Movies like Without Apparent Motive (1971)
The best movies like Without Apparent Motive (1971) are The Seven-Ups (1973), Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019) and I... for Icarus (1979). If Without Apparent Motive hooked you with its crime and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)7.4/10 from 5,945 votes
- NewestOscar Shaw (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchI... for Icarus (1979)Also in French
The Seven-Ups (1973)
A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019)
At a gathering of mystery and true crime fans, Aurora Teagarden’s nephew, Phillip, is accused of murder when an unplanned onstage blackout during the play in which he is performing ends, revealing Phillip holding the bloody knife that has just killed one of the other performers. 12th installment in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI... for Icarus (1979)
Following the assassination of President Marc Jarry, a member of the investigation committee refuses to sign off on the committee's final findings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOverdrive (2017)
Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Upper Hand (1966)
In Paris, a gold smuggler is at war with other local gangsters who want piece of the action. Then the mob shows up and makes things worse. And an undercover US Treasury Department agent is trying to infiltrate the smuggling business.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unknown Girl (2016)
Jenny, a young doctor who feels guilty after a young woman she refused to see winds up dead a few days later, decides to find out who the girl was, after the police can't identify the young woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Days and a Life (2019)
Christmas 1999, in a peaceful little village in the Ardennes. The life of a young boy named Antoine will soon be devastated by three tragic events : the death of a dog, the vanishing of a child, and a big ravaging storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen at Dinner (1985)
Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercule Poirot to use his famed tact and logic to make her case. Lord Edgware turns up murdered, a well-placed knife wound at the base of his neck. It will take the precise Poirot to sort out the lies from the alibis - and find the criminal before another victim dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Diamond (2014)
Simon, a burglar on probation, agreed to go on the biggest shot of his life: The flight of the "Florentine", a mythical diamond set auction by its owners. To succeed, he must approach Julia, expert diamond for sale which is a considerable personal and family issue. Beyond a jigsaw particularly daring, Julia Simon will lead to a destiny she could not imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIslands (2025)
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Reunited and It Feels So Deadly (2020)
Aurora's high school reunion turns deadly when a body is found in the hotel pool. Aurora and her Real Murders Club help investigate which classmate was most likely to kill.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCop or Hood (1979)
When the local police inspector was found dead in a prostitute's house, police division commissioner Stan Borowitz is sent to investigate the situation. Posing as the prostitute's long-lost brother "Antonio Cerruti," he discovers a mare's nest of police corruption. In fact, in this comedy thriller the whole town is corrupt. If they were closely examined, Stan's methods for pursuing this investigation might embarrass the police. For instance, he drives into a criminal's house in a fancy, expensive race car. In another incident, he callously blows up a casino owned by Musard , one of the town's crime bosses. On that occasion, he first forces Musard to remove his clothes, and the poor criminal watches his casino explode from across the square while standing naked in a phone booth. Meanwhile, Stan seduces the lovely Edmonde.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder in Three Acts (1986)
In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Watch (1973)
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLet Her Kill You (2023)
Alone in the mountains of Switzerland, Anne discovers that her isolated chalet is on surveillance and has been bugged. Caught up by her former life as an intelligence secret agent and an affair with her handler, Anne can only count on herself to get out alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOscar Shaw (2026)
After retiring from the police force, a relentless detective haunted by the tragic loss of his closest friend sets out on a perilous quest for vengeance, seeking redemption and fighting to restore justice to the streets he once swore to protect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThick as Thieves (2009)
A master thief recruits a notorious thief to help him steal two famous Faberge eggs from an impenetrable vault in an effort to pull off one final job and repay his debt to the Russian mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Wish II (1982)
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)
Madeleine, rendered mute after being sexually assaulted as a youth, accepts a lift from a wealthy and sadistic pimp who soon enslaves her into his prostitution racket. Despite her limited means, Madeleine embarks on a bloody road to revenge against her captors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIrreversible (2002)
A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVulgar (2002)
Vulgar is about a man who is a children's clown but has not been getting much luck lately. He lives in a cheap apartment which he can't even afford. Bums are constantly sleeping in his run down car and crashing on his lawn. He has a nagging mother who lives in a nursing home, and his best friend is a moocher. One day he comes up with the idea to become a bachelor clown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMs .45 (1981)
After being attacked and raped twice in one day, a timid, mute seamstress becomes a violent agent of revenge for wronged women.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPsycho Girls (2008)
A young woman and her friends revenge on guy who rape her, but who knows when she's gonna pay the same...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Arrombada - I'll Piss On Your Fucking Grave!!! (2007)
A girl is kidnapped by a drug dealer at the behest of a corrupt senator, who intends to hold a party in the presence of a demented priest and a doctor using the girl as fun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Descent (2007)
Following a brutal assault, a college co-ed's life spirals until she encounters her assailant while working as a dancer. The predator has become the prey, and the prey has set her sights on revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFigaros Wölfe (2017)
The suffering of a beautiful woman changes a lonely outsiders life forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Without Apparent Motive?
The closest matches to Without Apparent Motive are The Seven-Ups (1973), Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019) and I... for Icarus (1979). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Without Apparent Motive?
Start with The Seven-Ups (1973), the closest match to Without Apparent Motive.
What is the highest-rated movie like Without Apparent Motive?
Law Abiding Citizen (2009), rated 7.4/10 by 5,945 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Without Apparent Motive?
Oscar Shaw (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Without Apparent Motive?
Yes: I... for Icarus (1979), The Upper Hand (1966) and The Unknown Girl (2016).
How are movies similar to Without Apparent Motive chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Without Apparent Motive, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.