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Perfect Blue poster

Movies that feel likePerfect Blue (1998)

Rising pop star Mima Kirigoe quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.

If you loved Perfect Blue, the closest films we have are Marathon Man (1976), The Parallax View (1974) and Donnie Brasco (1997). All three share Perfect Blue's tense and paranoid feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Chaser (2008).

πŸ… 85% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Satoshi Kontenseparanoidunsettlinggritty
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix Β· Amazon Prime Video Β· Paramount Plus Premium

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If Perfect Blue hit the spot, these will too

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: psychological thriller

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Perfect Blue does

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

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

One thread runs through both: psychological thriller

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

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.

Donnie Brasco poster
Donnie Brasco
1997 Β· dir. Mike Newell
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· thrillerNetflix

Both land tension and paranoia at once

The difference: Trades the unease of Perfect Blue for an angle of its own

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

Coherence poster
Coherence
2014 Β· dir. James Ward Byrkit
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.1thriller Β· science fictionPrime VideoPeacock

Common ground: paranoia

The difference: Easier on the grit than Perfect Blue

Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.

The Lincoln Lawyer poster
The Lincoln Lawyer
2011 Β· dir. Brad Furman
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.3crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both lean on grit more than on thriller

Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.

The Negotiator poster
The Negotiator
1998 Β· dir. F. Gary Gray
β˜… 7.3action Β· crime Β· drama

Tense animation, and it commits to that

The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.

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

Both are built on the same subject: paranoia

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.

The Call poster
The Call
2013 Β· dir. Brad Anderson
πŸ… 43%β˜… 6.7crime Β· thrillerStarz

Unsettling thriller in both cases

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.

Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 Β· dir. Brian De Palma
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4crime Β· mystery Β· thrillerPrime Video

Animation with a pulse of paranoia, 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 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.

The Little Things poster
The Little Things
2021 Β· dir. John Lee Hancock
πŸ… 44%β˜… 6.3drama Β· crime Β· thrillerRent or buy

Thriller built on grit, twice over

Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.

Hannibal poster
Hannibal
2001 Β· dir. Ridley Scott
πŸ… 39%β˜… 6.8crime Β· drama Β· thrillerPrime VideoPeacock

Animation with a pulse of unease, in both cases

After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.

The Chaser poster
The Chaser
2008 Β· dir. Na Hong-jin
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.8crime Β· thriller Β· action

A streak of tension through both

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

In the mood for more tense?

all tense movies β†’

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