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Knife in the Water poster

Movies that feel likeKnife in the Water (1962)

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.

If you loved Knife in the Water, the closest films we have are A Man Escaped (1956), Illustrious Corpses (1976) and Army of Shadows (1969). All three share Knife in the Water's tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

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

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Roman Polanskicontemplativetense
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Knife in the Water hit the spot, these will too

A Man Escaped poster
A Man Escaped
1956 · dir. Robert Bresson
🍅 100%★ 8.1drama · thriller

The same mix in both: stillness, then tension

A captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.

Illustrious Corpses poster
Illustrious Corpses
1976 · dir. Francesco Rosi
★ 7.3thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Knife in the Water does

A detective is assigned to investigate the mysterious murders of some Supreme Court judges.

Army of Shadows poster
Army of Shadows
1969 · dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
🍅 97%★ 8.1drama · thriller

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

Yojimbo poster
Yojimbo
1961 · dir. Akira Kurosawa
🍅 96%★ 8.2drama · thrillerMax

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

No Way Out poster
No Way Out
1987 · dir. Roger Donaldson
🍅 92%★ 7.1thriller · drama

Tense thriller in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1980s, in a different era of the craft

Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell, and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, Farrell is put in charge of the murder investigation. He begins to uncover shocking clues about the case, but when details of his encounter with Susan surface, he becomes a suspect as well.

Animals poster
Animals
2026 · dir. Ben Affleck
★ 7.1thriller · dramaNetflix

The drama is handled with the same confidence

When the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day.

A Hijacking poster
A Hijacking
2012 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 96%★ 7.1thriller · drama

Thriller of the same temperament

Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.

A Wednesday! poster
A Wednesday!
2008 · dir. Neeraj Pandey
★ 8.1drama · thriller

Both are drama through and through

Prakash Rathod, a retired police commissioner recounts the most memorable case of his career wherein he was informed about a bomb scare in Mumbai by an ordinary commoner.

The Hater poster
The Hater
2020 · dir. Jan Komasa
🍅 87%★ 7.1drama · thrillerRent or buy

The same thriller instincts

A duplicitous young man finds success in the dark world of social media smear tactics — but his virtual vitriol soon has violent real-life consequences.

To Kill a Man poster
To Kill a Man
2014 · dir. Alejandro Fernández Almendras
★ 6.3thriller · drama

Both play drama straight

Jorge is a peaceful hard-working man who seeks a simple, quiet life for himself and his family. One day, he is mugged and humiliated by a gang of thugs led by Kalule, a delinquent from his neighborhood. This event infuriates his son as much for Jorge’s meek acceptance as for the act itself. The son, looking for retribution, ends up getting himself shot. Kalule is sent to jail and when he gets out 18 months later, begins a campaign of terror against Jorge and his family. The authorities do nothing, so Jorge decides to take matters into his own hands.

The Coldest Game poster
The Coldest Game
2019 · dir. Łukasz Kośmicki
🍅 17%★ 6.2drama · thriller

Thriller approached the same way

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Warsaw, Poland, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. Josh Mansky, a troubled math genius and former US chess champion, is recruited to hold a dangerous public match against the Soviet champion, while playing the deadly game of espionage hidden in the darkest shadows of a hostile territory.

Breaking Surface poster
Breaking Surface
2020 · dir. Joachim Hedén
🍅 100%★ 6.1drama · thrillerPrime Video

Cut from the same drama cloth

Two Swedish/Norwegian half sisters go on a winter diving trip in Northern Norway, when they get trapped after a rockslide.

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The best-reviewed films that share Knife in the Water’s defining feeling.