Movies like Home by The River (2026)
The best movies like Home by The River (2026) are Burning Sands (2017), Buddha Mountain (2011) and Black Dog (2024). If Home by The River hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBattle Royale (2000)7.3/10 from 4,024 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseBuddha Mountain (2011)Also in Chinese
Burning Sands (2017)
Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBuddha Mountain (2011)
In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Dog (2024)
Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisA Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bramble House Christmas (2017)
While settling his father’s estate, Finn Conrad becomes suspicious as to why the man left a nurse $100,000. His dad knew her for less than two months before he died. Just before Christmas, Finn wants what to reclaim what he considers his family’s money, going undercover to investigate the bed and breakfast the nurse has recently taken over. When Finn meets Willa, he discovers she’s not a conniving gold digger at all, but a woman in need who put the money to good use. When she discovers his true identity, will it keep Willa from ever trusting him again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Christmas (2016)
Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020)
In the Chinese town of Fuyang, four brothers go about their day-to-day lives, their destinies shaped by love and challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky (2016)
A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDisobedience (1958)
A university student wants to avenge his sister from a businessman who abandoned her after leaving her pregnant. To do this, he decides to seduce the man’s sister to make him suffer the same fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Small Steps (2025)
A short film by Tea & reflection addressing mental health issues in students.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Battle Royale (2000)
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSupervised Exam (TBA)
A class of unprepared students will do anything to avoid getting a bad grade on an unexpected exam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Off Track (2020)
Two students plot an escape from the campus besieged by police of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in during the student-led anti-extradition movement in 2019.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Splitting (2023)
That night, Jesper and Rein wanted to go to Tessa's party. They have just played sports and are exhausted, Rein has been hit especially hard (he thinks), and therefore has an incredible appetite for Peking Duck from his favourite Chinese restaurant. Jesper doubts as he is a bit short on cash (as he has been for decades). This exposes a skewed dynamic in their friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Les contre-courants (2025)
Nathan, in his twenties and still studying, no longer feels like he belongs in his own life. To reflect on his uncertain future, he decides to take a solo vacation to Corsica. Under the scorching summer sun, the introverted young man meets Léana and Félix, with whom he shares a shabby room in a youth hostel. The duo welcomes him warmly, as if they were old friends, which unsettles Nathan. Initially distant, he gradually grows fond of the pair, who are the complete opposite of him. Little by little, an unexpected bond forms between them—one that deeply shakes him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The dead with the dead, the living with the living (2024)
Cipi's daughter needs money for an operation, and his friends come up with a quick and risky solution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sing a Song of Sex (1967)
Four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Home by The River and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Home by The River?
The closest matches to Home by The River are Burning Sands (2017), Buddha Mountain (2011) and Black Dog (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Home by The River?
Start with Burning Sands (2017), the closest match to Home by The River.
What is the highest-rated movie like Home by The River?
Battle Royale (2000), rated 7.3/10 by 4,024 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Home by The River?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Home by The River?
Yes: Buddha Mountain (2011), Black Dog (2024) and Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020).
How are movies similar to Home by The River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Home by The River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.