Movies like Smiling Maniacs (1975)
The best movies like Smiling Maniacs (1975) are High Crime (1973), The Glass Key (1942) and The Corrupted (2019). If Smiling Maniacs hooked you with its crime and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lincoln Lawyer (2011)7.2/10 from 3,833 votes
- NewestIn Cold Light (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianHigh Crime (1973)Also in Italian
High Crime (1973)
An Italian police inspector matches wits with a powerful European drug ring. As he comes closer to the top of the underworld organization, his odds of survival decrease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Corrupted (2019)
Set ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, the film follows Liam, an ex-con trying to win back the love and trust of his family. He has lost everything at the hands of a local crime syndicate run by Clifford Cullen, who has high-level connections in politics, finance and the police force. Liam's drive for redemption sees him caught up in a web of conspiracy, crime, and corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Escort (1993)
The film shows the difficulties of an honest, imperiled judge and his bodyguard of four men, trying to clean up a Sicilian town. Corrupt local politicians, working hand-in-hand with the Mafia, will stop at nothing to prevent exposure of their rackets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Independent (2022)
It's the final weeks of the most consequential presidential election in history. America is poised to elect either its first female president or its first viable independent candidate. Reporting history as it's made, an idealistic young journalist teams up with her idol, legendary journalist Nick Booker, to uncover a conspiracy that places the fate of the election, and the country, in their hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Came By (2022)
A rebellious young graffiti artist, who targets the homes of the wealthy elite, discovers a shocking secret that leads him on a journey endangering himself and those closest to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReasonable Doubt (2014)
When up-and-coming District Attorney Mitch Brockden commits a fatal hit-and-run, he feels compelled to throw the case against the accused criminal who was found with the body and blamed for the crime. Following the trial, Mitch's worst fears come true when he realizes that he acquitted a guilty man, and he soon finds himself on the hunt for the killer before more victims pile up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisTed Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderworld U.S.A. (1961)
A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boss (1973)
A hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)
An unidentified fifteen year-old girl is found hanged after an anonymous tip-off. The girl, Silvia Polvesi, is soon discovered to have been murdered. A peeping tom is caught with photos of her having sex with a teenage drop-out but he is later released due to lack of evidence. The investigation, conducted by Inspector Silvestri and the assistant public prosecutor Vittoria Stori, focuses on the girl's parents. Conspiracies and horrors pile up, as do the body parts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bygone (2019)
When a young rancher crosses paths with a Lakota girl from a nearby reservation, her mysterious disappearance sparks a search that uncovers a harrowing past and hints at a dire future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
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 crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017)
An adrenaline seeking snowboarder gets lost in a massive winter storm in the back country of the High Sierras where he is pushed to the limits of human endurance and forced to battle his own personal demons as he fights for survival....
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
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 · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Seventh Juror (1962)
In a moment of madness a middle-aged, married and respectable pharmacist kills a young woman who is sun-bathing by a lake. Unable to take in what he has done, he flees from the scene of the crime and behaves as if nothing has happened. Eventually her boyfriend is charged with the crime and, in a strange twist of fate, the killer finds himself serving on the jury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreaker! Breaker! (1977)
Truck driver searches for his brother, who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisColors of Evil: Red (2024)
When a girl's body is found on a beach in Poland's Tricity, a prosecutor teams up with the victim's mother on an impassioned quest for the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this29 Palms (2002)
When a bag filled with money goes missing from a casino, the Hitman (Chris O'Donnell) must retrieve it. While he tracks the stash down, the bag changes hands numerous times, finding its way to the Drifter (Jeremy Davies) and the Waitress (Rachael Leigh Cook), among others. As the bag's journey continues, more characters, including the Cop (Michael Rapaport) and the Sheriff (Keith David), get drawn into the winding crime tale, and the search becomes increasingly desperate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Bad Company (1995)
CIA operative Nelson Crowe is tasked with a deadly assignment: infiltrate a highly secret industrial espionage firm. Once inside, he teams with Margaret Wells, a master spy and seductive manipulator, in a plot to overthrow the organization's sinister president, which leads them into a darkly mysterious web of intrigue -- and shocking murder!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisJudge (2023)
Gianni, an eccentric Italian-American, is forced to hide out in a luxurious villa on Lake Como, Italy. He hosts a card game in the villa with a group of suspicious personalities and his old apprentice, Tim. The game turns sour when it is interrupted by an Interpol raid. However, neither the officers nor Gianni and his friends are what they seem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
The Star Chamber (1983)
As violence escalates in Los Angeles and heinous murders are committed, Steven Hardin, a young judge of the California Supreme Court, must struggle with his tortured conscience and growing despair as he watches helplessly as the ruthless criminals brought before his court go free because clever lawyers find obscure loopholes in the law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Bounce (2004)
A small-time con artist and a Hawaiian real estate developer's mischievous, enterprising mistress team up for a potential $200,000 score.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisFive Moons Plaza (2003)
Just the night before his retirement District Attorney Saracini is given a film showing the kidnapping of Aldo Moro. As the District Attorney takes on the case he along with his team finds more compelling and secretive evidences. Too many secrets are found that should stayed as secrets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Smiling Maniacs?
The closest matches to Smiling Maniacs are High Crime (1973), The Glass Key (1942) and The Corrupted (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Smiling Maniacs?
Start with High Crime (1973), the closest match to Smiling Maniacs.
What is the highest-rated movie like Smiling Maniacs?
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), rated 7.2/10 by 3,833 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Smiling Maniacs?
In Cold Light (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Smiling Maniacs?
Yes: High Crime (1973), The Escort (1993) and The Boss (1973).
How are movies similar to Smiling Maniacs chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Smiling Maniacs, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.