Movies like The Guilty (2018)
The best movies like The Guilty (2018) are Enforcement (2020), Compliance (2012) and The Guilty (2021). If The Guilty hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrisoners (2013)8.1/10 from 13,740 votes
- NewestThe Cycle (2026)Released 2026
Enforcement (2020)
The exact details of what took place while Talib Ben Hassi was in police custody remain unclear. Police officers Jens and Mike are on routine patrol in Svalegården's ghetto when news of Talib's death comes in over the radio, igniting uncontrollable, pent-up rage in the ghetto's youth, who lust for revenge. Suddenly, the two officers find themselves fair game and must fight tooth and claw to find a way out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCompliance (2012)
On a particularly busy day at a suburban Ohio fast food restaurant, manager Sandra receives a phone call from a police officer saying that an employee has stolen money from a customer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Guilty (2021)
A demoted police officer assigned to a call dispatch desk is conflicted when he receives an emergency phone call from a kidnapped woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrisoners (2013)
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Cycle (2026)
A daughter unravels her father's dark past after his body, missing for 36 years, is found at a horrific crime scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightcrawler (2014)
When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Paramedic (2020)
Unable to face his new reality in a wheelchair, Ángel develops a deadly obsession with the woman who left him and unleashes a sinister revenge plot.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLocke (2014)
Ivan Locke has worked hard to craft a good life for himself. Tonight, that life will collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events that will unravel his family, job, and soul.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeadhunters (2011)
An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMemories of Murder (2003)
A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOperator (2015)
When the daughter of veteran 911 call center operator Pamela, and her estranged husband Jeremy, a Senior Police Officer, is kidnapped and held hostage, they are left desperate, with no choice but to follow the kidnapper's rules: send messages through dispatch for all police and fire units to scatter to remote locations throughout the city where they are met with chaos. Not knowing who or why, they must race against the clock to make the choice of their lives: save the city — or save their daughter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Hijacking (2012)
Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Spider (2022)
A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers by the so called "Spider Killer", who believes he is cleansing the streets of sinners.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Keeper of Lost Causes (2013)
Denmark, 2013. Police officers Carl Mørck and Hafez el-Assad, sole members of Department Q, which is focused on closing cold cases, investigate the disappearance of politician Merete Lynggaard, vanished when she and her brother were traveling aboard a ferry five years ago.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stranger (2022)
Two strangers strike up a conversation on a long journey. However, neither is who they appear to be, each carry secrets that threaten to ruin them — and in the background, one of the nation's largest police operations is closing in.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoundless (2024)
In a moment of cowardice, Detective Carl Mørck sends Rose, his junior colleague in Department Q, to the remote Danish island of Bornholm to answer his old colleague Christian Habersaat's repeated requests. But during his forced retirement ceremony Christian kills himself sending Rose into a journey deep into her own traumatic past. Later, Department Q are embroiled into an old cold case of a girl found dead hanging in a tree.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Chaser (2008)
Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Invisible Guest (2017)
Barcelona, Spain. Adrián Doria, a young and successful businessman accused of murder, meets one night with Virginia Goodman, an expert interrogation lawyer, in order to devise a defense strategy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Most Violent Year (2014)
A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMystic River (2003)
The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTell No One (2006)
A man receives a mysterious email appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this10 Days of a Curious Man (2024)
When a young woman goes missing in Istanbul, a jaded writer gets tangled up in a deadly chain of events as he sets out to find her—and a good story.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpeak No Evil (2022)
A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Things (2021)
Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Calendar Killer (2024)
Klara is going to die today unless she kills her husband instead. The Calendar Killer has given her that impossible choice. When Jules starts his night shift at a telephone safety helpline for lonely women on their way home, Klara's call reaches him. He soon becomes her last hope for survival and races against time to save her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Silence (2010)
13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024)
Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen the Angels Sleep (2018)
Germán, an honest family man, sees how his whole world wobbles the night when, driving home, accidentally runs over two teenage girls. From that moment, Germán will have to do everything in his power to prevent his life from being destroyed forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Guilty?
The closest matches to The Guilty are Enforcement (2020), Compliance (2012) and The Guilty (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Guilty?
People who watched The Guilty most often go on to Enforcement (2020), Compliance (2012) and The Guilty (2021).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Guilty?
Prisoners (2013), rated 8.1/10 by 13,740 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Guilty?
The Cycle (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Guilty chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Guilty, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.