Movies like Cruel Killer (1971)
The best movies like Cruel Killer (1971) are Murder by Contract (1958), Cry of the City (1948) and Gemini Man (2019). If Cruel Killer hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGrindhouse (2007)7.0/10 from 1,983 votes
- NewestThe Crash (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseEye for an Eye (2022)Also in Chinese
Murder by Contract (1958)
Claude is a ruthless and efficient contract killer. His next target, a woman, is the most difficult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCry of the City (1948)
Petty crook and cop-killer Martin Rome, in bad shape from wounds in the hospital prison ward, still refuses to help slimy lawyer Niles clear his client by confessing to another crime. Police Lt. Candella must check Niles' allegation; a friend of the Rome family, he walks a tightrope between sentiment and cynicism. When Martin fears Candella will implicate his girlfriend Teena, he'll do anything to protect her. How many others will he drag down to disaster with him?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGemini Man (2019)
Henry Brogan is an elite 51-year-old assassin who's ready to call it quits after completing his 72nd job. His plans get turned upside down when he becomes the target of a mysterious operative who can seemingly predict his every move. To his horror, Brogan soon learns that the man who's trying to kill him is a younger, faster, cloned version of himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crash (2026)
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCohen 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)
A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYear 10 (2024)
After the fall of civilization, the few survivors have been driven to cannibalism. A young man must confront a violent tribe that has murdered his father and stolen the medicine that keeps his girlfriend alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeckman (2020)
A contract killer, becomes the reverend of a LA church, until a cult leader and his minions kidnap his daughter. Blinded by vengeance, he cuts a bloody path across the city. The only thing that can stop him is his newfound faith.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLike Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan's Best Friend (1993)
A genetic research facility worker exposes animal abuses there to a local TV reporter, who frees and takes in a genetically altered dog from the lab, unaware that he has a violent streak.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPsycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer (2025)
A struggling writer in the midst of a divorce befriends a retired serial killer who incidentally becomes his marriage counselor by day, and killing counselor for his next book by night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shipment (2021)
A former U.S. Navy Seal is forced to become the international criminal he once fought against when a powerful and violent drug cartel kidnaps his wife and daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEye for an Eye (2022)
A highly trained and exceptionally deadly swordsman looks for revenge after being caught in the middle of a power struggle that results in the assassination of an innocent woman's family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wrong Guy (1997)
Nelson Hibbert expects to become the new president of Nagel Industries, but Mr. Nagel gives the promotion to another employee. When Nelson barges into Nagel's office to confront him, he finds Nagel's been murdered. Fearing that he will be implicated, Nelson decides to run from the law...despite the fact that the police already know the killer's identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outfit (1973)
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalden (2023)
Walden Dean is a stenographer, whose mind witnessed all types of injustices in the courtroom. After discovering he has a terminal illness, repressed anger deep within him surfaces -- taking justice into his own hands in the most gruesome ways imaginable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cruel Killer?
The closest matches to Cruel Killer are Murder by Contract (1958), Cry of the City (1948) and Gemini Man (2019). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cruel Killer?
Start with Murder by Contract (1958), the closest match to Cruel Killer.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cruel Killer?
Grindhouse (2007), rated 7.0/10 by 1,983 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cruel Killer?
The Crash (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Cruel Killer?
Yes: Eye for an Eye (2022).
How are movies similar to Cruel Killer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cruel Killer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.