Movies like The Black Dahlia (2006)
The best movies like The Black Dahlia (2006) are The Grifters (1990), The Poison Rose (2019) and Trouble in Mind (1985). If The Black Dahlia hooked you with its crime and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Usual Suspects (1995)8.2/10 from 11,958 votes
- NewestChameleon (2019)Released 2019
The Grifters (1990)
A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Poison Rose (2019)
A down-on-his-luck PI is hired by his old flame to investigate a murder. But while the case at first appears routine, it slowly reveals itself to be a complex interwoven web of crimes, suspects and dead bodies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisTrouble in Mind (1985)
The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the hypnotic Rain City.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisChameleon (2019)
A struggling ex-con and his unpredictable accomplice scam superficial trophy wives and their rich older husbands in self-obsessed Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
Claiming that he doesn't know his own past, a rich man enlists an ex-con with an odd bit of detective work. Gregory Arkadin says he can't remember anything before the late 1920s, and convict Guy Van Stratten is happy to take the job of exploring his new acquaintance's life story. Guy's research turns up stunning details about his employer's past, and as his work seems linked to untimely deaths, the mystery surrounding Mr. Arkadin deepens.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Two Jakes (1990)
Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoots his wife's lover, who happens to be his business partner, Gittes is drawn into a web of conspiracy and deceit involving the oil reserves beneath Los Angeles. While investigating, Gittes hears a voice from his past that causes him to revisit a traumatic case in Chinatown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Underneath (1995)
A recovering gambling addict attempts to reconcile with his family and friends but finds trouble and temptation when caught between feelings for his ex-wife and her dangerous hoodlum boyfriend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGotham (1988)
A New York private eye searches for a socialite who supposedly drowned 10 years before.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Rounders (1998)
Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNarc (2002)
Narcotics Sergeant Nick Tellis, on leave after a trauma, is called back to investigate the murder of fellow undercover operative Michael Calvess, joined by the victim's unpredictable and brutal ex-partner, Henry Oak. Working together in the back alleys of Detroit, Tellis and Oak delve into a dark investigation that leads them to uncover shocking secrets and question the corruption and morality within the department, encountering unorthodox methods and a brutal truth about Calvess's death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.A. Confidential (1997)
Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight Moves (1975)
Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Seduction (1994)
A devious femme fatale steals her husband’s drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity and a mysterious opportunity presents him with a chance to change it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMulholland Falls (1996)
In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalmetto (1998)
After being released from prison on a bum charge, Harry Barber is out for payback to regain his lost two years. He's hired by Mrs. Malroux to fake the kidnapping of her stepdaughter (the daughter of a dying millionaire). He discovers that he is being set up on multiple levels and will soon face a longer sentence if he doesn't prove the truth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove Suspicion (1995)
Dempsey Cain is an honored cop, a loving husband and father, and mentor to his handsome younger brother. Then a drug dealer's bullet paralyzes him for life and Dempsey's world is shattered. Suddenly, his wife and brother seem to care less about him than for each other, and a million-dollar insurance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Usual Suspects (1995)
The lone survivor of an explosive heist gone wrong recounts for interrogators the events that began with five disparate criminals assembled for a police lineup - with alleged criminal mastermind Keyser Soze at the center of it all.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChinatown (1974)
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Simple Plan (1998)
Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood Simple (1985)
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBody Heat (1981)
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarlito's Way (1993)
Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCop Land (1997)
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Salton Sea (2002)
After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriends slacker Jimmy "The Finn", becomes involved in rescuing his neighbor Colette from her own demons, and gets entangled in a web of deceit full of unexpected twists and turns.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity of Lies (2018)
Los Angeles Police Department detective Russell Poole has spent years trying to solve his biggest case -- the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur -- but after two decades, the investigation remains open. Jack Jackson, a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Departed (2006)
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like this'R Xmas (2001)
A New York drug dealer is kidnapped, and his wife must try to come up with the money and drugs to free him from his abductors before Christmas.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Black Dahlia?
The closest matches to The Black Dahlia are The Grifters (1990), The Poison Rose (2019) and Trouble in Mind (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Black Dahlia?
People who watched The Black Dahlia most often go on to The Grifters (1990), The Poison Rose (2019) and Trouble in Mind (1985).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Black Dahlia?
The Usual Suspects (1995), rated 8.2/10 by 11,958 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Black Dahlia?
Chameleon (2019) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Black Dahlia?
Yes: The Grifters (1990), The Poison Rose (2019) and Trouble in Mind (1985).
How are movies similar to The Black Dahlia chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Black Dahlia, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.