Movies Like Painless

If you liked Painless (2012), a drama and horror movie directed by Juan Carlos Medina, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
★ 7.3/10Also thriller and drama
The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.
2
Inheritance (2020)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and thriller
The patriarch of a wealthy and powerful family suddenly passes away, leaving his wife and daughter with a shocking secret inheritance that threatens to unravel and destroy their lives.
3
The Experiment (2010)
★ 6.4/10Also thriller and drama
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
4
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
★ 7/10Also drama and thriller
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who…
5
Locked (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also horror and thriller
When Eddie breaks into a luxury SUV, he steps into a deadly trap set by William, a self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice. With no means of escape, Eddie must fight to survive in a ride…
6
The Surrender (2025)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and horror
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
7
The Home (2025)
★ 6.8/10Also horror and thriller
A troubled man starts working at a retirement home and realizes its residents and caretakers harbor sinister secrets. As he investigates the building and its forbidden fourth floor, he starts to uncover connections to…
8
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and thriller
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics…
9
Black Rainbow (1989)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and horror
Martha Travis is a medium who makes contact with spirits "on the other side" and connects them with their loved ones still alive, in public performances. Trouble begins when she gives a message to Mary Kuron from her…
10
The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021)
★ 6/10Also horror and drama
Winter, 1843. A young woman is under investigation following the mysterious death of her family's matriarch. Her recollection of the events sheds new light on the ageless forces behind the tragedy.
11
Werewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and horror
Set in a 19th century village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.
12
Stonehearst Asylum (2014)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and horror
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
13
Open Grave (2013)
★ 6/10Also horror and thriller
A man awakes -- without memory -- in a pit full of bodies and must figure out if the people who rescued him are the killers, or if he is the murderer.
14
The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
★ 6.8/10Also thriller and drama
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true…
15
Room (2015)
★ 8/10Also drama and thriller
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
16
God Is a Bullet (2023)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and horror
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the…
17
Frankenstein (2025)
★ 7.6/10Also drama and horror
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
18
Baby Blues (2008)
★ 6/10Also drama and horror
On a secluded family farm, a mother suffers a psychotic break due to postpartum depression, forcing the eldest son to protect his sibling from the mother they have always known and loved.
19
Death and the Maiden (1994)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and thriller
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
20
Snitch (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and thriller
Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence…