Movies Like The Pillowman

If you liked The Pillowman (2013), a movie directed by Mohammad Yaghoobi and Aida Keykhayi, 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
Deathtrap (1982)
★ 6.7/10
A Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's script.
2
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer (2025)
★ 6.8/10
A struggling writer in the midst of a divorce befriends a retired serial killer who incidentally becomes his marriage counselor by day, and killing counselor for his next book by night.
3
Filth (2013)
★ 6.8/10
A bigoted junkie cop suffering from borderline personality disorder and drug addiction manipulates and hallucinates his way in a bid to secure promotion.
4
The Hate U Give (2018)
★ 8.1/10
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds…
5
Nitram (2021)
★ 6.9/10
Based on true events, "Nitram" lives with his parents in suburban Australia in the mid-90s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never fitting in. As his anger grows, he begins a slow descent into a…
6
The Legend of Barney Thomson (2015)
★ 6.1/10
Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of…
7
It Ends with Us (2024)
★ 6.9/10
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for…
8
If I Stay (2014)
★ 7.3/10
Mia Hall, a talented young cellist, thought the most difficult decision she would ever have to make would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at prestigious Juilliard or follow her heart to be with the love of her…
9
The Onion Field (1979)
★ 6/10
An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
10
Maniac (1963)
★ 6.2/10
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
11
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
★ 8.2/10
In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to…
12
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
★ 7/10
A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.
13
Siberian Education (2013)
★ 6.8/10
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against…
14
Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021)
★ 6.6/10
Set in a gritty and decadent 1970s America, American Boogeyman follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase…
15
The Crash (2026)
★ 6.8/10
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
16
The Naked City (1948)
★ 7.2/10
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
17
Mindcage (2022)
★ 5.9/10
Detectives Jake Doyle and Mary Kelly seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer named The Artist when a copycat killer strikes. While Mary searches for clues in The Artist's brilliant but twisted psyche, she and…
18
Cop (1988)
★ 6.4/10
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.
19
The Whisper Man (2026)
★ 6.8/10
When his young son vanishes, a widower enlists help from his estranged father, a retired detective who put away the serial killer now linked to the case.
20
Monster (2021)
★ 6.4/10
The story of Steve Harmon, a 17-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down around him when he is charged with felony murder.