Movies like The Trace We Leave Behind (2017)
The best movies like The Trace We Leave Behind (2017) are Frank and Penelope (2022), Blackwood (2014) and Cheat (2023). If The Trace We Leave Behind hooked you with its thriller and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStonehearst Asylum (2014)6.9/10 from 1,668 votes
- NewestZip Wire (2026)Released 2026
Frank 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 & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlackwood (2014)
Having recovered from a shattering emotional breakdown, college professor Ben Marshall relocates to the countryside with his wife and young son, hoping for a fresh start. He has a teaching job lined up and a new home to move into; things finally look to be going Ben's way. Until, that is, he starts to feel that something isn't quite right in the house. Finding himself plagued by spectral visions, Ben becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a local mystery that appears to be putting the lives of his family in danger
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisCheat (2023)
On the surface it's believed to be another urban legend - a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek, Pennsylvania. But the town's unusually high suicide rate is finally convincing both locals and college students that everything is not as it seems. When Maeve - a female college student - sleeps with Charlie, the married man of the host family she is staying with, both sense the deadly curse is closing in on them. Unable to get anyone to believe them, Maeve and Charlie seek out a local history student to help find answers and figure out a way to defend themselves. It all comes undone, however, as several people are horrifically killed by the savage being - one-by-one at a rapid pace. Eventually, Maeve, Charlie and the few survivors band together in an attempt to defeat the monster once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStonehearst Asylum (2014)
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocebo (2022)
A fashion designer suffers from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContainment (2015)
Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Evil (1978)
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisEradication (2022)
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou'll Never Find Me (2024)
Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhisper (2007)
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisZip Wire (2026)
When her ground-breaking pharmaceutical discovery is stolen and partner murdered, researcher Amy must face her fear of heights to escape nefarious attackers, with the only path to salvation being a treacherous aerial runway. To outsmart the mysterious hostiles, she has to summon every ounce of courage to protect the world-changing scientific discovery — and herself — before it's too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisKing of Killers (2023)
Garan is a part of a group of international hitmen who are contracted to take out the most dangerous killer in the world, only to find out that they're the ones being hunted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProdigy (2017)
Jimmy is a committed child psychologist who uses his own playbook, but when he is brought in to work with Ellie, he is completely unprepared for his subject—a 9-year-old psychopathic genius with nothing to lose. As he begins to understand the extent of her capabilities and the fate that has been planned for her, he struggles to overcome her defenses before it is too late for them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisFire Island (2023)
The perfect summer vacation quickly spirals out of control for a group of friends on the infamous, picturesque party getaway of Fire Island as they find themselves caught in a web of sex, lies and cold blooded murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Saint Drogo (2023)
A gay couple, whose relationship has grown a bit strained, take an impromptu trip to Provincetown, Cape Cod in the off-season. Caleb, one half of the couple, has been plagued by nightmares of his ex, who had been working in Provincetown for the summer. When they arrive to town, it appears Caleb's ex has gone missing. As disturbing hallucinations continue to haunt Caleb, he becomes more determined in finding him. But the closer he gets, the sooner he nears the sinister secret the town is hiding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
The Torturer (2008)
Rick (Andrew W. Walker) is a man raised with solid American values, who was trained as a "special interrogator" in Iraq. He does and experiences things there that cause him PTSD. When he is debriefed by a therapist (Doc), strange things begin to be revealed, and as the creepiness factor starts to rise we realize that all is not as it seems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Roseville (2013)
In the early autumn of 1985 the police are seeing the consequences of a shocking and mysterious incident that took place in an isolated mountain hut in the Balkan Mountains. The film "Roseville " is artistic interpretations inspired by eyewitness accounts and clues found within the cabin.Vasil ( Kalin Vratchanski ) and Nadia ( Lydia Indjova ) are a young couple who arrive on holiday in "Roseville". There they meet the keeper George ( Plamen Manassiev ) and his best friend Dora ( Elena Petrova ). Later joining the gang is Stephen Court ( David Chokachi ) - an old associate of George. The presence of Vasil unlocked " storm " of unexplained events that will test the sanity of all. Everyone faces the the horror of their own fears and the invisible force that wants to control them, lurking in the dark and quietly knocks on the door to their minds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Cruciatu (2018)
In a lost corner of the world, just another village isolated from all the recurring rumors of any era. The trees take over leaving the loneliness evidenced as the darkness likes and appreciates.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Frankenstein: A Love Story (1974)
Fascinated by the idea of being able to create life through science, a count produces a monster from corpses. Does the creature have a soul?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Magno Mainak (2009)
Magno Mainak is a 2009 crime thriller based on the novel of same name by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. It was directed by Swapan Ghosal and produced by New Wave Communications. This is the third Byomkesh Bakshi film adaptation. Subhrajit Dutta played Byomkesh while Rajarshi Mukherjee played Ajit. Piyali Munsi, Rupanjana Mitra, Gargi Roychowdhury and Biplab Chatterjee acted in other roles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Durbin (2014)
Pupul is twelve years old. But, instead of studying and playing like other twelve year old, the only thing that interests him is solving cases. His two friends, Tatai and Bhebli, are equally enthusiastic on being sleuths and assisting Pupul. Pupul calls himself Captain Spark , roams around with a toy pistol and dreams of possessing a durbin (binocular), which, according to him, will make him a real detective. So when his uncle presents him one on his birthday, disaster strikes. Looking through the durbin, Pupul witnesses a murder and decides to catch the culprit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
U Turn (2019)
‘U-Turn’ follows the story of a reporter; Raveena who gets unvoluntary involved in a murder case conducted by the police as she investigates accidents on a flyover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Kill Boksoon (2023)
At work, she's a renowned assassin. At home, she's a single mom to a teenage daughter. Killing? That's easy. It's parenting that's the hard part.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Trace We Leave Behind?
The closest matches to The Trace We Leave Behind are Frank and Penelope (2022), Blackwood (2014) and Cheat (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Trace We Leave Behind?
Start with Frank and Penelope (2022), the closest match to The Trace We Leave Behind.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Trace We Leave Behind?
Stonehearst Asylum (2014), rated 6.9/10 by 1,668 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Trace We Leave Behind?
Zip Wire (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Trace We Leave Behind chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Trace We Leave Behind, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.