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Blow Out poster

Movies that feel likeBlow Out (1981)

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead β€” a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

If you loved Blow Out, the closest films we have are Chinatown (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Cutter's Way (1981). All three share Blow Out's twisty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Parallax View (1974).

πŸ… 88% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.4 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Brian De Palmagrittytwistytenseparanoid
11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Paramount Plus Premium

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If Blow Out hit the spot, these will too

Chinatown poster
Chinatown
1974 Β· dir. Roman Polanski
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1crime Β· mystery Β· thriller

The same two preoccupations: conspiracy, and whodunit

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.

Three Days of the Condor poster
Three Days of the Condor
1975 Β· dir. Sydney Pollack
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery

Both are built on the same subject: conspiracy

The difference: Easier on the grit than Blow Out

When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.

Cutter's Way poster
Cutter's Way
1981 Β· dir. Ivan Passer
πŸ… 92%β˜… 6.8drama Β· mystery Β· thriller

Gritty and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Blow Out does

Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely accused of murder, Cutter sets out for revenge in his own inimitable style.

The Man Who Knew Too Much poster
The Man Who Knew Too Much
1956 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· mystery Β· drama

One thread runs through both: paranoia

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Blow Out does

An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.

Pi poster
Pi
1998 Β· dir. Darren Aronofsky
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.3mystery Β· drama Β· thrillerPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: paranoia

A mathematical genius discovers a link between numbers and reality, and thus believes he can predict the future.

Red Eye poster
Red Eye
2005 Β· dir. Wes Craven
πŸ… 80%β˜… 6.4thriller Β· mysteryParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: hitman

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

An overnight flight to Miami quickly becomes a battle for survival when Lisa realizes her seatmate plans to use her as part of a chilling assassination plot against the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. If she refuses to cooperate, her own father will be killed. As the miles tick by, she's in a race against time to find a way to warn the potential victims before it's too late.

The Conversation poster
The Conversation
1974 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· mystery

Common ground: audio tape

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

The Lady Vanishes poster
The Lady Vanishes
1938 Β· dir. Alfred Hitchcock
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.7mystery Β· thrillerMax

Both land tension and paranoia at once

On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befriends elderly Miss Froy. When the train resumes, Iris suffers a bout of unconsciousness and wakes to find the old woman has disappeared. The other passengers ominously deny Miss Froy ever existed, so Iris begins to investigate with another traveler and, as the pair sleuth, romantic sparks fly.

The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 Β· dir. Alan J. Pakula
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: politics

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

The French Connection poster
The French Connection
1971 Β· dir. William Friedkin
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.6action Β· crime Β· thriller

Crime built on grit, twice over

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

Gone Baby Gone poster
Gone Baby Gone
2007 Β· dir. Ben Affleck
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· mysteryParamount+

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasonsβ€”they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

Marathon Man poster
Marathon Man
1976 Β· dir. John Schlesinger
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· crime Β· dramaParamount+

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Blow Out’s defining feeling.