Movies like Desperate Measures (1999)
The best movies like Desperate Measures (1999) are Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Swallow (2020) and The Domestics (2018). If Desperate Measures hooked you, these 29 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJu Dou (1990)7.6/10 from 227 votes
- NewestPaper Plane (2026)Released 2026
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwallow (2020)
Hunter, a newly pregnant housewife, finds herself increasingly compelled to consume dangerous objects. As her husband and his family tighten their control over her life, she must confront the dark secret behind her new obsession.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Domestics (2018)
A young husband and wife must fight to return home in a post-apocalyptic mid-western landscape ravaged by gangs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNewness (2017)
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPetulia (1968)
Dr. Archie Bollen is having a midlife crisis. He's just divorced his wife and is establishing a new life for himself. One night, he catches the eye of Petulia Danner, a charming, free-spirited young woman. Petulia's vibrant personality hides her fear of her abusive husband, David, whose father is a powerful society figure. As Petulia and Archie's feelings for each other grow, they must decide what it is they truly want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlonde (2022)
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Prophecy (1995)
The angel Gabriel comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven. However, it is hidden inside of a Native American girl and only a former priest and a schoolteacher can stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnfaithful (2002)
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Smile Back (2015)
Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. She has the perfect husband who plays basketball with the kids in the driveway, a pristine house, and a shiny SUV for carting the children to their next activity. However, just beneath the façade lie depression and disillusionment that send her careening into a secret world of reckless compulsion. Only very real danger will force her to face the painful root of her destructiveness and its crumbling effect on those she loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013)
Broke, and in desperate need to update her portfolio, New York City model Katie calls a number from a tear-off flyer offering free photos. But this innocent attempt quickly turns into an unthinkable kidnapping nightmare where she's ripped away from everyone and everything she knows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisKen Park (2003)
Teen skater Ken Park (nicknamed Krap Nek; his name spelled and pronounced backward) kills himself at a Visalia skate park; his death bookends the lives of four other young people who knew him: Shawn, the most conventional; Tate brims with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother; and Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dogs (2025)
After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurphy's Law (1986)
A tough police detective escapes from custody after being framed and arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, and must now find the real killer and prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Spit on Your Grave (2010)
A beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills, rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon, a group of local lowlifes subject her to a nightmare of degradation, rape, and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOldboy (2013)
A man has only three and a half days and limited resources to discover why he was imprisoned in a nondescript room for 20 years without any explanation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlay Dead (2025)
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Year in a Life of Crime (1989)
Their job is stealing, their lives a cruel dead end. Director Jon Alpert takes his cameras undercover for this hard-hitting look at men who live by theft and suffer addiction. Focusing on a year in the lives of three professional criminals, this gritty profile—which includes hidden-camera footage of actual thefts—exposes the "petty" crimes that are paralyzing America.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Personal Velocity (2002)
In a series of three vignettes, three women in turn struggle to free themselves from the men who restrict their personal freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisLate Spring (2014)
Set in the 1960's. Joo-goo is viewed as Korea's best sculptor, but he suffers from a disease which will slowly paralyze his body. He gives up interests in the arts and just spends his days meaninglessly. His wife, Jung-sook, tries to find a nude model for him, hoping the model might inspire him to sculpt again. One day, Jung-sook meets Min-gyung.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Ju Dou (1990)
Tianqing falls in love with Ju Dou, his uncle's wife who is tortured for being childless. However, after they have an affair, they discover that his uncle is impotent and try to conceal the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoy Wonder (2010)
A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean's dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can't put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaper Plane (2026)
When a defiant young girl stages a silent protest, refusing to return home until the disruptive presence of her father is gone, her mother must decide whether to follow her or let her go.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Removalists (1975)
An adaptation of David Williamson's play; John Hargreaves and Peter Cummins star as a good and bad cop who assist a battered wife as she tries to escape her belligerent husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Creep Behind the Camera (2014)
An exploration of the making of b-movie sci-fi cult classic "The Creeping Terror" and its con-man director Art "A.J." Nelson/Vic Savage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Sophia Lazzati (2017)
When Sophia leaves her violent husband, new problems arise as she regains fortitude and her daughter struggles with adolescence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desperate Measures?
The closest matches to Desperate Measures are Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Swallow (2020) and The Domestics (2018). Below are 26 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desperate Measures?
Start with Fifty Shades Freed (2018), the closest match to Desperate Measures.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desperate Measures?
Ju Dou (1990), rated 7.6/10 by 227 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desperate Measures?
Paper Plane (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Desperate Measures?
Yes: Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Swallow (2020) and The Domestics (2018).
How are movies similar to Desperate Measures chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desperate Measures, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.