Movies like The Russell Murders
The best movies like The Russell Murders are Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017). If The Russell Murders hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Crash (2026)6.8/10 from 201 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
Murder 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 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 thisOut of Thin Air (2017)
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies 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 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 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 thisTales of the Grim Sleeper (2014)
When Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested in South Central Los Angeles in 2010 as the suspected murderer of a string of young black women, police hailed it as the culmination of 20 years of investigations. Four years later documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield took his camera to the alleged killer’s neighborhood for another view.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty John: The Dirty Truth (2019)
John Meehan created a terrifying trap of seduction, deceit and betrayal for countless victims. The illuminating revelations into his backstory showcase a series of events that flipped switches to create a monster wired for psychopathy. Goffard exposes John’s troubled background that built the foundation for his ominous fantasy world of lies and manipulation. In addition to hearing the Newell family’s terrifying tale, John’s first wife Tonia Bales and her daughters Emily and Abigail Meehan speak out, along with other women from his past who were caught in his web of lies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mystery of D.B. Cooper (2020)
This documentary brings to life the stories of four people believed by their family and friends to be “DB Cooper,” a man who hijacked a 727 flying out of Seattle and jumped from the plane over the wilds of Washington State with a parachute and $200,000, never to be heard from again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInto 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cheshire Murders (2013)
In the early-morning hours of July 23, 2007, in Cheshire, Conn., ex-convicts Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky broke into the family home of William Petit, his wife, Jennifer, and their daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17. Dr. Petit was beaten and tied to a pole in the basement. The three women were bound in their bedrooms while the men ransacked the house. The brutal ordeal continued throughout the morning, ending with rape, arson and a horrific triple homicide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFather Soldier Son (2020)
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crash (2026)
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTed Bundy: Mind of a Monster (2019)
New exclusive access and never before heard testimony gives a unique insight into the mind of America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Breathtaking archive from the time and the voice of Bundy himself, reveals the monster inside the man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisH.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer (2004)
Torture chambers, acid vats, greased chutes and gassing rooms were just some of the devices of death designed by the Torture Doctor, H.H. Holmes in his castle of horrors. Follows Holmes' entire life as a criminal mastermind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisOut of Mind, Out of Sight (2014)
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Who Is Luigi Mangione? (2025)
Writings and social media posts help to reveal the secret life and troubles of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the brazen murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and whom so many people are calling a hero.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Great Horsemeat Scandal (2024)
This stranger than fiction crime thriller tells the hidden story of the Horsemeat Scandal. With testimony from whistleblowers, the detectives who cracked the case and journalists who uncovered how horsemeat ended up in our high street stores, it’s an outlandish tale that changed what we eat forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Evil Among Us: Ted Bundy (2022)
To the outside world, Ted Bundy was a law student, devoted friend, and church-going family man, but below the surface lurked something darker….a serial killer who took the lives of thirty young women in sadistic fits of rage. What drove Bundy’s insatiable appetite? How did he get away with it for so long? Were there any signs? And how has this maniacal killer made us reconsider the evil that may be hiding in our midst?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Old Growth Murder (2022)
A feature-length documentary exploring the unsolved murder of French bicyclist Alain Malessard who was found dead in an Oregon Coast campground on Thanksgiving 1987.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (2013)
NCR: Not Criminally Responsible tells the story of a troubled young man who stabbed a complete stranger 6 times in a crowded shopping mall while gripped by psychosis. Twelve years later, his victim, who miraculously survived, is terrified to learn that he's out, living in the community under supervision. He's applying for an absolute discharge, and if he succeeds, he'll no longer be required to take the anti-psychotic drugs that control his mental illness. With unprecedented access to the patient, the victim, and the mental institution, the film looks at both sides of the debate and puts a human face on the complex ethical issues raised.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder in a Teacup (2024)
When members of a workforce began falling violently ill, locals believed a virus was sweeping the area, but after the death of two men it became clear that the only impurity was a serial poisoner with a toxic past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Long Shot (2017)
When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around unexpected raw footage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPé de Pato: As (in)Justiças de um Cidadão Comum (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Russell Murders?
The closest matches to The Russell Murders are Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Russell Murders?
Start with Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020), the closest match to The Russell Murders.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Russell Murders?
The Crash (2026), rated 6.8/10 by 201 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Russell Murders?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Russell Murders?
Yes: Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020), A Toxic Love Story (2026) and Out of Thin Air (2017).
How are movies similar to The Russell Murders chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Russell Murders, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.