Movies like The Playground (2017)
The best movies like The Playground (2017) are Impact (1949), Sleep, My Love (1948) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). If The Playground hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Man Who Wasn't There (2001)7.5/10 from 1,852 votes
- NewestAurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game (2018)Released 2018
Impact (1949)
After surviving a murder attempt, an auto magnate goes into hiding so his wife can pay for the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide the Pink Horse (1947)
A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Naked City (1948)
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
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 & mystery
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 mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Anubis: The Touchstone of Ra (2013)
The students of Anubis House are on the eve of their graduation when they encounter a new group of underclassmen and a mysterious stone that leads them on a quest to save the world from evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetour (1945)
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFootsteps in the Fog (1955)
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDonovan's Echo (2011)
A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bundle of Trouble: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2017)
Aurora Teagarden and her boyfriend Martin are thrilled when they get an unexpected visit from his niece and her new baby. Their excitement is short lived when his niece disappears and the baby is left behind. Once again, Aurora finds herself drawn into a deadly investigation as she risks it all to help Martin reunite with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLured (1947)
Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached by Harley Temple, a police investigator who believes her friend has been murdered by a serial killer who uses personal ads to find his victims. Temple hatches a plan to catch the killer using Sandra as bait, and Sandra agrees to help.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlackmail (1929)
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrighton Rock (1948)
Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)
Philip Hannon, a blind playwright living in London, overhears part of a conversation , that leads him into a desperate race, to find a kidnapped child. When he gets no help from the police, he along with his butler, and his ex fiancée, attempt to track down the crooks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Angel (1946)
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game (2018)
Crime-solving librarian Aurora Teagarden leaps headfirst into Lawrenceton’s latest murder investigation when her nephew Phillip and his college roommate go missing after the roommate’s girlfriend is found dead. Enlisting the help of her Real Murders pals, and the handsome college professor Nick Miller who just moved in across the street from her, Roe uncovers a kidnapping plot gone awry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYouth Without Youth (2007)
Professor of language and philosophy Dominic Matei is struck by lightning and ages backwards from 70 to 40 in a week, attracting the world and the Nazis. While on the run, the professor meets a young woman who has her own experience with a lightning storm. Not only does Dominic find love again, but her new abilities hold the key to his research.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOm Shanti Om (2007)
In the early 70s, aspiring actor Om Prakash Makhija, and a famous starlet Shantipriya, are murdered. Thirty years later, his reincarnation Om Kapoor sets out to discover the mystery of their demise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTheeb (2014)
Set in the Arabian Desert of 1916, the film follows Theeb, a young Bedouin boy, and his brother Hussein as they leave the safety of their tribe to venture on a treacherous journey at the dawn of the Great Revolt. If Theeb is to survive he must quickly learn about adulthood, trust and betrayal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKolamass (2016)
Shyam and Vandana head to a bigger city to start a new life and business.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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
Barbershop (2002)
A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity and a mysterious opportunity presents him with a chance to change it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gun Equation (2016)
A man discovers his wife is having an affair, which leads him down a morally uncertain path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Marriage Fool (1998)
Recently widowed after 41 years of marriage, Frank Walsh meets the outgoing Florence, sparking joy back into his life again. However, there is clear disapproval of her from his grown children, especially his eldest son Robert. As Frank and Florence grow closer in their relationship, Robert begins to change his perspective on their commitment and devotion to one another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Playground and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Playground?
The closest matches to The Playground are Impact (1949), Sleep, My Love (1948) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Playground?
Start with Impact (1949), the closest match to The Playground.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Playground?
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), rated 7.5/10 by 1,852 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Playground?
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: The Disappearing Game (2018) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Playground?
Yes: Impact (1949), Sleep, My Love (1948) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947).
How are movies similar to The Playground chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Playground, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.