Movies Like The Universal Theory

If you liked The Universal Theory (2023), a mystery and thriller movie directed by Timm Kröger, 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
Remember (2015)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and thriller
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
2
The Caveman's Valentine (2001)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and mystery
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim…
3
Miroirs No. 3 (2025)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and mystery
After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.
4
September 5 (2024)
★ 7/10Also thriller and drama
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.
5
Super 8 (2011)
★ 6.8/10Also thriller and mystery
In late 1970s Ohio, a group of friends filming a homemade zombie movie witness a devastating train derailment. Soon after, their quiet town is gripped by unexplained disappearances, strange phenomena, and a growing…
6
Ten Little Indians (1965)
★ 6.3/10Also mystery and thriller
Ten strangers are invited as weekend guests to a remote mountain mansion. When the host doesn't show up, the guests start dying, one by one.
7
Insomnia (2002)
★ 7/10Also thriller and drama
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
8
6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017)
★ 5.8/10Also thriller and drama
An adrenaline seeking snowboarder gets lost in a massive winter storm in the back country of the High Sierras where he is pushed to the limits of human endurance and forced to battle his own personal demons as he…
9
Brothers Under Fire (2026)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller and mystery
Captain Jordan Wright's squadron on leave for a wedding in Mexico encounters a murderous cartel. As Jordan tries to lead survivors to safety, war erupts between his squad and the cartel, forcing him into a battle to…
10
The House on Carroll Street (1988)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and thriller
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house…
11
The Conversation (1974)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and mystery
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
12
The Third Man (1949)
★ 7.9/10Also thriller and mystery
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a…
13
Last of the Dogmen (1995)
★ 6.8/10Also mystery and thriller
A Montana bounty hunter is sent into the wilderness to track three escaped prisoners. Instead he sees something that puzzles him. Later with a female Native Indian history professor, he returns to find some answers.
14
Murder at the Embassy (2025)
★ 6/10Also mystery and thriller
Private detective Miranda Green investigates a murder perpetrated in the British Embassy in Cairo, where a top secret document was stolen, risking to jeopardize both Buckingham Palace and the peace of the world.
15
Instinct (1999)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and thriller
In a prison for the criminally insane, deranged anthropologist Ethan Powell is set to be examined by a bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder. Driven by ambition and a hunger for the truth, Caulder will eventually…
16
Last Breath (2025)
★ 6.9/10Also thriller and drama
Seasoned deep-sea divers battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface.
17
The Vast of Night (2019)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and mystery
At the dawn of the space-race, two radio-obsessed teens discover a strange frequency over the airwaves in what becomes the most important night of their lives and in the history of their small town.
18
The River Wild (1994)
★ 6.5/10Also thriller and drama
Gail and Tom Hartman are struggling to stay together and decide to take a white-water rafting holiday adventure in Montana for their son Roarke's 10th birthday, only to meet up with a pair of mysterious men whose…
19
The Dark Valley (2014)
★ 7/10Also drama and thriller
The Alps, late 19th century. Greider, a mysterious lone rider who claims to be a photographer, arrives at an isolated lumber village, despotically ruled by a family clan, asking for winter accommodation.
20
Jasper Jones (2017)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and mystery
Fourteen-year-old Charlie's life changes when Jasper takes his help to dispose of the body of his girlfriend, Laura. He decides to look for the murderer and falls in love with Laura's younger sister.