Movies like Approved (2020)
The best movies like Approved (2020) are Sin City (2005), The Experiment (2010) and Curve (2016). If Approved hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Approved
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,239 votes
- NewestWardriver (2026)Released 2026
Sin City (2005)
Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Experiment (2010)
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurve (2016)
Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDangerous (2021)
A reformed sociopath heads to a remote island after the death of his brother. Soon after his arrival, the island falls under siege from a deadly gang of mercenaries, and when he discovers their role in his brother’s demise, he sets out on a relentless quest for vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStormageddon (2015)
What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKill Me Again (1989)
After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHypnotic (2021)
A young woman seeking self-improvement enlists the help of a renowned hypnotist but, after a handful of intense sessions, discovers unexpected and deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoint Blank (2019)
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDangerous Game: The Legacy Murders (2022)
A family reunion at a remote mansion takes a lethal turn when they are trapped inside and forced to play a deadly survival game where only one will make it out alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOff the Grid (2025)
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their biggest mistake of all – they weaponize the man they are trying to catch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Widow (1987)
Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhisper (2007)
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPossessor (2020)
Tasya Vos, an elite corporate assassin, uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to terminate high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVicious (2025)
When Polly receives a mysterious box, it comes with one rule: place inside something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. If she doesn’t obey, it will consume everything—and everyone—she’s ever known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unsaid (2001)
A doctor dealing with the aftermath of his son's death tries to help a troubled young man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Possessed (2021)
A man with the ability to exorcise demons fights to protect his loved ones after a sudden surge in demonic possessions. After discovering his nephew's girlfriend has the same supernatural gift, they join forces for the ultimate confrontation. Inspired by actual events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOther Side of the Box (2018)
A couple receives a mysterious package from an old friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Grounds (2025)
Desperate to find refuge for her children, Chloe Marvino runs away from her Mafia tied husband, and finds shelter in a cabin with a recluse drifter named Jake. But as her husband's henchmen draw closer to her, it turns out that Jake is the biggest enemy of them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this54 Days (2014)
5 people trapped in a bunker after a nuclear and biological attack are forced to make an impossible decision - either one dies or they all die.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both 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 thriller
30 Years to Life (1998)
In a futuristic dystopia, a teenager is medically aged 30 years to punish him for a crime he didn't commit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Doomsday (2008)
The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the virus resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)
British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead of Night (1945)
An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIllang: The Wolf Brigade (2018)
In 2029, an elite police squad combats an anti-reunification terrorist group while another enemy lurks nearby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChrysalis (2007)
Paris 2020, a high tech surgeon and her daughter are involved in a horrific car accident, the surgeon saves her daughter's life at the cost of manipulating her dreams and memories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Approved?
The closest matches to Approved are Sin City (2005), The Experiment (2010) and Curve (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Approved?
Start with Sin City (2005), the closest match to Approved.
What is the highest-rated movie like Approved?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,239 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Approved?
Wardriver (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Approved?
Yes: Sin City (2005), The Experiment (2010) and Curve (2016).
How are movies similar to Approved chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Approved, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.