Movies like Absence (2023)
The best movies like Absence (2023) are Remember (2015), The Caveman's Valentine (2001) and The Deadly Affair (1967). If Absence hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPalm Trees in the Snow (2015)7.4/10 from 553 votes
- NewestThe Last Assassins (2026)Released 2026
Remember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe Red House (1947)
An old man and his sister are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter, concerning a hidden abandoned farmhouse, located deep in the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Date, No Signature (2017)
Kaveh Nariman is a Doctor in the medical examiner's office. One day at his work he meets a corpse which is very familiar to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOverdrive (2017)
Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020)
After freeing a young Bedouin girl from her unjust imprisonment in Jerusalem, an Australian adventuress, together with her devoted police detective friend, begins to unravel a decade-old mystery concerning priceless emeralds, an ancient curse and the disappearance of the girl's mother and massacre of her tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Seven-Ups (1973)
A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Independent (2022)
It's the final weeks of the most consequential presidential election in history. America is poised to elect either its first female president or its first viable independent candidate. Reporting history as it's made, an idealistic young journalist teams up with her idol, legendary journalist Nick Booker, to uncover a conspiracy that places the fate of the election, and the country, in their hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStillwater (2021)
Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1992)
At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder at the Embassy (2025)
Private detective Miranda Green investigates a murder perpetrated in the British Embassy in Cairo, where a top secret document was stolen, risking to jeopardize both Buckingham Palace and the peace of the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019)
At a gathering of mystery and true crime fans, Aurora Teagarden’s nephew, Phillip, is accused of murder when an unplanned onstage blackout during the play in which he is performing ends, revealing Phillip holding the bloody knife that has just killed one of the other performers. 12th installment in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFedora (1978)
Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: A Case Of Murder (2017)
Jenn buys an old reel-to-reel recorder at a garage sale only to find that it includes the sound of a man pleading for his life. When the former owner of the recorder, a retired therapist, is found murdered in a patient’s apartment, Jenn’s investigation leads to other patients whose love lives are more entangled than she was first led to believe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter She Died (2022)
A young woman is horrified to discover that her father's new girlfriend looks identical to her dead mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Hamiltons (2006)
The Hamiltons seem to be the picture-perfect American family. They are hardworking community members; giving to their local charities, attending town hall meetings and always respectful of their neighbors...except for the fact that they usually end up killing them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Executor (2026)
A reclusive heiress, bound by blood and burden, invites seven distant relatives to her decaying manor with whispers of inheritance. Beneath the promise lies a quiet cruelty- a gauntlet of secrets, temptation, and ruin. As family bonds unravel, she watches, choosing not just a successor, but a soul willing to bear the curse she can no longer carry. One will inherit the family estate, but only the heiress knows the hefty price they'll pay.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Palm Trees in the Snow (2015)
Spain, 2003. An accidental discovery leads Clarence to travel from the snowy mountains of Huesca to Equatorial Guinea, to visit the land where her father Jacobo and her uncle Kilian spent most of their youth, the island of Fernando Poo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLearning the Ropes (2019)
A border town in the south of Switzerland is the backdrop for the most important summer in 15-year old Samuel’s young life. He is introverted, a loner and communicates through the world of comic drawings. Determined to overcome the doubts and memories that have long plagued him, he hires a former private detective. With him, he embarks on a daring adventure that will lead him to discover a painful family truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like a House on Fire (2021)
Dara returns home to reconnect with her husband and her young daughter, whom she left two years earlier. When she arrives, she discovers that a woman who is seven months pregnant has taken her place and that her daughter no longer recognizes her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murder by an Aristocrat (1936)
A wealthy family is blackmailed. Murder results. And a nurse at the scene of the crime is determined to figure out who-done-it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Heritage (2024)
A teenager, disinterested in her Louisiana Creole heritage, finds herself having to entertain a visitor who only speaks what sounds like French. She’ll discover how magical it can be to connect with one's heritage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Last Assassins (2026)
After her father is murdered, a young warrior known as “The Kid” and her guardian cross a violent dystopian future in search of the aunt she has never met. The world is trapped in permanent winter and shrouded in deadly fog, and Nobel is bound by an oath to protect the few remaining members of her family. Their journey leads them to an abandoned laboratory, where holograms reveal secrets from the family’s past. But as the boundary between the digital and physical worlds begins to collapse, the young woman may hold the key to what comes next.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Absence?
The closest matches to Absence are Remember (2015), The Caveman's Valentine (2001) and The Deadly Affair (1967). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Absence?
Start with Remember (2015), the closest match to Absence.
What is the highest-rated movie like Absence?
Palm Trees in the Snow (2015), rated 7.4/10 by 553 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Absence?
The Last Assassins (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Absence chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Absence, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.