There are so many ways to approach a thriller, and movies like Exam take viewers on a psychological ride that will push their endurance to the limits as events continue to spiral out of control.
Stuart Hazeldine’s ingenious debut feature finds eight candidates applying for the same job, but the interview process is far from straightforward as a series of unpredictable developments force everyone to turn on each other.
Self-contained, dripping with tension and backed by an intriguing and unique premise, there are plenty of other movies out there with similar characteristics that are worth checking out.
10 Psychological Thriller Movies Like Exam
1. Cube (1997)
Movies like Exam don’t always have to be contained to the thriller genre, and Vincenzo Natali’s Cube instead opts for a hybrid of sci-fi and horror, which perfectly suits the concept.
A group of strangers wake up trapped in an intricately designed prison, and are forced to work together to try and figure out a way to escape the impossible maze.
Much smarter than you’d expect from a low budget horror, there’s no shortage of visual and narrative originality in a gripping tale of survival.
2. The Killing Room (2009)
A shady doctor accepts three patients into a mysterious test program, but when one of them is executed, the circumstances take an altogether more deadly turn.
Michael Bay protege Jonathan Liebesman got his start in this horror flick, so it isn’t a surprise he knows how to shoot violent scenes, but there’s more meat on the story than you might be expecting.
Fear, paranoia, desperation are all major themes, while the claustrophobic surroundings and unpredictable plotting make The Killing Room one of the better movies like Exam to be found.
3. Unknown (2006)
A lean and mean mystery thriller that wastes no time on setup or exposition, Simon Brand’s Unknown is one of the closes companion pieces you’ll find when seeking out movies like Exam.
Five men wake up locked in a warehouse with no idea who they or any of the others are, and need to try and figure out which of them is good or bad as they piece together the events.
Unknown’s major selling point is that the story is told in chronological reverse order, adding another layer of intrigue onto a premise that already has the potential to hook fans of the genre.
4. My Little Eye (2002)
Another entry on our countdown of movies like Exam is My Litte Eye, which is a Marc Evans’ directed low budget horror that packs a punch.
Five people sign up to star in an internet reality show, with each of them walking away with $1 million if they can last six months living in a mansion.
A young Bradley Cooper even shows up in what was just his second movie role, as the mysterious stranger who starts causing havoc in a house where tensions are already fraught.
5. Escape Room (2019)
Six people sign up for an escape room with a $100,000 prize for the winner, but the puzzles are more about life and death than a simple battle of wits.
Leaning more into straight-up horror than most movies like Exam, Escape Room also throws a bit of Saw into the mix for good measure as the elaborate traps are revealed.
Not particularly original but still an engaging watch for fans of the genre, there’s enough suspense to keep the thriller crowd happy and enough frights for the horror aficionados as well.
6. Phone Booth (2002)
A thriller that definitely belongs in the same company as movies like Exam, Phone Booth is so contained that a great deal of the action takes place in the most confined space imaginable.
Colin Farrell’s arrogant publicist picks up a payphone, only to discover there’s a killer on the other end of the line in Joel Schumacher’s rapidly-paced nail biter.
The premise gets stretched incredibly thin, even over a brief 81 minutes, but Colin Farrell is more than charismatic enough in his performance to keep you on the edge of your seat.
7. Trance (2013)
Danny Boyle rarely tackles simple narratives, and the trippy tale of an art heist gone wrong lets the filmmaker pull out almost every stylistic trick in the book.
The problem is that James McAvoy’s auctioneer can’t remember where he hid the stolen goods, and so torture, threats, and hypnosis are all tried in an effort to jog his memory.
Fast-paced, psychedelic, and occasionally abstract and surrealist, if you feel movies like Exam don’t push enough boundaries, then Trance is definitely one you should be checking out.
8. Buried (2010)
Quite possibly the single most claustrophobic movie ever made, Buried takes place entirely within a coffin, and star Ryan Reynolds is the only actor seen on screen.
Somehow, director Rodrigo Cortes also makes a very stylish thriller full of unique camera movements and narrative angles that maximize every inch of the limited space.
Reynolds is a revelation in a rare dramatic role, but even if you love movies like Exam, Buried is not for those who even have the slightest fear of confined spaces.
9. Devil (2010)
Not every movie like Exam has to be set in a world we recognize, and John Erick Dowdle’s Devil applies the same bare-bones originality to his movie, albeit with a supernatural spin.
Five strangers get stuck in an elevator together, and they begin to suspect that one of their party might very well be Satan himself as secrets spill and confessions are made.
With a story by M. Night Shyamalan, most people were expecting Devil to have a major twist, but it plays all of its major cards relatively early, which is perhaps the biggest surprise of all.
10. A Perfect Getaway (2009)
Definitely the most sun-kissed and outdoorsy entry on our list of movies like Exam, David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway still delivers the psychological twists and turns that characterize the entire genre.
A newlywed couple are on their honeymoon hiking through Hawaii when they hear about a series of grisly murders, and they inevitably find themselves caught up in the path of the main suspects.
Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that, and a handsome cast of characters played by the likes of Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn and Chris Hemsworth all have secrets of their own.