Movies like The Penitent (1988)
The best movies like The Penitent (1988) are Blackwater Lane (2024), Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) and Aftermath (2021). If The Penitent hooked you with its horror and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Devils (1971)7.5/10 from 504 votes
- NewestTo Wander the Earth (2026)Released 2026
Blackwater Lane (2024)
An American school teacher in England drives past an abandoned car late one night, unaware that the driver was the victim of a murder. As she comes to terms with the realization, seemingly supernatural events start to affect the gothic manor she lives in with her husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlice, Sweet Alice (1976)
Alice is a withdrawn 12-year-old who lives with her mother and her younger sister, Karen, who gets most of the attention from her mother, leaving Alice out of the spotlight. When Karen is found brutally murdered in a church, suspicions start to turn toward Alice. But could a 12-year-old girl really be capable of such savagery?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAftermath (2021)
Desperate to save their marriage, a young couple takes a deal to move into their dream home, but disturbing events reveal the house's troubled history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFallen (1998)
Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter.Life (2009)
Following a terrible car crash, a woman awakes to find an enigmatic mortician preparing her for burial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuburbicon (2017)
In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
A police detective's investigation of a prostitute's murder points to his best friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Vanishing (1993)
The boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIntruders (2015)
Anna suffers from agoraphobia so crippling that when a trio of criminals break into her house, she cannot bring herself to flee. But what the intruders don't realize is that agoraphobia is not her only psychosis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil Conspiracy (2023)
A powerful biotech company has breakthrough technology allowing them to clone history’s most influential people with just a few fragments of DNA. Behind this company is a cabal of Satanists that steals the shroud of Christ, putting them in possession of Jesus’ DNA. The clone will serve as the ultimate offering to the devil. The Archangel Michael comes to earth and will stop at nothing to end the devil’s conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeorgetown (2019)
Ulrich Mott is an eccentric and versatile social climber with grandiose plans to affect United States foreign policy. Encouraged in his attempts by his strategically chosen (and much older) wife, the well-connected journalist Elsa Brecht, Mott has a knack for making himself indispensable and impossible to ignore. The only one seemingly immune to his charms is Elsa's daughter Amanda, who might simply disapprove of her mother marrying a much younger man - or perhaps she senses something more sinister beneath the smooth-talking surface?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEmpire (2002)
Big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal with a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top, Victor soon finds out that he's been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ledge (2011)
A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist who shares an apartment with a gay friend escalates into a lethal battle of wills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devils (1971)
In 1634 France, charismatic Father Urbain Grandier becomes the target of sexually depraved Sister Jeanne's accusations of witchcraft, which corrupt officials of church and state are all too happy to exploit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarrie (1976)
Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White faces bullying from her classmates and abuse from her fanatically pious mother. When she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers, things take a dark and violent turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Order (2003)
For centuries, a secret Order of priests has existed within the Church. A renegade priest, Father Alex Bernier, is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of one of the Order's most revered members. Following a series of strangely similar killings, Bernier launches an investigation that forces him to confront unimaginable evil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAre You Awake? (2025)
After seeking transcendence through shamanic rituals, Ana’s life is transformed overnight by an unexpected turn toward faith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
The Name of the Rose (1986)
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Measure of a Man (2011)
After being raised in an Oklahoma orphanage, 15 year-old Donald makes his way to California during the depression. He meets Emogene, the daughter of poor migrant farm laborers, and together they set out to break the cycle of poverty and ignorance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Good Soil (2007)
Ships from Europe brought Christianity to the shores of Japan in 1549. For decades the seeds of faith grew under the watchful gaze of the Shogun, but the fear of foreign influence eventually gave rise to persecution. By 1624, Japanese Christians enjoyed only a few more years of peace. Jinbei Mauda comes to a point in his journey were he has to choose between his family or faith. Jinbei Masuda, a Japanese Christian of the samurai class who draws his strength from his faith, family and kenjitsu (Art of the Sword). However, he is caught up in the shogun's policy of religious persecution and must choose between his loved ones or his God.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gabriel (2007)
Gabriel tells the story of an archangel who fights to bring light back to purgatory - a place where darkness rules - and save the souls of the city's inhabitants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApostasy (2017)
A faithful Jehovah's Witness is forced to shun her own sister because of a religious transgression. As the separation draws out, she starts to question the meaning of God's love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Wander the Earth (2026)
Across three pivotal moments in his life, a masochistic ex-Catholic desperately chases penitential fire, struggling to survive his loss of faith.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cródhearg (2026)
What begins as simple small-town gossip, quickly turns into a question of faith, power and identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La Sainte Famille (2017)
The story of a traditional Catholic family in northern France, part of society but subject to all its changes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Penitent?
The closest matches to The Penitent are Blackwater Lane (2024), Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) and Aftermath (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Penitent?
Start with Blackwater Lane (2024), the closest match to The Penitent.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Penitent?
The Devils (1971), rated 7.5/10 by 504 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Penitent?
To Wander the Earth (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Penitent?
Yes: Blackwater Lane (2024), Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) and Aftermath (2021).
How are movies similar to The Penitent chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Penitent, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.