Movies like Monsters (2025)
The best movies like Monsters (2025) are In Cold Light (2026), 180 (2026) and Blood Ties (2013). If Monsters hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPresumed Innocent (1990)6.8/10 from 872 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
In Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlood Ties (2013)
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Ends (2025)
A man raised in a violent crime family struggles to build an honest life with his fiancée but is dragged back into the criminal world after his cousin’s armed robbery leaves an innocent person caught in the crossfire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTed Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Told Me To (1976)
A New York detective investigates a series of murders committed by random citizens who claim that 'God told them to'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisShimmer Lake (2017)
Shot in reverse day-by-day through a week—a local sheriff embarks on a quest to unlock the mystery of three small-town criminals and a bank heist gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5lbs of Pressure (2024)
Fresh out of prison after serving time for murder, Adam returns to his old stomping grounds to seek out a son who doesn't know him. Eli, the brother of the man he killed is looking for revenge. Mike, is trying to escape a life of crime living under the thumb of his gangster Uncle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbsolution (2024)
An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children. He is determined to leave a positive legacy for his grandson, but the criminal underworld isn’t done with him and won’t loosen their grip willingly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCa$h (2010)
A stroke of good luck turns lethal for Sam Phelan and his wife Leslie when they are faced with a life-changing decision that brings strange and sinister Pyke Kubic to their doorstep. As Pyke leads Sam and Leslie on a tumultuous adventure through the streets of Chicago, each are pulled deeper and deeper into a desperate spiral of deception and violence – all in the name of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to the Punch (2013)
When notorious criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London, it gives detective Max Lewinsky one last chance to take down the man he's always been after.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn letzter Sekunde (2008)
The plan seems to be working. The beautiful policewoman takes up a position in Deniz's company and quickly gains the trust and affection of her young compatriot. Gradually, she learns details about the planned attack from Deniz, who is actually in contact with fanatical Islamists, including German Muslim converts. And she gets to know the head of the group, the shady Abu "Ayman" Gallaz. But Yasemin can't fool him. Ayman immediately starts his own investigations. When his suspicions are confirmed and he is certain that Deniz has been seduced by an undercover agent, he skillfully exploits this knowledge. He lures the police onto the wrong track with targeted false information and gives Deniz the job of eliminating Yasemin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKanta Serigala (1991)
Zarul lives in his own world. Dania, a beautiful, luxurious and popular rock singer is not appreciated by her fiance Imran. Syakira, Zarul's sister, met her death at the hands of those who promised to make her an idol singer. Zarul, who lost his beloved brother, lives in revenge that is not over. After killing his brother's two killers, Zarul kidnaps Dania. Imran realizes the loss of his fiance and tries to find him. While Zarul continues to live in revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
A Lethal Lesson (2021)
High school teacher Lauren finds her life up side down when her job, the custody of her adopted daughter and even her safety is in danger when an angry student falsely claims to have had an affair with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Vera (2022)
Vera has young woman as the main heroine, who is in the jaws of the war spy network in WW2 and also of the patriarchal society in the Balkans with full of powerful, arrogant men with whom she deals bravely and arrogantly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
A murder takes place in the shop of David Lyons, a deaf man who fails to hear the gunshot being fired. Outside, blind man Wally Karue hears the shot, but cannot see the perpetrator. Both are arrested, but escape to form an unlikely partnership. Being chased by both the law AND the original killers, can the pair work together to outwit them all?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ninth Day (2004)
During WWII, head priest Henri Kremer is mysteriously freed from Dachau. He learns that he can return home to Luxembourg, for only nine days, during which he'll have to face a persuasive Gestapo chief who will put his faith to the test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Final Cut (2004)
Set in a world with memory implants, Alan Hakman is a 'cutter'—someone with the power of final edit over people's recorded histories—but his latest assignment puts him in great danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Above Water (1996)
Judge George brings his young wife, Nathalie, to a remote island for a vacation. But while George accompanies their only neighbor -- Nathalie's childhood friend Lance -- on a fishing trip, Nathalie spends time with her ex, Kent. When Kent ends up dead the next morning, Nathalie tries to hide the evidence before her husband gets home. After the body is found, the events of the previous night unravel, with unexpected revelations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Musterknaben (1997)
Docker and Dretzke are two police officers from Cologne. But the cases here in the precinct don't win them a flower pot at the CID. And so they find themselves at the bottom of the career ladder. When they are assigned by the Düsseldorf State Office of Criminal Investigation to work the night shift on an apartment where drugs are presumably being dealt during the day, they discover more than their Düsseldorf colleagues had planned...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Like Monsters and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Monsters?
The closest matches to Monsters are In Cold Light (2026), 180 (2026) and Blood Ties (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Monsters?
Start with In Cold Light (2026), the closest match to Monsters.
What is the highest-rated movie like Monsters?
Presumed Innocent (1990), rated 6.8/10 by 872 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Monsters?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Monsters chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Monsters, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.