Movies like Empty Shelves (2023)
The best movies like Empty Shelves (2023) are Risa and the Wind Phone (2026), The Shepherd (2023) and Before I Fall (2017). If Empty Shelves hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Miracle of Marcelino (1955)7.4/10 from 304 votes
- NewestRisa and the Wind Phone (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishRisa and the Wind Phone (2026)Also in Spanish
Risa and the Wind Phone (2026)
Risa, after her father's death, discovers she has the ability to communicate with him from beyond the grave. As she explores this supernatural connection, she faces emotional challenges and family secrets that will test her faith in what she thought was possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Kill Giants (2017)
Sophia, a new high school student, tries to make friends with Barbara, who tells her that “she kills giants,” protecting this way her hometown and its inhabitants, who do not understand her strange behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Canterville Ghost (1996)
When a teenaged girl moves to England, with her brothers and parents into the ancient Canterville Hall, she's not at all happy. Especially as there's a ghost and a mysterious re-appearing bloodstain on the hearth. She campaigns to go back home, and her dad, believing the ghost's pranks are Ginny's, is ready to send her back. But then Ginny actually meets the elusive 17th-century Sir Simon de Canterville (not to mention the cute teenaged duke next door), and she sets her hand to the task of freeing Sir Simon from his curse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 Miracle of Marcelino (1955)
Left on the doorstep of a monastery as an infant, Marcelino was raised by the monks. He was well-cared for but lonely and missed having a mother. One day he found a special friend in the forbidden attic, hanging on a cross. A friend that would repay Marcelino's kindness by granting him one heart-felt wish.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisAn Inspector Calls (2015)
Northern England, 1912. The dinner of a wealthy family is interrupted by Inspector Goole, who only announces that a young woman has committed suicide. Then, he simply asks everyone present, one by one, if they knew her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011)
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 Shadow (1994)
Based on the 1930s comic strip, The Shadow is put up against his archenemy Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city to ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "the power to cloud men's minds", The Shadow comes blazing to the rescue with explosive results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeptember (1987)
After a suicide attempt, Lane has moved into her country house to recuperate. Her best friend, Stephanie, has come to join her for the summer. Lane's mother, Diane, has recently arrived with her husband Lloyd, Lane's stepfather. Lane is close to two neighbors: Peter, and Howard. Howard is in love with Lane, Lane is in love with Peter, and Peter is in love with Stephanie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013)
The Monstruitas of Monster High are obsessed with going to Scaris, The City of Frights for Fashion international competition where the winner will become the apprentice of the world famous Madame Ghostier designer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll the Names of God (2023)
After being implicated in a terrorist attack, Santi, a taxi driver, is taken hostage by one of the perpetrators.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing Personal (2009)
Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring off her finger signals she is leaving her previous life in Holland behind. She goes to Ireland, where she chooses to lead a solitary, wandering existence, striding through the austere landscapes of Connemara. During her travels, she discovers a house that is home to a hermit, Martin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorse Girl (2020)
A socially awkward woman with a fondness for arts and crafts, horses, and supernatural crime shows finds her increasingly lucid dreams trickling into her waking life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDon't Mind Me (2023)
A short film with dialogue for Eason Chan's Mandarin song "Don't Mind Me" 社交恐懼癌 (from his most recent album "Chin Up"), which was produced as an extended backstory for the music video. The Chinese title literally translates as "social anxiety cancer". Starring Eason Chan himself, along with a guest appearance from Tony Leung Chiu-Wai.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
In late-'90s suburbia, lonely teenager Owen meets Maddy, who introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show — a vision of a supernatural world pulsing beneath their own. As time goes on, questions begin to arise about why the show sometimes seems more real than their own lives, as their view of reality begins to crack.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisnor any memories of the turning backs (2025)
[poem_body_memory_voice] None of them belong to each other. All of them belong to themselves. A layered accumulation —___- a poetic exercise on relating*_on_love, migration, and mourning.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
A socially awkward and volatile small business owner meets the love of his life after being threatened by a gang of scammers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBungalow (2023)
A young couple’s attempt to transform a dilapidated house into their dream home spirals into a nightmare, exposing the financial, social and sexual anxieties of millennials living in a society obsessed with performance and success.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dereliction (2018)
Elias is an I.T. technician preparing for an overnight gig. He thinks he's totally alone in the building and is about to find out he's wrong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
LIMINAL (2026)
LIMINAL tells the story of Vincent Marcum, a world-renowned quantum physicist who lost his wife and daughter in a tragic accident in 2001. Once a towering figure in the scientific community, Vincent has since withdrawn from the world, isolating himself in relentless pursuit of a singular goal, bending time itself. For decades, he has obsessively dedicated his life to achieving the impossible: time travel. Now, in the year 2053, at 86 years old, he finally succeeds. But in his research, he uncovers a disturbing truth: time does not curve as once theorized; it moves in a straight, unyielding line. This revelation carries terrifying implications... What happens when you travel back to the past and no one was there?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dolly's Miracle Hoard (2025)
Dolly loves her hoard. She loves her tiny flat. She's very fond of the charming delivery guy who keeps the dream alive. What she's not very fond of is the terrifying giant of a neighbour who threatens to lure her out into the world she has so carefully avoided.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Bedtime Story for Ghosts (2021)
Three generations of women return to the old family home in Sinaloa to confront the ghosts of their past. Our story, wherever we begin to tell it, begins with a broken heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Empty Shelves?
The closest matches to Empty Shelves are Risa and the Wind Phone (2026), The Shepherd (2023) and Before I Fall (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Empty Shelves?
Start with Risa and the Wind Phone (2026), the closest match to Empty Shelves.
What is the highest-rated movie like Empty Shelves?
The Miracle of Marcelino (1955), rated 7.4/10 by 304 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Empty Shelves?
Risa and the Wind Phone (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Empty Shelves?
Yes: Risa and the Wind Phone (2026), The Miracle of Marcelino (1955) and All the Names of God (2023).
How are movies similar to Empty Shelves chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Empty Shelves, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.