Movies like The Island Monster (1954)
The best movies like The Island Monster (1954) are High Crime (1973), The Corrupted (2019) and Silk Road (2021). If The Island Monster 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 ratedI Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass (2017)7.4/10 from 1,258 votes
- NewestIn Cold Light (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianHigh Crime (1973)Also in Italian
High Crime (1973)
An Italian police inspector matches wits with a powerful European drug ring. As he comes closer to the top of the underworld organization, his odds of survival decrease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisSilk Road (2021)
Philosophical twenty-something Ross Ulbricht creates Silk Road, a dark net website that sells drugs, while DEA agent Rick Bowden goes undercover to bring him down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boss (1973)
A hitman finds himself embroiled in the middle of a Mafia war between the Sicilians and the Calabrians.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnother Day in Paradise (1998)
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute (1996)
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisParadise Highway (2022)
A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally's conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a teenage girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Souls (2014)
A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass (2017)
Pietro Zinni is asked by the police to revive the old gang to create a task force that will stop the spread of smart drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Day of the Owl (1968)
Set in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small island town to look into the death of a construction supplier. Once there he is shocked by the influence the Mafia has over the people and even himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Book (2023)
After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIronheart (1992)
An L.A. cop goes after a gang of murderous drug dealers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Luciano (1973)
Lucky Luciano is one of the bosses of the Mafia. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsibles, therefore becoming the only boss. But a few years later he is put into jail. In 1946, he got a pardon and is sent back to Sicilia. There, he begins becoming one of the chief of the Mafia. The US Army seems to refrain from interfering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lineup (1958)
In San Francisco, a psychopathic gangster and his mentor retrieve heroin packages carried by unsuspecting travelers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHammer (2019)
A father faces a personal crisis when he discovers his estranged son fleeing a botched drug deal. The two men embark on a violent odyssey that grapples with themes of fatherhood, family and fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Gangsta (2018)
Antwerp, Belgium. The lives of four small-time drug dealers spin out of control when they steal a shipment of cocaine, triggering a full out war between an Amsterdam drug lord and a ruthless Colombian cartel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
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: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDe Dominee (2004)
Amsterdam, 1970s. A wealthy grammar school student Klaas and his friend start trafficking hash and become entangled in the brutal criminal scene.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
The Business (2005)
During the '80s, a young man named Frankie dreams of escaping London's South East region, and his mother's thug of a boyfriend gives him just the opportunity. After beating up the abusive beau, Frankie runs off to Spain, where he lands a job delivering a package to the dapper Playboy Charlie, a gangster who takes him under his wing. Working as Charlie's driver, Frankie is immersed in a world of fast cars and pretty women -- but all the excess could be his undoing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this$ (1971)
A bank security expert plots with a call girl to rob the safety deposit boxes of three very different criminals from a high-tech bank in Hamburg.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeverly Hills Cop (1984)
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend is murdered, he heads to sunny Beverly Hills to work the case like only he can.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLive and Let Die (1973)
James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Justice (1989)
A violent sadist has been appointed a deputy sheriff by his uncle, the alcoholic and corrupt county sheriff, who runs a drug-smuggling and bootlegging operation on the side. When the sheriff's nephew decides to steal the land of some local "half-breeds", a young deputy in the department decides it's time to stand up to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Like The Island Monster and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Island Monster?
The closest matches to The Island Monster are High Crime (1973), The Corrupted (2019) and Silk Road (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Island Monster?
Start with High Crime (1973), the closest match to The Island Monster.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Island Monster?
I Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass (2017), rated 7.4/10 by 1,258 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Island Monster?
In Cold Light (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Island Monster?
Yes: High Crime (1973), The Boss (1973) and Black Souls (2014).
How are movies similar to The Island Monster chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Island Monster, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.