Movies like The Venal Gentlemen (1983)
The best movies like The Venal Gentlemen (1983) are The House on Carroll Street (1988), Eagles of the Republic (2025) and The Truth About Emanuel (2013). If The Venal Gentlemen hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Good Neighbor (2022)6.7/10 from 215 votes
- Newestالحرامية (2026)Released 2026
The House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEagles of the Republic (2025)
George Fahmy, Egypt's most adored actor, is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power. Like moth drawn to flame, he begins an affair with the mysterious wife of the general overseeing the project.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Operative (2019)
A young Western woman is recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCairo Station (1958)
Qinawi, a physically challenged peddler who makes his living selling newspapers in the central Cairo train station, is obsessed with Hanuma, an attractive young woman who sells drinks. While she jokes with him about a possible relationship, she is actually in love with Abu Siri, a strong and respected porter at the station who is struggling to unionize his fellow workers to combat their boss' exploitative and abusive treatment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Was a Stranger (2025)
A Syrian doctor and her daughter flee Aleppo, setting off a chain of events that binds five strangers together. A smuggler, a soldier, a poet, and a coast guard captain collide in a crisis that tests their courage, their choices, and their humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Boy Blue (1998)
Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wasp (2024)
Heather bumps into Carla, having not spoken to her in years, and presents her with a very unexpected proposition that could change both of their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Orchid (2018)
A social services investigator helps a local sheriff solve the brutal murder of a beautiful blonde known only as The White Orchid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLight It Up (1999)
On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCloak and Dagger (1946)
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAwake (2007)
While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoint Blank (2019)
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still Hide to Smoke (2017)
Α tragi-comedy about 9 women of different ages and various backgrounds that gather in an Algerian hammam to talk about their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thissaat zaman (2019)
(Abdullatif) is a Kuwaiti soldier combing the sea area he is guarding on February 27, 1991, then the events move to a day after liberation, after he was drowned, found and captured by Iraqi soldiers, then he is alone on Boubyan Island, to face severe suffering.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Jarhead (2005)
Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Storm (1965)
The Kuwaiti short film العاصفة (The Storm) explores Kuwait's social and economic shifts before and after the discovery of oil. Through the perspectives of an older father and his modernized son, it delves into the challenges of tradition versus rapid modernization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Silence (1980)
The events take place in Kuwait in the 1940s before the advent of oil, and the story of a shy love in the conservative society between Mary and Khalifa, and the obstacles they face.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bye Bye Arab (1986)
A dark Kuwaiti comedy that follows "Arab," an idealist who embarks on a fantastical journey with "Marjan the Genie" to unite the Arab world—only to confront a reality far from his hopes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
الحرامية (2026)
The story revolves around two friends from an orphanage who, along with a friend, engage in theft and are nicknamed "The Thieves." They challenge the police to arrest them, until events occur that turn the story upside down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Guardian is the Thief (2007)
A Kuwaiti comedy play starring Taariq Al-'Ali, Khalid Al-Beraiki, Shihaab Hajiah and others
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Al-Manakh Knights (1983)
The first Gulf economic play centered on an issue that affected members of Kuwaiti society, which sparked widespread controversy between Kuwaiti society and the Gulf community in general, and the issue was the "Al Manakh Market" crisis in 1982, which ended in losses exceeding $ 22 billion. Where the story tells about the second oil boom of the Gulf states at the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties of the twentieth century AD where the price of oil increased continuously until the Gulf countries recorded large financial surpluses, so the money poured into the stock market significantly until it opened a stock trading office in a semi-parallel office and was named a market "Al Manakh" in which money flowed greatly from almost all segments of Kuwaiti society and even foreign residents and some individuals from the Gulf states and increased frantic speculation and increased buying and selling for the future until it reached astronomical numbers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Victim Of The House Of The Pride (1976)
A Kuwaiti comedy play that revolves around Saif, a loyal and diligent worker whom experiences difficulties at home which lead to disastrous results.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Good Morning, Kuwait (1995)
A Kuwaiti comedy play starring Abdulrahman Al-'Aqel, Intisar Al-Sharaah, Mohammed Al-'Ujaimi, Abdulnasser Darweesh.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Venal Gentlemen?
The closest matches to The Venal Gentlemen are The House on Carroll Street (1988), Eagles of the Republic (2025) and The Truth About Emanuel (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Venal Gentlemen?
Start with The House on Carroll Street (1988), the closest match to The Venal Gentlemen.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Venal Gentlemen?
The Good Neighbor (2022), rated 6.7/10 by 215 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Venal Gentlemen?
الحرامية (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Venal Gentlemen chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Venal Gentlemen, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.