Movies like Once You Kiss a Stranger... (1969)
The best movies like Once You Kiss a Stranger... (1969) are Identity (2003), Psycho (1960) and Psycho II (1983). If Once You Kiss a Stranger... hooked you with its mystery and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPsycho (1960)8.4/10 from 11,443 votes
- NewestA New Beginning (2026)Released 2026
Identity (2003)
Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPsycho (1960)
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPsycho II (1983)
Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStonehearst Asylum (2014)
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLike Minds (2006)
A forensic psychologist must determine if a minor should be charged with murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrescription: Murder (1968)
In Columbo's first outing, a psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHouse of Games (1987)
A psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Voices (2014)
A mentally unhinged factory worker must decide whether to listen to his talking cat and become a killer, or follow his dog's advice to keep striving for normalcy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShock (1946)
In this thriller, psychiatrist Dr. Cross kills his wife and expects to get away with murder, until he discovers that the slaying was observed by a next-door neighbor, Janet Stewart. As Janet attempts to convince her husband of the doctor's dastardly deed, Cross shows up to advise him that Janet is in dire need of some in-depth counseling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAsylum (2005)
A woman becomes very curious about one of her psychiatrist husband's inmates, a man who was found guilty in the murder and disfigurement of his former wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunted (2021)
A woman flees two serial killers who are hot on her heels in a forest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKill Me Again (1989)
After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarlowe (1969)
Mysterious Orfamay Quest hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers, blackmailed television stars, and self-preserving gangsters. Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMa (2019)
Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisPoker Night (2014)
When a new detective is caught by a vicious psychopath and locked in a basement, he must use the knowledge he learned from some of the best detectives at Poker Night, then match wits against his captor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDial M for Murder (1954)
When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Return (2006)
Joanna Mills has a successful career but feels her personal life is spinning out of control. She has few friends, an estranged father, and a crazy ex-boyfriend who is stalking her. Joanna begins having terrifying visions of a woman's murder, and it seems that she is the killer's next target. Determined to solve the mystery and escape her apparent fate, Joanna follows her visions to the victim's hometown and finds that some secrets just do not stay buried.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRaising Cain (1992)
Child psychologist Carter Nix is a loving and caring family man, but under this appearance lies a dark and troubled past. Grappling with the consequences of this past on his own psyche and the influence of his returning father and violent brother Cain, Carter becomes involved in a series of murders and kidnappings. Meanwhile, his wife Jenny rekindles an old love affair, placing herself in the crosshairs of her increasingly unstable husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Watcher (2000)
FBI agent Joel Campbell, burnt-out and shell-shocked after years spent chasing serial killers, flees L.A. to begin a new life for himself in Chicago. But five months later, Joel's best laid plans are abruptly cut short when his new hometown becomes the setting for some particularly gruesome murders--murders that could only have been committed by one man: David Allen Griffin. One of Joel's most elusive and cunning nemeses, Griffin has followed his former pursuer to Chicago in order to play a sadistic game of cat and mouse. Taunting Joel with photographs of his intended victims and leaving his crime scenes meticulously free of clues in order to keep the police at bay, Griffin derives as much pleasure out of watching Joel react to every movement as watching his victims die. But when Griffin moves into Joel's inner circle, Joel must quickly find some way to stop him before someone close to him becomes the next one to die.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Clearing (2004)
When affluent executive Wayne Hayes is kidnapped by a disgruntled employee and held for ransom in a forest, Wayne’s wife is forced to reckon with the FBI agents as they negotiate with the kidnapper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisA New Beginning (2026)
A reserved artist’s carefully crafted life begins to crack when a persistent neighbor grows dangerously curious.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
The Blue Elephant (2014)
After a five-year hiatus, psychiatrist Yehia returns to work at Abbasiya Hospital. He’s assigned to evaluate a patient who turns out to be his old friend. As events unfold, Yehia uncovers dark secrets that challenge his understanding of reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSave Me (2009)
A young couple live together, but they have a strange hobby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Casey is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hypermasculinity and a woman fighting for her place in it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jigsaw Murders (1989)
A jigsaw puzzle is the key in a detective's investigation of a gruesome murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
A newsman works with a blind puzzle-solver to uncover a deadly conspiracy linked to a genetic research facility.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJason Lives - Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
Tommy Jarvis, tormented by the fear that maybe Jason isn't really dead, unwittingly resurrects the mass murderer for another bloody rampage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)
The pregnant Alice finds Freddy Krueger striking through the sleeping mind of her unborn child, hoping to be reborn into the real world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once You Kiss a Stranger...?
The closest matches to Once You Kiss a Stranger... are Identity (2003), Psycho (1960) and Psycho II (1983). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once You Kiss a Stranger...?
Start with Identity (2003), the closest match to Once You Kiss a Stranger....
What is the highest-rated movie like Once You Kiss a Stranger...?
Psycho (1960), rated 8.4/10 by 11,443 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once You Kiss a Stranger...?
A New Beginning (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once You Kiss a Stranger...?
Yes: Identity (2003), Psycho (1960) and Psycho II (1983).
How are movies similar to Once You Kiss a Stranger... chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once You Kiss a Stranger..., then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.