Movies like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)
The best movies like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960) are Righteous Kill (2008), Equus (1977) and Cape Fear (1991). If Never Take Sweets from a Stranger hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrimal Fear (1996)7.7/10 from 4,268 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
Righteous 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 thisEquus (1977)
A psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire, England. The atrocity was committed by an unassuming seventeen-year-old stable boy named Alan Strang, the only son of an opinionated but inwardly-timid father and a genteel, religious mother. As Dysart exposes the truths behind the boy's demons, he finds himself face-to-face with his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
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 · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Captive (2014)
Eight years after their daughter Cassandra's abduction tore them apart, an estranged couple discover disturbing clues that indicate that she is still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCape Fear (1962)
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Clovehitch Killer (2018)
A picture-perfect family is torn apart after Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession. He begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world may be responsible for the murder of 13 women ten years prior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStowaway (2022)
A tenacious party girl fights to survive after three thieves commandeer her luxury yacht. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThoroughbreds (2018)
Lily and Amanda, two high school students living in suburban Connecticut, rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of drifting apart. Together, they devise a plan to kill Lily's abusive stepfather by hiring a lowlife drug dealer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleepers (1996)
Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoad to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNatural Born Killers (1994)
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015)
Police Chief Jesse Stone now presides over the quiet, seaside village of Paradise, Massachusetts. When the facts don't add up in a brutal Boston-area murder case, Jesse opens an investigation filled with surprises, unlikely suspects and grave danger. Though it's widely believed the murder was committed by an incarcerated serial killer, Jesse suspects another killer is at large and is hell-bent on bringing him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaist Deep (2006)
An ex-convict gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimal Fear (1996)
Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrimes of Passion (1984)
Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest in possession of a murderous sex toy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisuwantme2killhim? (2013)
Based on the Vanity Fair article of the same title, a story about a young boy drawn into a web of lies through an online chatroom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDamage (2009)
An ex-con battles it out in the cage to pay for the operation that would save the daughter of his victim. Along the way he finds fatherly love, and friendship, in the most unlikely of places.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiver Road (2021)
A rock musician and a free-spirited woman start an intense relationship which soon spirals into a world of drug addiction and crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Polytechnique (2009)
A dramatization of the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, on December 9, 1989, where 14 female engineering students were murdered (and 13 were wounded) by a 25 year old psychotic misogynist armed with a semi-automatic weapon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNew Town Killers (2008)
Two private bankers, Alistair and Jamie, who have the world at their feet get their kicks from playing a 12 hour game of hunt, hide and seek with people from the margins of society. Their next target is Sean Macdonald a parentless teenager who lives with his sister on a housing estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh. She's in debt, he's going nowhere fast. Sean agrees to play for cash.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Tunnel (2004)
A recently released prisoner reunites his criminal colleagues to pull off one last heist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
A man named Mr. Smith delivers a woman's baby during a shootout, and is then called upon to protect the newborn from the army of gunmen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Follows (2015)
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack Force (2006)
Marshall Lawson is the commander of an elite military unit. Marshall Lawson loses his strike-team in a cold-blooded and seemingly random attack, and he takes it upon himself to investigate the attack, with the help of his girlfriend Tia and his friend Dwayne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMurder in Peyton Place (1977)
A former resident of the town of Peyton Place, now wealthy and powerful, secretly returns to the town and sets in motion a spate of killings designed as revenge for past wrongs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
U.S. Marshals (1998)
U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard is accompanying a plane load of convicts from Chicago to New York. The plane crashes spectacularly, and Mark Sheridan escapes. But when Diplomatic Security Agent John Royce is assigned to help Gerard recapture Sheridan, it becomes clear that Sheridan is more than just another murderer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinal Justice (1998)
Merle Hammond, a sleazy attorney, uses corrupt tactics and convinces a jury to acquit his client who is a killer. Gwen, the murdered victim's sister, plots revenge against the attorney. Out of desperation, she kidnaps and tortures him in an attempt to make him confess to his unscrupulous tactics. The cards twist when he escapes and puts her on trial for his kidnapping.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger?
The closest matches to Never Take Sweets from a Stranger are Righteous Kill (2008), Equus (1977) and Cape Fear (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Never Take Sweets from a Stranger?
Start with Righteous Kill (2008), the closest match to Never Take Sweets from a Stranger.
What is the highest-rated movie like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger?
Primal Fear (1996), rated 7.7/10 by 4,268 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Never Take Sweets from a Stranger?
Yes: Righteous Kill (2008), Equus (1977) and Cape Fear (1991).
How are movies similar to Never Take Sweets from a Stranger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.