Movies like Dark Days (2000)
The best movies like Dark Days (2000) are Decasia: The State of Decay (2002), Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000) and The Cruise (1998). If Dark Days hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCrumb (1995)7.6/10 from 300 votes
- NewestBruce Lee and the Outlaw (2018)Released 2018
Decasia: The State of Decay (2002)
A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000)
The film follows a simple structure, and shows the drug-related degradation of five youths (Jake, Tracey, Jessica, Alice, Oreo) during the course of three years. The film depicts drug-related crimes and diseases: prostitution, male prostitution, AIDS, and lethal overdoses.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Cruise (1998)
Affectionate portrait of Timothy "Speed" Levitch, a tour guide for Manhattan's Gray Line double-decker buses.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Limelight (2011)
A film about Peter Gatien, the owner of legendary New York nightclubs like Limelight, The Tunnel and the Palladium. The film documents his rise and fall from the 1980s through the 1990s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Children Underground (2001)
Children Underground follows the story of five street children, aged eight to sixteen who live in a subway station in Bucharest, Romania. The street kids are encountered daily by commuting adults, who pass them by in the station as they starve, swindle, and steal, all while searching desperately for a fresh can of paint to get high with.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBully (2011)
This year, over 5 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience. The Bully Project is the first feature documentary film to show how we've all been affected by bullying, whether we've been victims, perpetrators or stood silent witness. The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. The Bully Project opens on the first day of school. For the more than 5 million kids who'll be bullied this year in the United States, it's a day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this12 O'Clock Boys (2013)
Pug, a wisecracking 13 year old living on a dangerous Westside block, has one goal in mind: to join The Twelve O'Clock Boys; the notorious urban dirt-bike gang of Baltimore. Converging from all parts of the inner city, they invade the streets and clash with police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public. When Pug's older brother dies suddenly, he looks to the pack for mentorship, spurred by their dangerous lifestyle. Pug's story is coupled with unprecedented, action-packed coverage of the riders in their element. The film presents the pivotal years of change in a boy's life growing up in one of the most dangerous and economically depressed cities in the US.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Streetwise (1984)
This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Metal Veins (2012)
Black Metal Veins unflinchingly documents the dark realities of despair and morbid self annihilation surrounding the lives of five heroin junkies. The addicts' intertwining stories of pain, loss, sadness, and abandonment lead the viewer down the agonizing and hideous path of horrifying psychological and spiritual destruction as the grim disease of heroin addiction infects and decays the bodies and minds of five young people.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Cameraperson (2016)
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBruce Lee and the Outlaw (2018)
Nicu, a homeless street kid, is adopted by the notorious 'Bruce Lee' and brought up in the subterranean tunnels of Bucharest. As he grows up, he begins to realise that this 'King of the Underworld' may not be the father that he needs. Filmed over five years by photographer Joost Vandebrug, the film is a real life Oliver Twist story about growing up, and finding a family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Workingman's Death (2005)
Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Crumb (1995)
This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTiticut Follies (1967)
Employing methods of direct cinema–observation, limited stylization, and non-intervention–this stark look into the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts shows its denizens, who were often kept in barren cells and infrequently bathed, forced to strip naked publicly, force feeding, and the indifference and bullying by many of the hospital's staff.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStripper (1985)
A strippers' convention and a major contest. The movie focuses on a few strippers, each with her own strong motive to win.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Welfare (1975)
The nature and complexity of the welfare system is explored in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of constituting problems: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their livelihood.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bridge (2006)
The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarts of Darkness (2008)
In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Enduring hardships from everyday life on the streets of Vancouver, this sub-culture depicts street life as much more than stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The films takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Children of Darkness (1983)
A significant number of American children and teenagers - from all social backgrounds - suffer from mental disorders, schizophrenia, autism and emotional problems, leading them to isolation from society while treating their issues in mental health facilities. But there's no end in sight for those young individuals when they face obstacles and mistreatment in inadequate places under the supervision of careless and inexperienced professionals. The documentary follows some of those public mental institutions and another private center dealing with troubled kids and reveals what's wrong with their procedures, and the irreparable harm they cause in those patients.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Boys of Baraka (2005)
Four 12-year-old black boys from one of the most violent ghettos in Baltimore, Maryland, are taken 10,000 miles away to an experimental boarding school in rural Kenya, to try to take advantage of the educational opportunities they can't get in their own country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Billy the Kid (2007)
"I'm not black, I'm not white, not foreign, just different in the mind. Different brains, that's all," explains 15-year-old Billy in Jennifer Venditti's provocative coming of age film. Following Billy as he bicycles through the quiet streets of small town Maine, we watch him traverse the frustrating gap between imagination and reality, grappling with isolation and first-time young love. By turns exhilarating and disturbing, we see the world from the intimate view of an expressive and seemingly fearless outsider.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Wolfpack (2015)
Locked away from society in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Angulo brothers learn about the outside world through the films that they watch. Nicknamed ‘The Wolfpack’, the brothers spend their childhood reenacting their favorite films using elaborate home-made props and costumes. Their world is shaken up when one of the brothers escapes and everything changes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw and Order (1969)
A survey of the wide range of work police are asked to perform: enforcing the law, maintaining order, and providing general social services. The depicted incidents illustrate how training, community expectations, socio-economic status of the subject, the threat of violence, and discretion affect police behavior.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Below Sea Level (2008)
During a five year period an Italian filmmaker documents the world of down-on-their-luck individuals who live in a Californian desert trying to get by one day at a time. None of them has more than a vehicle, a dog and some clothes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)
A documentary filmmaker befriends children living in Calcutta's red-light district and teaches them photography, offering them a chance to pursue a better future beyond their difficult circumstances.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016)
Filmmaker Martin Bell chronicles the life of Erin Blackwell, mother of 10 children, from the time she was a 14-year-old prostitute through her battle with drug addiction, poverty and parenting.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Dog (2013)
In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. The story was the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog captures John, who shares his story for the first time in his own unique, offensive, hilarious and heartbreaking way. We gain a historic perspective on New York's gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Overnighters (2014)
Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBomb It (2007)
Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on five continents, the documentary tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
All These Sleepless Nights (2016)
What does it mean to be awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep? Kris and Michal push their experiences of life and love to a breaking point as they restlessly roam the city streets in search of answers, adrift in the euphoria and uncertainty of youth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dark Days?
The closest matches to Dark Days are Decasia: The State of Decay (2002), Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000) and The Cruise (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dark Days?
People who watched Dark Days most often go on to Decasia: The State of Decay (2002), Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000) and The Cruise (1998).
What is the highest-rated movie like Dark Days?
Crumb (1995), rated 7.6/10 by 300 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dark Days?
Bruce Lee and the Outlaw (2018) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dark Days?
Yes: Decasia: The State of Decay (2002), Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (2000) and The Cruise (1998).
How are movies similar to Dark Days chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dark Days, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.