Movies like Harmless (2012)
The best movies like Harmless (2012) are Fear X (2003), Reality (2023) and Monsters (2010). If Harmless hooked you with its thriller and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)8.8/10 from 312 votes
- NewestThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)Released 2026
Fear X (2003)
When his wife is killed in a seemingly random incident, Harry, prompted by mysterious visions, journeys to discover the true circumstances surrounding her murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisReality (2023)
Augusta, Georgia, United States, June 3, 2017. After running some errands, Reality Winner returns home, where she is approached by two men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonsters (2010)
Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWitness to Murder (1954)
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Confess (1953)
When a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preservation, he faces public scandal and trial for a crime he cannot reveal the truth about.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Brotherhood of Justice (1986)
High-school students start a vigilante group in their neighbourhood but, as their power increases, they become more abusive and dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
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 & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne & Two (2015)
In an isolated farmhouse, located in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by a mysterious wooden wall, Zac and Eva, two siblings gifted with extraordinary abilities, endure every day the wrath of their strict father while witnessing how a cruel sickness lurks their beloved mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRear Window (1954)
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOutrage (1950)
A young woman who has just become engaged has her life completely shattered when she is raped while on her way home from work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl Who Believes in Miracles (2021)
When Sara hears a preacher say faith can move mountains, she starts praying. Suddenly people in her town are mysteriously healed! But fame soon takes its toll – can Sara’s family save her before it’s too late?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Canterville Ghost (1996)
When a teenaged girl moves to England, with her brothers and parents into the ancient Canterville Hall, she's not at all happy. Especially as there's a ghost and a mysterious re-appearing bloodstain on the hearth. She campaigns to go back home, and her dad, believing the ghost's pranks are Ginny's, is ready to send her back. But then Ginny actually meets the elusive 17th-century Sir Simon de Canterville (not to mention the cute teenaged duke next door), and she sets her hand to the task of freeing Sir Simon from his curse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe (2019)
A 9 year old boy experiences God's power in a supernatural way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
When heiress Jean Courtland attempts suicide, her fiancée Elliott Carson probes her relationship with John Triton. In flashback, we see how stage mentalist Triton starts having terrifying flashes of true precognition. Now years later, he desperately tries to prevent tragedies in the Courtland family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make... the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it? A theatrical screening of episode 8 and the all new, hour-long episode 9.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease, and nobody will let them off the train.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUpstream Color (2013)
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPowder (1995)
Harassed by classmates who won't accept his shocking appearance, a shy young man known as "Powder" struggles to fit in. But the cruel taunts stop when Powder displays a mysterious power that allows him to do incredible things. This phenomenon changes the lives of all those around him in ways they never could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Naked Kiss (1964)
A former prostitute works to create a new life for herself in a small town, but a shocking discovery could threaten everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sixth Sense (1999)
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAlistair1918 (2015)
A social work grad student’s film project on L.A. homelessness becomes something quite other when she and her friends encounter a man claiming to be from another time and place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wings of Desire (1987)
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnderworld (2003)
Vampires and werewolves have waged a nocturnal war against each other for centuries. But all bets are off when a female vampire warrior named Selene, who's famous for her strength and werewolf-hunting prowess, becomes smitten with a peace-loving male werewolf, Michael, who wants to end the war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuiding Star (1987)
In April 1985, I started to make a film with my friend Kamioka as the main character. But even after three months, the whole film was still unknown. I started to work alone with the camera. One day, the rabbit he keeps at home gives birth to a stillborn baby. As he buries her under a tree in the garden, it made me think of his father, who died the year before. He is no longer with us, but only the gaze he left behind. And so I set off on a journey. In a town in the Hokuriku region, he met a woman who once appeared in one of his films. When I dozed off on the train to Tokyo, she appeared to me in a dream and tells me that I will soon find the exit. Back in Tokyo, I told Kamioka that I'm going to start filming again. I came back into the room, turned on the microphone and pressed the flame against the lens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dreams of a Dead God (2026)
October 1936: In the swamps north of New Orleans, sanity and reality itself are tested during the filmed interrogation of a kidnapper and murderer with ties to an ancient cult.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Brandon Corey Story (2006)
A faux-documentary directed by Brian Kraft, detailing the disappearance of an anti-war activist during his investigations into Dick Cheney.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Conspiracy Theory (2016)
A television crew heads to Nevada to search for alien life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Shining (1980)
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJohn Doe: Video Diary of a Serial Killer (2017)
An experimental psychological thriller that puts the viewer firmly in the mind of a serial killer. Creating with exacting authenticity the feeling of a tourist's videotape, 'John Doe' follows John, an amiable young man in his 20's as he films his visit to Los Angeles over the course of a few days.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Harmless and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Harmless?
The closest matches to Harmless are Fear X (2003), Reality (2023) and Monsters (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Harmless?
Start with Fear X (2003), the closest match to Harmless.
What is the highest-rated movie like Harmless?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026), rated 8.8/10 by 312 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Harmless?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Harmless?
Yes: Fear X (2003), Reality (2023) and Monsters (2010).
How are movies similar to Harmless chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Harmless, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.