Movies like Ticket to Heaven (1981)
The best movies like Ticket to Heaven (1981) are What Maisie Knew (2013), Elephant Song (2015) and Home (2021). If Ticket to Heaven hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMartyrs (2008)7.3/10 from 3,203 votes
- NewestDirty Boy (2025)Released 2025
What Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElephant Song (2015)
A psychiatrist is drawn into a complex mind game when he questions a disturbed patient about the disappearance of a colleague.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTHX 1138 (1971)
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightmare Alley (1947)
A roustabout joins a traveling carny and schemes to figure out the mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPerfect Sisters (2014)
Tired of their mother's alcoholism and a string of her abusive boyfriends, two sisters plot to kill her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Wave (1977)
A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal people in a ritualised taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing truths about himself and premonitions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWomen Talking (2022)
A group of women in an isolated religious colony struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTranscendence (2014)
Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Not a Witch (2017)
Convicted of witchcraft, 8-year-old Shula is brought to live in a penal colony where witches do hard labour in service of the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGlass (2019)
In a series of escalating encounters, former security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. Meanwhile, the shadowy presence of Elijah Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnbroken: Path to Redemption (2018)
Zamperini returns to California where he wound up marrying Cynthia Applewhite while wrestling with untreated PTSD, suffering constant nightmares, angry, bitter and deeply depressed, his wife convinces Zamperini to attend the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother End (2024)
In a future where consciousness can be transferred, Sal is urged by his sister to try a breakthrough technology that implants the memories and personality of the dead into the living. After the passing of his wife, Sal must decide how far he's willing to go to reconnect with the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPi (1998)
A mathematical genius discovers a link between numbers and reality, and thus believes he can predict the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisF.I.S.T. (1978)
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClean (2004)
After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. K (2025)
Mr. K, a traveling magician, finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he can’t find the exit of his hotel. His attempts to get out only pull him deeper, entangling him further with the hotel and its curious inhabitants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirty Boy (2025)
Raised in an oppressive cult, a reclusive schizophrenic discovers that he's being framed by cult leaders for a series of ritualistic murders and must prove his innocence by saving their next victim and exposing the evil sect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Third Eye (2001)
Michael is supposed to go to prison for 18 months, but escapes from the police officer. On the run, he meets Malika, who has also committed "stupid things." Together, they flee from the "third eye" of her mother, who, according to Malika, can see into the distance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Mask of the Evil Apparition (2021)
A young woman lost in a nocturnal, dreamlike city, with her twin psychic brothers who try to help her find her way home as she is pursued by a shadowy cult known as The Mysterious Ones.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Agora (2009)
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and her relationship with her slave Davus, who is torn between his love for her and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Breastford Wives (2007)
Young married couple Rob and Laura move to the peaceful, friendly town of Breastford and right away are made to feel at home by the welcoming members of the Breastford Womens Association. They soon realize that something is amiss, and they discover the reason: Doc Brady, the town's mayor, has invented a device that, at the push of a button, turns women into insatiable, sex-crazed robots.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
(Un)alarmed (2022)
Derek, a young man indebted to his sleep and schoolwork fractures his perception of reality as his association of alarm and anxiety is numbed by the repetition of his stresses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Chloe (2010)
Catherine and David Stewart are a well-to-do couple living in a posh area of Toronto, but all is not well in paradise. Catherine suspects that David is cheating on her, so she hires an escort named Chloe to meet David and see if he gives in to temptation — but events spin out of control when Chloe spills the details of her torrid encounters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNights of a Shemale: A Mad Man Trilogy 1/3 (2020)
Ah Fat, a lonely man arrives in a strange country, escaping from his past and seeking salvation. Living in a constant state of psychological turmoil, redemption was never quite in reach. Making friends with Miumiu, a coworker who is a gogo girl and a male gigolo Pumpkin turns Ah Fat's life around; he finds a strange, unique sort of happiness in friendship that had evaded him for a long time. Then comes a turn of events that changes everything; Ah Fat will have to choose between saving his friends by killing the evil shop owner, and standing idly by. This is the final straw; Ah Fat is pushed to the brink, all hell breaks loose...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I'll Follow You Down (2013)
After the disappearance of a young scientist on a business trip, his son and wife struggle to cope, only to make a bizarre discovery years later – one that may bring him home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMartyrs (2008)
A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
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 Ticket to Heaven?
The closest matches to Ticket to Heaven are What Maisie Knew (2013), Elephant Song (2015) and Home (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ticket to Heaven?
Start with What Maisie Knew (2013), the closest match to Ticket to Heaven.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ticket to Heaven?
Martyrs (2008), rated 7.3/10 by 3,203 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ticket to Heaven?
Dirty Boy (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ticket to Heaven?
Yes: What Maisie Knew (2013), Elephant Song (2015) and Home (2021).
How are movies similar to Ticket to Heaven chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ticket to Heaven, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.