Movies like Palmetto (1998)
The best movies like Palmetto (1998) are Along Came a Spider (2001), Kiss the Girls (1997) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). If Palmetto hooked you with its crime and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedL.A. Confidential (1997)7.8/10 from 5,867 votes
- NewestThe Whisper Man (2026)Released 2026
Along Came a Spider (2001)
After the harrowing death of his partner, forensic psychologist and best-selling author Alex Cross cannot forgive himself and has retreated to the peace of retirement. But when a brilliant criminal kidnaps a senator's young daughter, he is lured back into action as the kidnapper wants to deal with Alex personally. Teamed with Jezzie Flanigan, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the missing girl, Alex follows a serpentine trail of clues that leads him to a stunning discovery - the kidnapper wants more than just ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiss the Girls (1997)
Forensic psychologist and detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Betrayed (2008)
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Big Sleep (1946)
Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisL.A. Confidential (1997)
Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the Money in the World (2017)
The story of the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother to convince his billionaire grandfather Jean Paul Getty to pay the ransom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Seduction (1994)
A devious femme fatale steals her husband’s drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whisper Man (2026)
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Anderson Tapes (1971)
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this52 Pick-Up (1986)
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple's young daughter so that she can then help the police "find" the missing girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Working Man (2025)
Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLayer Cake (2004)
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrapped (2002)
Held hostage in different cities after their daughter is kidnapped by a master extortionist, a desperate couple must find a way to outsmart a seemingly foolproof plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGone Baby Gone (2007)
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killing (1956)
Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead Man's Wire (2026)
In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Double Hour (2009)
A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Lizard (1968)
A detective tries to outwit an art loving thief who has kidnapped the daughter of a jeweler to get to an exquisite diamond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Lady in Cement (1968)
While diving for sunken treasure, street-smart gumshoe Tony Rome finds the body of a gorgeous blonde, her feet stuck in a block of cement. Soon after, tough guy Waldo Gronski hires him to find a missing woman named Sandra Lomax, and Rome wonders if there's a connection. He sets about trying to locate the woman, and in no time finds himself mixed up with a beautiful party girl and a slippery racketeer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnatomy of a Murder (1959)
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fifth Cord (1971)
A journalist finds himself on the trail of a murderer who's been targeting people around him, while the police are considering him a suspect in their investigation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil All the Time (2020)
In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExperiment in Terror (1962)
A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
Travelling on the 4.50 from Paddington, Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a murder on a passing train - but where is the body?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBestseller (2010)
Following a humiliating plagiarism scandal, an author moves to an isolated small-town house with her daughter to write her comeback novel. Desperate for inspiration, she communicates with a mysterious ghostly presence that has befriended her daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Collector (2002)
The detective Maud Graham hides her sensibility behind the image of a strong and independant woman. She frequently offers her hospitality to a 16-year-old prostitute, Grégoire, a young man who became her friend. But when the teenager decides to invite a 12-year-old boy who is running away from home, Maud is near illegality. In addition, the detective has to deal with a serial killer who had already killed and mutilated many women. When she understands that the killer is very intelligent and organized, she elaborates a strategy to arrest him. There starts a dangerous game where the two teenagers that Graham is protecting will be implied. The killer is getting closer, revealing more and more of his madness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Palmetto?
The closest matches to Palmetto are Along Came a Spider (2001), Kiss the Girls (1997) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Palmetto?
Start with Along Came a Spider (2001), the closest match to Palmetto.
What is the highest-rated movie like Palmetto?
L.A. Confidential (1997), rated 7.8/10 by 5,867 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Palmetto?
The Whisper Man (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Palmetto?
Yes: Along Came a Spider (2001), Kiss the Girls (1997) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014).
How are movies similar to Palmetto chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Palmetto, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.