Movies like Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
The best movies like Lightning Strikes Twice (1951) are The Naked City (1948), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). If Lightning Strikes Twice hooked you with its thriller and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,237 votes
- NewestOne In The Chamber (2025)Released 2025
The Naked City (1948)
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Day at Black Rock (1955)
One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRide the Pink Horse (1947)
A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Glass Key (1942)
A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Web (1947)
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Angel (1946)
A falsely convicted man's wife, Catherine, and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin, team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, who is Martin's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEach Dawn I Die (1939)
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCause for Alarm! (1951)
A bedridden and gravely ill man believes his wife and doctor are conspiring to kill him, and outlines his suspicions in a letter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red House (1947)
An old man and his sister are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter, concerning a hidden abandoned farmhouse, located deep in the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhirlpool (1950)
The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan in the Shadow (1957)
In a modern cow town, the powerful ranch owner’s henchmen kill a ranch hand, prompting the sheriff to investigate despite facing strong opposition. He finds an unlikely ally in the rancher's overprotected daughter, but their quest for justice puts them both in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetour (1945)
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOn Dangerous Ground (1951)
A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Gardenia (1953)
Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blue Lamp (1950)
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightfall (1956)
An innocent man turns fugitive as he reconstructs events that implicate him for a murder and robbery he did not commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCape Fear (1962)
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSubway in the Sky (1959)
Berlin provides the backdrop for this crime drama that centers on a military doctor falsely accused of dealing illegal drugs. Determined to prove his innocence, he escapes from the MPs and ends up holing up in the apartment his wife rented. He doesn't know that she has sublet the flat to a nightclub singer. When he finds out, he begs the singer to assist him. She is attracted to him and agrees. The doctor believes that his wife is behind the black-market dealings, but in the end, they find the real culprit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The Grey Gentlemen (2013)
This is the Award Winning short noir film (student film) written and directed by Richard Corso. It is the story a writer, seeking inspiration.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Dead Again (1991)
In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is somehow linked to the Strauss murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFragment 24 (2025)
One night, contract killers Safo and Erina celebrate their latest work when they are surprised by an unusual request: a black envelope with just the signature 'V'.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
One In The Chamber (2025)
Wealthy Socialite Julian Livingston has been murdered, his fiance seeks out a lone Detective Liam Grisby, whose taken an interest in Gretchen to solve the mystery of the ominous stalker that has made a threat on her life. Will Grisby be able to put the pieces of the case together in time?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
The Letter (1940)
After a woman shoots a man to death, a damning letter she wrote raises suspicions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLeave Her to Heaven (1945)
A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGold Coast Lounge (2020)
In post-independence Ghana, the son of a crime family juggles power struggles and a murder case as the government threatens to shut down their lounge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lightning Strikes Twice?
The closest matches to Lightning Strikes Twice are The Naked City (1948), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lightning Strikes Twice?
Start with The Naked City (1948), the closest match to Lightning Strikes Twice.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lightning Strikes Twice?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,237 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lightning Strikes Twice?
One In The Chamber (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Lightning Strikes Twice?
Yes: The Naked City (1948), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947).
How are movies similar to Lightning Strikes Twice chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lightning Strikes Twice, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.