Movies like Playing Dead (2000)
The best movies like Playing Dead (2000) are The 6th Man (1997), The Bad Seed (2018) and Careful What You Wish For (2015). If Playing Dead hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Playing Dead
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Bad Seed (2018)7.0/10 from 368 votes
- NewestMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)Released 2026
The 6th Man (1997)
A college athlete returns from the dead to help his brother's basketball team win the NCAA title.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad Seed (2018)
A widower suspects that his seemingly perfect adolescent daughter is a heartless killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCareful What You Wish For (2015)
A guy gets more than he bargained for after entering into an affair with the wife of an investment banker. Soon, a suspicious death and substantial life insurance policy embroil him in a scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSpiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran, brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStoker (2013)
Following her father Richard's death in an unexplained road accident, reclusive teenager India Stoker withdraws further into the quiet rural life she shares with her emotionally disturbed mother Evie. But her curiosity is stirred when her mysterious uncle Charlie, who she has never met, suddenly arrives unannounced. Told that the darkly charismatic Charlie will now be staying at the house, India's initial well-founded distrust of her uncle's motivations begins to waver as she finds herself becoming ever more deeply entranced by his sinister charms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisUrban Legend (1998)
A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJigsaw (2017)
Law enforcement finds itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that's only just begun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Vanishing (1993)
The boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrand Hotel (1932)
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLocked (2025)
When Eddie breaks into a luxury SUV, he steps into a deadly trap set by William, a self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice. With no means of escape, Eddie must fight to survive in a ride where escape is an illusion, survival is a nightmare, and justice shifts into high gear.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Reckless Moment (1949)
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadhouse (1974)
A horror movie star returns to his famous role after spending years in a mental institution, but the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlfie (1966)
A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this21 (2008)
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightwatch (1997)
A law student takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue and begins to discover clues that implicate him as the suspect in a series of murders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Playing Dead?
The closest matches to Playing Dead are The 6th Man (1997), The Bad Seed (2018) and Careful What You Wish For (2015). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Playing Dead?
Start with The 6th Man (1997), the closest match to Playing Dead.
What is the highest-rated movie like Playing Dead?
The Bad Seed (2018), rated 7.0/10 by 368 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Playing Dead?
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Playing Dead?
Yes: The 6th Man (1997), The Bad Seed (2018) and Careful What You Wish For (2015).
How are movies similar to Playing Dead chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Playing Dead, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.