Movies like The Trail of the Octopus (1919)
The best movies like The Trail of the Octopus (1919) are The Last Days of American Crime (2020), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025). If The Trail of the Octopus 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 ratedThe Dark Knight (2008)8.5/10 from 37,355 votes
- NewestWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)Released 2025
The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to crime and terrorism, the U.S. government plans to broadcast a signal that will make it impossible for anyone to knowingly break the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
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 & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpectre (2015)
A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGone Girl (2014)
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the world's fate at stake and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan must consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFast X (2023)
Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they've ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who's fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything—and everyone—that Dom loves, forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood Diamond (2006)
An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed countrywide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLeave the World Behind (2023)
A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices—and two strangers appear at their door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan on Fire (2004)
Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Time to Die (2021)
Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCategory 6: Day of Destruction (2004)
Three tornadoes converge to wreak havoc on Chicago, disrupting the power grid and creating the worst super-storm in history: a category 6 twister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Knight (2008)
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlack Sunday (1977)
An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition (2022)
Atrocious serial killings on holidays in Gotham City send The World's Greatest Detective into action - confronting both organized crime and a unified front of classic DC Super-Villains - while attempting to stop the mysterious murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOn Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
With the help of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, and Draco's troubled daughter Tracy, James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Stravro Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hurricane Express (1932)
The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker's father. Baker wants to find the evildoer, among a host of suspects, but it will be difficult since the Wrecker can disguise himself to look like almost anyone
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & action
The Lost Express (1917)
A train that is carrying the formula for a valuable form of granulated gasoline disappears before it reaches its destination. Railroad investigators and the authorities try to determine where it is and who took it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Rustlers of Red Dog (1935)
A movie serial in 12 chapters: After gold is discovered in the town of Nugget, the titular band of thieves and cutthroats inundates the frontier settlement. A group of three compatriots -- upstanding ex-sheriff Jack Woods, his harmonica-playing friend Laramie and tricky, smooth-talking gambler Deacon -- combine their respective skills in a fateful struggle to deceive and disarm the gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Timber Queen (1922)
The Timber Queen follows Ruth Rowland as the inheritor of a wealthy timber business who tries to stay independent of a cruel man who wants to marry her and steal her wealth. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has preserved episodes one, four, eight and nine, and distributor Harpodeon has preserved episode twelve.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Broken Coin (1915)
A movie serial directed by Francis Ford.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939)
The mysterious Don Del Oro ("Lord of Gold"), an idol of the Yaqui Indians, plans to take over the gold and become Emperor. Francisco was put in charge of a legion to combat the Yaqui tribe and protect the land, but when attacked Zorro came to his rescue. Francisco's partner recognized Zorro as the hidalgo Don Diego Vega, then ask him to take over the fighting legion as his alter-ego Zorro.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Brass Bullet (1918)
Rosalind Joy is a constantly imperiled heiress to a fortune in gold. An 18 part adventure serial
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
G-men vs. the Black Dragon (1943)
Japanese spies attempt to subvert America's war effort; G-Men attempt to thwart their plot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse's next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Black Secret (1919)
Adventures of an American Secret Service-girl in search of an important German secret during the war. Chapters: [1] “The Great Secret,”; [2] “Marked for Death,”; [3] “The Gas Chamber,”; [4] “Below the Waterline,”; [5] “The Acid Bath,”; [6] “The Unknown,”; [7] “The Betrayal,”; [8] “A Crippled Hand,”; [9] “Woes of Deceit,”; [10] “The Inn of Dread,”; [11] “The Death Studio,”; [12] “The Chance Trail,"; [13] “Wings of Mystery,”; [14] “The Hidden Way,”; [15] “The Secret Host"
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Trail of the Octopus?
The closest matches to The Trail of the Octopus are The Last Days of American Crime (2020), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Trail of the Octopus?
Start with The Last Days of American Crime (2020), the closest match to The Trail of the Octopus.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Trail of the Octopus?
The Dark Knight (2008), rated 8.5/10 by 37,355 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Trail of the Octopus?
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Trail of the Octopus?
Yes: The Last Days of American Crime (2020), God Is a Bullet (2023) and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025).
How are movies similar to The Trail of the Octopus chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Trail of the Octopus, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.