Movies like The Sluice (1962)
The best movies like The Sluice (1962) are The Grandmother (1970), Eraserhead (1977) and Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990). If The Sluice hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMr. Nobody (2009)7.8/10 from 6,439 votes
- NewestParallel (2024)Released 2024
- In GermanBerlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)Also in German
The 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEraserhead (1977)
First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIndustrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)
After her boyfriend ends their relationship, the dreamself of a heartbroken woman floats through the air over an industrial wasteland singing ballads of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tales of Hoffmann (1951)
A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBerlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDolls (1987)
A precocious girl, her nasty parents, two punk-rock losers and a weak-kneed salesman inadvertently become the guests of two ghoulish senior citizens in their dark, haunted mansion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988)
A grizzled, hard-of-hearing cowboy, Slim, and his two friends, Dusty and Pete, capture a mysterious, well-dressed Frenchman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Five train passengers are joined by a mysterious fortuneteller who offers to read Tarot. A quintet of stories unfold: an architect returns to his ancestral home to find a vengeful werewolf; a doctor suspects his new wife is a vampire; an intelligent vine takes over a house; a jazz musician plagiarises music from a voodoo ceremony; and a pompous art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCosmic Ray (1962)
Experimental short uses Ray Charles' “What'd I Say” as accompaniment to constantly shifting collage of female nude, cartoons, and newsreels of atomic bomb explosions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Many Cooks (2014)
"Too Many Cooks" is a humorous parody of US sitcoms of the 1970s and the 1980s, meanwhile what seems like an interminable opening theme, a mysterious killer makes his way and kills (preparing a lunch with their limbs) various members of the Cook Family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDr. Caligari (1989)
Mrs. Van Houten has shown signs of losing touch with reality, and her husband discusses possible treatment with Dr. Caligari, who says Mrs. Van Houten has a disease of the libido.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisB-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (2015)
The wild West Berlin of the 1980s became the creative melting pot of pop subcultures: music, art and chaos. Before the Iron Curtain fell, anything and everything seemed possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisParallel (2024)
Grief-stricken after the loss of her child, Vanessa takes refuge at a lake house only to be met with an aberration of herself from a parallel universe and realizes the multiverse gates hold the key to releasing her grief or trapping her forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Nobody (2009)
Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSucker Punch (2011)
A young woman, institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, retreats into a vivid fantasy world where she envisions a plan to escape. Gathering a group of fellow inmates, she embarks on a quest to collect five mystical items, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S/99 (2022)
A thirsty teenager's home video leads to a series of horrifying revelations, harkening back to the final punk rock analog days of VHS, while taking one giant leap forward into the hellish new millennium.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Serpent's Egg (1977)
In 1923 Berlin, following the suicide of his brother, an American acrobat struggles to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism, and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWings of Desire (1987)
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrimes of the Future (2022)
With his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from the National Organ Registry obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... Their mission — to use Tenser's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVISIONS_OF_NY (2019)
Experimental short film exploring New York City's multicultural history through the eyes of three chosen individuals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Frida (2002)
A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTriumph and Ruins (1997)
History as immersion and dispersion in the fragments of the past, a visionary journey accompanied by the voice of Patty Pravo. Presented at the Taormina Festival '97.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Apocalypsis (2018)
Set in a parallel universe entering a black hole, a woman reading the book of Revelation has visions of regeneration during Anthropocene.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Cat in the Hat (2003)
During a rainy day, and while their mother is out, Conrad and Sally, and their pet fish, are visited by the mischievous Cat in the Hat. Fun soon turns to mayhem, and the siblings must figure out how to rid themselves of the maniacal Cat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like this60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011)
An anthology of one-minute films created by 51 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Day of the Beast (1995)
When a rogue priest discovers the exact date the Antichrist will be born, he enlists a Death Metal record store clerk and a cheesy TV psychic for an urban spree of gore, sacrilege and twisted humor to prevent the Apocalypse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn continuo (1971)
"In continuo" uses slaughterhouse imagery to present the warlike nature of man, first depicting the cleaning and mechanical preparations for the slaughterhouse and then the killing, however, the animal slaughter itself isn’t shown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProtozoa (1993)
Darren Aronofsky’s AFI short opens with angry slacker Dave sitting in a dreary, empty junkyard. Dave stares into space, sips beer, and beats the hell out of a cracked guitar. We quickly realize the emptiness of the dump parallels the emptiness of Dave’s life which consists of smoking weed, staring at television screens and watching school children. Dave’s friend Pete is shortly introduced, along with their friend, Ari, who despite calling her pals losers, doesn’t seem to accomplishing much herself. These three are going nowhere fast. They’re the amoebas of life… protozoa….
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Sluice?
The closest matches to The Sluice are The Grandmother (1970), Eraserhead (1977) and Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Sluice?
Start with The Grandmother (1970), the closest match to The Sluice.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Sluice?
Mr. Nobody (2009), rated 7.8/10 by 6,439 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Sluice?
Parallel (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Sluice?
Yes: Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) and Wings of Desire (1987).
How are movies similar to The Sluice chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Sluice, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.