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Movies that feel like Insomnia (1997)

If you loved Insomnia, the closest films we have are Se7en (1995), Zodiac (2007) and L.A. Confidential (1997). All three share Insomnia's tense and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Apple TV, Paramount Plus Premium and Paramount Plus Essential and others, checked against today's data.

Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Erik Skjoldbjærgtensegrittytwistydreamlikeatmospheric

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If Insomnia hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Insomnia (2002)

Se7en poster
Se7en
1995 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 84%8.6crime · mystery · thriller

Detective runs into investigation in each of them

The difference: None of the dream logic that defines Insomnia

Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.

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Zodiac poster
Zodiac
2007 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 90%7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Both keep circling back to detective

Over the course of a decade, editors of the San Francisco Chronicle entice themselves in the murders of the Zodiac Killer. However, as time runs its course, interest in the case dwindles in the eyes of the professionals. The Killer stops interacting with the public. However, believing he has the answers, an amateur cartoonist from the initial sightings races against time to prevent what he believes is another murder.

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L.A. Confidential poster
L.A. Confidential
1997 · dir. Curtis Hanson
🍅 99%8.2crime · mystery · thriller

Both land tension and grit at once

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

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Marshland poster
Marshland
2014 · dir. Alberto Rodríguez
🍅 91%7.2crime · mystery · thriller

Rural area sits at the heart of each

The Spanish Deep South, 1980. A series of brutal murders of adolescent girls in a remote and forgotten town bring together two disparate characters – both detectives in the homicide division – to investigate the cases.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo poster
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2011 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 86%7.8thriller · crime · mystery

The same preoccupation in both: investigation

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.

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Eastern Promises poster
Eastern Promises
2007 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 89%7.6thriller · crime · mystery

Thriller with a pulse of twists, in both cases

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

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Blue Velvet poster
Blue Velvet
1986 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 91%7.7mystery · thriller · crime

Dreamlike crime, and it commits to that

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

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Wind River poster
Wind River
2017 · dir. Taylor Sheridan
🍅 87%7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Mystery built on tension, twice over

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 2010s show

An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.

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The Batman poster
The Batman
2022 · dir. Matt Reeves
🍅 85%7.8crime · mystery · thriller

Both trade on grit more than on being thriller

In his second year of fighting crime, Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.

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Death on the Nile poster
Death on the Nile
2022 · dir. Kenneth Branagh
🍅 62%6.3mystery · crime · thriller

Twisty crime in both cases

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang poster
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005 · dir. Shane Black
🍅 86%7.4comedy · crime · mystery

Neo-noir is the engine of both

The difference: Leans comedy where Insomnia does not

A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...

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Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 · dir. Brian De Palma
🍅 88%7.4crime · mystery · thriller

Mystery with a pulse of tension, in both cases

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 — 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.

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In the mood for more tense?

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The best-reviewed films that share Insomnia's defining feeling.