Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Secret Woman:
Holland
Holland feels like a half-baked thriller with a solid premise but a lackluster execution. Mimi Cave’s Fresh had a bold, distinctive style, whereas Holland feels like a retread of better films with similar narratives. Nicole Kidman stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Gael García Bernal.
Old
It’s been a few years since M. Night Shyamalan‘s Old hit movie theaters and it still feels as fresh as that day. Shyamalan’s old school mixture of poignant commentary and rich thrills combine into his best film since 2002, and one that stays immensely rewatchable.
Don’t Worry Darling
While it’s easy to point fingers and blame the film’s issues on just a few individuals, Don’t Worry Darling, at its core, is flawed. A meandering story can’t be saved by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.
Strange Darling
Strange Darling wears its influences on its sleeve. Director JT Mollner isn’t ashamed to let his inspirations be known as his latest thriller delivers twists and turns around every corner, and is told in a nonlinear fashion that makes it really hard not to think of a few classics. The likes of James Wan and Quentin Tarantino come to mind for these reasons, but Mollner’s Strange Darling doesn’t feel nearly as fresh as Saw or Pulp Fiction felt decades ago.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Although it’s still setting the pace in terms of quality that other murder mysteries strive for, Netflix’s latest Knives Out installment, Glass Onion, feels like a rehashing of every character arch and narrative beat that the original did so much better.
Blink Twice
Blink Twice wears its influences on its sleeve, but for a directorial debut like this for Zoë Kravitz, I thought it was pretty commendable. The industry is begging for a few more genre filmmakers capable of projects that are equally fun and thought-provoking, and Kravitz is able to switch between one and another on a dime. The performances help elevate the material, too, which inevitably pushes Blink Twice over the finish line.
Anatomy of a Fall
In Justine Triet‘s hands, the courtroom becomes a darkly comic battleground, where the stakes are life and death, but the weapons are wit. Anatomy of a Fall is as much a legal thriller as it is a front-row seat to the most outrageous courtroom circus you’ll see in 2023.
Blood Simple
Nearly every time I revisit Blood Simple, I’m struck by how confident and precise Joel and Ethan Coen were right out of the gate. Released in 1984, Blood Simple is the Coen brothers’ debut film and still stands as one of the greatest first features ever made. A neo-noir steeped in paranoia, betrayal, and bloody miscommunication, it’s a film that knows exactly what it wants to be—lean, stylish, and razor-sharp.
Zodiac
David Fincher’s Zodiac remains an undeniable classic since its 2007 release, standing as a pivotal moment in the director’s historic career. In this crime drama, Fincher navigates the web of the Zodiac killer’s decade-spanning reign of terror, creating an atmospheric and compelling story that has only grown in cultural significance and critical acclaim over the years.
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro has built a career on finding beauty in darkness, crafting stories that, even in their bleakest moments, hold onto some sense of wonder, nostalgia, or hope. Movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and his stop-motion Pinocchio remake all explore the perseverance of the human spirit, even in the face of terrible atrocities. That’s what makes Nightmare Alley such a striking outlier in his filmography—it’s a film almost entirely devoid of hope, a cynical neo-noir that suggests people are, at their core, selfish and opportunistic. Instead of offering redemption, Nightmare Alley leaves you with a sick feeling in your stomach, hammering home its central thesis: trust is a liability, and grifters will always find a way to exploit it.
READ MORE: Movies Like Old, Movies Like Strange Darling
