Movies like The Stranger (1946)
The best movies like The Stranger (1946) are Escape in the Fog (1945), Nightmare Alley (1947) and Split Second (1953). If The Stranger hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDouble Indemnity (1944)8.1/10 from 2,135 votes
- NewestTouch of Evil (1958)Released 1958
Escape in the Fog (1945)
A military nurse recovering from a nervous breakdown at an inn keeps having dreams where she witnesses two men trying to murder a third. When she meets a federal agent, she's astounded to discover that he is the victim from her visions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Nightmare Alley (1947)
A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSplit Second (1953)
Escaped convicts hold hostages in a ghost town targeted for a nuclear bomb test.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Ministry of Fear (1944)
Stephen Neale is released into WWII England after two years in an asylum, but it doesn't seem so sane outside either. On his way back to London to rejoin civilization, he stumbles across a murderous spy ring and doesn't quite know to whom to turn.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiss Me Deadly (1955)
One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOdd Man Out (1947)
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Amazing Mr. X (1948)
On the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf...then meets a tall dark man, Alexis, who seems to know all about such things. After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and younger sister Janet become enmeshed in the eerie artifices of Alexis; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper deviltry than he had in mind...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Suspect (1945)
Genial shopkeeper Philip has to endure the constant nagging of a shrewish wife while he secretly yearns for a pretty young stenographer. When the henpecking gets to be too much, Philip murders his wife and manages to make her death look like an accident. A ruthless blackmailer and a low-key detective both discover Philip's secret, and he has to decide which of them poses the more dangerous threat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of the Past (1947)
The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDouble Indemnity (1944)
An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Killers (1946)
Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNotorious (1946)
In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuddenly (1954)
The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSudden Fear (1952)
Actor Lester Blaine has all but landed the lead in Myra Hudson's new play when Myra vetoes him because, to her, he doesn't look like a romantic leading man. On a train from New York to San Francisco, Blaine sets out to prove Myra wrong...by romancing her. Is he sincere, or does he have a dark ulterior motive?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTouch of Evil (1958)
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Limping Man (1953)
An American veteran returns to England after WWII to learn that his London lover has become involved with a dangerous spy ring and their search for a limping sniper.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Hollow Triumph (1948)
Pursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity—with unfortunate results.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Third Man (1949)
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Maltese Falcon (1941)
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisToo Late for Tears (1949)
Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lady from Shanghai (1947)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShadow of a Doubt (1943)
In sleepy Santa Rosa, restless young Charlie’s world brightens when her sophisticated Uncle Charlie arrives for a long visit. But as his behavior grows increasingly strange, she begins to suspect that her beloved uncle may be hiding a terrible secret—and that danger has quietly entered her home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Woman in the Window (1944)
A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisM (1931)
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPhantom Lady (1944)
A devoted secretary embarks on a dangerous mission to try to find the elusive woman who may prove her boss didn't murder his wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDressed to Kill (1946)
A convicted thief in Dartmoor prison hides the location of the stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes. When the innocent purchasers of the boxes start to be murdered, Holmes and Watson investigate.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrangers on a Train (1951)
A charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night of the Hunter (1955)
In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Stranger?
The closest matches to The Stranger are Escape in the Fog (1945), Nightmare Alley (1947) and Split Second (1953). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Stranger?
People who watched The Stranger most often go on to Escape in the Fog (1945), Nightmare Alley (1947) and Split Second (1953).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Stranger?
Double Indemnity (1944), rated 8.1/10 by 2,135 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Stranger?
Touch of Evil (1958) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Stranger?
Yes: Escape in the Fog (1945), Nightmare Alley (1947) and Split Second (1953).
How are movies similar to The Stranger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Stranger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.