Movies like Kathleen Is Here (2024)
The best movies like Kathleen Is Here (2024) are Gimme Shelter (2013), Mommie Dearest (1981) and Bird (2024). If Kathleen Is Here hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrimal Fear (1996)7.7/10 from 4,269 votes
- NewestThe Chronology of Water (2025)Released 2025
Gimme Shelter (2013)
After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMommie Dearest (1981)
Renowned film star Joan Crawford's abuse towards Christina, her adopted daughter, intensifies as her professional and romantic relationships turn sour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBird (2024)
12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Chronology of Water (2025)
Plagued by an abusive childhood, a woman finds escape in competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before ultimately finding her voice through writing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManic (2002)
In lieu of prison, Lyle, a violent adolescent, is placed in a juvenile mental institution where he encounters a group of equally troubled teens. This motley crew—abused, sexually confused, violent, and yet hanging on by their grit and anger—becomes Lyle's last lifeline as he fights to find meaning in a world that seems to defy understanding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tale (2018)
An investigation into one woman’s memory as she‘s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay December (2023)
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boys of St. Vincent (1994)
The true story of boys being sexually abused at their orphanage, run by a religious community in Newfoundland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Poker House (2008)
Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLike Dandelion Dust (2009)
Rip Porter is sentenced to seven years in prison for beating his wife, Wendy. When he is released, he discovers that Wendy gave up their child, and the privileged Campbell family adopted him. The two families are soon in a legal battle for the child they both love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoney Boy (2019)
The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThirteen (2003)
When 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, her life is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs, and money. But it isn’t long before Tracy’s new lifestyle begins to take a heavy toll on her and her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Crush (1993)
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHellion (2014)
When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ride (2018)
The story of John Buultjens, who has dedicated his life to the sport of BMX.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonsoon Wedding (2001)
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPopular Music (2004)
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStray (TBA)
Dylan, a fatherless 17-year-old desperate for belonging, is groomed by a violent local kingpin offering protection, power, and a warped sense of family, pulling him into a brutal struggle between loyalty, survival, and the life he may never escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Paranoid Park (2007)
A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimal Fear (1996)
Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1991)
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Piano Teacher (2001)
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Address (2025)
A group of individuals who unexpectedly fall into homelessness. They bond together as an unconventional family, struggling to survive on the streets while warding off a harassing gang, an unforgiving community, and local authorities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Small Change (1976)
The lives of a motherless young man, who's just starting to find interest in women, and his physically abused, poverty stricken friend, are mixed with more or less innocent childhood experiences and challenges most their age experience.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bible on Trial (TBA)
Followers of the Bible and its teachings are challenged in a liberal courtroom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kathleen Is Here?
The closest matches to Kathleen Is Here are Gimme Shelter (2013), Mommie Dearest (1981) and Bird (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kathleen Is Here?
Start with Gimme Shelter (2013), the closest match to Kathleen Is Here.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kathleen Is Here?
Primal Fear (1996), rated 7.7/10 by 4,269 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kathleen Is Here?
The Chronology of Water (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Kathleen Is Here?
Yes: Gimme Shelter (2013), Mommie Dearest (1981) and Bird (2024).
How are movies similar to Kathleen Is Here chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kathleen Is Here, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.