Movies like Essential Killing (2010)
The best movies like Essential Killing (2010) are Soldiers of the Damned (2015), Escape from Sobibor (1987) and The Devil's Double (2011). If Essential Killing hooked you with its thriller and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestDirty Angels (2024)Released 2024
Soldiers of the Damned (2015)
WWII German soldiers take an occult scientist into a haunted forest in Romania, only to be confronted by their own ghosts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape from Sobibor (1987)
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Devil's Double (2011)
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWarhorse One (2023)
A gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief must guide a child to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJarhead: Law of Return (2019)
Major Ronan Jackson, an accomplished fighter pilot for the Israel Defense Forces and son of a U.S. Senator, is shot down while flying through Syrian airspace. After miraculously surviving the crash, Jackson is taken captive by a group of Hezbollah militiamen. A squad of elite soldiers, led by Gunnery Sergeant Dave Torres, risk their own lives in the hopes of saving an ally they've never met.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeal Team Eight: Behind Enemy Lines (2014)
Seal Team Eight must fight their way deep into Africa's Congo, decommission a secret uranium mine, and stop our most dangerous enemy from smuggling weapon's grade yellow-cake out of the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHell Hath No Fury (2021)
Branded a traitor by her countrymen, French national Marie DuJardin is rescued by American soldiers on one condition: to survive, she must lead them to a cache of gold - before the Nazis return to claim it for themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Survivalist (2015)
In a time of starvation, a survivalist lives off a small plot of land hidden deep in forest. When two women seeking food and shelter discover his farm, he finds his existence threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurphy's Law (1986)
A tough police detective escapes from custody after being framed and arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, and must now find the real killer and prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prophecy (1995)
The angel Gabriel comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven. However, it is hidden inside of a Native American girl and only a former priest and a schoolteacher can stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Resurrected (1991)
Charles Dexter Ward, a wealthy scientist, uses an ancient diary and human remains to begin a terrifying and bloody pursuit for immortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSniper: Legacy (2014)
A rogue gunman is assassinating high-ranking military officers one by one. When Gunnery Sgt. Brandon Beckett is informed his father, legendary shooter Thomas Beckett has been killed, Brandon springs into action to take out the perpetrator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouthbound (2015)
On a desolate stretch of desert highway, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSuburbia (1984)
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAzrael (2024)
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMen in War (1957)
In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson's platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can't stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It's a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Angels (2024)
During the United States' 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, a group of female soldiers posing as medical relief are sent back in to rescue a group of kidnapped teenagers caught between ISIS and the Taliban.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023)
After an ambush, Afghan interpreter Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save US Army Sergeant John Kinley's life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must return to the war zone and repay his debt.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJarhead 2: Field of Fire (2014)
Battle-scarred and disillusioned by the war, Corporal Chris Merrimette is put in charge of a unit whose next mission is to resupply a remote outpost on the edge of Taliban-controlled territory. While driving through the hostile Helmand province, a Navy SEAL flags down their convoy and enlists the unit on an operation of international importance: they must help an Afghan woman famous for her defiance of the Taliban escape the country. Without tanks or air support, Merrimette and his team will need all the courage and firepower they can muster to fight their way across the war-torn country and shepherd the woman to safety.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoots on the Ground (2017)
The story of five British soldiers trying to stay alive on the last night of the Afghan War, facing not just the Taliban, but also supernatural forces more terrifying than anything they've encountered before.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Entrenched (2018)
Four Australian soldiers become compromised when they capture a young Afghani boy spying on their reconnaissance position.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Sand Serpents (2009)
Jason Gedrick and a small group of Marines are stranded in the remote Afghan desert. But it ain't the Taliban that's worrying them, it's these giant refugees from Tremors. In fact the big worms prove to be an ally of sorts by doing better against the Taliban than themselves but battling these enemies is something not covered in their training.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Mazar Sharif (2015)
An Iranian diplomat who miraculously survived Taliban's raid on the Iranian consulate in Mazar E Sharif (Afghanistan) narrates his 19 days of hide and escape to reach Iran's borders meanwhile on the other side, the Iranian troops are preparing for retaliation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Special Forces (2011)
Afghanistan. War correspondent Elsa Casanova is taken hostage by the Taliban. Faced with her imminent execution, a Special Forces unit is dispatched to free her. In some of the world’s most breathtaking yet hostile landscapes, a relentless pursuit begins between her kidnappers who have no intention of letting their prey escape them and a group of soldiers who risk their lives in pursuit of their single aim – to bring her home alive. This strong, independent woman and these men of duty are thrown together and forced to confront situations of great danger that inextricably bind them – emotionally, violently and intimately.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZolykha's Secret (2006)
A rural Afghan family living at the base of a mountain, struggles to survive during the last year of the Taliban and the beginning of a new war that still rages. Living under harsh and oppressive conditions, the family finds comfort in one another and in trying to rebuild their mountainous home. The youngest daughter, Zolykha, is specially receptive, curious and clairvoyant. Zolykha can sense and see spirits of strange men from the past that roam the hills and mountains behind her home. As Zolykha and her older siblings, Amena and Zalmai struggle to find meaning in life's natural and man-made tragedies, they discover new convictions to carry on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Restrepo (2010)
Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Essential Killing?
The closest matches to Essential Killing are Soldiers of the Damned (2015), Escape from Sobibor (1987) and The Devil's Double (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Essential Killing?
Start with Soldiers of the Damned (2015), the closest match to Essential Killing.
What is the highest-rated movie like Essential Killing?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Essential Killing?
Dirty Angels (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Essential Killing?
Yes: Soldiers of the Damned (2015), Escape from Sobibor (1987) and The Devil's Double (2011).
How are movies similar to Essential Killing chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Essential Killing, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.