Movies like Running Scared (1980)
The best movies like Running Scared (1980) are Cave Rescue (2019), The Hunting Party (2007) and xXx (2002). If Running Scared hooked you with its drama and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrue Grit (1969)7.3/10 from 902 votes
- NewestMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)Released 2025
Cave Rescue (2019)
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hunting Party (2007)
A young journalist, an experienced cameraman and a discredited reporter find their bold plan to capture Bosnia's top war criminal quickly spiraling out of control when a UN representative mistakes them for a CIA hit squad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisxXx (2002)
Xander Cage is your standard adrenaline junkie with no fear and a lousy attitude. When the US Government "recruits" him to go on a mission, he's not exactly thrilled. His mission: to gather information on an organization that may just be planning the destruction of the world, led by the nihilistic Yorgi.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFor Your Eyes Only (1981)
A British spy ship has sunk and on board was a hi-tech encryption device. James Bond is sent to find the device that holds British launching instructions before the enemy Soviets get to it first.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLicence to Kill (1989)
After capturing the notorious drug lord Franz Sanchez, Bond's close friend and former CIA agent Felix Leiter is left for dead and his wife is murdered. Bond goes rogue and seeks vengeance on those responsible, as he infiltrates Sanchez's organization from the inside.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sea Chase (1955)
As the Second World War breaks out, German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich is about to leave Sydney, Australia with his vessel, the Ergenstrasse. Ehrlich, an anti-Nazi but proud German, hopes to outrun or out-maneuver the British warship pursuing him. Aboard his vessel is Elsa Keller, a woman Ehrlich has been ordered to return to Germany safely along with whatever secrets she carries. When Ehrlich's fiercely Nazi chief officer Kirchner commits an atrocity, the British pursuit becomes deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am David (2003)
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Nikita (1988)
An FBI agent works to uncover an all-American family as Soviet sleeper agents, and gets caught up in friendship with their oblivious teenage son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIce Cold in Alex (1958)
A group of army personnel and nurses attempt a dangerous and arduous trek across the deserts of North Africa during the second world war. The leader of the team dreams of his ice cold beer when he reaches Alexandria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpectre (2015)
A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPassage to Marseille (1944)
A freedom-loving French journalist sacrifices his happiness and security to battle Nazi tyranny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Russian and British submarines with nuclear missiles on board both vanish from sight without a trace. England and Russia both blame each other as James Bond tries to solve the riddle of the disappearing ships. But the KGB also has an agent on the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThunderball (1965)
A criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound ransom in the form of diamonds in seven days or they will use the weapons. The secret service sends James Bond to the Bahamas to once again save the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Defiant Ones (1958)
Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe World Is Not Enough (1999)
Greed, revenge, world dominance and high-tech terrorism – it's all in a day's work for Bond, who's on a mission to protect a beautiful oil heiress from a notorious terrorist. In a race against time that culminates in a dramatic submarine showdown, Bond works to defuse the international power struggle that has the world's oil supply hanging in the balance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan in the Wilderness (1971)
In the early 1800s, a group of fur trappers and Indian traders are returning with their goods to civilization and are making a desperate attempt to beat the oncoming winter. When guide Zachary Bass is injured in a bear attack, they decide he's a goner and leave him behind to die. When he recovers instead, he swears revenge on them and tracks them and their paranoiac expedition leader down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Four Feathers (2002)
A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Cause (1995)
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Chinese Ghost Story II (1990)
After escaping false imprisonment, Ling Choi-San crosses paths with a pair of rebellious women. Though mourning the loss of his ghostly love, his broken heart must heal in a hurry in order to face a new series of paranormal encounters and adventures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye, Spy (2025)
Two spies spend an emotional evening together before one must leave on a dangerous mission - or so he says...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Can't Shine Without You My Brother (2019)
In the course of a year, Yahya loses three brothers. To survive the sorrow he has built a hut in the forest. There he can live out his fantasies and meet them again. Yahya gets one last chance to talk to them, touch them, capture them, carry them and be carried by them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Spies Like Us (1985)
Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for nuclear war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYoung Guns II (1990)
Three of the original five "young guns" — Billy the Kid, Jose Chavez y Chavez, and Doc Scurlock — return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of Billy the Kid and his race to safety in Old Mexico while being trailed by a group of government agents led by Pat Garrett.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wedding Banquet (1993)
A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Marine (2006)
A group of diamond thieves on the run kidnap the wife of a recently discharged marine who goes on a chase through the South Carolinian wilderness to retrieve her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Frankie (2004)
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Running Scared?
The closest matches to Running Scared are Cave Rescue (2019), The Hunting Party (2007) and xXx (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Running Scared?
Start with Cave Rescue (2019), the closest match to Running Scared.
What is the highest-rated movie like Running Scared?
True Grit (1969), rated 7.3/10 by 902 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Running Scared?
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Running Scared?
Yes: Cave Rescue (2019), The Hunting Party (2007) and xXx (2002).
How are movies similar to Running Scared chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Running Scared, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.