Movies like Butterfly (2023)
The best movies like Butterfly (2023) are Reality (2023), Detour (1945) and Monsters (2010). If Butterfly hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)8.8/10 from 312 votes
- NewestThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)Released 2026
Reality (2023)
Augusta, Georgia, United States, June 3, 2017. After running some errands, Reality Winner returns home, where she is approached by two men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetour (1945)
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonsters (2010)
Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUpstream Color (2013)
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Believe in Unicorns (2015)
Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Earth (2011)
On the night a duplicate Earth is discovered in the solar system, the lives of a young woman and an accomplished composer become tragically connected after a fatal accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilent Running (1972)
After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026)
With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make... the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it? A theatrical screening of episode 8 and the all new, hour-long episode 9.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease, and nobody will let them off the train.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Heron (2026)
A family of six's fresh start on 1990s Vancouver Island unravels as their youngest child, Sasha, witnesses the increasingly dangerous behavior of her older brother, Jeremy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 thisGood One (2024)
On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonathan (2018)
Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Tree of Life (2011)
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast and First Men (2020)
As the end approaches inexorably, the last humans, living millions of years into the future, send a message to the humanity of the present that is both a plea for help and a warning, but also an epic tale of evolution, decline and hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar Room (2015)
The family-friendly movie explores the transformational role prayer plays in the lives of the Jordan family. Tony and Elizabeth Jordan, a middle-class couple who seemingly have it all – great jobs, a beautiful daughter, their dream home. But appearances can be deceiving. In reality, the Jordan’s marriage has become a war zone and their daughter is collateral damage. With the help of Miss Clara, an older, wiser woman, Elizabeth discovers she can start fighting for her family instead of against them. Through a newly energized faith, Elizabeth and Tony’s real enemy doesn’t have a prayer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPrey (2025)
Young ecologist demonstraters travel to the countryside to confront hunters. But one of them is willing to do anything to stop them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Sin piedad (2025)
Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Go For Soliloquy (TBA)
Photographer and entrepreneur in training, Alonzo, struggles to get his artistic business off the ground. To combat his self-doubt and anxiety, he seeks help from his old college friends who've made names for themselves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
The Cry of the Owl (2009)
Fleeing New York City, a failed marriage and a fragile mental history, artist Robert Forrester moves to small-town Pennsylvania. There he becomes fascinated with the simple domesticity of a beautiful neighbor, watching her through the windows of her home --- until she invites him in for coffee. He is drawn into a relationship with the young woman whose boyfriend goes missing; Robert becomes a murder suspect, gradually sensing he is the target of a larger plot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCellar Door (2022)
After a woman comes into contact with photographs from an archive, she reflects on her existence through her memories and the memories printed on photographs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Elephant Man (1980)
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 · both drama
Last Images Of Our Childhood Memories (2026)
A woman struggles to find balance in her own relationship with nostalgia while unravelling the fate of a childhood friend who vanished after becoming consumed by it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Coming SoonMovies like thisKill The Shah (2026)
A man is trapped in the same moment, reliving his death again and again. Only at the end does he realize who is really in control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Butterfly and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Butterfly?
The closest matches to Butterfly are Reality (2023), Detour (1945) and Monsters (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Butterfly?
Start with Reality (2023), the closest match to Butterfly.
What is the highest-rated movie like Butterfly?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026), rated 8.8/10 by 312 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Butterfly?
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Butterfly?
Yes: Reality (2023), Detour (1945) and Monsters (2010).
How are movies similar to Butterfly chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Butterfly, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.