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Oldboy poster

Movies that feel likeOldboy (2003)

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.

If you loved Oldboy, the closest films we have are Joint Security Area (2000), Decision to Leave (2022) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). All three share Oldboy's tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Kahaani (2012).

🍅 82% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Park Chan-wooktensetwistydarkly funny
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If Oldboy hit the spot, these will too

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

Park's earlier puzzle — a tragedy reassembled piece by piece

The difference: A humane border mystery — sorrow instead of savagery

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator (Lee Young-ae) receives differing accounts from the two sides.

Decision to Leave poster
Decision to Leave
2022 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 94%★ 7.3thriller · mystery · romance

Park's obsession again — desire and investigation fatally entwined

The difference: Aching restraint — longing does the damage, not violence

From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.

The Long Kiss Goodnight poster
The Long Kiss Goodnight
1996 · dir. Renny Harlin
🍅 67%★ 6.8crime · action · mystery

A buried past resurfacing with a body count attached

The difference: A glossy Hollywood ride — quips where Oldboy leaves scars

Samantha Caine is a small-town schoolteacher and mom with no memory of her life before washing up on a beach eight years ago. After a car accident and a violent home invasion trigger flashes of her past, she discovers she used to be a deadly CIA assassin. Teaming up with a wisecracking private investigator, Samantha must return to her old ways to take down the people who tried to erase her.

Identity poster
Identity
2003 · dir. James Mangold
🍅 64%★ 7.3mystery · thriller

Strangers, a trap, and a twist that rewires the whole film

The difference: A pulp gimmick movie — clever night out, light aftertaste

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.

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

A relentless search where nothing is what it seems

The difference: No bloody catharsis — a slow-burn Kolkata procedural

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.

The Ghost Writer poster
The Ghost Writer
2010 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 84%★ 7.2thriller · mysteryPrime VideoStarz

A man digging into a secret that was meant to stay buried

The difference: Cool political paranoia — menace stays polite until the end

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 Da Vinci Code poster
The Da Vinci Code
2006 · dir. Ron Howard
🍅 25%★ 6.7thriller · mysteryNetflixStarz

A puzzle trail where every answer opens a worse door

The difference: Airport-novel plotting — talky, tame and twist-by-committee

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

Voyeurism and a vanished lover, with a reveal that stings

The difference: A compact Spanish thriller — sleek but slight beside Oldboy

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

Exam poster
Exam
2009 · dir. Stuart Hazeldine
🍅 61%★ 6.7thriller · mystery

Tense and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Takes it somewhere less darkly funny than Oldboy does

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.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery poster
★ 7.3thriller · mystery · comedyNetflix

A seemingly impossible murder unpicked with wicked humor

The difference: Cozy whodunit machinery — the darkness is mostly a lark

When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

Inglourious Basterds poster
Inglourious Basterds
2009 · dir. Quentin Tarantino
🍅 89%★ 8.4drama · thriller · warHulu

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dark comedy

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Oldboy does

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Unbreakable poster
Unbreakable
2000 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 71%★ 7.3thriller · drama · mystery

Tense thriller in both cases

The difference: Trades the dark humor of Oldboy for an angle of its own

An ordinary man makes an extraordinary discovery when a train accident leaves his fellow passengers dead — and him unscathed. The answer to this mystery could lie with the mysterious Elijah Price, a man who suffers from a disease that renders his bones as fragile as glass.

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