Movies like The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
The best movies like The Bad Sleep Well (1960) are Stray Dog (1949), High and Low (1963) and The Killing (1956). If The Bad Sleep Well hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,238 votes
- NewestVengeance Is Mine (1979)Released 1979
- In JapaneseStray Dog (1949)Also in Japanese
Stray Dog (1949)
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIntimidation (1960)
Koreyoshi Kurahara's ingeniously plotted, pocket-size noir concerns the intertwined fates of a desperate bank manager, blackmailed for book-cooking, and his resentful but timid underling, passed over for a promotion. The marvelously moody Intimidation is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Touch of Evil (1958)
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPleasures of the Flesh (1965)
After committing murder, businessman Atsushi is blackmailed into keeping a suitcase of embezzled money. What follows is a descent into lustful, reckless actions and regret.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
The Third Man (1949)
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisM (1931)
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDrunken Angel (1948)
In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInterpol (1957)
Spurred on by the death of his drug-addicted sister at the hands of ruthless narcotics kingpin Frank McNally, U.S. drug enforcement agent Charles Sturgis embarks on an investigation that takes him from New York to London, Lisbon, Rome, Naples and finally Athens in pursuit of McNally's shapely associate, Gina Broger.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wolves (1971)
After going to prison for killing the boss of the Kanno gang, Seji Iwahashi gets released early -- only to find that his former gang has merged with the Kannos. But with bitter resentments lingering on both sides, how long will it be before the bloodshed begins anew?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Rusty Knife (1958)
Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
The Naked City (1948)
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Fugitive from the Past (1965)
Three robbers escape with loot from a heist before one of them kills the others. Their corpses wash up near the aftermath of a maritime calamity, provoking a policeman's interest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZero Focus (1961)
One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip and never returns. Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, and along the way discovers some surprising facts about her husband's past. With only a pair of old photographs among his belongings to go off of, Teiko tries to figure out what has happened to him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Youth of the Beast (1963)
When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967)
A wealthy real estate investor is forced to watch the rape of his girlfriend and then is sent a film showing the fact. He hires a hitman, Sho, and shows him the film, so that the detective can get rid of the criminals. But the boss of the criminal band is Ko, Sho's archnemesis, who raped and murdered his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Rashomon (1950)
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisVengeance Is Mine (1979)
A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Castle of Sand (1974)
Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Black Veil for Lisa (1968)
Franz Bulon is a police inspector intent on bringing down a major drug ring operating in Hamburg. Thwarted at every turn by an assassin who is systematically killing informants, jealous of his beautiful, younger wife, Lisa, and suspecting her of having an affair (is it real or imagined?), Bulon can scarcely focus on his work. With jealousy nearing the boiling point, Bulon hires Max, the assassin he has arrested for the recent informant murders, to kill his wife...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Le Samouraï (1967)
After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIrezumi (1966)
Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGate of Flesh (1964)
In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVictim (1961)
In early 1960s London, barrister Melville Farr is on the path to success. With his practice winning cases and a loving marriage to his wife, Laura, Farr's professional and personal life are nearly idyllic. However, when blackmailers link Farr to a young gay man, everything Farr's worked for is threatened.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Housemaid (1960)
A piano composer's family moves into a new house; when his pregnant wife collapses from working to support the family, he hires a housemaid to help with housework.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGo, Go Second Time Virgin (1969)
Go, Go, Second Time Virgin is the story of two damned and abused teenagers who meet and fall in mutant love on a Tokyo rooftop. Their only hope is to cement their love with an escape into oblivion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Reckless Moment (1949)
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Bad Sleep Well and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Bad Sleep Well?
The closest matches to The Bad Sleep Well are Stray Dog (1949), High and Low (1963) and The Killing (1956). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Bad Sleep Well?
People who watched The Bad Sleep Well most often go on to Stray Dog (1949), High and Low (1963) and The Killing (1956).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Bad Sleep Well?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,238 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Bad Sleep Well?
Vengeance Is Mine (1979) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Bad Sleep Well?
Yes: Stray Dog (1949), High and Low (1963) and Intimidation (1960).
How are movies similar to The Bad Sleep Well chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Bad Sleep Well, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.