Movies like Nocturnal (2025)
The best movies like Nocturnal (2025) are The Mean Season (1985), Recalled (2021) and Cleaner (2007). If Nocturnal 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 ratedMurder on the Orient Express (1974)7.1/10 from 1,657 votes
- NewestVerity (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanRecalled (2021)Also in Korean
The Mean Season (1985)
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRecalled (2021)
Soo-jin, who lost her memories due to a horrible incident, starts suspecting her husband. She is confused between reality and illusion, truth and lies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCult Killer (2024)
A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoor Lock (2018)
Kyung-min lives alone in a one-room apartment. One day, she finds traces of a stranger breaking into her room and soon a mysterious murder case begins to unravel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRighteous Kill (2008)
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ugly (2025)
One day while overseeing a documentary crew filming his blind father at work, Im Dong-hwan gets a phone call that his missing mother’s remains have been found after forty years. Determined to find the truth of her disappearance, Dong-hwan embarks on a twisted odyssey through his family’s traumatic past, uncovering dark secrets along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Arkadin (1955)
Claiming that he doesn't know his own past, a rich man enlists an ex-con with an odd bit of detective work. Gregory Arkadin says he can't remember anything before the late 1920s, and convict Guy Van Stratten is happy to take the job of exploring his new acquaintance's life story. Guy's research turns up stunning details about his employer's past, and as his work seems linked to untimely deaths, the mystery surrounding Mr. Arkadin deepens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead Man's Folly (1986)
During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Black Book (2023)
After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVerity (2026)
Lowen Ashleigh, hired to ghostwrite for best-selling author Verity Crawford, uncovers Verity's autobiographical notes, and becomes involved in what may prove to be a lethal conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Deadly Affair (1967)
Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrooked House (2017)
A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuburbicon (2017)
In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisRevelations (2025)
A pastor who believes in divine revelation and a detective haunted by visions pursue a missing person case — exposing their own demons in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing You (2016)
A girl who lost her father to a serial killer, a detective and a killer are intertwined in a chaotic relationship and are met with an unprecedented series of events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeliever 2 (2023)
A determined detective continues his search for the truth behind Asia's largest drug organization and its elusive boss he has unfinished business with.
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 thisA Thousand Little Cuts (2022)
Anne Bennett wakes up in a hospital, convinced she is recovering from minor surgery only to find herself in a battle of wits with a psychiatrist who can't let her leave until she remembers "what happened that night." Events turn a darker corner as doctor and patient try to unlock not only what traumatic event Anne is suppressing, but also who was there, why it happened, and why Anne's subconscious is fighting so hard to prevent her from talking about it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
That Beautiful Somewhere (2007)
A detective teams up with a young female archaeologist to unravel the mysterious death of a 'bog body' found in a native swamp rumoured to have curative powers. It is the story of two wounded souls searching for healing and redemption
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLesbionage (1988)
In this romantic thriller, blackmail, kidnapping, and fraud combine to give two lesbian private detectives (and lovers) their toughest case. Will their relationship survive? Produced by women for women.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Detective (2007)
Reshmi, the wife of a young political leader, Mohan Kumar, commits suicide just when he is gearing up for a by-election. An inquiry team led by Shyam Prasad is tasked to find out the reason behind it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Evil Under the Sun (1982)
An opulent beach resort provides a scenic background to this amusing whodunit as Poirot attempts to uncover the nefarious evildoer behind the strangling of a notorious stage star.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder on the Orient Express (1974)
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNatasha Hall (2021)
An up-and-coming private eye must get the only evidence of a brutal killing into trustworthy hands before the mob catches up with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Having once again avoided criminal conviction, Professor Moriarity develops a murderous plan to “finish off” his last major nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, by making him fail to prevent the perfect crime. Does it involve a family curse, the crown jewels of England, or something else…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Nocturnal?
The closest matches to Nocturnal are The Mean Season (1985), Recalled (2021) and Cleaner (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Nocturnal?
Start with The Mean Season (1985), the closest match to Nocturnal.
What is the highest-rated movie like Nocturnal?
Murder on the Orient Express (1974), rated 7.1/10 by 1,657 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Nocturnal?
Verity (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Nocturnal?
Yes: Recalled (2021), Door Lock (2018) and The Ugly (2025).
How are movies similar to Nocturnal chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nocturnal, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.