Movies like Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013)
The best movies like Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013) are Cohen and Tate (1989), The Killer (2022) and 6 Bullets (2012). If Hwayi: A Monster Boy hooked you with its action and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedForgotten (2017)7.9/10 from 1,433 votes
- NewestThe Whisper Man (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanThe Killer (2022)Also in Korean
Cohen and Tate (1989)
A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killer (2022)
While his girlfriend is away on a trip, retired assassin Bang Ui-kang is tasked with looking after her friend's 17-year-old daughter. After a street attack, Bang Ui-kang becomes embroiled in a murder investigation and dangerous trafficking gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisGunpowder Milkshake (2021)
To protect an 8-year-old girl, a dangerous assassin reunites with her mother and her lethal associates to take down a ruthless crime syndicate and its army of henchmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Right Hand (2024)
Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe Rides Shotgun (2025)
Newly released from prison and marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly, at all costs. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly forge a bond under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive—and she teaches him the true meaning of unconditional love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisColombiana (2011)
After witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota, Cataleya Restrepo grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target: the mobster responsible for her parents' death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train (2023)
Mother Holly McCord is driven to extremes to save the life of her young son. Even if it means hauling black market drugs in her souped-up truck, with the Feds in hot pursuit. With two bounties on her head and her son’s life on the line, Holly climbs behind the wheel of “Night Train,” ready to outrun, out gun, and outlast them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisBarron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whisper Man (2026)
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Ends (2025)
A man raised in a violent crime family struggles to build an honest life with his fiancée but is dragged back into the criminal world after his cousin’s armed robbery leaves an innocent person caught in the crossfire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroken (2014)
Following the brutal rape and murder of his 16-year-old daughter, Sang-hyeon stumbles into an ever-widening conspiracy of rage, revenge, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMissing You (2016)
A girl who lost her father to a serial killer, a detective and a killer are intertwined in a chaotic relationship and are met with an unprecedented series of events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisForgotten (2017)
Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok's eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Book (2023)
After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
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 thisThose Who Wish Me Dead (2021)
A young boy finds himself pursued by two assassins in the Montana wilderness, with a survival expert determined to protect him, and a forest fire threatening to consume them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Net (1995)
Angela Bennett is a freelance computer systems analyst who tracks down software viruses. At night, she hooks up to the internet and chats to others 'surfing the net'. While de-bugging a new high-tech game for a cyber friend, she comes across a top secret program and becomes the target of a mysterious organization, who will stop at nothing to erase her identity and her existence in order to protect the project.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrank (2006)
Chev Chelios, a hit man wanting to go straight, lets his latest target slip away. Then he awakes the next morning to a phone call that informs him he has been poisoned and has only an hour to live unless he keeps adrenaline coursing through his body while he searches for an antidote.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlong Came a Spider (2001)
After the harrowing death of his partner, forensic psychologist and best-selling author Alex Cross cannot forgive himself and has retreated to the peace of retirement. But when a brilliant criminal kidnaps a senator's young daughter, he is lured back into action as the kidnapper wants to deal with Alex personally. Teamed with Jezzie Flanigan, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the missing girl, Alex follows a serpentine trail of clues that leads him to a stunning discovery - the kidnapper wants more than just ransom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBangkok Dangerous (2008)
When carrying out a hit, assassin Joe always makes use of the knowledge of the local population. On arriving in Bangkok, Joe meets street kid Kong and he becomes his primary aide. But when Kong is nearly killed, he asks Joe to train him up in the deadly arts and unwittingly becomes a target of a band of killers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMaria Full of Grace (2004)
A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Promise (2005)
An orphaned girl, driven by poverty at such a young age, makes a promise with an enchantress. In return for beauty and the admiration of every man, she will never be with the man she loves. This spell cannot be broken unless the impossible happens: snow falling in spring and the dead coming back to life. Now a grown and beautiful princess, she regrets her promise, for all of the men she's loved has always been met with tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHitman (2007)
A genetically engineered assassin with deadly aim, known only as "Agent 47" eliminates strategic targets for a top-secret organization. But when he's double-crossed, the hunter becomes the prey as 47 finds himself in a life-or-death game of international intrigue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisState of Grace (1990)
Hell's Kitchen, New York. Terry Noonan returns home after a ten-year absence. He soon reconnects with Jackie, a childhood friend and member of the Irish mob, and rekindles his love affair with Jackie's sister Kathleen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRush Hour (1998)
When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray (2017)
A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hwayi: A Monster Boy?
The closest matches to Hwayi: A Monster Boy are Cohen and Tate (1989), The Killer (2022) and 6 Bullets (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hwayi: A Monster Boy?
Start with Cohen and Tate (1989), the closest match to Hwayi: A Monster Boy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Hwayi: A Monster Boy?
Forgotten (2017), rated 7.9/10 by 1,433 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hwayi: A Monster Boy?
The Whisper Man (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Hwayi: A Monster Boy?
Yes: The Killer (2022), Broken (2014) and Missing You (2016).
How are movies similar to Hwayi: A Monster Boy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hwayi: A Monster Boy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.