Movies like Persistence of Memory (2012)
The best movies like Persistence of Memory (2012) are D.O.A. (1949), The Glass Key (1942) and Black Angel (1946). If Persistence of Memory hooked you with its mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSherlock Jr. (1924)8.0/10 from 1,239 votes
- NewestTime (2025)Released 2025
D.O.A. (1949)
Frank Bigelow is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula, begins to trace back over his last steps. As he frantically tries to unravel the mystery behind his own impending demise, his sleuthing leads him to a group of crooked businessmen and another murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Angel (1946)
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Strangler (1973)
After being run out of Las Vegas, reporter Carl Kolchak heads for Seattle and another reporting job with the local paper. It's not long before he’s on the trail of another string of bizarre murders. It seems that every 21 years, for the past century, a killer murders a certain number of people, drains them of their blood, and then disappears into the night. Kolchak is on his trail, but can he stop him?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherlock Jr. (1924)
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Prize (1963)
A group of Nobel laureates descends on Stockholm to accept their awards. Among them is American novelist Andrew Craig, a former literary luminary now writing pulp detective stories to earn a living. Craig, who is infamous for his drinking and womanizing, formulates a wild theory that physics prize winner Dr. Max Stratman has been replaced by an impostor, embroiling Craig and his chaperone in a Cold War kidnapping plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
Hoping for a peaceful visit with his parents in the small town of Sycamore Springs, Nick Charles and his wife Nora soon find themselves surrounded by old rivalries, family tensions, and a mysterious murder. Nick’s father, a respected retired doctor, would much rather see his son give up detective work, but a suspicious shooting quickly draws Nick back into action. As Nick and Nora investigate, they uncover jealousy, deception, hidden motives, and a dangerous secret involving the town’s prominent citizens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Honey Pot (1967)
In Venice, a millionaire hires an actor to help him prank three greedy exes into thinking he's dying and leaving his fortune to one of them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
After being forced into early retirement, former detective Jeff Jackson returns to a quiet life on Martha's Vineyard. Quiet, at least, until a body washes up and he's drawn back into crime solving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSong of the Thin Man (1947)
While attending a glamorous jazz cruise on New York’s East River, Nick and Nora Charles witness the fatal shooting of a wealthy patron. When suspicion falls on a young bandleader and his musicians, the couple steps in to clear their friends and uncover the real killer. Their investigation leads through a lively world of jazz clubs, radio personalities, high society, and backstage rivalries, where almost everyone has a secret and the next clue may be hidden in the music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
Concentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska finds herself involved in mystery, greed, and murder when she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCircle (2015)
In a massive, mysterious chamber, fifty strangers awaken to find themselves trapped with no memory of how they got there. Organized in an inward-facing circle and unable to move, they quickly learn that every two minutes, one of them must die…executed by a strange device in the center of the room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930)
The boys think their days of fishing to feed themselves have come to an end, when Stan's rich uncle Ebenezer dies leaving a large estate. But they soon learn that Ebenezer was murdered and all the relatives, including Stan, are suspects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpellbound (1945)
When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHaelgung - LeoniLeoni (TBA)
The „Haelgung“ films are charmingly impressionistic diary entries, crafted as mini homages to my closest friends, captured with a delightful lack of planning or structure and edited in camera.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Things many have eyes seen (2025)
A flickering diary of time, memory, and erosion, «Things Many Eyes Have Seen» unfolds over a month on an island. Hand-processed in salty seawater, its 16mm images dissolve and transform. The landscape flashes by in broken frames of light and shadow, as if the world itself was stuttering between memory and motion. A meditation on seeing and being seen, the film lingers like a fading dream, where observer and landscape blur into one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Time (2025)
A loose interpretation of the poem of the same name by Dutch poet M. Vasalis, "Time" follows a grieving man who is plagued by a strange and prophetic dream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
TERMINAL!!! (2022)
Julia experiences a confused world seemingly against her after receiving a pessimistic tarot reading, as her feelings inevitably differ from her thoughts. Which way to go?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011)
An anthology of one-minute films created by 51 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Disremember (2025)
An ex-military alcoholic begins experiencing unexplained blackouts, and the more he tries to stop them, the worse they get, until he realises they are being triggered by a trauma his mind is fighting to forget.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Crisp. (2020)
CRISP., wherein a jealous man's attempt to steal a delicious apple crisp causes reality to break down and begins a chain of events leading to an endless cyclical loop of jealousy and theft.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
El Abrazo Eterno (2022)
An angel, now a man, who chose to leave everything behind and become human, realizes he is tired of living in a city he doesn't understand. So he asks Death for help, so that she can return him to his former life. A poetic critique of the city of Lima, inspired by the poems of Blanca Varela and Marco Martos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Forest Movie (2017)
A woman gets lost in the woods.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
The Impossible Choice (2025)
Lou is a young man in trouble who becomes paranoid because of the pressure of two mysterious judges.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Persistence of Memory?
The closest matches to Persistence of Memory are D.O.A. (1949), The Glass Key (1942) and Black Angel (1946). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Persistence of Memory?
Start with D.O.A. (1949), the closest match to Persistence of Memory.
What is the highest-rated movie like Persistence of Memory?
Sherlock Jr. (1924), rated 8.0/10 by 1,239 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Persistence of Memory?
Time (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Persistence of Memory?
Yes: D.O.A. (1949), The Glass Key (1942) and Black Angel (1946).
How are movies similar to Persistence of Memory chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Persistence of Memory, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.