Movies like Desierto (2015)
The best movies like Desierto (2015) are Extreme Prejudice (1987), El Gringo (2012) and Walking Tall: Lone Justice (2007). If Desierto hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPredator (1987)7.6/10 from 9,668 votes
- NewestRedwood Diaries (2026)Released 2026
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
Lean, mean Texas Ranger Jack Benteen locks horns with a former friend, Cash Bailey, now a ruthless drug kingpin. Though they're on opposite sides of the law, they share a love interest in the sensual Sarita. When a crew of rogue soldiers descends upon the border town for an off-the-books mission, all roads lead to a bloody, to-the-death showdown, as loyalties shift and the lines between good and evil are blurred.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Gringo (2012)
A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalking Tall: Lone Justice (2007)
In Dallas, witnesses against a drug-lord are murdered in a safe-house.The testimony of FBI agents becomes the only chance to keep him in prison. They are lodged in another safe-house, but the place is invaded and the agents are executed. However, Kate is only wounded, and her boyfriend Nick believes there is a traitor in the agency and takes her to his ranch to protect her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCoffy (1973)
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way of the Gun (2000)
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & 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 thisDarfur (2009)
American journalists in Sudan are confronted with the dilemma of whether to return home to report on the atrocities they have seen, or to stay behind and help some of the victims they have encountered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Substitute (1996)
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath Wish II (1982)
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredator (1987)
A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Evil That Men Do (1984)
A former assassin (Charles Bronson) comes out of retirement to avenge the brutal murder of his friend at the hands of a sadistic torturer (Joseph Maher) employed by an oppressive foreign dictatorship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAssault on Precinct 13 (1976)
A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNarrow Margin (1990)
An L.A. District Attorney attempts to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to discover that the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Doe: Vigilante (2014)
When John Doe is convicted of being a vigilante serial killer, a vigilante group named 'Speak for the Dead' emerges in support of John's cause—elevating the debate about justice versus vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad Max 2 (1981)
Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Naked Prey (1965)
A group of men are on safari. One of the party refuses to give a gift to a tribe they encounter. The tribe is offended, seizes the party, and one-by-one, kills all but one of the safari members in various creative and horrifying ways. The last surviving member is given "The Lion's Chance" by the tribal leader to be hunted down by a party of tribal warriors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRampage: Capital Punishment (2014)
A man takes over a TV station and holds a number of hostages as a political platform to awaken humanity, instead of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTruth or Consequences, N.M. (1997)
Raymond Lembecke is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago. (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRedwood Diaries (2026)
When strange entries begin appearing in her diary written in handwriting that isn't hers, new student Evie Quinn is pulled into a chilling mystery as the messages reveal secrets, predict impossible events, and point toward a truth someone has desperately tried to bury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Sunsplit (1997)
As the California sun shines down from an Los Angeles sky, three unique individuals are about to collide in the most unexpected ways imaginable. Lyle is a psychotic serial killer who has formed a dangerous fixation on single mother and expert car thief Tess. As Lyle prepares to make his deadly move, widowed Greek Restaurant owner Shandor finds himself forced to take matters into his own hands when the law fails to protect and serve as promised.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
The Finest Hours (2016)
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlowerman (2014)
Loving wife & mother Sarah is abducted by intelligent and forensically aware psychopath Nigel. The family and the police are subjected to a manipulation of the reality that surrounds them. Relating to the darkest side of the human character Flowerman also connects with both a spiritual aspect and a basic drive for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Bengazi (1955)
An American with a shady past joins with a morally-bankrupt Irishman to find treasure buried by Arabs in a deserted mosque in the Sahara. The situation becomes complicated when they are surrounded by Bedouin bandits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Arctic (2018)
A man stranded in the Arctic is finally about to receive his long awaited rescue. However, after a tragic accident, his opportunity is lost and he must then decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or embark on a deadly trek through the unknown for potential salvation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDarkland: The Return (2023)
Seven years ago, Zaid went to war against the Copenhagen underworld to avenge his dead brother. His identity as a respected doctor of cardiology and life as a family man is but a fading dream, and in prison Zaid suffers the loss of his son Noah, whom he barely knows. When a police agent approaches Zaid and offers him a deal to be released in exchange for infiltrating the Copenhagen underworld, he sees his chance to reclaim the remnants of the family life he left behind. But everything has a price, and Zaid realizes that he has now seriously endangered his son's life. After all, once you become part of the underworld, is there any way out?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
While confronting the disapproving father of his girlfriend Lola, Native American man Willie Boy kills the man in self-defense, triggering a massive manhunt, led by Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLong Live Death (1971)
At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPitaah (2002)
A man seeks justice against two men who raped his young daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desierto?
The closest matches to Desierto are Extreme Prejudice (1987), El Gringo (2012) and Walking Tall: Lone Justice (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desierto?
Start with Extreme Prejudice (1987), the closest match to Desierto.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desierto?
Predator (1987), rated 7.6/10 by 9,668 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desierto?
Redwood Diaries (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Desierto?
Yes: Extreme Prejudice (1987), El Gringo (2012) and Walking Tall: Lone Justice (2007).
How are movies similar to Desierto chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desierto, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.