We discuss 10 Movies like Gone Girl you must watch. Keep this list handy and add these recommendations to your watch list.
In the world of psychological thrillers, there are a few names that stick out more than David Fincher’s. From his masterful work in Seven to his Netflix series Mindhunter, Fincher knows how to get under our skin and explore our deepest fears and insecurities. Another film of his that lies in that category is his 2014 effort Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike.
If you’ve recently watched Gone Girl and are looking for the next best psychological thriller that will not let you sleep today, here are a few recommendations for that!
10 Movies like Gone Girl you must watch
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is David Fincher’s prior movie to Gone Girl, and it is an adaptation of the 2005 novel by Stieg Larsson (a Swedish adaptation was also made in 2009, starring Noomi Rapace). It follows Daniel Craig as journalist Mikael Blomkvist in his investigation of a young girl’s disappearance 40 years before the main events of the film; to help him with his research, he recruits a hacker named Lisbeth Salander, played by Rooney Mara, who received the Best Actress nomination at the Oscars that year.
Two sequels were initially planned to be shot back-to-back, but after going through development issues for a few years, Sony moved on and made The Girl in the Spider’s Web, which Fede Álvarez directed and recast the role of Lisbeth with Claire Foy.
Prisoners (2013)
It is almost hard to pick favorites in Denis Villeneuve’s filmography, but for many fans of his work, his 2013 crime thriller Prisoners might be his masterpiece. Its stellar cast includes Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, and Paul Dano, among others, and followed the search for the person behind the abduction of two young girls in Pennsylvania. After the police (led by Gyllenhaal’s Detective Loki) arrest a suspect and ultimately release him, one of the fathers (Jackman9 loses control of his actions. If you are looking for the next great thriller focused on a two-sided investigation of a missing persons case, Prisoners is the film you are looking for.
A Simple Favor (2018)
Paul Feig’s part-time black comedy, part-time crime drama, stars Anna Kendrick as a single mother and vlogger named Stephanie awe-struck by Blake Lively’s mysterious high-class fashionista Emily. One day, Emily goes missing and Stephanie, enchanted by her presence and terrified that something may have happened to her, starts digging around and launches an investigation of her own into her friend’s disappearance. The film doesn’t really allow the audience to breathe during its two-hour runtime. If you enjoyed Gone Girl‘s missing-person investigation, you might get a kick out of A Simple Favor too.
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Gone Baby Gone was Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. It follows Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as two private investigators searching for a four-year-old girl who was abducted at her mother’s apartment in Boston. The film, much like Prisoners, is quite bleak by nature, but it is an excellent showcase of Ben Affleck’s directing chops. It also features a stellar cast that includes Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, and Morgan Freeman, among others. Ryan even got an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film.
The Little Things (2021)
This 2021 movie was released at the height of the pandemic, in early 2021, right after Warner Bros. decided to release their entire film slate simultaneously in theaters and HBO Max. It is a psychological crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as two detectives investigating a series of murders, and landing on Jared Leto’s character as the main suspect. It had a mixed-to-negative reception from critics and a mixed-to-positive reception from audiences.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley debuted towards the end of 2021 to quite positive reviews, mostly thanks to del Toro’s take on the 1946 novel and its stellar cast. The story follows Bradley Cooper’s Stan Carlisle, a low-ranking carnival man who starts to climb up the ladder by grifting the 1940s New York elite with the help of Zeena (Toni Collette) and Pete (David Strathairn). His next big step is plotting a con against a dangerous tycoon played by Richard Jenkins, for which he requires the help of the loyal Molly Cahill (Rooney Mara) and the mysterious psychiatrist Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who might soon become his biggest opponent.
Nightmare Alley may not be about a crime investigation, but much like Gone Girl, it tells a story about how appearances can be deceitful, and it is quite similar in tone and the overall atmosphere of the film.
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Art gallery owner Susan (Amy Adams) is immensely disturbed when she learns that her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal) has a new novel coming out focused on a family where the wife and daughter are kidnapped and subsequently killed. Haunted by the demons of their past relationship and the striking similarities between the novel and her real-life experience, she meets with him. Nocturnal Animals was directed by Tom Ford and premiered during the Venice Film Festival in 2016 to rather positive reviews.
Side Effects (2013)
Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects follows Rooney Mara as Emily, who suffers from mental health problems. She starts attending a new therapist, played by Jude Law, who prescribes her a new medication. The twist? Soon, Emily will start committing crimes as a side effect of that medication. The stellar cast also includes Channing Tatum as Emily’s husband and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and the story is as interesting and engaging as Gone Girl. It also leaves no stone unturned, targeting everyone in the US healthcare system and the multiple layers of corruption it has.
Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out might be a much more straightforward murder mystery than the other films in this list, and perhaps not as layered in its storytelling (though definitely in its themes) as Gone Girl. However, if you enjoyed that film and you are looking for something less depressing and that might lighten up the mood, Knives Out might be the film. It follows Benoit Blanc as a private investigator heavily inspired by Agatha Christie’s novels, who is called to help solve the murder of famous novelist Harlan Thrombey. It features an outstanding cast of people that simply had a blast on set, and that comes off the screen while watching. Netflix acquired the rights to two sequels in the first half of 2021, and in December of 2022, it released the first of those films, titled Glass Onion.
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Easily one of the best films of 2020, Promising Young Woman was Emerald Fennell’s feature directorial debut (she also wrote the film). It follows Carey Mulligan as Cassie, a thirty-year-old woman haunted by her own ghosts, who embarks on a relentless and unforgiving quest for revenge against the men that caused her trouble in the past. It is one of those films that the less you know about it, the better, but much like Gone Girl, it focuses on a woman in control of her own life and exercising revenge upon the men that looked for it in the first place.
Do you have any other recommendations for movies like Gone Girl? Let us know!
