Movies Like Painless (2012)

Painless is a 2012 drama, horror, thriller film from Juan Carlos Medina with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Endless Trench and Paper Birds.

Drama Horror Thriller

The Endless Trench

2019

A small village in Huelva, Andalusia, Spain, 1936. Higinio and Rosa have been married only for a few months when the Civil War breaks out. Higinio, being afraid of possible reprisals from the rebel faction, decides to use a hole dug in his own house as a temporary hideout.

6.9

MagicScore

Paper Birds

2010

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the members of a group of vaudeville performers have been stripped of everything: all they have left is hunger and the instinct to survive. Day after day, agonizingly, lost and helpless between the victors and the vanquished, the musician Jorge, the ventriloquist Enrique, the couplet singer Rocío and the orphan Miguel search tirelessly for something to eat and a safe place to live.

6.6

MagicScore

While at War

2019

Salamanca, Spain, 1936. In the early days of the military rebellion that began the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), writer Miguel de Unamuno supports the uprising in the hope that the prevailing political chaos will end. But when the confrontation becomes bloody, Unamuno must question his initial position.

7.1

MagicScore

Black Beach

2020

Carlos, a ruthless Spanish negotiation expert working in Brussels, is tasked with handling the kidnapping of a senior oil company executive in a troubled West African country —with which he has old and deep ties—, torn by ethnic tensions and government abuses.

5.7

MagicScore

The Photographer of Mauthausen

2018

Spanish photographer Francesc Boix, imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, works in the SS Photographic Service. Between 1943 and 1945, he hides, with the help of other prisoners, thousands of negatives, with the purpose of showing the freed world the atrocities committed by the Nazis, exhaustively documented. He will be a key witness during the Nuremberg Trials.

7.0

MagicScore

Pan's Labyrinth

2006

In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.

7.8

MagicScore

The Dinner

2025

Spain, April 15, 1939. With the Civil War concluded, and with the intention of celebrating his victory, General Franco attends a dinner with his generals at the Palace Hotel.

6.8

MagicScore

The War Is Over

1966

Diego is one of the chiefs of the Spanish Communist Party. On his way from Madrid to Paris, he is arrested at the border for an ID check but manages to get free. When he arrives in Paris, he starts searching for one of his comrades to prevent him from going to Madrid where he could be arrested.

6.4

MagicScore

The (Silent) War

2019

Northern Spain, October 1944. Several groups of guerrilla fighters, former Republican soldiers exiled in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War, infiltrate the country in order to provoke a popular uprising against General Franco's dictatorship.

5.9

MagicScore

#10

The Devil's Backbone

2001

Spain, 1939. In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, the young Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucía orphanage, where he will make friends and enemies as he follows the quiet footsteps of a mysterious presence eager for revenge.

7.3

MagicScore

#11

Parallel Mothers

2021

Two unmarried women who have become pregnant by accident and are about to give birth meet in a hospital room: Janis, in her late-thirties, unrepentant and happy; Ana, a teenager, remorseful and frightened.

6.8

MagicScore

#12

Land and Freedom

1995

David Carr is a British Communist who is unemployed. In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War begins, he decides to fight for the Republican side, a coalition of liberals, communists and anarchists, so he joins the POUM militia and witnesses firsthand the betrayal of the Spanish revolution by Stalin's followers and Moscow's orders.

7.3

MagicScore

#13

The Sleeping Voice

2011

Finished the Spanish Civil War in April 1939, in November 1940, while Spain is being crushed by the ruthless boot of dictator Franco, Pepita travels from rural Córdoba to Madrid to be near her sister Hortensia, who is seven months pregnant and imprisoned, haunted by the shadow of a death sentence.

6.7

MagicScore

#14

The Silence of Others

2019

The story of the tortuous struggle against the silence of the victims of the dictatorship imposed by General Franco after the victory of the rebel side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1975). In a democratic country, but still ideologically divided, the survivors seek justice as they organize the so-called “Argentinian lawsuit” and denounce the legally sanctioned pact of oblivion that intends to hide the crimes they were subjects of.

8.1

MagicScore

#15

The Official Story

1985

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1983. In the last and turbulent days of the military dictatorship, Alicia, a high school history teacher, begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the dark origins of Gaby, her adopted daughter.

7.4

MagicScore

#16

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

2009

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story is a movie based on the life story of world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson from 1961 to 1987.

7.8

MagicScore

#17

The Last Hour

2017

Lima, Peru, 1991. After years of fruitless efforts, a group of police officers finally find a lead on the whereabouts of Abimael Guzmán, the bloodthirsty leader of the communist terrorist gang Shining Path.

6.9

MagicScore

#18

Mirror

1975

A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.

7.9

MagicScore

#19

Long Live Death

1971

At the end of the Spanish civil war, Fando, a boy of about ten, tries to make sense of war and his father's arrest. His mother is religious, sympathetic to the Fascists; his father is accused of being a Red. Fando discovers that his mother may have aided in his father's arrest. Sometimes we witness Fando imagining explanations for what's going on; sometimes we see him at play, alone or with his friend Thérèse. Oedipal fantasies and a lad's natural curiosity about sex and death mix with his search for his mother's nature and his father's fate. Will Fando survive the search?

5.8

MagicScore

#20

There Is No Evil

2020

Set against the backdrop of Iran's strict and oppressive legal system, this anthology film tells the stories of four men who each face a moral crisis when having to deal with death penalties.

7.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Painless?

The top films similar to Painless by MovieMagicScore are The Endless Trench (6.9), Paper Birds (6.6), While at War (7.1). Each shares drama/horror/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Painless worth watching?

Painless holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 181 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Painless?

Painless (2012) is a drama, horror, thriller film directed by Juan Carlos Medina, starring Àlex Brendemühl, Tómas Lemarquis, Ilias Stothart.

Where can I find more recommendations like Painless?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more drama recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Endless Trench Movies like Paper Birds Movies like While at War Movies like Black Beach Movies like The Photographer of Mauthausen Movies like Pan's Labyrinth

About movies like Painless

This ranked list pairs Painless (2012), a drama and horror and thriller film from Juan Carlos Medina, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Àlex Brendemühl take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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