Movies like Brianna: A Mother's Story (2025)
The best movies like Brianna: A Mother's Story (2025) are The Crash (2026), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Beware the Slenderman (2016). If Brianna: A Mother's Story hooked you with its documentary and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)8.1/10 from 621 votes
- NewestMaternal Instinct (2026)Released 2026
The Crash (2026)
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaternal Instinct (2026)
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeware the Slenderman (2016)
In this horrifyingly modern fairytale lurks an online Boogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. The entrance to the internet quickly leads to its darkest basement. How responsible are our children for what they find there?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhy Did You Kill Me? (2021)
The line between justice and revenge blurs when a devastated family uses social media to track down the people who killed 24-year-old Crystal Theobald.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisOut of Thin Air (2017)
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026)
An intimate, arresting portrait of cyclist Moriah Wilson—raised by a fierce, loving family—whose singular drive becomes her superpower, carrying her to athletic brilliance and, devastatingly, toward a life cut short by murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Jennifer Did (2024)
When Jennifer Pan calls 911 to report that her parents have been shot, she becomes the primary focus of a captivating criminal case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLong Shot (2017)
When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around unexpected raw footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMommy Dead and Dearest (2017)
Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisInto the Deep: The Submarine Murder Case (2020)
When journalist Kim Wall disappears after boarding inventor Peter Madsen's submarine, his changing story about her fate masks a terrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Accountant of Auschwitz (2018)
Oskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOklahoma City Bombing: American Terror (2025)
This gripping documentary revisits the shocking 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Menendez Brothers (2024)
Serving life in prison for murdering their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez speak out in this documentary explaining the shocking crime and ensuing trials.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisI Am Divine (2014)
Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisUntil the Light Takes Us (2008)
Chronicles the history, ideology and aesthetic of Norwegian black metal, a musical subculture infamous as much for a series of murders and church arsons as it is for its unique musical and visual aesthetics. This is the first film to truly shed light on a movement that has heretofore been shrouded by rumor and obscured by inaccurate and shallow depictions. Featuring exclusive interviews with the musicians themselves, Until the Light Takes Us explores every aspect of the controversial movement that has captured the attention of the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe John Perkins Tapes (2024)
This is the recovered footage of serial killer Johns Perkins, who filmed his victims, creating what he believed to be artistic videos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Telling Schoolgirl Tales: The Making of 'The Getting of Wisdom’ (2006)
First there was ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’, then ‘My Brilliant Career’, and now best of all ‘The Getting of Wisdom’. It is incomparably moving and powerful.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Jewels of Brandenburg (1947)
A former secret agent is sent to retrieve a priceless collection of stolen jewels from a Lisbon nightclub owner who worked both sides during World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Sunset (1988)
Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp team up to solve a murder at the Academy Awards in 1929 Hollywood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Camel (1931)
Movie star Shelah Fane is seeing wealthy Alan Jaynes while filming in Honolulu, Hawaii, but won't marry him without consulting famed psychic Tarneverro first. Enter inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police, investigating the unsolved murder, three years earlier, of a Hollywood actor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder Over New York (1940)
When Charlie's old friend from Scotland Yard is murdered when they attend a police convention in New York, Chan picks up the case he was working on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
The King of Snipers (2023)
The genius sniper Anna is forced to accept an assassination assignment. In the process, she gradually finds her true calling to fight for kindness and to defend a greater love. Tai, a special agent for the UN army, stands up for justice when drug lords try to harm innocent citizens. The two join forces to block the bill to legalize drug cultivation and distribution in Libiwala. They fight to the death with the drug lord Luo Jie and eventually foil his plans, protecting the people from the drugs. This is the exciting story of them working together to save a nation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Bad Boys for Life (2020)
Marcus and Mike are forced to confront new threats, career changes, and midlife crises as they join the newly created elite team AMMO of the Miami police department to take down the ruthless Armando Armas, the vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReversal of Fortune (1990)
Wealthy Sunny von Bülow lies brain-dead, husband Claus guilty of attempted murder; but he says he's innocent and hires Alan Dershowitz for his appeal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl Like You (2021)
Over six years, a couple battles to stay together as one of them transitions genders; confronting the effects of new body parts, changing gender roles as well as navigating their own evolving sexual identities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Brianna: A Mother's Story?
The closest matches to Brianna: A Mother's Story are The Crash (2026), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Beware the Slenderman (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Brianna: A Mother's Story?
Start with The Crash (2026), the closest match to Brianna: A Mother's Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like Brianna: A Mother's Story?
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008), rated 8.1/10 by 621 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Brianna: A Mother's Story?
Maternal Instinct (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Brianna: A Mother's Story?
Yes: The Crash (2026), Maternal Instinct (2026) and Beware the Slenderman (2016).
How are movies similar to Brianna: A Mother's Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Brianna: A Mother's Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.