Movies like The Waves (2024)
The best movies like The Waves (2024) are Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025), Night Will Fall (2014) and I Am Vanessa Guillen (2022). If The Waves hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEarthlings (2005)8.1/10 from 351 votes
- NewestYou Can See Everything (2026)Released 2026
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Will Fall (2014)
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Vanessa Guillen (2022)
Vanessa Guillen was 20 years old when she was found murdered at a US Army base. Rather than submit to silence, her family fought for justice and change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEarthlings (2005)
Using hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like this180° South (2010)
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this42 Up (1999)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisS4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNothing Like a Dame (2018)
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElstree 1976 (2015)
A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Can See Everything (2026)
Thirty-four days before she's sent to prison, notorious Silicon Valley founder Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMemories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021)
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this35 Up (1991)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaxi to the Dark Side (2008)
An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrip Down, Rise Up (2021)
The feature documentary follows women of all walks of life, all ages and ethnic backgrounds, as they shed trauma, body image shame, sexual abuse and other issues locked in their bodies, and embark on a journey to reclaim themselves. The film also gives a rare window into the world of Pole artistry and expression.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJustin Bieber's Believe (2013)
A backstage and on-stage look at Justin Bieber during his rise to super stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSous la main de l'autre (2011)
In Their Hands follows the psychotherapy of vulnerable people, sometimes destroyed by acts of torture.Their speech deals with an inhuman past: they want to stop the pain, rule out the folly and protect their family from violence in them, be understood and recognized - these are the issues that drive them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Standard Operating Procedure (2008)
Investigating the infamous Abu Ghraib scandal, Errol Morris interviews American guards and Iraqi prisoners who were at the military jail before images of prisoner torture emerged in 2004. One female guard, who posed alongside fallen Iraqis in notorious images, tells Morris that her crimes were inspired by her love for another soldier, and another explains why she took photographs of her fellow troops. In the process, Morris suggests that the scandal resulted from systemic flaws in the military.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhilosophy of a Knife (2008)
The true history of Japanese Unit 731, from its beginnings in the 1930s to its demise in 1945, and the subsequent trials in Khabarovsk, USSR, of many of the Japanese doctors from Unit 731. The facts are told, and previously unknown evidence is revealed by an eyewitness to these events, former doctor and military translator, Anatoly Protasov.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisDevi (2024)
Devi's life was upended following her arrest during Nepal's civil war accused of rebellion. Tortured and raped while in custody, she faced depression and isolation. Despite hardship, Devi joined rebel forces and became a prominent member of Parliament.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Made in Auschwitz: The Untold Story of Block 10 (2019)
Around 80 years ago, the gynecologist Carl Clauberg conducted medical experimentation on Jewish girls and women in Auschwitz. The results of those sadistic experiments were used in medicine across the globe. It is possible that German companies played a part in those experiments. Most of the survivors became infertile, and very few of them were later capable to give birth. The Untold Story of Block 10 introduces the audience to those who have survived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Citizen Boilesen (2009)
A documentary about the controversial businessman Henning Boilesen Jr. and his involvement with the military regime as one of its most enthusiastic supporters, financing it and participating in the tortures of political prisoners. Those actions later culminated in his assassination in 1971 by members of militant groups opposed to the regime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Häxan (1922)
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEtxe barrutik argitara (2021)
This documentary aims to show that it is impossible to address the care crisis exacerbated by Covid-19 in the Basque Country unless care work is distributed and dignified through transformative cooperativism.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Surviving Syria’s Prisons (2025)
A look inside one of the most brutal campaigns of state repression in modern history - told by those who endured it and those who enforced it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Look of Silence (2014)
An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the "Communist" purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers' family members about what happened in the past - much to Adi's disappointment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Waves?
The closest matches to The Waves are Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025), Night Will Fall (2014) and I Am Vanessa Guillen (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Waves?
Start with Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025), the closest match to The Waves.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Waves?
Earthlings (2005), rated 8.1/10 by 351 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Waves?
You Can See Everything (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Waves chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Waves, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.