Movies like Primordial (2015)
The best movies like Primordial (2015) are Time Without Pity (1957), The Quiller Memorandum (1966) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947). If Primordial hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTaxi Driver (1976)8.1/10 from 13,994 votes
- NewestUnseen (2023)Released 2023
Time Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad Seed (1956)
Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter's darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda's dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGaslight (1944)
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFootsteps in the Fog (1955)
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoint Blank (1967)
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChildren of the Damned (1964)
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but identical intelligence and have a strange bond to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoman Times Seven (1967)
Seven mini-stories of adultery: a widow misbehaves at her husband's funeral, a wife turns to streetwalking for revenge, a prudish girl surprises, a neglected wife vies for her husband's attention, a fight over a dress, a death pact, and a detective revealed as a jealous husband's spy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Thousand Words (2012)
Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack’s life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he’s got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnseen (2023)
Sam receives a call from Emily, a near blind woman who is running from her murderous ex in the woods. Can she survive using Sam as her eyes via video call?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Corner (1946)
Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXnuffet (2010)
The members of the unsuccessful heavy metal band "Mötörcöck and the Mötley Poo" are convinced that they have found a way to become famous. Their evil plan is to shoot a snuff music video in which they are going to kill a young woman for real. During the execution of their sick idea, the musicians realize that they are definitely messing with the wrong "victim"...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & comedy
Taxi Driver (1976)
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Day of the Beast (1995)
When a rogue priest discovers the exact date the Antichrist will be born, he enlists a Death Metal record store clerk and a cheesy TV psychic for an urban spree of gore, sacrilege and twisted humor to prevent the Apocalypse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAirheads (1994)
The Lone Rangers have heavy-metal dreams and a single demo tape they can't get anyone to play. The solution: Hijack an FM rock radio station and hold the deejays hostage until they agree to broadcast the band's tape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
To the Los Angeles elite, Ford Fairlane is known as "Mr. Rock 'n' Roll Detective." This loudmouthed ladies' man serves an exclusive rock star clientele, who depend on his keen eye and smug discretion. So when a heavy-metal musician dies mid-concert, Fairlane is on the case before the lights come up. But things turn shocking when radio personality Johnny Crunch hires Fairlane to find a missing groupie mere hours before he is electrocuted live on air.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHe Was a Quiet Man (2007)
An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisShock 'Em Dead (1991)
Martin is a total loser, who nobody cares for. When he fails to get a position as guitar player in Lindsay's band and loses his job on the way, he makes a deal with a Voodoo priestess. She promises him the fulfillment of all his dreams if he swears obedience to her. He becomes a rock star and has many women - but to stay alive, he has to kill other people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
The Rum Diary (2011)
Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, itinerant journalist Paul Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman. Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s 'The Lost Generation', Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman and her fiancée, a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Dahlia Murder: Yule em All! (2020)
Detroit's Kings of the Underworld, The Black Dahlia Murder, present their "Yule 'Em All: A Holiday Variety Extravaganza" program hosted by Neil Hamburger (Comedian, Actor). This feel-good metal holiday special contains live performances of 16 beloved tracks from the band's extensive catalog, original comedy skits featuring band members, and a special appearance by George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (Cannibal Corpse)! Raise your glass of eggnog and prepare to toast to the season's finest offering of Yuletide joy and laughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like Primordial and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Primordial?
The closest matches to Primordial are Time Without Pity (1957), The Quiller Memorandum (1966) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Primordial?
Start with Time Without Pity (1957), the closest match to Primordial.
What is the highest-rated movie like Primordial?
Taxi Driver (1976), rated 8.1/10 by 13,994 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Primordial?
Unseen (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Primordial?
Yes: Time Without Pity (1957), The Quiller Memorandum (1966) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947).
How are movies similar to Primordial chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Primordial, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.