Movies like Death at the Start (1983)
The best movies like Death at the Start (1983) are The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021) and Cleaner (2007). If Death at the Start hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAbove the Rim (1994)7.1/10 from 251 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
The 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 & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisTed Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase ‘serial killer’.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisCity of Ghosts (2002)
A con man who is on the run from law enforcement in the U.S. travels to Cambodia to collect his share in an insurance scam but discovers more than he bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe November Man (2014)
An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCa$h (2010)
A stroke of good luck turns lethal for Sam Phelan and his wife Leslie when they are faced with a life-changing decision that brings strange and sinister Pyke Kubic to their doorstep. As Pyke leads Sam and Leslie on a tumultuous adventure through the streets of Chicago, each are pulled deeper and deeper into a desperate spiral of deception and violence – all in the name of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRed Right Hand (2024)
Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAwake (2007)
While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCloak and Dagger (1946)
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreach (2007)
Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBalearic Caper (1966)
A scepter is stolen, and it's hunted for by various groups of international robbers and spies, for various reasons - in a parody of 007 movies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
The Last Chance (1968)
Giuseppe Rosati's first production as director and only espionage film Scacco internazionale aka The Last Chance concerns an international crime syndicate threatened by certain information given to American journalist Patrick Harris (Tab Hunter) and it sets out to kill him...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Requiem for a Secret Agent (1966)
A veteran US Secret Service agent must thwart the covert conspiracy of an enemy spy network that threatens the world's safety.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Ministry of Fear (1944)
Stephen Neale is released into WWII England after two years in an asylum, but it doesn't seem so sane outside either. On his way back to London to rejoin civilization, he stumbles across a murderous spy ring and doesn't quite know to whom to turn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation White Shark (1966)
When "The Third Eye" - a criminal organization made up of the world's most vicious killers - kidnaps nuclear scientist Professor Von Kraft, his secret formula for a new atomic weapon that can destroy all human life falls into their evil hands. Making things a tad difficult, however, is that the weapon is located deep beneath the ocean. Nevertheless, the Third Eye plans on experimenting with the device in little more than a week. However, the Secret Service has other ideas and asks "Jerry," their super computer, to locate the best man to stop them: Mark Andrews (RODD DANA), a special forces secret agent who infiltrates the criminal gang under the cover of a robber who just happens to be an expert underwater diver! He also wastes no time romancing all manner of shapely women in the tightest clothes imaginable (when they're wearing more than a modestly placed bed sheet) especially JANINE REYNAUD, the bisexual leader of The Third Eye, who sports a wild wardrobe of very revealing outfits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
The Liquidator (1965)
Lighthearted spy drama about Boysie Oakes, who takes a nice job with the British Secret Service, enjoys all the perks, and signs all the forms before learning that his job depends on murdering people, and not romancing all the beautiful civilian staff in Whitehall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Secret Agent (1936)
During World War I, a novelist declared dead is recruited by British intelligence and sent to Switzerland under a new identity to assassinate a German spy. Teamed with a fellow agent posing as his wife and an eccentric assassin known as “the General,” the trio close in on their target — until two of them grow ambivalent when their duty to the mission clashes with their consciences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity of Fear (1965)
A Canadian reporter gets mixed up in Cold-War politics, romance and espionage in Eastern Europe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Saint (1997)
Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Death at the Start and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Death at the Start?
The closest matches to Death at the Start are The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021) and Cleaner (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Death at the Start?
Start with The Quiller Memorandum (1966), the closest match to Death at the Start.
What is the highest-rated movie like Death at the Start?
Above the Rim (1994), rated 7.1/10 by 251 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Death at the Start?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Death at the Start chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Death at the Start, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.