Movies like Kaleidoscope (2017)
The best movies like Kaleidoscope (2017) are Maniac (1963), Bad Ronald (1974) and Peeping Tom (1960). If Kaleidoscope hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhite Heat (1949)7.7/10 from 570 votes
- NewestBallistic (2026)Released 2026
Maniac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Ronald (1974)
When awkward teen Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a young girl whose sister rejected his affections, his overbearing mother decides to hide him from the law by creating a concealed room in their home for him to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeeping Tom (1960)
Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Julia Ross secures employment with a wealthy widow and goes to live at her house. Two days later, she awakens in a different house in different clothes and with a new identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Mirror (1946)
A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Widow (1987)
Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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 thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBallistic (2026)
When a soldier's mother discovers the bullet that killed her son in Afghanistan was made at the factory where she works, she sets out on a path of revenge against those responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhite Heat (1949)
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZ (2019)
A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
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 thriller
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 thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisTime 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 thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerfect Sisters (2014)
Tired of their mother's alcoholism and a string of her abusive boyfriends, two sisters plot to kill her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisConflict (1945)
Unhappily married Richard Mason concocts a meticulous scheme to kill his shrewish wife so that he'll be free to marry her sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lady Vanishes (2013)
Young socialite Iris Carr befriends an older woman while traveling solo by train. When Iris wakes from a nap, the woman is gone and other passengers claim she never existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlowers in the Attic (2014)
After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel treatment from their ruthless grandmother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisTraffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInnuendo (2017)
Tuuli grows up in an oppressively religious and abusive family in Finland. To escape from the shadow of her angelic twin sister she travels to Melbourne, Australia. Curious of sexuality, she becomes a nude model for art classes. Her innocent surface reveals sordid cracks as she sets about exerting her twisted version of righteousness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Poppin-Play Kitchen (2026)
"Welcome back, Boys and Girls!" Step into the delightfully doll-like world of Poppin-Play Kitchen! Your adorable hosts, P-chan, C-chan and U-chan, are dead ready to give you a culinary adventure of a lifetime! Left at the mercy of larger-than-life Stage Hands, impossible recipes, and an invisible audience, can our lovely hosts survive this bizarre cooking show? …Or will they 'POP' under pressure? Only one way to find out. Let's Get Cooking!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Cape 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: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaster Of The Manor (1989)
Presents a psychological, Victorian murder mystery war of nerves that tries for a British-style quaintsy-quivery quality horror between a mannered gentleman who has just murdered his wife and Hannah, the cunning, illiterate chambermaid who knows his secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Along Came a Spider (2001)
After the harrowing death of his partner, forensic psychologist and best-selling author Alex Cross cannot forgive himself and has retreated to the peace of retirement. But when a brilliant criminal kidnaps a senator's young daughter, he is lured back into action as the kidnapper wants to deal with Alex personally. Teamed with Jezzie Flanigan, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the missing girl, Alex follows a serpentine trail of clues that leads him to a stunning discovery - the kidnapper wants more than just ransom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHannibal Rising (2007)
The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead in 3 Days (2006)
When Nina and her high school friends receive eerie text messages declaring that they will all die within three days, they dismiss it as a hokey prank - until one by one, the pals start turning up dead in the alpine countryside. With the cops stymied, Nina and her remaining friends must scour their past for clues to identify the madman before he kills them all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisOld Flame (2022)
A college reunion spirals into violence when two former lovers reconnect and rediscover a dangerous secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Kaleidoscope and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kaleidoscope?
The closest matches to Kaleidoscope are Maniac (1963), Bad Ronald (1974) and Peeping Tom (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kaleidoscope?
Start with Maniac (1963), the closest match to Kaleidoscope.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kaleidoscope?
White Heat (1949), rated 7.7/10 by 570 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kaleidoscope?
Ballistic (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Kaleidoscope?
Yes: Maniac (1963), Bad Ronald (1974) and Peeping Tom (1960).
How are movies similar to Kaleidoscope chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kaleidoscope, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.