Movies like The Scratchman (1980)
The best movies like The Scratchman (1980) are Mad God (2021), The House (2022) and The Grandmother (1970). If The Scratchman hooked you with its animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGeri's Game (1997)7.6/10 from 1,272 votes
- NewestThe Unknowing of Things (2026)Released 2026
Mad God (2021)
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House (2022)
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Grandmother (1970)
To escape neglect and abuse from his parents, a young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeri's Game (1997)
An aging codger named Geri plays a daylong game of chess in the park against himself. Somehow, he begins losing to his livelier opponent. But just when the game's nearly over, Geri manages to turn the tables.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWho Are You, Charlie Brown? (2021)
Lupita Nyong'o narrates a documentary about Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. Famous fans—including Drew Barrymore, Kevin Smith, and Al Roker—share its influence on them, and a new animated story finds Charlie Brown on a quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlinkity Blank (1955)
A playful exercise in intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. Playing with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after-image on the retina of the eye, McLaren engraves pictures on blank film creating vivid, percussive effects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerica: The Motion Picture (2021)
A chainsaw-wielding George Washington teams with beer-loving bro Sam Adams to take down the Brits in a tongue-in-cheek riff on the American Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
SnoozefestMovies like thisDestino (2003)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGroot's Pursuit (2022)
Groot investigates a spooky noise that’s been haunting the Quadrant, which leads to an intense dance off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFree Birds (2013)
Two turkeys from opposite sides of the tracks must put aside their differences and team up to travel back in time to change the course of history—and get turkey off the holiday menu for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Brave Little Toaster (1987)
A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnidentified Flying Mater (2009)
Mater finds a small UFO called Mator and they have a night out. Later, when Mator is captured by military forces, Mater sneaks up and saves him with the help of Lightning McQueen and the UFO's mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
An action epic that explores the origins of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force (better known as Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad,) who somehow become pitted in a battle over an immortal piece of exercise equipment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)
Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. When a documentarian discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, his resulting short film brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope at finding his long-lost family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDory's Reef Cam (2020)
Dive into the waters below and watch the aquatic wildlife from the world of Nemo and Dory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943)
As Tom and Jerry stage their typical fight sequences, the patriotic soldier theme of the title is evidenced by such things as a carton of eggs labeled "Hen Grenades"; Jerry dropping light bulbs from an airplane like bombs; and Jerry sending a telegram with the message "Sighted Cat - Sank Same." Musical phrasings from various patriotic war songs are heard throughout. The cut scene after Jerry hitting Tom with the board 4 times was cut from the 1950 reissue print for a war bond joke, and the original footage is currently considered "lost" due to the negatives destroyed in the 1978 George Eastman House fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMater and the Ghostlight (2006)
Mater, the rusty but trusty tow truck from Cars, spends a day in Radiator Springs playing scary pranks on his fellow townsfolk. That night at Flo's V8 Café, the Sheriff tells the story of the legend of the Ghostlight, and as everyone races home Mater is left alone primed for a good old-fashioned scare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001)
When Scooby and the gang get trapped in a video game created for the gang, they must fight against the 'Phantom Virus.' To escape the game they must go level by level and defeat the game once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tidal Zone: SpongeBob Universe Special (2023)
GrandPat travels through alternate dimensions and timelines to get home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCreature Comforts (1989)
A humorous and thought-provoking view of what animals in zoos might be thinking about their captivity and surroundings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrisma (2021)
A corporate promotional VHS tape from 1984 conceals a brain-altering signal which is said to grant increased health, longevity and psychic powers to those who watch it. View at your own risk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Unknowing of Things (2026)
The ten-minute Pragmatognossia plays with the letters of the Greek alphabet, through the voice of a small child who is coming out into the world for the first time. Old photographs, worn documents, faded seals, handwritten notes, tax registers, invoices, stamps, ... cracks in time but also little flames that keep the entire memory of the state alive, frame by frame".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Statue of Giordano Bruno (2005)
This film was made out of the capture of a live animation performance presented in Rome in January 2005 by Pierre Hébert and the musician Bob Ostertag. It is based on live action shooting done that same afternoon on the Campo dei Fiori where the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned by the Inquisition in 1600. A commemorative statue was erected in the 19th century, that somberly dominate the market held everyday on the piazza. The film is about the resurgence of the past in this place where normal daily activities go on imperturbably. The capture of the performance was reworked, shortened and complemented with more studio performances.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Dance (2024)
A closeted transgender woman is comforted by dancing to confront her sexual demons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
the Voice of God (2011)
If God came down to earth and try to earn a living in Bombay, most probably he would become successful as a voice over artiste, lending his voice to thousands of Hindi movies and even more documentaries and public service films in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
University Building (1976)
Experimental documentary focusing on the design of the buildings of the Technical High School in Eindhoven. Through the visual means of film and the technical possibilities of camera and photography, reality becomes pure abstraction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Rhythm (1934)
A comfortable rhythm composed of light and shadow. Director Ogino-style absolute movie which freely manipulates geometric figures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Phantasia (2024)
X-ray images were invented in 1895, the same year in which the Lumière brothers presented their respective invention in what today is considered to be the first cinema screening. Thus, both cinema and radiography fall within the scopic regime inaugurated by modernity. The use of X-rays on two sculptures from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum generates images that reveal certain elements of them that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. These images, despite being generally created for technical or scientific purposes, seem to produce a certain form of 'photogénie': they lend the radiographed objects a new appearance that lies somewhere between the material and the ethereal, endowing them with a vaporous and spectral quality. It is not by chance that physics and phantasmagoria share the term 'spectrum' in their vocabulary.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
it's raining wet puzzle pieces (2025)
Childhood memories continue to live inside me. Some of the most painful ones are the ones that echo the longest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Idéal (2023)
"You gave me your mud and I turned it into gold". The Flowers of Evil, Charles Baudelaire
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Scratchman?
The closest matches to The Scratchman are Mad God (2021), The House (2022) and The Grandmother (1970). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Scratchman?
Start with Mad God (2021), the closest match to The Scratchman.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Scratchman?
Geri's Game (1997), rated 7.6/10 by 1,272 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Scratchman?
The Unknowing of Things (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Scratchman?
Yes: Mad God (2021), The House (2022) and The Grandmother (1970).
How are movies similar to The Scratchman chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Scratchman, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.