Movies like A Thought of Ecstasy (2018)
The best movies like A Thought of Ecstasy (2018) are The Infernal Machine (2022), Basic Instinct (1992) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955). If A Thought of Ecstasy hooked you with its romance and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSe7en (1995)8.4/10 from 24,204 votes
- NewestThe Infernal Machine (2022)Released 2022
The Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBasic Instinct (1992)
Catherine, a novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite, becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered -- a crime she had described in her latest story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiss Me Deadly (1955)
One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hot Spot (1990)
Upon arriving to a small town, a drifter quickly gets into trouble with the local authorities — and the local women — after he robs a bank.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOldboy (2013)
A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCruising (1980)
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the gay S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTightrope (1984)
Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Exit (2022)
Stranded at a rest stop in the mountains during a blizzard, a recovering addict discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside the building which sets her on a terrifying struggle to identify who among them is the kidnapper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this8MM (1999)
A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSe7en (1995)
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRed Sparrow (2018)
Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Double (1984)
After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous woman dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers—with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (1980)
Two young children and an adult in a small town have an encounter with an alien spaceship. 25 years later the children are reunited as adults in the same town which is now beset by strange cattle mutilations. Matters become worse when the cattle mutilations are joined by human murders and mutilations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn Darkness (2018)
A blind musician hears a murder committed in the apartment upstairs from hers that sends her down a dark path into London's gritty criminal underworld.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNarrow Margin (1990)
An L.A. District Attorney attempts to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to discover that the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEyes Wide Shut (1999)
After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLonely Hearts (2006)
In the late 1940s, a murderous couple known as the 'The Lonely Hearts Killers' kills close to a dozen people. Two detectives try to nab the duo who find their targets via the personals in the paper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rapture (1991)
A lonely telephone operator leading an empty, amoral life finds God – only to have her faith continually tested in ways beyond what she could have imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFaster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
A trio of thrill-seeking go-go dancers kidnap a young girl and attempt to seduce an old rancher and his two sons out of their small fortune, but their scheme doesn't play out as intended.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrozen Image (1965)
A poetic essay. An Algerian soldier wanders through Algiers and the countryside, whilst a voiceover of the soldier's mother laments his death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Traumnovelle (1969)
After a frank confession by his wife, a doctor is called to see a dying patient. The cause of the night brings him to meet an old friend, a pianist, who tells him of a mysterious ball where he is due to perform. Based on the book "Traumnovelle" ("Rhapsody: A Dream Novel") by Arthur Schnitzler, which was the inspiration for the film Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Lolita (1962)
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreathless (1983)
Jesse, a small-time criminal, high-tails it to Los Angeles to rendezvous with a French exchange student. Stealing a car and accidentally killing a highway patrolman, he becomes the most wanted fugitive in L.A.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisA French Gigolo (2008)
Marco leads a double life. As Marco, he is a construction worker but rich ladies craving sexual excitation know him as Patrick. As Marco he is married to Fanny, an ambitious young woman who has opened her own hairdressing salon in partnership with her friend Rosalie. Marco/Patrick is not a male prostitute at heart: in fact he does the job in order to support his wife's business. Which doesn't prevent Judith, an elegant tele-shopping presenter who buys his services, from falling in love with him. But when Fanny learns what Marco does and with whom, she first gets mad but soon starts interfering in their affair.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)
Madeleine, rendered mute after being sexually assaulted as a youth, accepts a lift from a wealthy and sadistic pimp who soon enslaves her into his prostitution racket. Despite her limited means, Madeleine embarks on a bloody road to revenge against her captors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Witness (1988)
Before she can testify in court, Susan is kidnapped and tortured by an evil couple her testimony would incriminate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
A Real Young Girl (1976)
Reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Thought of Ecstasy?
The closest matches to A Thought of Ecstasy are The Infernal Machine (2022), Basic Instinct (1992) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Thought of Ecstasy?
Start with The Infernal Machine (2022), the closest match to A Thought of Ecstasy.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Thought of Ecstasy?
Se7en (1995), rated 8.4/10 by 24,204 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Thought of Ecstasy?
The Infernal Machine (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Thought of Ecstasy?
Yes: The Infernal Machine (2022), Basic Instinct (1992) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955).
How are movies similar to A Thought of Ecstasy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Thought of Ecstasy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.