Movies like Absences (2025)

The best movies like Absences (2025) are Mr. Arkadin (1955), Sleep, My Love (1948) and The Naked City (1948). If Absences hooked you with its mystery and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

Highest ratedThe Naked City (1948)7.2/10 from 298 votes
Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
In SpanishA Widow's Game (2025)Also in Spanish

Mr. Arkadin (1955)
Claiming that he doesn't know his own past, a rich man enlists an ex-con with an odd bit of detective work. Gregory Arkadin says he can't remember anything before the late 1920s, and convict Guy Van Stratten is happy to take the job of exploring his new acquaintance's life story. Guy's research turns up stunning details about his employer's past, and as his work seems linked to untimely deaths, the mystery surrounding Mr. Arkadin deepens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Sleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The 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 mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Maniac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Last Man Down (2021)
After civilization succumbs to a deadly pandemic and his wife is murdered, a special forces soldier abandons his duty and becomes a hermit in the Nordic wilderness. Years later, a wounded woman appears on his doorstep. She's escaped from a lab and her pursuers believe her blood is the key to a worldwide cure. He's hesitant to get involved, but all doubts are cast aside when he discovers her pursuer is none other than Commander Stone, the man that murdered his wife some years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Night 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 this
The Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
A Widow's Game (2025)
When a man is found dead, the investigation shatters his widow's perfect facade and exposes a hidden double life in this thriller based on real events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The Lady Vanishes (2013)
Young socialite Iris Carr befriends an older woman while traveling solo by train. When Iris wakes from a nap, the woman is gone and other passengers claim she never existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The Blackout (1997)
A debauched Hollywood movie actor tries to piece together one wild night in Miami years earlier which remains a drug-induced blur, and soon finds out that some questions about his past are best left unanswered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like this
The Experiment (2010)
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Black Widow (1987)
Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Hollow Man (2000)
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Off the Grid (2025)
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their biggest mistake of all – they weaponize the man they are trying to catch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Curve (2016)
Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The House of Snails (2021)
A writer secludes himself in the mountains and falls in lust with local Berta. After realizing the oddities of the rural community the author starts to question the lines between reality and fiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
180 (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
SnoozefestMovies like this
Road to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
Meurtre du tableau (2025)
An artist, surrounded by the mess in her studio, struggles with frustration as she tries to find inspiration for her new painting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
NewMovies like this
Proyecciones del Limbo (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
NewMovies like this
To Live and Die Under a Shadow (TBA)
Paralyzed by post-grad anxiety, a burned-out Jake spends his last summer beneath Boulder, Colorado's Flatirons. When a mysterious discovery threatens to consume him entirely and plunges him into a surreal nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
NewMovies like this
The Morning After (1986)
Failed actress Alex Sternbergen wakes up hungover one morning in an apartment she does not recognize, unable to remember the previous evening -- and with a dead body in bed next to her. As she tries to piece together the events of the night, Alex cannot totally rely on friends or her estranged husband, Joaquin, for assistance. Only a single ally, loner ex-policeman Turner Kendall, can help her escape her predicament and find the true killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
The Long Drive Home (2024)
Family man Ethan Miller is on his way home from work. The drive ahead of him is long, but after getting a distressing phone call from his wife, he realises that's the least of his problems...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
NewMovies like this
[PER(IN)SISTENCE] (2024)
A woman confined to a colorless room finds herself forced to eat a mysterious meal while being tormented by strange creatures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
NewMovies like this
Death Is The Bridge (2023)
An experimental meditation on the pervasive nature of transience.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
NewMovies like this
quem é que ela pensa que é? (2025)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
NewMovies like this
Quiet Please, Murder (1943)
A forger steals and kills for a rare book from a library in order to make forgeries to sell to rich suckers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
NewMovies like this
Commute (2026)
They pass each other everyday, obscured by the crowds. They will always be there, always crossing paths, alone.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
NewMovies like this

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Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Absences?

The closest matches to Absences are Mr. Arkadin (1955), Sleep, My Love (1948) and The Naked City (1948). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Absences?

Start with Mr. Arkadin (1955), the closest match to Absences.

What is the highest-rated movie like Absences?

The Naked City (1948), rated 7.2/10 by 298 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Absences?

180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there Spanish movies like Absences?

Yes: A Widow's Game (2025), The House of Snails (2021) and Proyecciones del Limbo (2025).

How are movies similar to Absences chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Absences, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.