Movies like Sins of the Past (1984)
The best movies like Sins of the Past (1984) are When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009) and The Dead Girl (2006). If Sins of the Past hooked you with its mystery and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDressed to Kill (1980)6.9/10 from 1,211 votes
- NewestMaXXXine (2024)Released 2024
When a Stranger Calls Back (1993)
Jill Johnson, now a crisis center counselor, reunites with retired detective John Clifford to hunt a killer stalking a coed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisRed Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009)
Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson is forced to remember the very similar disappearance of Clare Kemplay, who was found dead in 1974, and the subsequent imprisonment of local boy Michael Myshkin. Washed-up local solicitor John Piggott becomes convinced of Myshkin's innocence and begins to fight on his behalf, unwittingly providing a catalyst for Jobson to start to right some wrongs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dead Girl (2006)
The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated women begin to intersect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl Who Got Away (2021)
A female serial killer who killed four young girls is sent away to prison, but a fifth victim escaped with her life. Twenty years later, the killer escapes and begins hunting for the one who got away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeceiver (1997)
The gruesome death of a prostitute brings suspicion on one of her clients, James Wayland, a brilliant, self-destructive and epileptic heir to a textile fortune. So detectives Braxton and Kennesaw take Wayland in for questioning, thinking they can break the man. But despite his troubles, Wayland is a master of manipulation, and during the interrogation, he begins to turn the tables on the investigators, forcing them to reveal their own sinister sides.
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 thisDressed to Kill (1980)
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Ceremony (1968)
A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mean Season (1985)
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMindcage (2022)
Detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist's brilliant but twisted psyche, she and Jake are lured into a diabolical game of cat and mouse, racing against time to stay one step ahead of The Artist and his copycat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisWalker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005)
Walker investigates a murder connected with a missing government weapon. In addition, he tries to track down a teen on the run from a crime syndicate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaXXXine (2024)
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCult Killer (2024)
A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder (2019)
When an old friend of New York Sentinel Crosswords editor Tess Harper is found murdered on the very day her puzzle includes his proposal of marriage, Tess unofficially teams up with Detective Logan O’Connor to find the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Caller (2011)
Troubled divorcee Mary Kee is tormented by a series of sinister phone calls from a mysterious woman. When the stranger reveals she's calling from the past, Mary tries to break off contact. But the caller doesn't like being ignored, and looks for revenge in a unique and terrifying way...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: The Novel Murders (2016)
When Jennifer makes a home delivery for a customer, she finds the recipient has been murdered. She soon realizes that the victim's cold-blooded demise is a re-enactment of a murder in a classic mystery novel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMulholland Falls (1996)
In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted By Murder (2022)
A murder investigation is reignited in a house that is considered haunted by the Lawrenceton locals and where years ago Aurora and Sally, as teenagers, discovered a body.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLike Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe 6th Day (2000)
A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)
Beautiful Mandy Lane isn't a party girl but, when classmate Chloe invites the Texas high school student to a bash in the countryside, she reluctantly accepts. After hitching a ride with a vaguely scary older man, the teens arrive at their destination. Partying ensues, and Mandy's close pal, Emmet, keeps a watchful eye on the young males making a play for Mandy. Then two of the students are murdered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFelidae (1994)
A domestic house cat named Francis investigates the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForsaken (2017)
In a rural town where football is war and the quarterback is king, comes a tense re-imagining of MACBETH with a bloody twist to prove that Lady and King Macbeth didn't kill for power - They killed for love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Scarlet Winter (2022)
After Mark wakes up to find his girlfriend murdered in bed, he must try to cover up her death and piece together the events of the previous night to find her killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Funny Games (2008)
When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarehouse (2014)
When two friends open a Halloween fun house on Devil's Night it is all fun and games until their former sorority sisters begin to arrive. These six sisters are confronted by their past as the night spins out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Isle (2000)
Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller Clown (2010)
A serial killer dressed in a clown mask and a long black robe terrorizes a small town and murders people randomly and for no apparent reason. A man whose girlfriend gets killed by the clown seeks revenge and enacts his own brand of vigilante justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Sins of the Past and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sins of the Past?
The closest matches to Sins of the Past are When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009) and The Dead Girl (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sins of the Past?
Start with When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), the closest match to Sins of the Past.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sins of the Past?
Dressed to Kill (1980), rated 6.9/10 by 1,211 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sins of the Past?
MaXXXine (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sins of the Past?
Yes: When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1983 (2009) and The Dead Girl (2006).
How are movies similar to Sins of the Past chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sins of the Past, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.