Movies like The Exam (2015)
The best movies like The Exam (2015) are Each Dawn I Die (1939), The Web (1947) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947). If The Exam hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOdd Man Out (1947)7.3/10 from 237 votes
- NewestReality Free (2022)Released 2022
Each 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 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 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 thisTime Without Pity (1957)
Alec Graham is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie, with whom he spent a weekend at the English country home of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford. Alec’s father, David Graham, a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in from Canada to visit his son on death row. David then goes on a quest to try and clear his son’s name while battling “the bottle.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOdd Man Out (1947)
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Locket (1946)
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
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 crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 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 this5 Against the House (1955)
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrighton Rock (1948)
Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young Savages (1961)
A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
Cleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFootsteps in the Fog (1955)
A Victorian-era murder mystery about a parlour maid who discovers that her employer may have killed his first wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
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 & thriller
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 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 crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Corner (1946)
Ex-con turned private investigator Bradford Galt suspects someone is following him and maybe even trying to kill him. With the assistance of his spunky secretary, Kathleen Stewart, he dives deep into a mystery in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady in the Lake (1946)
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrave Men's Blood (2014)
The head of the Reykjavík police department's internal affairs unit decides to use his investigation into a corrupt police lieutenant to take down a major criminal organization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
The Anderson Tapes (1971)
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVirtuality (2009)
Twelve extremely talented men and women have been chosen to be part of the Phaeton mission, a 10-year trek to explore a distant planetary system. In order to endure the stress of being confined to their high-tech vessel, the crew passes the time using advanced virtual reality modules that allow them to take on various identities. But as the ship approaches a critical phase of their journey, a deadly flaw is discovered in the virtual system, forcing them to question if someone onboard might be a killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisNaakaa (2018)
Goldie, a small time smuggler of Barhabise who is in need of a profiting consignment to recover from his current bankruptcy. He gets an emergency call from a local smuggler and businessman of the area to rescue a Tibetan girl and her transporter illegally from one of the sub-border point to Barhabise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
HomeBound (2021)
HomeBound is the story of Jamie Rockwell (Katie Vincent), a woman burdened by severe agoraphobia. After losing her therapy dog, she must muster the courage within, not only to find her dog, but ultimately, to find herself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Anxiety #5 (2015)
A man's fate is sealed within a Brooklyn tenement housing bathroom in 1983.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
The House (2021)
A married couple retreats to a luxury, high-tech, fully automated house on a remote island. The house AI system goes rogue and turns against them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisReality Free (2022)
A young man undergoes the dilemma of either letting the medication he takes for his bipolar disorder suppress his entire personality or be himself with all that comes with it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Devil Face, Angel Heart (2002)
Lon is an assassin who is deformed. The only man he can trust is his brother, Kwan. When Lon kills a police officer, the officer's partner tries to go after him, but lets him go after seeing his face. Meanwhile, Lon falls for Wendy, the girlfriend of Lon's sadistic boss, Dragon. When Lon agrees to kill Dragon for Wendy, it's a setup. After the kill, Lon is hit by a car and plunges into the river. A year passes by. A new man named Michael arrives, working for Wendy. Meanwhile, the partner of the cop Lon killed is still on the case. He notices a resemblance of the new man to Lon. Is Michael the same person as Lon? If so, what is the motive?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Symmetropia (2017)
A man receives the most intense immersion therapy for an irrational fear (symmetry) ever. He’s blindfolded and driven to a forest where all the trees look the same, so that he is surrounded by symmetry. Also he is listening to tape of palindromes being read out loud.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Like The Exam and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Exam?
The closest matches to The Exam are Each Dawn I Die (1939), The Web (1947) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Exam?
Start with Each Dawn I Die (1939), the closest match to The Exam.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Exam?
Odd Man Out (1947), rated 7.3/10 by 237 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Exam?
Reality Free (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Exam?
Yes: Each Dawn I Die (1939), The Web (1947) and They Made Me a Fugitive (1947).
How are movies similar to The Exam chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Exam, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.