Movies like The River and Death (1954)
The best movies like The River and Death (1954) are Heart of Darkness (1994), El Gringo (2012) and The Young One (1960). If The River and Death hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)8.7/10 from 31,826 votes
- NewestThe Devil All the Time (2020)Released 2020
- In SpanishThe 7th Day (2004)Also in Spanish
Heart of Darkness (1994)
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisEl Gringo (2012)
A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Thirteenth Tale (2013)
Biographer Margaret Lea travels to the isolated rural mansion of the famous writer Vida Winter, who asks her to write her biography. Although initially she is reluctant, as Vida is known for constantly distorting the facts of her life, Margaret soon becomes fascinated with the story of a dark childhood, a disturbing tale that leads her to finally confront the traumas of her own past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Passage to India (1984)
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil All the Time (2020)
In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
Jesse Stone and Captain Healy are shot during an unauthorized stake-out in Boston. Meanwhile, a cryptic letter sent from Paradise leads the mother of a kidnapped child to Stone. Though her son was declared dead, she hopes he will reopen the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntruder in the Dust (1949)
Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 7th Day (2004)
Isabel Jimenez is a teenager witnessing a horrible feud between her own family and the Fuentes family, a feud involving broken hearts, property disputes and a mysterious fire that destroyed the Fuentes house. Isabel's uncle is murdered by Jeronimo Fuentes, who later tries to stab her father. After Jeronimo dies in jail, Isabel must look outside of her family for the truth, learning from the village idiot that her father may have set fire to the Fuentes home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Left Hand of God (1955)
A man in priestly robes, seemingly the long-awaited Father O'Shea, arrives at a little-frequented Catholic mission in 1947 China. Though the man seems curiously uncomfortable with his priestly duties, his tough tactics prove very successful in the Seven Villages, as around them China disintegrates in civil war and revolution. But he has a secret, and his friendship with mission nurse Anne (an attractive war widow) seems to be taking on an unpriestly tone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe American (2010)
Dispatched to a small Italian town to await further orders, assassin Jack embarks on a double life that may be more relaxing than is good for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
A seventeen-year-old boy and his younger sister’s dreams and aspirations are put on hold when their father is accused of murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMud (2013)
Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLord of the Flies (1963)
Following a plane crash a group of schoolboys find themselves on a deserted island. They appoint a leader and attempt to create an organized society for the sake of their survival. Democracy and order soon begin to crumble when a breakaway faction regresses to savagery with horrifying consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sunchaser (1996)
A young half-Navajo convict dying of cancer forces a yuppie doctor to drive him to a magic healing lake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Cause (1995)
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Boy Blue (1998)
Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Sentence (2007)
Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDistant Lights (2003)
Two countries, two towns, one river. The Oder River separates not only Frankfurt in Germany from Slubice in Poland, but entire worlds. People, whether rich or poor, come here in search of happiness—and often find themselves pushed to their limits. A film about people who, by a twist of fate, are inextricably linked for two days—stealing and cheating, loving and helping, hoping and despairing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his career and stands on the brink of international acclaim. But as the handsome and arrogant Nash accepts secret work in cryptography, he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. His life takes a nightmarish turn and he soon finds himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAs It Is in Heaven (2004)
A musical romantic tragedy about a famous composer who moves back to his small hometown after having had heart troubles. His search for a simple everyday life leads him into teaching the local church choir, which is not easily accepted by the town yet the choir builds a great love for their teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnow Cake (2006)
A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man who is traumatized after a fatal car accident.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe African Queen (1952)
At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Green Mile (1999)
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRonia: The Robber's Daughter (1984)
Ronia lives happily in her father's castle until she comes across a new playmate, Birk, in the nearby dark forest. The two explore the wilderness, braving dangerous Witchbirds and Rump-Gnomes. But when their families find out Birk and Ronia have been playing together, they forbid them to see each other again. Indeed, their fathers are competing robber chieftains and bitter enemies. Now the two spunky children must try to tear down the barriers that have kept their families apart for so long.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCasablanca (1943)
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Devil Wears Prada (2006)
A young woman from the Midwest gets more than she bargained for when she moves to New York to become a writer and ends up as the assistant to the tyrannical, larger-than-life editor-in-chief of a major fashion magazine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The River and Death?
The closest matches to The River and Death are Heart of Darkness (1994), El Gringo (2012) and The Young One (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The River and Death?
Start with Heart of Darkness (1994), the closest match to The River and Death.
What is the highest-rated movie like The River and Death?
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), rated 8.7/10 by 31,826 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The River and Death?
The Devil All the Time (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The River and Death?
Yes: The 7th Day (2004).
How are movies similar to The River and Death chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The River and Death, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.