Movies like It Only Happens to the Living (1959)
The best movies like It Only Happens to the Living (1959) are The Big Picture (2010), White Snow (2010) and The Unsaid (2001). If It Only Happens to the Living hooked you with its thriller, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Beasts (2022)7.5/10 from 1,001 votes
- NewestKarma (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchThe Big Picture (2010)Also in French
The Big Picture (2010)
Paul Exben is a success story – partner in one of Paris's most exclusive law firms, big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons straight out of a Gap catalog. But when he finds out that Sarah, his wife, is cheating on him with Greg Kremer, a local photographer, a rush of blood provokes Paul into a fatal error.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Snow (2010)
Director Christophe Blanc delivers a fast-past thriller set to a background of Finland's stunning landscape. High-end car dealership owner Maxime is pursued by Finnish gangsters over unsatisfactory cars his dead partner sold them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Unsaid (2001)
A doctor dealing with the aftermath of his son's death tries to help a troubled young man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Snake (2006)
A ruthless gang led by private detective Joseph Plender is extorting rich people and famous fashion photographer Vincent Mandel seems the next victim. He is married to Hélène, daughter of one of the richest people in Europe, but not quite happily. In fact the marriage is on the brink of a divorce and a judge is deciding who will take the two children. Can Hélène take them to Germany or will they stay with Vincent? Vincent has a lot on his mind and he improvises when model Sofia Kippiani comes to his studio, but his makeup crew doesn't show up. Before he knows it, he is accused of a rape. Things go worse and worse for Vincent, he sees his entire life slipping away and, most importantly, he might lose his children. But why does his former schoolmate Joseph Plender seek contact with Vincent and even solve a nasty problem for him? Does Plender want something more than money?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoy House (1964)
A small-time con man on the run from his girlfriend's gangster husband hides out in a strange, brooding mansion run by two mysterious women, where he finds himself trapped in deception between the two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKarma (2026)
In a village in northern Spain, Jeanne tries to rebuild her life with Daniel, who knows nothing about her troubled past. One day, Jeanne's six-year-old godson mysteriously disappears and Jeanne becomes the main suspect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChief of Station (2024)
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarbone (2017)
In danger of losing his business, Anthony Roca, an ordinary man, develops a scam that will become the heist of the century. Overtaken by the crime, he will have to deal with betrayal, murder and settling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQuicksand (1950)
Young auto mechanic Dan Brady takes $20 from a cash register at work to go on a date with blonde femme fatale Vera Novak. Brady intends to put the money back before it is missed, but the garage's bookkeeper shows up earlier than scheduled. As Brady scrambles to cover evidence of his petty theft, he fast finds himself drawn into an ever worsening "quicksand" of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlast (2022)
In a Parisian parking lot Sonia finds herself trapped in her car with her son and the daughter of her boyfriend Fred, who has been left outside, powerless to deal with the situation: an anti-tank mine has been set under the car. Sonia is a bomb-disposal expert, who works for a NGO with Fred. She just got back from a mission in Ukraine and, while she's used to face dangerous situations, with the children's lives on the line the stakes have never been higher. Along with colleagues Igor and Camille, who came to the rescue, Sonia and Fred have 30 minutes to defuse the bomb and work out who could be the mastermind behind this. Will they stand united until the end or will the family implode under pressure?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreaking Point (2024)
Mathieu owes everything to his friend Vincent : his house, his job, and even his life, ten years ago. With their wives, they are an inseparable quartet, and live the easy life on the French Riviera. But Mathieu discovers Vincent is cheating on his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe MacKintosh Man (1973)
A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor; only, someone finds him out and exposes him to the gang...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSightless (2020)
After an attack renders her blind, Ellen withdraws from the world to recover. But soon she plunges into paranoia, unable to convince anyone that her assailant has returned to terrorize her by hiding in plain sight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beasts (2022)
Antoine and Olga, a French couple, have been living in a small village in Galicia for a long time. They practice eco-responsible agriculture and restore abandoned houses to facilitate repopulation. Everything should be idyllic except for their opposition to a wind turbine project that creates a serious conflict with their neighbors. The tension will rise to the point of irreparability.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange but True (2019)
A woman surprises the family of her deceased boyfriend by telling them she's pregnant with his child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAccident Man (2018)
Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer. When a loved one is murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArmageddon (1977)
After years of poverty, Carrier, a repairman, inherits a large sum of money upon his brother's death in an accident. Now rich, he decides it is time to make his mark and be known at any cost. Becoming more and more mentally unstable, he begins to threaten police and the government signing his tracts, "Armaguedon". A detective from Interpol heads the investigation and prepares a trap at an international conference of world leaders in Paris.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like It Only Happens to the Living?
The closest matches to It Only Happens to the Living are The Big Picture (2010), White Snow (2010) and The Unsaid (2001). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after It Only Happens to the Living?
Start with The Big Picture (2010), the closest match to It Only Happens to the Living.
What is the highest-rated movie like It Only Happens to the Living?
The Beasts (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 1,001 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like It Only Happens to the Living?
Karma (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like It Only Happens to the Living?
Yes: The Big Picture (2010), White Snow (2010) and The Snake (2006).
How are movies similar to It Only Happens to the Living chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside It Only Happens to the Living, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.