Movies like The Encounter (2024)
The best movies like The Encounter (2024) are Mammal (2016), John and Mary (1969) and Matt and Mara (2024). If The Encounter hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Encounter
Quick picks
- Highest ratedChinatown (1974)7.9/10 from 4,484 votes
- NewestJune and John (2025)Released 2025
Mammal (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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn and Mary (1969)
John and Mary meet in a singles bar, sleep together, and spend the next day getting to know each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMatt and Mara (2024)
Mara is a young creative writing professor struggling with problems in her marriage to an experimental musician. One day, she runs into Matt, a charismatic, free-spirited author from her past, when he wanders onto her university campus. Bonded by their shared interests, the two gradually become closer. When Mara’s husband unexpectedly cancels plans to drive her to an out-of-town conference, Matt accompanies Mara on the trip instead. Along the way, the tension surrounding their undefined relationship slowly grows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Spy The Eternal City (2024)
JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisChoose Me (1984)
Several lost-soul night-owls, including a nightclub owner, a talk radio relationship counselor, and an itinerant stranger have encounters that expose their contradictions and anxieties about love and acceptance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Clique (2008)
A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisOnce Around (1991)
A struggling woman finds unexpected love with a charismatic older salesman at a real estate seminar. Their passionate relationship clashes with the values of her family, particularly her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJarhead 3: The Siege (2016)
Corporal Evan Albright joined the elite Marine Corps Security Guards to save the world and see some action-not necessarily in that order. But his first assignment, protecting a U. S. Embassy in a seemingly safe Middle Eastern capitol, relegates his unit to wrangling "gate groupies" protesting outside the compound and honing their marksmanship by playing video games. So Albright and his team are caught off guard when well-armed and well-trained militants launch a surprise attack aimed at killing an informant in the embassy. Heavily out-gunned, they will have to muster all the courage and fire power they can as their once routine assignment spirals into all-out war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Crimes (2002)
A female attorney learns that her husband is really a marine officer who has been AWOL for fifteen years and accused of murdering fifteen civilians in El Salvador. Believing her husband when he tells her that he's being framed as part of a U.S. Military cover-up, the attorney defends him in a military court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJune and John (2025)
John leads an ordinary life with a monotonous routine. One day John runs into a woman on the subway who is as beautiful as she is mysterious named June. His encounter with her finally leads him to have a goal in his bumptious life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChinatown (1974)
Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Marine 4: Moving Target (2015)
WWE Superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin returns as Jake Carter where he is assigned to protect a whistleblower who wishes to expose a corrupt military defense contractor. However, the military hires a heavily armed team of mercenaries to kill her and it's up to Carter to stop them at any cost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tender Bar (2021)
JR is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — JR begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams, with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Few Good Men (1992)
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStarlet (2012)
An unlikely friendship forms between 21 year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Encounter?
The closest matches to The Encounter are Mammal (2016), John and Mary (1969) and Matt and Mara (2024). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Encounter?
Start with Mammal (2016), the closest match to The Encounter.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Encounter?
Chinatown (1974), rated 7.9/10 by 4,484 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Encounter?
June and John (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Encounter?
Yes: Mammal (2016), John and Mary (1969) and Matt and Mara (2024).
How are movies similar to The Encounter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Encounter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.