Movies like Paper Man (1971)
The best movies like Paper Man (1971) are Urban Legend (1998), A Sister's Secret (2018) and Like Minds (2006). If Paper Man hooked you with its science fiction and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDisconnect (2013)7.1/10 from 1,272 votes
- Newest2073 (2024)Released 2024
Urban Legend (1998)
A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Sister's Secret (2018)
Twin sisters secretly swap places on their thirtieth birthday. The harmless prank becomes a nightmare when one of them is murdered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello (2022)
An emotionally unavailable flight attendant meets a potential love interest and later finds out that her "perfect guy" has ulterior motives. As the clock ticks down on New Year's Eve, she must fight to keep her murdered ex-boyfriend's secrets or find herself dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad Seed (2018)
A widower suspects that his seemingly perfect adolescent daughter is a heartless killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bad Seed Returns (2022)
Several years after the murderous events of the first movie left her father dead, Emma is now living with her aunt Angela and navigating high school. Angela’s husband begins to suspect that Emma may not be as innocent as she appears and suggests sending her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, a new girl at school seems to know Emma’s secrets, leaving Emma no choice but to slip back to her old ways and take care of her enemies by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWalker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005)
Walker investigates a murder connected with a missing government weapon. In addition, he tries to track down a teen on the run from a crime syndicate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Kiss Before Dying (1956)
A college student tries to get rich quick by wooing two wealthy sisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocturne (2020)
Inside the halls of an elite arts academy, a timid music student begins to outshine her more accomplished and outgoing twin sister when she discovers a mysterious notebook belonging to a recently deceased classmate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisDisconnect (2013)
A hard-working lawyer, attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his family. An estranged couple uses the internet as a means to escape from their lifeless marriage. A widowed ex-cop struggles to raise a mischievous son who cyber-bullies a classmate. An ambitious journalist sees a career-making story in a teen that performs on an adult-only site. They are strangers, neighbors and colleagues and their stories collide as ordinary people struggling to connect in today's wired world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Education of Charlie Banks (2007)
College student Charlie Banks has to face old problems when the bully he had an unpleasant encounter with back in high school shows up on his campus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: The Beach Murder (2017)
Annie Winters is a long-time customer of Rags-to-Riches and her husband Garret is a wealthy internet entrepreneur. When Garret’s dead body is found washed up on the beach, it looks like an apparent surfing accident. But Annie doesn’t believe the death was accidental and pleads with Jenn to take a closer look.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Number 23 (2007)
Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Genius (2024)
A highly-gifted student sees an opportunity to escape her roots by helping wealthy classmates cheat on key exams, but at great risk to her future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still See You (2018)
Ten years after an apocalyptic event left the world haunted by ghosts, Veronica 'Ronnie' Calder receives a threatening message from beyond the grave. Joining forces with a mysterious classmate, Kirk, Ronnie descends into a shadow world that blurs the bounds of the living and the dead—and begins a desperate race against time to stop a cunning killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMassacre at Central High (1976)
Maimed by bullies at a California high school, a new student engineers acts of revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Man in the Trunk (2019)
On an otherwise quiet night there is a startling knock at the door. Andrew Tucker answers the door to find an old friend whom he hasn't seen in years. The disheveled and absent friend comes to him with one request: "I need you to come with me but, I can't tell you where we're going." Andrew takes a chance but learns that every answer brings more questions. Nothing good ever comes knocking after midnight and Andrew's nightmare asks how far you would go to help a friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Psycho (1998)
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisStir of Echoes (1999)
After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPresumed Innocent (1990)
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder at Monkey Hill (1976)
The story deals with a professional hitman, who falls in love with the woman he sets out to murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Piggy (2022)
A bullied overweight teenager sees a glimpse of hope when her tormentors are brutally abducted by a mesmerizing stranger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Double (1984)
After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous woman dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers—with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
A demonic force has chosen Freddy Krueger as its portal to the real world. Can Heather Langenkamp play the part of Nancy one last time and trap the evil trying to enter our world?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play 2 (1990)
Chucky is reconstructed by a toy factory to dispel the negative publicity surrounding the doll, and tracks young Andy Barclay to a foster home where the chase begins again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Paper Man?
The closest matches to Paper Man are Urban Legend (1998), A Sister's Secret (2018) and Like Minds (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Paper Man?
Start with Urban Legend (1998), the closest match to Paper Man.
What is the highest-rated movie like Paper Man?
Disconnect (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 1,272 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Paper Man?
2073 (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Paper Man?
Yes: Urban Legend (1998), A Sister's Secret (2018) and Like Minds (2006).
How are movies similar to Paper Man chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Paper Man, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.