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Movies that feel like Exam (2009)

If you loved Exam, the closest films we have are The Ghost Writer (2010), The Hidden Face (2011) and Kahaani (2012). All three share Exam's tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Paramount Plus Essential and others, checked against today's data.

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, where an armed guard keeps watch, they are given 80 minutes to answer one simple question.

🍅 61% Rotten Tomatoes6.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Stuart Hazeldinetensetwisty
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If Exam hit the spot, these will too

The Ghost Writer poster
The Ghost Writer
2010 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 84%7.2thriller · mystery

The same mix in both: tension, then twists

A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.

The Hidden Face poster
The Hidden Face
2011 · dir. Andrés Baiz
7.3thriller · mystery

Thriller built on tension, twice over

A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend.

Kahaani poster
Kahaani
2012 · dir. Sujoy Ghosh
🍅 100%8.1mystery · thriller

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Pregnant and alone in the city of Kolkata, a woman begins a relentless search for her missing husband, only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Identity poster
Identity
2003 · dir. James Mangold
🍅 63%7.3mystery · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.

Solace poster
Solace
2015 · dir. Afonso Poyart
🍅 24%6.4thriller · crime · mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: psychologist

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Exam does

A psychic doctor, John Clancy, works with an FBI special agent in search of a serial killer.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011 · dir. Tomas Alfredson
🍅 84%7drama · thriller · mystery

Twisty mystery in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Exam does

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

Red Sparrow poster
Red Sparrow
2018 · dir. Francis Lawrence
🍅 45%6.6thriller · mystery

Both are thriller through and through

Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.

Rojo poster
Rojo
2018 · dir. Benjamín Naishtat
🍅 96%6.3drama · mystery · thriller

Both know what they want from mystery

A small town in an Argentinian province, 1975. The life of Claudio, a successful lawyer, gets complicated when he has a stupid quarrel with a stranger in a crowded restaurant.

The Da Vinci Code poster
The Da Vinci Code
2006 · dir. Ron Howard
🍅 25%6.6thriller · mystery

Thriller approached the same way

A murder in Paris’ Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that — should it come to light — could rock the very foundations of Christianity.

The Secret in Their Eyes poster
The Secret in Their Eyes
2009 · dir. Juan José Campanella
🍅 89%8.2mystery · thriller · drama

The mystery is handled with the same confidence

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.

Joint Security Area poster
Joint Security Area
2000 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 88%7.7drama · thriller · mystery

Thriller of the same temperament

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

Eagle Eye poster
Eagle Eye
2008 · dir. D.J. Caruso
🍅 27%6.6mystery · thriller · action

Mystery in the same key

Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman are two strangers whose lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil by a mysterious woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, the unseen caller uses everyday technology to control their actions and push them into increasing danger. As events escalate, Jerry and Rachel become the country's most-wanted fugitives and must figure out what is happening to them.

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