Movies like The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
The best movies like The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) are The Salton Sea (2002), Luckiest Girl Alive (2022) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). If The Secret in Their Eyes hooked you with its mystery and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLost Highway (1997)7.6/10 from 3,130 votes
- NewestHunting Housewives (2024)Released 2024
- In SpanishLa Civil (2021)Also in Spanish
The Salton Sea (2002)
After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriends slacker Jimmy "The Finn", becomes involved in rescuing his neighbor Colette from her own demons, and gets entangled in a web of deceit full of unexpected twists and turns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFarewell, My Lovely (1975)
Private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by ex-con Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend, a former lounge dancer. While also investigating the murder of a client and the theft of a jade necklace, Marlowe becomes entangled with seductress Helen Grayle and discovers a web of dark secrets that are better left hidden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost Highway (1997)
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBasic Instinct (1992)
Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described in her latest story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrooklyn's Finest (2010)
Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDolores Claiborne (1995)
Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath Wish (2018)
A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Civil (2021)
Cielo is a mother whose teenage daughter is kidnapped in Northern Mexico. When the authorities offer no support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands and transforms from housewife into a vengeful militant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTightrope (1984)
Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKill for Me (2013)
Rent’s a bitch. And that is why, six months after her best friend went missing, Amanda finally gives in to getting another roommate, Hailey. The two college students turn out to have something in common, however: abusive men. For Hailey, it’s her dad. For Amanda, it’s a stalkery ex-boyfriend. But problems can be solved and, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. In other words, Kill for Me, I kill for you.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLost in the Night (2023)
A young man from a small mining town embroils himself with a wealthy family with a dubious past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCruising (1980)
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the gay S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarry Brown (2009)
An elderly ex-serviceman and widower looks to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVice Squad (1982)
An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019)
The recently widowed mother of two, Sarah, is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she's forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving from downtrodden submissive to take-charge vigilante.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hit (1984)
Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Fall from Grace (2020)
When a law-abiding woman gets indicted for murdering her husband, her lawyer soon realizes that a larger conspiracy may be at work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHunting Housewives (2024)
Four harried housewives plan a weekend spa getaway but end up stranded in the wilderness when their plane goes down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Marked for Death (1990)
Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Watcher (2000)
FBI agent Joel Campbell, burnt-out and shell-shocked after years spent chasing serial killers, flees L.A. to begin a new life for himself in Chicago. But five months later, Joel's best laid plans are abruptly cut short when his new hometown becomes the setting for some particularly gruesome murders--murders that could only have been committed by one man: David Allen Griffin. One of Joel's most elusive and cunning nemeses, Griffin has followed his former pursuer to Chicago in order to play a sadistic game of cat and mouse. Taunting Joel with photographs of his intended victims and leaving his crime scenes meticulously free of clues in order to keep the police at bay, Griffin derives as much pleasure out of watching Joel react to every movement as watching his victims die. But when Griffin moves into Joel's inner circle, Joel must quickly find some way to stop him before someone close to him becomes the next one to die.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dead Pool (1988)
Dirty Harry Callahan returns for his final film adventure. Together with his partner Al Quan, he must investigate the systematic murder of prominent figures. By the time Harry learns that the murders are part of a sick game to predict such deaths, it may be too late.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeliverance (1972)
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCut (2000)
A group of film students set out to finish filming a movie that was never completed after its director was murdered. After they begin filming, they realize they're in for a bit of trouble, not unlike the late director...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRavenous (1999)
After arriving at his new, remote Army outpost, Capt. John Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Secret in Their Eyes and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Secret in Their Eyes?
The closest matches to The Secret in Their Eyes are The Salton Sea (2002), Luckiest Girl Alive (2022) and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Secret in Their Eyes?
Start with The Salton Sea (2002), the closest match to The Secret in Their Eyes.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Secret in Their Eyes?
Lost Highway (1997), rated 7.6/10 by 3,130 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Secret in Their Eyes?
Hunting Housewives (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Secret in Their Eyes?
Yes: La Civil (2021) and Lost in the Night (2023).
How are movies similar to The Secret in Their Eyes chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Secret in Their Eyes, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.