Movies like Caught in the Middle (1986)
The best movies like Caught in the Middle (1986) are The Primevals (2023), Strawberry Mansion (2021) and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021). If Caught in the Middle hooked you with its fantasy and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)8.1/10 from 1,545 votes
- NewestFantasy Life (2026)Released 2026
The Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrawberry Mansion (2021)
In the not-too-distant future, an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble stumbles upon a secret that offers him a chance at love—and hope for escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021)
Escaping from poverty to become a witcher, Vesemir slays monsters for coin and glory, but when a new menace rises, he must face the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
The vicious, power-mad Kano is determined to take over Earthrealm, one soul at a time. Assisted by a trio of cold Black Dragon mercenaries, he embarks on a brutal assault from town to defenseless town. The choice is simple: kneel or be annihilated. Kenshi, a rebel warrior, calls on Kuai Liang, the only one powerful enough to challenge the malevolent Kano. But Kuai Liang has given up the ways of the warrior, and Kenshi is too undisciplined to defeat Kano himself. If Kuai Liang cannot break through the glacier of doubt that holds him back, Earthrealm will fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShadow Master (2022)
After being slain by a group of criminals, a man is reborn with animal-like superpowers and makes it his mission to right the wrongs of his city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
After the vicious slaughter of his family by stone-cold mercenary Sub-Zero, Hanzo Hasashi is exiled to the torturous Netherrealm. There, in exchange for his servitude to the sinister Quan Chi, he’s given a chance to avenge his family – and is resurrected as Scorpion, a lost soul bent on revenge. Back on Earthrealm, Lord Raiden gathers a team of elite warriors – Shaolin monk Liu Kang, Special Forces officer Sonya Blade, and action star Johnny Cage – an unlikely band of heroes with one chance to save humanity. To do this, they must defeat Shang Tsung's horde of Outworld gladiators and reign over the Mortal Kombat tournament.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
When Shao Kahn's Outworld barbarians terrorize Earthrealm, Lord Raiden is determined to put an end to the carnage once and for all. This leaves one option: a final Mortal Kombat tournament for the future of Earthrealm – win it or lose everything. Raiden's elite fighters Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and a few new faces kick the action into overdrive as they go head-to-head with Outworld's most bloodthirsty warriors. But deep in the Netherrealm, an unspeakable scheme by the malevolent Shinnok unfolds, threatening to obliterate existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hot Spot (1990)
Upon arriving to a small town, a drifter quickly gets into trouble with the local authorities — and the local women — after he robs a bank.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crow (1994)
Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven, watched over by a hypnotic crow, returns from the grave to exact revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Romance (1993)
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf I Can't Have Love, I Want Power (2021)
Featuring music from her fourth studio album produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, this evocative film experience stars Halsey as the young and pregnant Queen Lila, who wrestles with the manipulative chokehold of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLabyrinth (1986)
Frustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actually disappears, Sarah must follow him into a fantastical world to rescue him from the Goblin King. Guarding his castle is the labyrinth itself, a twisted maze of deception, populated with outrageous characters and unknown dangers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReal Gods Require Blood (2017)
Manchester, 1990. On a troubled estate, Alice is roped into babysitting for her neighbour, whose children claim to feed a nightly visitor from Hell. Between gangland tensions, local superstition and drug withdrawal, Alice must decide whether to abandon her new wards or stay the night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Gate (1987)
Three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Shot (2019)
Journalist Fred Flarsky reunites with his childhood crush, Charlotte Field, now one of the most influential women in the world. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte hires Fred as her speechwriter — much to the dismay of her trusted advisers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Cal Weaver is living the American dream. He has a good job, a beautiful house, great children and a beautiful wife, named Emily. Cal's seemingly perfect life unravels, however, when he learns that Emily has been unfaithful and wants a divorce. Over 40 and suddenly single, Cal is adrift in the fickle world of dating. Enter, Jacob Palmer, a self-styled player who takes Cal under his wing and teaches him how to be a hit with the ladies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary Poppins, Goodbye (1983)
A family hires a babysitter who seems to possess magical powers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodbye, Petrushka (2022)
Claire moves impulsively from NYC to Paris, where she nannies for the family from hell, battles wacky French bureaucrats, embarrasses herself in front of her Parisian crush, and navigates a toxic relationship—among other faux pas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Weekend with the Babysitter (1970)
A middle-aged husband falls for his childrens' teenaged babysitter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
My Babysitter's a Vampire (2010)
Geeky 14-year old Ethan is left to babysit his younger sister, Jane, with his best friend Benny but after Ethan inadvertently puts Jane in harm's way, his parents hire a professional babysitter, the beautiful yet mysterious 17-year-old Sarah who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a fledgling vampire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSharp Stick (2022)
Sarah Jo is a naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her mother and sister. When she begins an affair with her older employer, she is thrust into an education on sexuality, loss and power.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Holiday Sitter (2022)
Sam is a workaholic bachelor who babysits his niece and nephew before the holidays when his sister and her husband have to go out of town. Completely out of his element, he recruits help from their handsome neighbor Jason and finds himself in an unexpected romance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPWNED (2006)
When an eight-year-old gaming addict mysteriously disappears into the fantasy computer game he has been obsessively playing, his horrified teenage babysitter has three days to learn the game she hates, keep him alive from the outside, and somehow bring him home before his mother returns.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Threesome (2025)
Connor has a threesome with his long-time crush Olivia and an alluring stranger named Jenny. It surprisingly serves as the spark to a full blown relationship with Olivia, until both women end up pregnant and all three are thrust into a difficult journey toward new realities that none of them could have expected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaste (TBA)
Shane is an unflinching photographer perched on an emotional, physical and spiritual cliff until a captivating woman named Lily enters his world and stirs painful memories from his past. Chaste explores the soul-churning depths of one man's sexual addiction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
La Tahzan: Cinta, Dosa, Luka... (2025)
Alina, who has a harmonious and loving family, never expected that the arrival of a new nanny in her home would become a significant threat. Now, Alina is faced with the choice to let go or fight to protect the unity of her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Death in Charge (2008)
In the tradition of E.C. Horror Comics, this cautionary tale examines life through the eyes of Death who gets derailed when an impatient single Mom carelessly mistakes the scythe-carrying cloaked one for her tardy babysitter and leaves Death to care for her precocious 9-year-old daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Witch (2018)
The precocious and fiercely independent Aima tells her babysitter that the Witch they created in a game of make-believe will never stop chasing them. While the babysitter initially tries to deny Aima’s insistence that the Witch is evil, soon they follow Aima into a world where imagination rules and wildness, magic, and delight are hidden around every corner. Their adventures bring them together with fairies, ghosts, star-lovers, and UFOs, and as they march toward their showdown with the Witch, the unreal becomes reality and the lines between good and evil are blurred. As Aima and her babysitter draw closer and closer to facing down the Witch and the source of her powers, the babysitter must come to terms with what they lost and gained by growing up and learns that sometimes we have to let go to return.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Fantasy Life (2026)
An anxious New York law school dropout stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for the girls' mother, an actress in a rocky marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting (2020)
Recruited by a secret society of babysitters, a high schooler battles the Boogeyman and his monsters when they nab the boy she's watching on Halloween.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Caught in the Middle and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Caught in the Middle?
The closest matches to Caught in the Middle are The Primevals (2023), Strawberry Mansion (2021) and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Caught in the Middle?
Start with The Primevals (2023), the closest match to Caught in the Middle.
What is the highest-rated movie like Caught in the Middle?
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020), rated 8.1/10 by 1,545 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Caught in the Middle?
Fantasy Life (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Caught in the Middle?
Yes: The Primevals (2023), Strawberry Mansion (2021) and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021).
How are movies similar to Caught in the Middle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Caught in the Middle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.