Movies like The Circle (2003)
The best movies like The Circle (2003) are Missing You (2016), Mindcage (2022) and The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014). If The Circle hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedConfession of Murder (2012)7.1/10 from 347 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanMissing You (2016)Also in Korean
Missing You (2016)
A girl who lost her father to a serial killer, a detective and a killer are intertwined in a chaotic relationship and are met with an unprecedented series of events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMindcage (2022)
Detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist's brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Calling (2014)
Detective Hazel Micallef hasn't had much to worry about in the sleepy town of Port Dundas until a string of gruesome murders in the surrounding countryside brings her face to face with a serial killer driven by a higher calling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCult Killer (2024)
A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaces in the Crowd (2011)
Anna is living with "face-blindness" after surviving a serial killer's attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocturnal (2025)
Min-tae, a once-notorious gangster who now leads a peaceful retired life, discovers the bloody corpse of his only next of kin: his younger brother Seok-tae. With his brother’s missing wife Moon-young as the prime suspect, Min-tae uncovers a suspicious last phone call between her and a mysterious novelist, sparking a vicious hunt for the truth despite his seemingly deceitful former crime syndicate and the police in hot pursuit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline (2019)
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisConfession of Murder (2012)
A serial killer reappears 15 years after his murder spree with a book detailing his crimes. The resentful cop who failed to catch him before is assigned to protect him. The families of the victims plan revenge. And as the media circus spirals out of control, a masked man called "J" appears claiming to be the real killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Voices (2014)
A mentally unhinged factory worker must decide whether to listen to his talking cat and become a killer, or follow his dog's advice to keep striving for normalcy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevelations (2025)
A pastor who believes in divine revelation and a detective haunted by visions pursue a missing person case — exposing their own demons in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prowler (1981)
Thirty years after a murder on the night of Avalon Bay's graduation dance, the sleepy town's teens meet grisly ends at the hands of a prowler once thought to be a jilted soldier home from war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiller Toon (2013)
A web-comic artist finds that a series of murders are occurring that have a disturbing resemblance to the images in her work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight of the Hunted (2023)
When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she's made the plaything of a sociopath sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her life, but also figure out who wants her dead and why.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 'Burbs (1989)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDer Sandmann (1995)
The ambitious young Ina Littmann is an investigative journalist for the TV talk show "Eye in Eye". Her current subject is Henry Kupfer, who wrote a bestseller about a psychopathic killer after he was himself in prison for 8 years for manslaughter. As an entry for the show Ina plans to use a current series of brutal murders among prostitutes. When Ina meets Kupfer, she is despised and fascinated at the same time. Soon she's convinced that Kupfer not only writes about murders, but commits them himself. She smells a smash hit and prepares to prove him guilty on the show.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Frailty (2002)
A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCurdled (1996)
A death-obsessed cleaning woman uncovers a clue identifying a Florida bartender for a series of socialite murders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)
Chris Miller, living with her stepmother in a large secluded mansion, finds her isolation interrupted by the arrival of an unknown scythe-wielding killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pathology (2008)
Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove Stalk (2016)
Sharon is a fast-rising PR executive from Singapore, searching for love in Hong Kong, who may have found her dream guy, but as she chases after him online and in person, Sharon quickly finds out the dangers of stalking a secret crush.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Saturn Bowling (2022)
In a family-owned bowling alley, tension arises between two brothers following their father's death. Meanwhile one of them, a cop, is investigating a series of disturbing murders. Both brothers soon find themselves trapped in a looming darkness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisErasmus (2016)
Montse just wanted to make a documentary about partying at the Barcelona night clubs. But what begins as a fun evening out turns into hours of unending terror as Montse's video cameras capture a mysterious fiend killing off her friends one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Final Girl (2015)
Veronica, the new girl in town, is lured into the woods by a group of senior boys looking to make her a victim. But the boys don't know that Veronica's been trained to handle herself in surprisingly lethal ways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Circle?
The closest matches to The Circle are Missing You (2016), Mindcage (2022) and The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Circle?
Start with Missing You (2016), the closest match to The Circle.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Circle?
Confession of Murder (2012), rated 7.1/10 by 347 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Circle?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like The Circle?
Yes: Missing You (2016), Nocturnal (2025) and Confession of Murder (2012).
How are movies similar to The Circle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Circle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.