Movies like Howl (2008)
The best movies like Howl (2008) are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021) and A Toxic Love Story (2026). If Howl hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJustin Bieber's Believe (2013)6.9/10 from 213 votes
- NewestOasis: Don't Look Back in Anger (2026)Released 2026
Come 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 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 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 thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Repair Shop (2024)
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story (2019)
A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStruggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)
Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLooking for Richard (1996)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnknown Number: The High School Catfish (2025)
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOasis: Don't Look Back in Anger (2026)
Experience the meteoric rise of Oasis through rare footage and untold stories as the band reunites for Oasis Live '25, chronicling their journey from Manchester streets to global rock stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisOLIVIA RODRIGO: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film) (2022)
Grammy® winner singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo takes a familiar road trip from Salt Lake City, where she began writing her debut album “SOUR,” to Los Angeles. Along the way, Rodrigo recounts the memories of writing and creating her record-breaking debut album and shares her feelings as a young woman navigating a specific time in her life. Through new live arrangements of her songs, intimate interviews and never-before-seen footage from the making of the album, audiences will follow Olivia along on a cinematic journey exploring the story of “SOUR.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006)
Follow the evolution of the 'Halloween' movies over the past twenty-five years. It examines why the films are so popular and revisits many of the original locations used in the films - seeing the effects on the local community. For the first time, cast, crew, critics and fans join together in the ultimate 'Halloween' retrospective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGilbert (2017)
The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.
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 thisHarmontown (2014)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye (2022)
Join the likes of Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Florence Pugh, and Vincent D’Onofrio as they reveal how Marvel Studios’ “Hawkeye” was conceived and created. Witness firsthand what it took to pull off the show’s pulse-pounding action set pieces, and discover how iconic characters from the pages of Marvel Comics such as Kate Bishop were adapted and brought to life for the six-episode series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad (2013)
A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSomething from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012)
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature length performance documentary about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wheel of this unstoppable beast is the film's director and interviewer Ice-T. Taking us on a deeply personal journey Ice-T uncovers how this music of the street has grown to dominate the world. Along the way Ice-T meets a whole spectrum of Hip-Hop talent, from founders, to new faces, to the global superstars like Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He exposes the roots and history of Rap and then, through meeting many of its most famous protagonists, studies the living mechanism of the music to reveal 'The Art Of Rap'. This extraordinary film features unique performances from the entire cast, without resorting to archive material, to build a fresh and surprising take on the phenomenon that is Rap.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (1994)
Visionary, radical, spiritual seeker, renowned poet, founding member of a major literary movement, champion of human rights, Buddhist, political activist and teacher. Extensive archival footage, interviews, and home movies cover Allen Ginsberg's life, activism, and influence on American culture through the Beat era, the 1960s, and beyond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Chicago 10 (2008)
Archival footage, animation and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
William S. Burroughs Birthday Bash (2014)
To celebrate the 100th birthday of America's most audacious writer, William S. Burroughs, Chicago Humanities Festival brings together a motley crew of poets, writers, and musicians. William Seward Burroughs (1914 - 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He was a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author whose influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs's needs took him across the United States, down into Mexico, to Europe and beyond. On his travels, he meets up with various members of the underground drug and "outcast" cultures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sing! Fight! Sing! Fight! From LeRoi to Amiri (2024)
The story of how Everett Leroy Jones became Amiri Baraka, from his childhood to the mid '60s, is told through interviews recorded in the late '90s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
A Line a Day Must Be Enough! (2008)
In a film bursting with lyrics, pictures, and music the director shows us a way into the peculiar universe of Tóroddur, and the otherwise not very talkative artist gives us a glimpse of his thoughts on art, God, life and death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Living on the Edge: The Poetic Works of Gérald Leblanc (2005)
A child of the Beat Generation, Gérald Leblanc conjoined urban-ness and American-ness, wandering and belonging, far beyond the boundaries of taboo. In so doing, he helped propel Acadia into the modern era.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Odd Børretzen: Mer enn helt all right (2001)
A portrait of Norwegian poet Odd Børretzen in his own words, featuring musical highlights from Børretzen's work with musicians Alf Cranner and Lars Martin Myhre.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival (2016)
In Fabrizio Terranova’s film, Donna Haraway – an original thinker and activist, one of the founders of cyberfeminism and the author of A Cyborg Manifesto, which proposed a number of innovative theories about the existence of scientific knowledge – calls for the abandonment of the idea of human exceptionalism and for a conception of the world as complex web of interconnections between people, animals and machines. Jellyfish can be seen flying around her home while she discusses the stories that are necessary for Earth’s preservation and reads her fantastic tale of the art of survival on a broken planet, and of fusion and care between the species.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
In the Light of the Sands (2026)
As a bird warden, Kilian spends seven months alone on a barrier island in the Heligoland Bight. His tasks are simple: monitoring wildlife and collecting flotsam. The rich birdlife, extreme weather and ever-changing landscape are conveyed both through imagery and a soundtrack of wind, rain and birdsong. Contact with others is rare, but the intrusion of the outside world is all the more striking. The film’s melancholic atmosphere echoes both solitude and a sense that this fragile sanctuary is deeply at risk. Beyond its precise observations, an essay on climate change and militarisation emerges.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Doberdob - A Novel by a Rebel (2015)
Prežihov Voranc (Lovro Kuhar) was one of the first communists in Slovenia, a Comintern agent, a traveler who was in contact with some of the most prominent politicians of the time. At the same time, he always maintained personal modesty and faith in the common man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Howl?
The closest matches to Howl are Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes (2021) and A Toxic Love Story (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Howl?
Start with Come See Me in the Good Light (2025), the closest match to Howl.
What is the highest-rated movie like Howl?
Justin Bieber's Believe (2013), rated 6.9/10 by 213 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Howl?
Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Howl chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Howl, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.