Movies like Shadow of the Ripper (1988)
The best movies like Shadow of the Ripper (1988) are Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019), Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron (2017) and O.J.: Made in America (2016). If Shadow of the Ripper hooked you with its documentary and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedO.J.: Made in America (2016)8.4/10 from 271 votes
- NewestPredators (2025)Released 2025
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019)
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTitanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron (2017)
For the 20th anniversary of "Titanic," James Cameron reopens the file on the disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRonaldo (2015)
Filmed over 14 months with unprecedented access into the inner circle of the man and the sport, this is the first official and fully authorised film of one of the most celebrated figures in football. For the first time ever, the world gets vividly candid and un-paralleled, behind-closed-doors access to the footballer, father, family-man and friend in this moving & fascinating documentary. Through in-depth conversations, state of the art football footage and never before seen archival footage, the film gives an astonishing insight into the sporting and personal life of triple Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at the peak of his career. From the makers of ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’, Ronaldo takes audiences on an intimate and revealing journey of what it’s like to live as an iconic athlete in the eye of the storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPavarotti (2019)
Featuring never-before-seen footage, concert performances and intimate interviews, filmmaker Ron Howard examines the life and career of famed opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPredators (2025)
In the mid-aughts, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator drew millions of weekly viewers to watch sting operations: men planning to meet minors for sex would instead be confronted by polished host Chris Hansen, then by the police — all on hidden camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Ali (2014)
Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali's personal archive of "audio journals" as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend's life story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStolen: Heist of the Century (2025)
Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeing James Bond (2021)
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaria by Callas (2017)
Told through performances, TV interviews, home movies, family photographs, private letters and unpublished memoirs, the film reveals the essence of an extraordinary woman who rose from humble beginnings in New York City to become a glamorous international superstar and one of the greatest artists of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThriller 40 (2023)
Forty years after the release of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ the best-selling album of all-time, director Nelson George takes fans back in time to the making of a pop masterpiece, featuring never-before-seen footage and candid interviews.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDeliver Us from Evil (2006)
Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)
The authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors alongside Steven Spielberg, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the film uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (2020)
The definitive documentary on the history of nudity in feature films from the early silent days to the present, studying the changes in morality that led to the use of nudity in films while emphasizing the political, sociological and artistic changes that shaped that history. Skin will also study the gender inequality in presenting nude images in motion pictures and will follow the revolution that has created nude gender equality in feature films today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove Majestic (2018)
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarth: One Amazing Day (2017)
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006)
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNecessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics (2013)
A documentary detailing the epic Rogues' Gallery of DC Comics from The Joker and Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Darkseid and more, this documentary will explore the Super Villains of DC Comics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988)
Marcel Ophuls' riveting film details the heinous legacy of the Gestapo head dubbed "The Butcher of Lyon." Responsible for over 4,000 deaths in occupied France during World War II, Barbie would escape—with U.S. help—to South America in 1951, where he lived until a global manhunt led to his 1983 arrest and subsequent trial.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMeeting Gorbachev (2019)
Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Mind, Out of Sight (2014)
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Obituary of a Beast (1985)
Between 1962 and 1966, sex murderer Jurgen Bartsch cruelly tortured and killed four children in an old air raid bunker in Germany. This documentary examines the personality of the killer who died in 1976 during voluntary castration surgery at the age of 30. Vilified by the press for his heinous crime, Bartsch also became a case study for famous found criminal psychologists like Alice Miller (who maintains that no one abuses without being abused as a child, and murderers tend to have their own childhood abuse denied by the adults around them). Bartsch never met his birth parents, he was raised in a clinic and later adopted by a cold, unaffectionate couple. By the age of 15, he tortured and killed his first child victim. This informative, fact-filled documentary provides enough details for viewers to come away with a broader understanding of the nature of the criminally insane and society's role in their formation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Bluebeard (1963)
Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho Is Luigi Mangione? (2025)
Writings and social media posts help to reveal the secret life and troubles of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the brazen murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and whom so many people are calling a hero.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Great Horsemeat Scandal (2024)
This stranger than fiction crime thriller tells the hidden story of the Horsemeat Scandal. With testimony from whistleblowers, the detectives who cracked the case and journalists who uncovered how horsemeat ended up in our high street stores, it’s an outlandish tale that changed what we eat forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Evil Among Us: Ted Bundy (2022)
To the outside world, Ted Bundy was a law student, devoted friend, and church-going family man, but below the surface lurked something darker….a serial killer who took the lives of thirty young women in sadistic fits of rage. What drove Bundy’s insatiable appetite? How did he get away with it for so long? Were there any signs? And how has this maniacal killer made us reconsider the evil that may be hiding in our midst?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Serial Killer, Autopsy of a Fascination (2023)
An uneasy interest alive and kicking : directors Céline Chassé and Paul Sanfourche question works of fiction to find out to what extent they can be inspired by a true criminals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Old Growth Murder (2022)
A feature-length documentary exploring the unsolved murder of French bicyclist Alain Malessard who was found dead in an Oregon Coast campground on Thanksgiving 1987.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Confessions of a Serial Killer with Piers Morgan (2019)
Piers Morgan sits down with Bernard Giles, a convicted serial killer who is willing to admit to his heinous crimes, and asks what motivated the man to commit those brutal acts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shadow of the Ripper?
The closest matches to Shadow of the Ripper are Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019), Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron (2017) and O.J.: Made in America (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shadow of the Ripper?
Start with Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019), the closest match to Shadow of the Ripper.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shadow of the Ripper?
O.J.: Made in America (2016), rated 8.4/10 by 271 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shadow of the Ripper?
Predators (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Shadow of the Ripper?
Yes: Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound (2019), Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron (2017) and O.J.: Made in America (2016).
How are movies similar to Shadow of the Ripper chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shadow of the Ripper, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.