Movies like Hitcher in the Dark (1989)
The best movies like Hitcher in the Dark (1989) are What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), Mother's Day (2010) and God Is a Bullet (2023). If Hitcher in the Dark hooked you with its crime and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDial M for Murder (1954)8.0/10 from 2,997 votes
- NewestUntil You're Alone (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianWhat Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)Also in Italian
What 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 thisMother's Day (2010)
Crazed members of a sadistic family return to their childhood home to terrorize the new owners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe New York Ripper (1982)
A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hitcher (2007)
While driving through the New Mexico Desert during a rainy night, college students Jim Halsey and his girlfriend Grace Andrews give a ride to a hitchhiker. While in their car, the stranger proves to be a psychopath threatening the young couple with a knife, but Jim successfully throws him out of the car. This sets off a chain of events that will change all of their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNo One Lives (2013)
A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971)
When socialite and heiress Julie Wardh begins receiving blackmail letters attributed to a mysterious serial killer, she suspects her cruel and sadistic former lover Jean is behind them. With her husband Neil frequently out of town, she falls into the arms of her friend's cousin George, and as the unknown assassin begins to make his move, she fears that one of the three men in her life may be the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlmost Human (1974)
A psychotic small-time criminal realizes that the everyday robberies, rapes and murders he commits aren't profitable enough, so he figures to hit the big time by kidnapping the daughter of a rich man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBecky (2020)
A teenager's weekend at a lake house with her father takes a turn for the worse when a group of convicts wreaks havoc on their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
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 · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hitcher (1986)
On a stormy night, young Jim, who transports a luxury car from Chicago to California to deliver it to its owner, feeling tired and sleepy, picks up a mysterious hitchhiker, who has appeared out of nowhere, thinking that a good conversation will help him not to fall asleep. He will have enough time to deeply regret such an unmeditated decision.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972)
A maniac on the loose is committing savage acts of slaughter, and one survivor may be the only key to unmasking the serial slayer known as the Half-Moon Killer. The mysterious half-moon lockets he leaves with his victims could be the only key to unraveling his sinister motives, but will that be enough before he completes his ice-cold plot to claim his intended seven victims?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & 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 crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPet (2016)
A man bumps into an old crush and becomes obsessed. After several failed attempts at winning her over, he kidnaps her and holds her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
After the death of their grandfather, two sisters inherit their family castle, which is said to be haunted by the Red Queen, whom legend says claims seven lives every hundred years. When a mysterious woman in a red cloak starts targeting their circle of friends, the sisters begin to suspect there might be some truth to the legend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWolf Creek 2 (2013)
Lured by the promise of an Australian holiday, backpackers Rutger, Katarina and Paul visit the notorious Wolf Creek Crater. Their dream Outback adventure soon becomes a horrific reality when they encounter the site's most infamous local, the last man any traveller to the region ever wants to meet—Mick Taylor. As the backpackers flee, Mick pursues them on an epic white knuckled rampage across hostile wasteland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDust Devil (1992)
A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Red (1975)
An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShaft (2000)
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild at Heart (1990)
Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKlute (1971)
A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKilling Zoe (1993)
Zed is an American vault-cracker who travels to Paris to meet up with his old friend Eric. Eric and his gang have planned to raid the only bank in the city which is open on Bastille day. After offering his services, Zed soon finds himself trapped in a situation beyond his control when heroin abuse, poor planning and a call-girl named Zoe all conspire to turn the robbery into a very bloody siege.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDial M for Murder (1954)
When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUntil You're Alone (2026)
After becoming the lead suspect in a series of brutal slayings, a close-minded architect must team up with a free-spirited sex worker in order to clear his name and solve the crimes before they become the killer's next victims in this suspenseful, stylish, and hilarious queer love letter to Hitchcock, De Palma, and the Italian giallo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
We Own the Night (2007)
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimal Fear (1996)
Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Time to Kill (1996)
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hitcher in the Dark?
The closest matches to Hitcher in the Dark are What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), Mother's Day (2010) and God Is a Bullet (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hitcher in the Dark?
Start with What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), the closest match to Hitcher in the Dark.
What is the highest-rated movie like Hitcher in the Dark?
Dial M for Murder (1954), rated 8.0/10 by 2,997 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hitcher in the Dark?
Until You're Alone (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Hitcher in the Dark?
Yes: What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), The New York Ripper (1982) and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971).
How are movies similar to Hitcher in the Dark chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hitcher in the Dark, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.