Movies like Narcotics: Pit of Despair (1967)
The best movies like Narcotics: Pit of Despair (1967) are Kid Cannabis (2014), The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Out of the Blue (1981). If Narcotics: Pit of Despair hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedForrest Gump (1994)8.5/10 from 30,874 votes
- NewestPLASTIC CHAIRS (2026)Released 2026
Kid Cannabis (2014)
An eighteen year old high school drop out and his twenty-seven year old friend start trafficking marijuana across the border of Canada in order to make money and their lives are changed forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Basketball Diaries (1995)
A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOut of the Blue (1981)
A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRequiem for a Dream (2000)
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRiver's Edge (1986)
A group of high-school friends must come to terms with the fact that one of them, Samson, killed another, Jamie. Faced with the brutality of death, each must decide whether to turn their friend in to the police, or to help him escape the consequences of his dreadful deed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLight Sleeper (1992)
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Principal (1987)
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThings We Lost in the Fire (2007)
A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLess Than Zero (1987)
A college freshman returns to Los Angeles for Christmas at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParked (2010)
Fred Daly returns to Ireland with nowhere to live but his car. Then dope-smoking 21-year-old Cathal parks beside him, and brightens up his lonely world. Encouraged by Cathal, Fred meets attractive music teacher Jules. Growing closer, these three outsiders are set on a course that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEasy Rider (1969)
Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJet Boy (2001)
A coming-of-age story of a reluctant 13-year-old hustler named Nathan who will do whatever it takes to feel loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeaven Knows What (2015)
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlow (2001)
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
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 thisThe Baker (2023)
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLean On Me (1989)
When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks doors and demands effort and results from students, staff and parents. Autocratic to a fault, this real-life educator put it all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdulthood (2008)
After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree on a Match (1932)
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHimeyuri (2012)
The 30-minute film centers around a group of high school students who became nurses called Himeyuri and served during the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. The Himeyuri Alumnae Incorporated Foundation, which runs the Himeyuri Peace Museum in Okinawa, produced the film with the aim to convey the experiences of those high school students, many of whom lost their lives during the battle, to children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Judgment Night (1993)
Four young friends, while taking a shortcut en route to a local boxing match, witness a brutal murder which leaves them running for their lives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForrest Gump (1994)
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTaxi Driver (1976)
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDonnie Darko (2001)
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAddiction (2019)
Estranged from his daughter and disowned by his father, Mike turns to drugs to escape the crushing numbness of his thoughts, while his brother struggles to piece their fractured family back together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
If We Were a Season (2017)
Born on the same day and raised side by side, high school students Yoon Hae Rim and Uhm Ki Seok are close friends. They never say it, but they are precious to each other. One day, a transfer student from Seoul comes. Oh Dong Kyung is bold and not afraid to say what he is feeling, unlike Hae Rim and Ki Seok. Is Dong Keung enough to shake up their friendship?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yongsoon (2017)
Yong-soon is an 18-year-old high school student. She falls in love with her gym teacher, but she thinks her teacher might have a girlfriend. Yong-Soon and her friends try to find out whether he does have a girlfriend, but they can't find any clues. Making things worse, her father brings a new stepmother from Mongolia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
American Beauty (1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPLASTIC CHAIRS (2026)
Plastic Chairs follows Dylan, a recovering addict forced back into a support meeting by his sister after a near-fatal overdose. There, he meets Tom — a man further along the same path, who recognises his own past in Dylan and quietly offers understanding rather than judgment. As stories are shared and silences linger, the film observes the difficult, often invisible act of choosing to stay. Plastic Chairs is an intimate short film about relapse, accountability, and the courage it takes to show up for yourself when it feels impossible. Chloe Webb makes her directorial debut.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Narcotics: Pit of Despair?
The closest matches to Narcotics: Pit of Despair are Kid Cannabis (2014), The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Out of the Blue (1981). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Narcotics: Pit of Despair?
Start with Kid Cannabis (2014), the closest match to Narcotics: Pit of Despair.
What is the highest-rated movie like Narcotics: Pit of Despair?
Forrest Gump (1994), rated 8.5/10 by 30,874 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Narcotics: Pit of Despair?
PLASTIC CHAIRS (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Narcotics: Pit of Despair?
Yes: Kid Cannabis (2014), The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Out of the Blue (1981).
How are movies similar to Narcotics: Pit of Despair chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Narcotics: Pit of Despair, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.