Movies like El Cortez (2006)
The best movies like El Cortez (2006) are Caught (1996), Chameleon (2019) and Valley of Bones (2017). If El Cortez hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Enforcer (2022)7.0/10 from 533 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
Caught (1996)
A middle-aged couple has a drifter enter their lives. The fish-store owners find that the mysterious young man awakens the couple in ways they didn't expect. Things get tense when the drifter begins an affair with the woman of the house.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Chameleon (2019)
A struggling ex-con and his unpredictable accomplice scam superficial trophy wives and their rich older husbands in self-obsessed Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Valley of Bones (2017)
A paleontologist gets a tip from an oil worker in the Badlands that may set her career back on track.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Sweet Virginia (2017)
A former rodeo star, now a motel manager, meets a young man who is responsible for the violence that suddenly has seized his small town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisToo Late (2016)
Private investigator Mel Sampson is tasked with tracking down the whereabouts of a missing woman from his own past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnesthesia (2016)
Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Missing Person (2009)
John Rosow drinks to forget. He is a former New York City cop turned Chicago-based private investigator. At the last minute, he is hired by someone he's never met to follow a middle-aged male subject on the soon-departing California Zephyr train to Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Single Shot (2013)
The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisNot Forgotten (2009)
Set in a Tex-Mex border town, Not Forgotten is a classic psychological thriller about Jack and Amaya Bishop, a couple who must come to terms with their tortured pasts in order to save their kidnapped daughter. It is a tale taut with intrigue and steeped in Latino mysticism, where the line between what's real and what's imagined becomes hopelessly blurred.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMojave (2016)
A suicidal artist goes into the desert, where he finds his doppelgänger, a homicidal drifter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Fall (2009)
Two brothers are forced to confront a terrible crime that was hidden in their past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Winter Ridge (2018)
Tearing himself away from the bedside of his coma-bound wife, a police Sergeant investigates a series of age-related murders, only to discover that time can be far more destructive and cruel than the idealistic killer........
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hummingbird Project (2019)
A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse by the River (1950)
Wealthy writer Stephen Byrne tries to seduce the family maid, but when she resists, he kills her. Long jealous of his brother John, Stephen does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Stephen's arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Marjorie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Reckless Moment (1949)
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisKill Me Again (1989)
After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Widow (1987)
Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFramed (1947)
Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Seduction (1994)
A devious femme fatale steals her husband’s drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanic (2000)
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El Cortez?
The closest matches to El Cortez are Caught (1996), Chameleon (2019) and Valley of Bones (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El Cortez?
People who watched El Cortez most often go on to Caught (1996), Chameleon (2019) and Valley of Bones (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like El Cortez?
The Enforcer (2022), rated 7.0/10 by 533 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El Cortez?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like El Cortez?
Yes: Caught (1996), Chameleon (2019) and Valley of Bones (2017).
How are movies similar to El Cortez chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El Cortez, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.