Movies like Oldboy
If Oldboy hooked you with its thriller and mystery, these are the films to watch next. Every pick says why it matches.
Oldboy (2013)
A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMemento (2000)
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Man from Nowhere (2010)
A reclusive pawnshop owner goes on a brutal rampage to rescue a young girl kidnapped by a criminal organization.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Saw the Devil (2010)
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. Soo-hyeon, a top-secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Bittersweet Life (2005)
Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMemories of Murder (2003)
A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Chaser (2008)
Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Skin I Live In (2011)
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Vengeance (2005)
Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Yellow Sea (2010)
A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDrive (2011)
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Villainess (2017)
Honed from childhood into a merciless killing machine by a criminal organization, assassin Sook-hee is recruited with the promise of freedom after ten years of service. However, secrets from her past destroy everything she’s worked for and now she embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurning (2018)
Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother (2009)
A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisConfessions (2010)
Devastated at the death of her four-year-old daughter, a grieving middle school teacher is horrified to discover that her students aren't as innocent as she thinks.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisForgotten (2017)
Jin-seok, 21-year-old, moves into a new house with his family. He suffers from a slight schizophrenia but he carries an ordinary life under the warm care of the family. His older brother Yu-seok is a decent college student, a mentor, and role model for Jin-seok. One night, his beloved brother is kidnapped by unidentified assailants before Jin-seok's eye. Jin-seok can’t recognize their faces, but can remember only the VIN that matches with no car. After long silence of 19 days, suddenly Yu-seok returns home, but remembers nothing which had happened in the meantime. And soon Jin-seok feels Yu-seok is a total stranger.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNew World (2013)
An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJoint Security Area (2000)
Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator (Lee Young-ae) receives differing accounts from the two sides.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrisoners (2013)
After his six-year-old daughter is abducted, a desperate father takes justice into his own hands when he loses faith in the detective leading the investigation, setting both men on a collision course as the search descends into obsession and moral compromise.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSe7en (1995)
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Suspect (2013)
Betrayed and on the run, a former North Korean agent tries to seek revenge on the man who killed his wife, find his missing daughter, and uncover the secrets hidden inside the eyeglasses of a dead man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this10x10 (2018)
Lewis is an outwardly ordinary guy, but in reality he is hiding an obsession – revenge – against Cathy. Lewis kidnaps Cathy in broad daylight and takes her to his home, where he locks her in a soundproof cell and attempts to extract a dark secret from her past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisKill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
The Bride unwaveringly continues on her roaring rampage of revenge against the band of assassins who had tried to kill her and her unborn child. She visits each of her former associates one-by-one, checking off the victims on her Death List Five until there's nothing left to do … but kill Bill.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDemon City (2025)
Framed for his family's murder and left for dead, an ex-hitman will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the masked "demons" who have taken over his city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World of Kanako (2014)
When Kanako, a model daughter and a brilliant student, disappears, her mother asks her ex-husband, a violent former policeman, to find her. As his investigation progresses, his idealized image of Kanako cracks: the girl hides a dark life that her father can not even imagine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDecision to Leave (2022)
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaharaja (2024)
A barber seeks vengeance after his home is burglarized, cryptically telling police his "Lakshmi" has been taken, leaving them uncertain if it's a person or object, jeer at his request until they learn what they're really looking for.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCloud (2024)
Ryōsuke Yoshii, an ordinary reseller, carelessly earns grudges by people and becomes entangled in a life-threatening struggle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Woman (2026)
After discovering she has a family and a shipping empire, a woman with amnesia returns to a wealthy and seemingly perfect past to uncover why she left.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Oldboy?
The closest matches to Oldboy are Oldboy, Memento, The Man from Nowhere.
How are movies similar to Oldboy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Oldboy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.
Are there Korean movies like Oldboy?
Yes: The Man from Nowhere, I Saw the Devil, A Bittersweet Life.