Movies Like They're Playing with Fire

If you liked They're Playing with Fire (1984), a crime and horror movie directed by Howard Avedis, 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
52 Pick-Up (1986)
★ 6.1/10Also crime and thriller
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and…
2
Bone Lake (2025)
★ 5.9/10Also horror and thriller
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream…
3
Dressed to Kill (1980)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and horror
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing…
4
Urban Legend (1998)
★ 6.1/10Also horror and thriller
A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.
5
Strange Darling (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also crime and thriller
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
6
Abducted by My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story (2023)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and crime
The story of Elizabeth Thomas, a 15-year-old high school student who was groomed and abducted by teacher Tad Cummins.
7
The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
★ 6.5/10Also thriller and crime
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute…
8
The Invisible Man (2020)
★ 7.1/10Also thriller and horror
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can…
9
Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
★ 6.1/10Also horror and thriller
Mary Lou Maloney, Hamilton High's Prom Queen of 1957, is killed during her coronation ceremony due to a prank gone wrong by her jilted boyfriend, Billy Nordham. Thirty years later, teen Vicki Carpenter is in the…
10
GirlHouse (2014)
★ 6/10Also horror and thriller
In an attempt to make some extra cash while away at College, Kylie moves into a house that streams content to an X-rated website. After a deranged fan hacks in to determine the house's location, she finds herself in a…
11
The Raven (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also crime and thriller
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
12
Perfect Stranger (2007)
★ 5.8/10Also thriller and crime
A journalist goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill as her best friend's killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.
13
Graphic Desires (2023)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and crime
When reclusive Franklin cheats on his partner with a mysterious girl he meets on a dating app, it becomes the start of a deadly obsession.
14
Barbarian (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also horror and thriller
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she…
15
Buried Alive (1990)
★ 6.7/10Also thriller and crime
A married woman and her lover plot to kill her husband to make off with the insurance money. However, their attempt to murder him using poisonous fish toxins backfires in surprising ways.
16
Presumed Innocent (1990)
★ 6.8/10Also crime and thriller
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
17
Death Game (1977)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and horror
George Manning is a well-to-do businessman, husband, and father. While his family is away on his birthday, he invites a pair of rain-soaked young women into his house to wait out an evening thunderstorm. The two girls…
18
The Neon Demon (2016)
★ 6.5/10Also horror and thriller
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
19
Cheat (2023)
★ 7.1/10Also thriller and horror
On the surface it's believed to be another urban legend - a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek…
20
Cleaner (2007)
★ 6.1/10Also crime and thriller
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may…