Movies like Horizontal/Vertical (2009)
The best movies like Horizontal/Vertical (2009) are The House on Carroll Street (1988), The Substitute (2022) and F.I.S.T. (1978). If Horizontal/Vertical hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 465 votes
- NewestThe Captive (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishThe Substitute (2022)Also in Spanish
The House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Substitute (2022)
Lucio, a prestigious university professor, takes the position of substitute teacher at a high school in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, where he grew up. Through tales, novels and poetry, he tries to distract his class from the harsh reality of their everyday lives. But soon, he must step out of his professional duties when Dilan, one of his students, is threatened by a local drug kingpin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisF.I.S.T. (1978)
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUpon Entry (2023)
Diego, a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena, a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Their intention is to boost their professional careers and start a family in 'the land of opportunities'. But upon entering New York airport's immigration area, they are taken to the secondary inspection room, where border officers will subject them to an unpleasant inspection process and a psychologically grueling interrogation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJulia (1977)
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMemories of My Father (2020)
In the polarized and violent Medellín (Colombia's 'City of Eternal Spring') of the 1970s, doctor Héctor Abad Gómez is concerned about both his children and children from less favored classes. After a devastating loss in the family, Héctor gives himself to the greater cause of public health programs for the poor in Medellín to the consternation of the city's authorities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCall Me Crazy: A Five Film (2013)
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Red Virgin (2024)
Hildegart is conceived and educated by her mother Aurora to be the woman of the future, to become one of the most brilliant minds of Spain in the 1930s and one of the European references on female sexuality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn Her Place (2024)
After Chilean writer María Carolina Geel murders her lover, the case captivates shy legal secretary Mercedes, sparking a connection between the two women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Captive (2025)
In 1575, the young soldier Miguel de Cervantes is captured on the high seas by Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers as a hostage. Aware that a cruel death awaits him if his family does not pay his ransom soon, he finds refuge in his passion for storytelling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Movie Teller (2023)
María Margarita is the youngest of four siblings in a family living in a mining town in the Atacama Desert (Chile). The most special time of the week for this family is Sunday, when they all go to the movies to enjoy stories that let them escape their everyday lives by transporting them to other worlds. The girl’s parents soon realise that the little girl has a very special gift: an almost uncanny ability to recount movies. The girl’s extraordinary talent will spread throughout the village, changing the fortunes of her family as the country is transformed forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBefore I Fall (2017)
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gift (2021)
A man living a dual identity is faced with the consequences when his long kept secret is soon discovered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Zheimer (2024)
One morning, an elderly woman grappling with Alzheimer’s awakens, gazes into the mirror, and, confronted with a stranger’s reflection, embarks on a poignant quest to rediscover the face she has carried through a lifetime, now altered overnight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Deafening Sound of Silence (2025)
Following the disappearance of his best friend, a boy is haunted by a ghost who speaks in a language he cannot understand.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Even If It Rains (2012)
As he sits on a present situation where his childhood's expiration date gives way to an uncertain adolescence, Agustín decides to create a small freedom spot far from his daily routine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sugar Salt and Love (2015)
Three women navigate their way through life and love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Perspective (2009)
A cynical claymation artist gets a special camera that changes the way he sees the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Gifted: Original Sin (2024)
Set 6 months before the events of "The Gifted", Barbara and Vicky find themselves in Las Vegas to clean up loose ends of the past, propelling them toward their fate that is foreseen by a woman named Chica.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Normal Spaces (2024)
A lonely day in the life of someone who feels like simply an extension of the spaces they inhabit. They are hit with the dreadful isolation that exists as a result.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Aura (2005)
A quiet, epileptic taxidermist plans the perfect crime. All he needs is the right opportunity. An accident, perhaps…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI, Divided (2011)
A young man struggles with identity and mortality after he discovers human remains in an open field.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Horizontal/Vertical and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Horizontal/Vertical?
The closest matches to Horizontal/Vertical are The House on Carroll Street (1988), The Substitute (2022) and F.I.S.T. (1978). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Horizontal/Vertical?
Start with The House on Carroll Street (1988), the closest match to Horizontal/Vertical.
What is the highest-rated movie like Horizontal/Vertical?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 465 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Horizontal/Vertical?
The Captive (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Horizontal/Vertical?
Yes: The Substitute (2022), Upon Entry (2023) and Memories of My Father (2020).
How are movies similar to Horizontal/Vertical chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Horizontal/Vertical, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.