Movies like Smoke Signs (2025)
The best movies like Smoke Signs (2025) are Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), A Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020) and Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent (2016). If Smoke Signs hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEdward Scissorhands (1990)7.7/10 from 14,200 votes
- Newest24 Hours with a Jock (While He Is Trying to Buy Weed in a Pandemic) (2023)Released 2023
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
A television newswoman picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader — Eddie Wilson — may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
After being forced into early retirement, former detective Jeff Jackson returns to a quiet life on Martha's Vineyard. Quiet, at least, until a body washes up and he's drawn back into crime solving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent (2016)
When Jenn's old pal Sandra becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, it'll be up to her to discover who done it before time runs out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFramed for Murder: A Fixer Upper Mystery (2017)
In the small resort town of Lighthouse Cove, everyone knows that the best man for the job is a woman. And that woman is Shannon Hughes, owner of a construction company and an expert in Victorian home restoration and renovation. Through her renovations she will find clues to uncover the house’s secret past and in turn become an unlikely sleuth to help crack these unsolved mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017)
Jenn buys an old reel-to-reel recorder at a garage sale only to find that it includes the sound of a man pleading for his life. When the former owner of the recorder, a retired therapist, is found murdered in a patient’s apartment, Jenn’s investigation leads to other patients whose love lives are more entangled than she was first led to believe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJanie Jones (2010)
When a fading musician (Alessandro Nivola) learns he has a teenage daughter (Abigail Breslin) from a long-ago tryst, he’s forced to take her on tour after her mother checks into rehab.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assault (2014)
After a cheerleader is sexually assaulted by the high school football team, she must overcome her shame and use the evidence gathered from the subsequent social media firestorm to piece together the night that she can't remember in her fight for justice. Based on the true story of the Steubenville, Ohio rape case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Naked City (1948)
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKing Creole (1958)
Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at The Blue Shade. Danny declines, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late Blues (1961)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)
In this epic two-part finale, the Doctor comes face to face with the mysterious Missy, and an impossible choice is looming. With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies, and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Wife's Nightmare (2014)
Liz, just returned home after a mental breakdown, has to welcome a relative stranger into her home when Caitlin, a young, vivacious woman, claims to be her husband's daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAugust Rush (2007)
Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater. After discovering his talent, the Wizard gives Evan the name "August Rush" and devises a plan to profit from his talent. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla and Louis, are searching for him too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Over Heels: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2017)
Librarian and real crime buff Aurora “Roe” Teagarden never liked Detective Sergeant Jack Burns, but she also never wanted to see him dead. When his body is found outside of Aurora’s home, she then becomes the main suspect. Determined to find the killer and clear her name, Aurora can't help but to get involved once again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoneydripper (2007)
In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisDonovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReap What You Sew: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2018)
Internet sensation and old family friend of Aurora Teagarden, Poppy Wilson, has returned to Lawrenceton to start her new embroidery business. But not everyone is happy with Poppy's success when she turns up dead. To find the killer, Roe must follow the unsettling truths that lead her—into the path of the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrime at School (1982)
Zlatko Kovač, a provincial professor, gets the job in the big city's school, only to find out that his red-employment is not random. Professor Toth, the man he replaced, has died under the strange circumstances. Kovac meets a variety of strange people in his school's collective, and it was not long before they came up with the new body. However, the police is unable to solve the case, but he takes the matter into his own hands and setting a trap for a murderer on a school manifestation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Vlada Goes to London (2020)
"Vlada Goes to London" is a short student film exploring the strong-willed Vlada on her night shift as a pizza delivery girl in her desperate attempt to book tickets to London and fulfill her dream of being a DJ. The end of the night brings more challenges than she expects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Escape from Sobibor (1987)
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this24 Hours with a Jock (While He Is Trying to Buy Weed in a Pandemic) (2023)
A Jock, while sitting at home alone and bored, is waiting for his dealer to bring him weed. He tries to pass his time by doing... absolutely nothing but to touch himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Haunted Trail (2021)
A group of college friends receive the surprise of their lives when they discover there is an actual killer on the scene of a local haunted trail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
It Ends with the Taste of Smoke (2013)
Conversation between man and woman that leads to some unexpected events.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
CASHED (2020)
After a rare night of drinking on her 25th birthday, Jess wakes up to a wicked hangover and surprise unemployment. As she struggles with whether or not to spend her last few bucks on weed, she tries to pick up the pieces of her life and find some peace of mind in the process.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Cat Returns (2002)
Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVeggieTales: Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed (1999)
Any rumors caught your ear lately? Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot learn just how easily rumors get started when they accidently launch a whopper about LarryBoy's butler, Alfred! Before they know it, their little story is spreading all over Bumblyburg like a weed! Can LarryBoy stop the rumor before Alfred gets hurt? Can anyone stop the rumor before LarryBoy gets hurt?!? In the end, the kids learn that God doesn't want us to tell stories that can hurt. He wants us to spread nice words! Don't miss the action in LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
A small suburban town receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Smoke Signs?
The closest matches to Smoke Signs are Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), A Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020) and Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Smoke Signs?
Start with Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), the closest match to Smoke Signs.
What is the highest-rated movie like Smoke Signs?
Edward Scissorhands (1990), rated 7.7/10 by 14,200 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Smoke Signs?
24 Hours with a Jock (While He Is Trying to Buy Weed in a Pandemic) (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Smoke Signs?
Yes: Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), A Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020) and Garage Sale Mystery: Guilty Until Proven Innocent (2016).
How are movies similar to Smoke Signs chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Smoke Signs, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.