Movies like The Act of Cutting Away (2026)
The best movies like The Act of Cutting Away (2026) are Nightmare Cinema (2018), Excision (2012) and American Mary (2013). If The Act of Cutting Away hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAwakenings (1990)7.8/10 from 3,016 votes
- NewestClayface (2026)Released 2026
Nightmare Cinema (2018)
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisExcision (2012)
Pauline, a disturbed, outcast teenager, has a fascination with surgery and experiences violent, psychosexual fantasies, all while aspiring to a career in medicine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Mary (2013)
A young medical student struggling to pay tuition is drawn into the shady world of underground body-modification.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrimes of the Future (2022)
With his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from the National Organ Registry obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... Their mission — to use Tenser's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Raven (1935)
A brilliant but deranged neurosurgeon becomes obsessively fixated on a judge's daughter. With the help of an escaped criminal whose face he has surgically deformed, the mad man lures her, her father, and her fiancé to his isolated, castle-like home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flesh and the Fiends (1960)
Edinburgh surgeon Dr. Robert Knox requires cadavers for his research into the functioning of the human body; local ne'er-do-wells Burke and Hare find ways to provide him with fresh specimens...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisComa (1978)
When relatively healthy patients begin having 'complications' during simple operations and ending up in comas, a concerned doctor defies her male superiors when she suspects a secret plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLooker (1981)
Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts performs a series of minor alterations on a group of models who are seeking perfection. The operations are a resounding success. But when someone starts killing his beautiful patients, Dr. Roberts becomes suspicious and starts investigating. What he uncovers are the mysterious - and perhaps murderous - activities of a high-tech computer company called Digital Matrix.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlanted (2026)
An insecure Chinese-American teenager undergoes experimental surgery to appear white, hoping to secure the prom queen title and peer acceptance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlay Dead (2025)
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJarhead: Law of Return (2019)
Major Ronan Jackson, an accomplished fighter pilot for the Israel Defense Forces and son of a U.S. Senator, is shot down while flying through Syrian airspace. After miraculously surviving the crash, Jackson is taken captive by a group of Hezbollah militiamen. A squad of elite soldiers, led by Gunnery Sergeant Dave Torres, risk their own lives in the hopes of saving an ally they've never met.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaw (2003)
David, an orderly at a hospital, tells his horrific story of being kidnapped and forced to play a vile game of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkincare (2024)
Famed aesthetician Hope Goldman is about to take her career to the next level by launching her very own skin care line. However, she soon faces a new challenge when a rival opens a boutique directly across from her store. Suspecting that someone is trying to sabotage her, she embarks on a quest to unravel the mystery of who's trying to destroy her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThinner (1996)
An obese lawyer finds himself growing "Thinner" when an old Romani man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the old man to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisNowhere (1997)
In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Walk (2025)
In a dystopian America, fifty teenage boys take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClayface (2026)
Matt Hagen's meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss's actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Purge: Election Year (2016)
Seventeen years after choosing not to kill the man who killed his son, former police sergeant Leo Barnes has become head of security for Senator Charlene Roan, the front runner in the next Presidential election due to her vow to eliminate the Purge. On the night of what should be the final Purge, a betrayal from within the government forces Barnes and Roan out onto the street where they must fight to survive the night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad Love (1935)
An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist husband's hands with those of a knife-throwing murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAwakenings (1990)
Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician, uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Leonard is the first patient to receive the controversial treatment. His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.
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 Act of Cutting Away?
The closest matches to The Act of Cutting Away are Nightmare Cinema (2018), Excision (2012) and American Mary (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Act of Cutting Away?
Start with Nightmare Cinema (2018), the closest match to The Act of Cutting Away.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Act of Cutting Away?
Awakenings (1990), rated 7.8/10 by 3,016 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Act of Cutting Away?
Clayface (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Act of Cutting Away?
Yes: Nightmare Cinema (2018), Excision (2012) and American Mary (2013).
How are movies similar to The Act of Cutting Away chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Act of Cutting Away, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.