Movies like The Third Victim (1967)
The best movies like The Third Victim (1967) are Ransom (1996), Palmetto (1998) and Trapped (2002). If The Third Victim hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSTRAW (2025)7.7/10 from 1,023 votes
- NewestThe Runner (2026)Released 2026
Ransom (1996)
When a rich man's son is kidnapped, he cooperates with the police at first but then tries a unique tactic against the criminals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalmetto (1998)
After being released from prison on a bum charge, Harry Barber is out for payback to regain his lost two years. He's hired by Mrs. Malroux to fake the kidnapping of her stepdaughter (the daughter of a dying millionaire). He discovers that he is being set up on multiple levels and will soon face a longer sentence if he doesn't prove the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrapped (2002)
Held hostage in different cities after their daughter is kidnapped by a master extortionist, a desperate couple must find a way to outsmart a seemingly foolproof plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Entitled (2011)
Without the security of the job he wants or the future he dreamed of, Paul Dynan plans the perfect crime to help his struggling family – abduct the socialite children of three wealthy men and collect a ransom of $3-million dollars. Over the course of one long night, Paul and his accomplices hold the rich kids hostage awaiting the ransom with little idea of the secrets that will surface between the fathers when they are forced to choose between their children and their money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)
A rich man's daughter is held captive in an abandoned apartment by two former convicts who abducted her and hold her ransom in exchange for her father's money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Say a Word (2001)
When the daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, he is horrified to discover that the abductors' demand is that he break through to a young woman, suffering from PTSD, who knows a secret six digit code number.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way of the Gun (2000)
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChina Moon (1994)
Detective Kyle Bodine falls for Rachel Munro who is trapped in a violent marriage. After she shoots her husband, Kyle relucantly agrees to help hide the body, but his partner is showing an unusual flair for finding clues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late for Tears (1949)
Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Runner (2026)
Maia Marten, a brilliant London lawyer, has her life shattered by a single call on her morning run: her son has been taken. To get him back, she must keep running, obey every ruthless command, and trust no one-each second a test of how far a mother will go to save her child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOxygen (1999)
When housewife Frances Hannon is abducted and buried alive, detective Madeline Foster is brought in. With only 24 hours before Frances' oxygen runs out, Madeline pursues the trail laid by a killer calling himself Harry Houdini. After capturing him, Madeline brings Harry back to the police station, but is unable to get him to confess where Frances is buried. As time runs down, Harry gets inside the head of unstable, alcoholic Madeline.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Betrayed (2008)
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisFamily Plot (1976)
Spiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragged Across Concrete (2019)
Two policemen, one an old-timer, the other his volatile younger partner, find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics becomes the media's cause du jour. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due, but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeist (2015)
A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChangeling (2008)
Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSTRAW (2025)
What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point — and into a shocking act of desperation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Money in the World (2017)
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Third Victim?
The closest matches to The Third Victim are Ransom (1996), Palmetto (1998) and Trapped (2002). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Third Victim?
Start with Ransom (1996), the closest match to The Third Victim.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Third Victim?
STRAW (2025), rated 7.7/10 by 1,023 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Third Victim?
The Runner (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Third Victim chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Third Victim, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.