Movies like The Reef (2010)
The best movies like The Reef (2010) are Boom! (1968), Orca (1977) and The Black Demon (2023). If The Reef hooked you with its drama and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDreams (1990)7.7/10 from 611 votes
- NewestLast Breath (2025)Released 2025
Boom! (1968)
Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrca (1977)
After witnessing the killing of his mate and offspring at the hands of a reckless Irish captain, a vengeful killer whale rampages through the fisherman's Newfoundland harbor. Under pressure from the villagers, the captain, a female marine biologist, and an Indigenous tribalist venture after the great beast, who will meet them on its own turf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Black Demon (2023)
Oilman Paul Sturges' idyllic family vacation turns into a nightmare when they encounter a ferocious megalodon shark that will stop at nothing to protect its territory. Stranded and under constant attack, Paul and his family must somehow find a way to get his family back to shore alive before it strikes again in this epic battle between humans and nature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGray Lady Down (1978)
The USS Neptune, a nuclear submarine, is sunk off the coast of Connecticut after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship. The navy must attempt a potentially dangerous rescue in the hope of saving the lives of the crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perfect Storm (2000)
In October 1991, a confluence of weather conditions combined to form a killer storm in the North Atlantic. Caught in the storm was the sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017)
An adrenaline seeking snowboarder gets lost in a massive winter storm in the back country of the High Sierras where he is pushed to the limits of human endurance and forced to battle his own personal demons as he fights for survival....
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Unhealer (2021)
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Most Dangerous Game (1932)
When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff. While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve and Martin Towbridge, to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey and he is the hunter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Finest Hours (2016)
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSix Minutes to Midnight (2020)
Summer 1939. Influential families in Nazi Germany have sent their daughters to a finishing school in an English seaside town to learn the language and be ambassadors for a future looking National Socialist. A teacher there sees what is coming and is trying to raise the alarm. But the authorities believe he is the problem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode 46 (2003)
In a dystopian future, insurance fraud investigator William Gold arrives in Shanghai to investigate a forgery ring for "papelles", futuristic passports that record people's identities and genetics. Gold falls for Maria Gonzalez, the woman in charge of the forgeries. After a passionate affair, Gold returns home, having named a coworker as the culprit. But when one of Gonzalez's customers is found dead, Gold is sent back to Shanghai to complete the investigation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStowaway (2021)
A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Breath (2025)
Seasoned deep-sea divers battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStormageddon (2015)
What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad City (1997)
A misguided museum guard who loses his job and then tries to get it back at gunpoint is thrown into the fierce world of ratings-driven TV gone mad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blob (1988)
In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 'Burbs (1989)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSea Fog (2014)
A fishing-boat crew takes on a dangerous commission to smuggle a group of illegal immigrants from China to Korea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShort Circuit 2 (1988)
Robot Johnny 5 moves to the city to help his friend Ben Jahrvi with his toy manufacturing enterprise, only to be manipulated by criminals who want to use him for their own nefarious purposes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInto the Blue (2005)
When they take some friends on an extreme sport adventure, the last thing Jared and Sam expect to see below the shark-infested waters is a legendary pirate ship rumored to contain millions of dollars in gold. But their good fortune is short-lived, as a ruthless gang of criminals gets word of what they have uncovered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDreams (1990)
Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on childhood, art, mortality, and humanity’s uneasy bond with nature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKill Cruise (1990)
Two British beauties go to Barbados with a yacht captain who does not know what he's in for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Help! I'm a Fish (2000)
Three children are accidentally transformed into fish after consuming a potion made by an eccentric scientist. The kids end up in the sea, with one problem: they must find and drink the antidote within 48 hours, or forever remain as fish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Reef?
The closest matches to The Reef are Boom! (1968), Orca (1977) and The Black Demon (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Reef?
Start with Boom! (1968), the closest match to The Reef.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Reef?
Dreams (1990), rated 7.7/10 by 611 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Reef?
Last Breath (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Reef?
Yes: Boom! (1968), Orca (1977) and The Black Demon (2023).
How are movies similar to The Reef chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Reef, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.