Movies like The Secret of the Black Trunk (1962)
The best movies like The Secret of the Black Trunk (1962) are Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023), Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and Layer Cake (2004). If The Secret of the Black Trunk hooked you with its crime and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Big Sleep (1946)7.6/10 from 1,223 votes
- NewestKartavya (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanSilentium (2004)Also in German
Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)
A gruesome serial killer is terrorizing London while brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther sits behind bars. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFarewell, My Lovely (1975)
Private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by ex-con Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend, a former lounge dancer. While also investigating the murder of a client and the theft of a jade necklace, Marlowe becomes entangled with seductress Helen Grayle and discovers a web of dark secrets that are better left hidden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLayer Cake (2004)
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this10 Rillington Place (1971)
The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlitz (2011)
A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrooked House (2017)
A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Violent Separation (2019)
1983. In a quiet Midwestern town, a young deputy covers up a murder at the hands of his brother triggering a series of events that sends them and the victim's family towards a shattering climax.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Corrupted (2019)
Set ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, the film follows Liam, an ex-con trying to win back the love and trust of his family. He has lost everything at the hands of a local crime syndicate run by Clifford Cullen, who has high-level connections in politics, finance and the police force. Liam's drive for redemption sees him caught up in a web of conspiracy, crime, and corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Sleep (1946)
Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHorsemen (2009)
A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife's death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bone Collector (1999)
Lincoln Rhyme was the department's top homicide detective and leading expert in criminal forensics until an injury left him paralyzed, depressed, and incapable of working. But when a gruesome murder in Manhattan leaves detectives baffled, they call on Rhyme to help solve the mystery. Amelia Donaghy, a rookie cop whose quick thinking preserved a gruesome murder scene, is enlisted by Rhyme to be his on-the-scene forensics expert. With Amelia reluctantly acting as Rhyme's able-bodied go-between, the pair piece together cryptic clues the killer leaves behind at the scene of the crime, hoping to catch the grisly serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen at Dinner (1985)
Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercule Poirot to use his famed tact and logic to make her case. Lord Edgware turns up murdered, a well-placed knife wound at the base of his neck. It will take the precise Poirot to sort out the lies from the alibis - and find the criminal before another victim dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisMarlowe (1969)
Mysterious Orfamay Quest hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers, blackmailed television stars, and self-preserving gangsters. Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomeone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Claire Gregory, an upper class New York personality, witnesses a murder in a luxurious nightclub. Detective Mike Keegan, recently promoted, is assigned to protect her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrime and Punishment (1935)
Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to the Punch (2013)
When notorious criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London, it gives detective Max Lewinsky one last chance to take down the man he's always been after.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSea of Love (1989)
Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
Travelling on the 4.50 from Paddington, Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a murder on a passing train - but where is the body?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lodger (1944)
In Victorian era London, the inhabitants of a family home with rented rooms upstairs fear the new lodger is Jack the Ripper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKartavya (2026)
With his family's safety at stake and menacing threats closing in, a police officer must decide how far he'll go to uphold his duty.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLowlife (2017)
The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ice Harvest (2005)
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilentium (2004)
A man who accused a catholic bishop of abusing him when he was a child dies in the Austrian city Salzburg. Everyone except his widow and the eccentrical detective Simon Brenner keeps silent and believes that the man killed himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Bud (2021)
Sanya, a rebellious contemporary girl but a poet at heart, escapes her strict orthodox father's house in search of a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Forsaken (2017)
In a rural town where football is war and the quarterback is king, comes a tense re-imagining of MACBETH with a bloody twist to prove that Lady and King Macbeth didn't kill for power - They killed for love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Cannibal Apocalypse (1980)
Released from captivity in Vietnam, two American Army officers return to civilian life and discover they have acquired an insatiable taste for human flesh. A city is terrorised... as they stalk the inhabitants to satisfy their primitive appetites.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe 6th Day (2000)
A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFunny Games (2008)
When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Secret of the Black Trunk?
The closest matches to The Secret of the Black Trunk are Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023), Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and Layer Cake (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Secret of the Black Trunk?
Start with Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023), the closest match to The Secret of the Black Trunk.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Secret of the Black Trunk?
The Big Sleep (1946), rated 7.6/10 by 1,223 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Secret of the Black Trunk?
Kartavya (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Secret of the Black Trunk?
Yes: Silentium (2004).
How are movies similar to The Secret of the Black Trunk chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Secret of the Black Trunk, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.