Movies like The Night Stalker (2016)
The best movies like The Night Stalker (2016) are Dead Man's Folly (1986), Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). If The Night Stalker 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 ratedM (1931)8.1/10 from 2,600 votes
- NewestDesert Dawn (2025)Released 2025
Dead Man's Folly (1986)
During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
Jesse Stone and Captain Healy are shot during an unauthorized stake-out in Boston. Meanwhile, a cryptic letter sent from Paradise leads the mother of a kidnapped child to Stone. Though her son was declared dead, she hopes he will reopen the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & 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 & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Night Is Too Long (2002)
A chance meeting, a stolen kiss and a sudden flare of passion sets a handsome young university student on a journey of betrayal, heartbreak and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesert Dawn (2025)
A newly appointed small-town sheriff and his begrudging deputy get tangled up in a web of lies and corruption involving shady businessmen and the cartel while investigating the murder of a mysterious woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assault (2014)
After a cheerleader is sexually assaulted by the high school football team, she must overcome her shame and use the evidence gathered from the subsequent social media firestorm to piece together the night that she can't remember in her fight for justice. Based on the true story of the Steubenville, Ohio rape case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1991)
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWoman of the Hour (2024)
An aspiring actress crosses paths with a prolific serial killer in '70s LA when they're cast on an episode of "The Dating Game."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman on the Run (1950)
Frank Johnson, a sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris, on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation. Frank's wife, Eleanor, suspects he is actually running away from their unsuccessful marriage. Aided by a newspaperman, Danny Leggett, Eleanor sets out to locate her husband. The killer is also looking for him, and keeps close tabs on Eleanor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelieve Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey (2018)
On the night she plans on taking her own life, 17-year-old 'Lisa McVey' is kidnapped and finds herself fighting to stay alive and is raped. She manages to talk her attacker into releasing her, but when she returns home, no one believes her story except for one detective, who suspects she was abducted by a serial killer. Based on horrifying true events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisChinatown (1974)
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJust Cause (1995)
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWonderland (2003)
On the afternoon of July 1, 1981, Los Angeles police responded to a distress call on Wonderland Avenue and discovered a grisly quadruple homicide. The police investigation that followed uncovered two versions of the events leading up to the brutal murders - both involving legendary porn actor John Holmes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindcage (2022)
Detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist's brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Onion Field (1979)
An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Walked by Night (1949)
Roy Martin aka Roy Morgan is a burglar and former war-time Radio & Electronics Engineer who listens in to radio police calls, allowing him to stay one step ahead of the cops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster (2003)
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Mountain Side (2016)
A group of archaeologists working in Northern Canada uncover a strange structure dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team soon finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and they begin to feel the effects of solitude.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & 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: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Maltese Falcon (1941)
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDog Day Afternoon (1975)
Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisScarface (1932)
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll the President's Men (1976)
During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCool Hand Luke (1967)
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBullitt (1968)
Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDuel (1971)
Traveling businessman David Mann angers the driver of a rusty tanker while crossing the California desert. A simple trip turns deadly, as Mann struggles to stay on the road while the tanker plays cat and mouse with his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Night Stalker?
The closest matches to The Night Stalker are Dead Man's Folly (1986), Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Night Stalker?
Start with Dead Man's Folly (1986), the closest match to The Night Stalker.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Night Stalker?
M (1931), rated 8.1/10 by 2,600 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Night Stalker?
Desert Dawn (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Night Stalker?
Yes: Dead Man's Folly (1986), Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009) and A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014).
How are movies similar to The Night Stalker chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Night Stalker, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.