Movies like Cargo (2004)
The best movies like Cargo (2004) are The Way of the Gun (2000), Cleveland Abduction (2015) and The Collector (1965). If Cargo hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrue Romance (1993)7.5/10 from 3,241 votes
- NewestPlay Dead (2025)Released 2025
The Way of the Gun (2000)
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother of a powerful and shady man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleveland Abduction (2015)
A single mother becomes Ariel Castro's first kidnapping victim, and finds herself trapped in his home with two other women for 11 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Collector (1965)
A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
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 thisThunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRampage: Capital Punishment (2014)
A man takes over a TV station and holds a number of hostages as a political platform to awaken humanity, instead of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Romance (1993)
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last House on the Left (2009)
When athletic teen Mari Collingwood opts to hang out with her friend Paige in town rather than spend an evening in with her parents vacationing at the family's remote lake house, it marks the beginning of a night no one is going to forget.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
After kidnapping a father and his two kids, the Gecko brothers head south to a seedy Mexican bar to hide out in safety, unaware of its notorious clientele.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeath Wish II (1982)
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisP2 (2007)
A businesswoman finds herself locked with a unhinged security guard in a parking garage after getting stuck working late on Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAvengement (2019)
While on a prison furlough, a lowly criminal evades his guards and returns to his old stomping ground to take revenge on the people who turned him into a cold blooded killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounds of Love (2016)
When Vicki Maloney is randomly abducted from a suburban street by a disturbed couple, she soon observes the dynamic between her captors and quickly realises she must drive a wedge between them if she is to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe Harvest (2015)
After becoming orphaned, a lonely girl moves in with her grandparents and tries to befriend a sick, bed-ridden boy next door, despite his mother’s strong objections. Her persistence leads to a friendship, but during secret visits, she uncovers dark secrets in the boy's home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Exit (2022)
Stranded at a rest stop in the mountains during a blizzard, a recovering addict discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside the building which sets her on a terrifying struggle to identify who among them is the kidnapper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rookie (1990)
Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisNymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
The continuation of Joe's sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adult life and what led to her being in Seligman's care.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrapped (2002)
Held hostage in different cities after their daughter is kidnapped by a master extortionist, a desperate couple must find a way to outsmart a seemingly foolproof plot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAce Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
Summoned from an ashram in Tibet, Ace finds himself on a perilous journey into the jungles of Africa to find Shikaka, the missing sacred animal of the friendly Wachati tribe. He must accomplish this before the wedding of the Wachati's Princess to the prince of the warrior Wachootoos. If Ace fails, the result will be a vicious tribal war.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMandy (2018)
The Shadow Mountains, 1983. Red and Mandy lead a loving and peaceful existence; but when their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Marine (2006)
A group of diamond thieves on the run kidnap the wife of a recently discharged marine who goes on a chase through the South Carolinian wilderness to retrieve her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThesis (1996)
While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClose (2019)
A counter-terrorism expert takes a job protecting a young heiress. After an attempted kidnapping puts both of their lives in danger, they must flee.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEverglades (2016)
The Everglades trip that a couple has planned for their twin daughters' eighth birthday is ruined when the father is captured by a greedy swamp- dweller and the rest of the family fall into the clutches of a perverse alligator-worshiping leader. The girls learn that the tribe plans to sacrifice them at sundown, so they must use all of their wit and cunning, not to mention repressed psychic abilities to outsmart and hopefully escape their captors.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Bad Boys II (2003)
Detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey of the Miami Narcotics Task Force are tasked with stopping the flow of the drug Ecstasy into Miami. They track the drugs to the whacked-out Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia, who is also involved in a bloody war with Russian and Haitian mobsters. If that isn't bad enough, there's tension between the two detectives when Marcus discovers that playboy Mike is secretly romancing Marcus’ sister, Syd.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers while the authorities question about the method of their escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Cargo?
The closest matches to Cargo are The Way of the Gun (2000), Cleveland Abduction (2015) and The Collector (1965). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Cargo?
Start with The Way of the Gun (2000), the closest match to Cargo.
What is the highest-rated movie like Cargo?
True Romance (1993), rated 7.5/10 by 3,241 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Cargo?
Play Dead (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Cargo?
Yes: The Way of the Gun (2000), Cleveland Abduction (2015) and The Collector (1965).
How are movies similar to Cargo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Cargo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.