Movies like The Composer (2024)
The best movies like The Composer (2024) are Whiplash (2014), The Crush (1993) and Death and the Maiden (1994). If The Composer 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 ratedWhiplash (2014)8.4/10 from 17,368 votes
- NewestStrung (2026)Released 2026
Whiplash (2014)
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Crush (1993)
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath and the Maiden (1994)
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Experiment (2010)
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Silence of the Sky (2016)
After being a victim of rape within their own home, Diana chooses to keep the trauma secret. Mario, her husband, also has something to hide. The silence takes the couple's account over the day turns gradually into a peculiar form of violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
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 · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocturnal Animals (2016)
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUna (2017)
When a young woman unexpectedly arrives at an older man's workplace, looking for answers, the secrets of the past threaten to unravel his new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrung (2026)
A talented violinist's prestigious new role as a music tutor for an enigmatic, elite family spirals into a psychological battle for her safety and sanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPerfect Stranger (2007)
A journalist goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill as her best friend's killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Protégé (2021)
Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody and trained in the family business, Anna is the world’s most skilled contract killer. When Moody, the man who was like a father to her and taught her everything she needs to know about trust and survival, is brutally killed, Anna vows revenge. As she becomes entangled with an enigmatic killer whose attraction to her goes way beyond cat and mouse, their confrontation turns deadly and the loose ends of a life spent killing will weave themselves ever tighter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaiting for the Barbarians (2020)
At an isolated frontier outpost, a colonial magistrate suffers a crisis of conscience when an army colonel arrives looking to interrogate the locals about an impending uprising, using cruel tactics that horrify the magistrate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhiplash (2013)
A ferocious, bullying music teacher teaches a dedicated student.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpeak (2004)
Freshman high-school student Melinda has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents too busy to notice her troubles, she folds into herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMartha (1974)
After the death of her abusive father, lonely librarian Martha finds herself caught up in a strange, sadomasochistic relationship with a monstrous husband whom she begins to suspect may be trying to murder her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSin piedad (2025)
Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
ANORAK (TBA)
A short film that delves deep into the psyche of young protagonist Will. Follow the intriguing tale of Will as he finds himself captivated and consumed by his obsession with a girl named Bliss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
The Poet (2023)
A modernized telling of the Greek Mythology romantic tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986)
An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relationship begins to get complicated.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngst & Flesh (2019)
Elena loves Abel, she is drowning on the anguish of being, her subconscious manifests her urges; during the funeral misfortune sets in. Laceration and calm, devotion and fear, angst and flesh.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cat's Eye (2025)
A woman visits a personal stretcher, only to have unexpected objects pulled out of her body. A near silent witness statement to the reopening of invisible wounds in an abstract pursuit of healing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Concert of 1936 (1978)
In 1936, two female artists (a singer and a pianist) visit the city of Lushnja, which was very conservative.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Al Coda (2025)
A student at a prestigious music academy struggles to recreate a piece of sheet music stolen by an egocentric professor. After given just 2 hours to complete this task, he experiences the highs and lows of this process as it alters the way he thinks about the creation of art itself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Girls with the Red Ribbons (1978)
Jeta is a student who is a member of the illegals and tries to create a group of antifascist girls in her school.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Composer and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Composer?
The closest matches to The Composer are Whiplash (2014), The Crush (1993) and Death and the Maiden (1994). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Composer?
Start with Whiplash (2014), the closest match to The Composer.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Composer?
Whiplash (2014), rated 8.4/10 by 17,368 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Composer?
Strung (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Composer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Composer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.