Movies like The Dangerous Stranger (1971)
The best movies like The Dangerous Stranger (1971) are Baby's Day Out (1994), Midnight Special (2016) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017). If The Dangerous Stranger hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSound of Freedom (2023)7.9/10 from 2,897 votes
- NewestPredators (2025)Released 2025
Baby's Day Out (1994)
Baby Bink couldn't ask for more: he has adoring (if somewhat sickly-sweet) parents, lives in a huge mansion, and he's just about to appear in the social pages of the paper. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is as nice as Baby Bink's parents—especially the three enterprising kidnappers who pretend to be photographers from the newspaper. Successfully kidnapping Baby Bink, they have a harder time keeping hold of the rascal, who not only keeps one step ahead of them, but seems to be more than a little bit smarter than the three bumbling criminals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Special (2016)
A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbducted in Plain Sight (2017)
A family falls prey to the manipulative charms of a neighbor, who abducts their adolescent daughter. Twice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProblem Child (1990)
Ben Healy and his social climbing wife Flo adopt fun-loving seven year old Junior. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)
Peter Carter, his wife Sally and their young daughter Jean move to a sleepy Canadian village, where Peter has been hired as a school principal. Their idyll is shattered when Jean becomes the victim of an elderly, and extremely powerful, paedophile. The film was neither a box office nor a critical success, it garnered criticism for breaking a significant public taboo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Freedom (2023)
The story of Tim Ballard, a former US government agent, who quits his job in order to devote his life to rescuing children from global sex traffickers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Tall Man (2012)
When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Bunker (2018)
When Elizabeth is abducted by a fugitive sexual predator, she realizes she must take matters into her own hands and plot her escape. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJet Boy (2001)
A coming-of-age story of a reluctant 13-year-old hustler named Nathan who will do whatever it takes to feel loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKidnap (2017)
A mother (in her Minivan) stops at nothing to recover her kidnapped son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Desperate Hours (1955)
Escaped convicts terrorize a suburban family they're holding hostage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1991)
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Picture (2022)
A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChild's Play 2 (1990)
Chucky is reconstructed by a toy factory to dispel the negative publicity surrounding the doll, and tracks young Andy Barclay to a foster home where the chase begins again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
Rejected by her lover, the only man left in Cheryl's life is the orphaned nephew she has raised as her own son. She'll stop at nothing to keep Billy with her. When her plans misfire, she is swept up into an insane frenzy that means death to anyone who comes between her and her obsession. But the investigating detective is convinced that Billy is the real killer - and determined to prove it. Madness and fanaticism work together to drag all concerned into a terrifying vortex of blood-letting that adds a nightmarish twist to the classic Oedipus story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Perfect World (1993)
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (2023)
Based on a true story. 15-year-old Kara Robinson was kidnapped, assaulted and held captive for 18 hours. With her survival instincts kicking in, she plots a daring escape from the serial killer and leads police to his apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Imposter (2012)
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSand Castles (2016)
In rural Indiana, Noah and his impoverished family wrestle with the mysterious return of his now mute sister, Lauren, who was kidnapped and held captive for over a decade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Nights on the Road (1952)
An aging truck driver finds smuggled money and becomes involved with a hijacking crowd.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Sathya (2017)
An IT employee, who works in Australia, gets a call from his ex-lover, asking him to help her find her missing daughter. The former has a tough time ahead when he comes to know about some shocking revelations
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Sandokan the Great (1963)
After the capture of the Sultan of Muluder, Sandokan, the sultan's son, leads a guerilla army through treacherous jungles to free his father and defeat Queen Victoria's army of invaders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHot Fuzz (2007)
Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnder Siege (1980)
A band of thugs belonging to an organized crime family assaults several casinos at the same time creating death and panic in their wake. As they flee the scenes of their crimes police begin to close in on them, so they quickly hide themselves in a villa owned by a wealthy industrialist taking him and his family hostage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
FIT Hives: Sustainability - The Secret to Survival (2017)
A documentary that introduces FIT Hives, a student-run organization whose mission is to educate the FIT community about the importance of bees to the environment, the use of bee-derived resources in the industries related to the majors at FIT and its goal to put a beehive on the roof. FIT Hives is a recipient of an FIT Innovation Grant which also supported the making of this documentary.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Cry Terror! (1958)
A mad bomber holds an innocent family hostage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
House of Cards (1968)
In 1960s Paris, an American boxer stumbles upon an international fascist conspiracy that aims to create a new world order.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Dangerous Stranger?
The closest matches to The Dangerous Stranger are Baby's Day Out (1994), Midnight Special (2016) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Dangerous Stranger?
Start with Baby's Day Out (1994), the closest match to The Dangerous Stranger.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Dangerous Stranger?
Sound of Freedom (2023), rated 7.9/10 by 2,897 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Dangerous Stranger?
Predators (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Dangerous Stranger?
Yes: Baby's Day Out (1994), Midnight Special (2016) and Abducted in Plain Sight (2017).
How are movies similar to The Dangerous Stranger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Dangerous Stranger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.