Movies like Tales of the Black Freighter (2009)
The best movies like Tales of the Black Freighter (2009) are The Spine of Night (2021), Operation Blood Hunt (2024) and Heavy Metal (1981). If Tales of the Black Freighter hooked you with its animation and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)8.1/10 from 1,545 votes
- NewestPredator: Killer of Killers (2025)Released 2025
The Spine of Night (2021)
When ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind, a group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Blood Hunt (2024)
Prolific expert of the occult and whiskey, Reverend Conte, accompanies a ragtag group of military rejects to a remote South Pacific Island to investigate the disappearance of Marines units stationed there in 1944, said to be at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. Upon speaking with the island’s inhabitants, they soon discover the Marines had actually been massacred by a group of Lycanthropes, known to most as WEREWOLVES.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeavy Metal (1981)
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalcon Rising (2014)
Chapman is an ex-marine in Brazil's slums, battling the yakuza outfit who attacked his sister and left her for dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor the Sake of Vicious (2021)
An overworked nurse returns home to find a maniac hiding out with a bruised and beaten hostage. When an unexpected wave of violent intruders descend upon her home, it becomes a fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaylight's End (2016)
Years after a mysterious plague has devastated the planet and turned most of humanity into blood-hungry creatures, a rogue drifter on a vengeful hunt stumbles across a band of survivors in an abandoned police station and reluctantly agrees to try to help them defend themselves and escape to the sanctuary they so desperately need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
The vicious, power-mad Kano is determined to take over Earthrealm, one soul at a time. Assisted by a trio of cold Black Dragon mercenaries, he embarks on a brutal assault from town to defenseless town. The choice is simple: kneel or be annihilated. Kenshi, a rebel warrior, calls on Kuai Liang, the only one powerful enough to challenge the malevolent Kano. But Kuai Liang has given up the ways of the warrior, and Kenshi is too undisciplined to defeat Kano himself. If Kuai Liang cannot break through the glacier of doubt that holds him back, Earthrealm will fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021)
Escaping from poverty to become a witcher, Vesemir slays monsters for coin and glory, but when a new menace rises, he must face the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
After the vicious slaughter of his family by stone-cold mercenary Sub-Zero, Hanzo Hasashi is exiled to the torturous Netherrealm. There, in exchange for his servitude to the sinister Quan Chi, he’s given a chance to avenge his family – and is resurrected as Scorpion, a lost soul bent on revenge. Back on Earthrealm, Lord Raiden gathers a team of elite warriors – Shaolin monk Liu Kang, Special Forces officer Sonya Blade, and action star Johnny Cage – an unlikely band of heroes with one chance to save humanity. To do this, they must defeat Shang Tsung's horde of Outworld gladiators and reign over the Mortal Kombat tournament.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMad God (2021)
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrath of Becky (2023)
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, 16-year-old Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman -- a kindred spirit named Elena. However, when a violent group known as the Noble Men break into their home, attack them and take their beloved dog, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShaft in Africa (1973)
Detective John Shaft travels incognito to Ethiopia, then France, to bust a human trafficking ring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
When Shao Kahn's Outworld barbarians terrorize Earthrealm, Lord Raiden is determined to put an end to the carnage once and for all. This leaves one option: a final Mortal Kombat tournament for the future of Earthrealm – win it or lose everything. Raiden's elite fighters Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and a few new faces kick the action into overdrive as they go head-to-head with Outworld's most bloodthirsty warriors. But deep in the Netherrealm, an unspeakable scheme by the malevolent Shinnok unfolds, threatening to obliterate existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAzrael (2024)
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPredator: Killer of Killers (2025)
While three of the fiercest warriors in human history—a Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a WWII pilot—are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent: the ultimate killer of killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWake of Death (2004)
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his wife's brutal murder. When Archer joins forces with his old underworld friends, an all-out war is waged against the Chinese Triad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stakelander (2016)
When his home of New Eden is destroyed by a revitalized Brotherhood and its new Vamp leader, Martin finds himself alone in the badlands of America with only the distant memory of his mentor and legendary vampire hunter, Mister, to guide him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath Machine (1995)
Chaank Armaments is experimenting with the ultimate fighting machine which is part human - part machine. So far, the Hardman project has been unreliable and has killed a number of innocent people. The genius behind this project is Jack who lives in a world of models, toys and magazines. When he is fired by Cale for killing a few corporate officers, he unleashes the ultimate killing machine called the 'Warbeast' against Cale and those who would help her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisResident Evil: Extinction (2007)
Years after the Racoon City catastrophe, survivors travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against hordes of zombies and the evil Umbrella Corp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho's Afraid of Slavko? (2025)
During the student blockades in Serbia in 2025, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts' beloved cat, Slavko, gets hungry and eats the building of the corrupted state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia, RTS (Radio Television of Serbia).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & action
El Materdor (2008)
Mater is a matador fighting a herd of bulldozers in Spain. When Lightning McQueen enters the story, the bulldozers begin to chase him due to his red paint.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Return of the Monster (2017)
A little boy is bedeviled by recurring nightmares of a monster that just won’t go away.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & horror
Kamen Rider Hibiki: Asumu Transform! You can be an Oni, too!! (2005)
Asumu Adachi imagines if he could be like Kamen Rider Hibiki, and are approached by talking Disc Animals who teach him how to be like Hibiki, eventually allowing Asumu to transform into Kamen Rider Armed Hibiki.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Absolution, Parsin (2022)
The imagined perpetrator in a famously unsolved true-crime case, “Who Put Bella Down the Wych Elm”, is confronted about his past by an unearthly Bison in this Stop-Motion animated short film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & horror
The Crimson Permanent Assurance (1983)
A group of down-and-out accountants mutiny against their bosses and sail their office building onto the high seas in search of a pirate's life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThere is exactly enough time (2021)
Oskar Salomonowitz, the 12-year-old son of filmmakers Anja Salomonowitz and Virgil Widrich, had drawn 206 pictures in a flip book when he died in an accident. His father continued to draw the film with the remaining 482 sheets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Health for the Americas: Cleanliness Brings Health (1945)
The comparison of two rural families to demonstrate the need for proper hygiene and the consequences of its neglect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Night (1930)
The moon and two owls sing to the Blue Danube Waltz, celebrating the night. Moths dance around a candle flame, fireflies glow, frogs chorus, and so forth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Cactus Kid (1930)
Mickey walks into the tavern where Minnie is dancing, and begins to dance and play piano himself. Pegleg Pete comes in and treats Minnie badly. Mickey tries to defend her, but Pete steals her away. Mickey, riding Horace Horsecollar, gives chase. He manages to throw Pete off a cliff.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Like Tales of the Black Freighter and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Tales of the Black Freighter?
The closest matches to Tales of the Black Freighter are The Spine of Night (2021), Operation Blood Hunt (2024) and Heavy Metal (1981). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Tales of the Black Freighter?
Start with The Spine of Night (2021), the closest match to Tales of the Black Freighter.
What is the highest-rated movie like Tales of the Black Freighter?
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020), rated 8.1/10 by 1,545 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Tales of the Black Freighter?
Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Tales of the Black Freighter?
Yes: The Spine of Night (2021), Operation Blood Hunt (2024) and Heavy Metal (1981).
How are movies similar to Tales of the Black Freighter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Tales of the Black Freighter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.