Who Wish Me Dead (2021)
A young boy finds himself pursued by two assassins in the Montana wilderness, with a survival expert determined to protect him, and a forest fire threatening to consume them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFallen (1998)
Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVerity (2026)
Lowen Ashleigh, hired to ghostwrite for best-selling author Verity Crawford, uncovers Verity's autobiographical notes, and becomes involved in what may prove to be a lethal conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTed Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRetroactive (1997)
A psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this10 Rillington Place (1971)
The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKill the Messenger (2014)
A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaces in the Crowd (2011)
Anna is living with "face-blindness" after surviving a serial killer's attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Told Me To (1976)
A New York detective investigates a series of murders committed by random citizens who claim that 'God told them to'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCaught Stealing (2025)
Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of late 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCop (1988)
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 'Burbs (1989)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrailty (2002)
A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCurdled (1996)
A death-obsessed cleaning woman uncovers a clue identifying a Florida bartender for a series of socialite murders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)
Chris Miller, living with her stepmother in a large secluded mansion, finds her isolation interrupted by the arrival of an unknown scythe-wielding killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pathology (2008)
Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove Stalk (2016)
Sharon is a fast-rising PR executive from Singapore, searching for love in Hong Kong, who may have found her dream guy, but as she chases after him online and in person, Sharon quickly finds out the dangers of stalking a secret crush.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Saturn Bowling (2022)
In a family-owned bowling alley, tension arises between two brothers following their father's death. Meanwhile one of them, a cop, is investigating a series of disturbing murders. Both brothers soon find themselves trapped in a looming darkness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisErasmus (2016)
Montse just wanted to make a documentary about partying at the Barcelona night clubs. But what begins as a fun evening out turns into hours of unending terror as Montse's video cameras capture a mysterious fiend killing off her friends one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Final Girl (2015)
Veronica, the new girl in town, is lured into the woods by a group of senior boys looking to make her a victim. But the boys don't know that Veronica's been trained to handle herself in surprisingly lethal ways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisEk Villain (2014)
An ex-gangster re-enters the world of violence after his wife is murdered by a serial killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Der Sandmann?
The closest matches to Der Sandmann are The Calendar Killer (2024), Mindcage (2022) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Der Sandmann?
Start with The Calendar Killer (2024), the closest match to Der Sandmann.
What is the highest-rated movie like Der Sandmann?
10 Rillington Place (1971), rated 7.3/10 by 228 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Der Sandmann?
Verity (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Der Sandmann?
Yes: The Calendar Killer (2024).
How are movies similar to Der Sandmann chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Der Sandmann, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.