feelsalike.comSign in
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest poster

Movies that feel likeThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)

After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in a hospital and is set to face trial for attempted murder on her eventual release. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must prove her innocence. In doing this she plays against powerful enemies and her own past.

If you loved The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the closest films we have are A Hard Day (2014), Marshland (2014) and The Girl in the Fog (2017). All three share The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest's tense and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Colors of Evil: Red (2024).

🍅 53% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Daniel Alfredsonkinetictensegrittytwisty
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

See it on the Mood Map

When is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest streaming? →

If The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) · The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)

A Hard Day poster
A Hard Day
2014 · dir. Kim Seong-hun
🍅 82%★ 7.2crime · thriller · mystery

Kinetic where it counts, tense underneath

The difference: Reviewed even better

After trying to cover up a car accident that left a man dead, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious man claiming to have witnessed the event.

Marshland poster
Marshland
2014 · dir. Alberto Rodríguez
🍅 91%★ 7.2crime · mystery · thriller

Gritty and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Less kinetic, more its own thing

The Spanish Deep South, 1980. A series of brutal murders of adolescent girls in a remote and forgotten town bring together two disparate characters – both detectives in the homicide division – to investigate the cases.

The Girl in the Fog poster
The Girl in the Fog
2017 · dir. Donato Carrisi
🍅 75%★ 6.8mystery · thriller · crime

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

A gripping and chilling thriller that brings us to a hazy mountain village where an enigmatic detective is investigating the sudden disappearance of fifteen-year-old girl.

Unknown poster
Unknown
2011 · dir. Jaume Collet-Serra
🍅 56%★ 6.8action · mystery · thriller

One thread runs through both: hospital

A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Bacurau poster
Bacurau
2019 · dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
🍅 93%★ 7.3mystery · western · thrillerRent or buy

Both lean on grit more than on mystery

The difference: Played as western first

Bacurau, a small town in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their community has vanished from most maps.

Colors of Evil: Red poster
Colors of Evil: Red
2024 · dir. Adrian Panek
🍅 80%★ 6.4crime · thriller · mysteryNetflix

Crime with a pulse of twists, in both cases

When a girl's body is found on a beach in Poland's Tricity, a prosecutor teams up with the victim's mother on an impassioned quest for the truth.

Eastern Promises poster
Eastern Promises
2007 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 89%★ 7.6thriller · crime · mysteryPrime Video

Tense action in both cases

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo poster
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2011 · dir. David Fincher
🍅 86%★ 7.8thriller · crime · mysteryNetflixApple TV+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: hacker

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.

Eagle Eye poster
Eagle Eye
2008 · dir. D.J. Caruso
🍅 27%★ 6.6mystery · thriller · actionPrime VideoParamount+

Action built on momentum, twice over

Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman are two strangers whose lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil by a mysterious woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, the unseen caller uses everyday technology to control their actions and push them into increasing danger. As events escalate, Jerry and Rachel become the country's most-wanted fugitives and must figure out what is happening to them.

Drishyam poster
Drishyam
2015 · dir. Nishikant Kamat
🍅 64%★ 8.2mystery · thriller · drama

Thriller built on grit, twice over

When his family stares down the barrel of criminal charges, a commoner channels his street smarts and knowledge of action films to tie the long arm of the law into an investigative Gordian knot.

Red Sparrow poster
Red Sparrow
2018 · dir. Francis Lawrence
🍅 45%★ 6.6thriller · mystery

The same preoccupation in both: hospital

Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.

The Secret in Their Eyes poster
The Secret in Their Eyes
2009 · dir. Juan José Campanella
🍅 89%★ 8.2mystery · thriller · dramaHulu

Mystery built on twists, twice over

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín begins writing a novel based on the unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, judge Irene, he attempts to make sense of the past.

In the mood for more kinetic?

all kinetic movies →

The best-reviewed films that share The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest’s defining feeling.