Movies like Essex Boys (2000)
The best movies like Essex Boys (2000) are River's Edge (1986), Bull (2021) and Another Day in Paradise (1998). If Essex Boys hooked you with its crime and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSicario (2015)7.4/10 from 10,111 votes
- NewestThe Get Out (2026)Released 2026
River's Edge (1986)
A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBull (2021)
Ten years after he was last seen, a vicious mob enforcer returns home to find his son and methodically track down the gang that double-crossed him. His quest for revenge soon leads to a savage showdown between his wife and her mob boss father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Day in Paradise (1998)
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLayer Cake (2004)
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNovocaine (2001)
A dentist finds himself a murder suspect after a sexy patient seduces him into prescribing her drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Courier (2019)
Ezekiel Mannings, a vicious crime boss, is out to kill Nick, the lone witness set to testify against him. He hires a mysterious female motorcycle courier to unknowingly deliver a poison-gas bomb to slay Nick, but after she rescues Nick from certain death, the duo must confront an army of ruthless hired killers in order to survive the night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Cover (1992)
Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Violent Separation (2019)
1983. In a quiet Midwestern town, a young deputy covers up a murder at the hands of his brother triggering a series of events that sends them and the victim's family towards a shattering climax.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFresh (1994)
Death and violence anger twelve year old drug courier Fresh, who sets his rival employers against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiller Joe (2012)
A cop who moonlights as a hit man agrees to kill the hated mother of a desperate drug dealer in exchange for a tumble with the young man's virginal sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnimal Kingdom (2010)
Joshua “J” is taken in by his extended family after his mother dies of an overdose. The clan, ruled by J’s scheming grandmother, is heavily involved in criminal activities, and J is soon indoctrinated into their way of life. But J is given a chance to take another path when a cop seeks to help him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBulletproof (1996)
An undercover police officer named Rock Keats befriends a drug dealer and car thief named Archie Moses in a bid to catch the villainous drug lord Frank Coltan. But the only problem is that Keats is a cop, his real name is Jack Carter, and he is working undercover with the LAPD to bust Moses and Colton at a sting operation the LAPD has set up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Get Out (2026)
A nightclub owner is on the verge of leaving his dangerous past behind for retirement with his girlfriend. When masked gunmen rob him and he finds himself squeezed by ruthless cartels, a mysterious newcomer arrives with an interest in buying the business. With danger closing in from all sides, he must navigate a deadly web of deception, power, and survival - where escape may no longer be an option.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLight Sleeper (1992)
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThoroughbreds (2018)
Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlbino Alligator (1997)
While escaping from a foiled robbery attempt, three thieves find themselves surrounded by police at a New Orleans bar--only they're not the people the police are searching for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisNakshatram (2017)
A young boy is made to realise that the police form the backbone of society and every cop is akin to Lord Hanuman the protector. He then makes up his mind about becoming a cop when he grows up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Metro (1997)
Roper, a hostage negotiator catches a murderous bank robber after a blown heist. The bank robber escapes and immediately goes after the man who put him behind bars.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet Wars (2011)
When Officer Elijah Kane and his team of undercover cops discover a new lab drug flooding through the nightclubs of Seattle, they struggle to eliminate it from the streets immediately. As if dealing with a dozen dead ravers isn't enough, the cops begin to act as security guards for an obnoxious documentarian. They quickly become privy to the filmmaker's arrogance as he attempts to make a film regarding Seattle's underbelly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Reservation Road (2007)
Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLowlife (2017)
The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ice Harvest (2005)
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilentium (2004)
A man who accused a catholic bishop of abusing him when he was a child dies in the Austrian city Salzburg. Everyone except his widow and the eccentrical detective Simon Brenner keeps silent and believes that the man killed himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Essex Boys?
The closest matches to Essex Boys are River's Edge (1986), Bull (2021) and Another Day in Paradise (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Essex Boys?
Start with River's Edge (1986), the closest match to Essex Boys.
What is the highest-rated movie like Essex Boys?
Sicario (2015), rated 7.4/10 by 10,111 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Essex Boys?
The Get Out (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Essex Boys?
Yes: River's Edge (1986), Bull (2021) and Another Day in Paradise (1998).
How are movies similar to Essex Boys chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Essex Boys, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.