Movies like Surface Tension (1968)
The best movies like Surface Tension (1968) are In the Soup (1992), Avatar: Creating the World of Pandora (2010) and Watching the Detectives (2007). If Surface Tension hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Congress (2013)6.4/10 from 609 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
In the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAvatar: Creating the World of Pandora (2010)
The Making-of James Cameron's Avatar. It shows interesting parts of the work on the set.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatching the Detectives (2007)
Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCosmic Ray (1962)
Experimental short uses Ray Charles' “What'd I Say” as accompaniment to constantly shifting collage of female nude, cartoons, and newsreels of atomic bomb explosions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndustrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted (1990)
After her boyfriend ends their relationship, the dreamself of a heartbroken woman floats through the air over an industrial wasteland singing ballads of love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLockdown (2000)
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nice Girl Like You (2020)
Lucy Neal is thrown for a loop when she is accused of being too inhibited by her ex-boyfriend. In an effort to prove him wrong, Lucy creates a rather wild to-do list that sends her on a whirlwind and surprising journey of self-discovery, friendship, and new love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSeriously Single (2020)
While her free-living bestie urges her to embrace singlehood, a commitment-craving social media expert can't stop following the life of a former love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorder Hunters (2025)
After his police officer brother is killed by a drug dealer who flees to the protection of his cartel-connected uncle in Mexico, an American man with a diverse law enforcement/military background goes south of the border to get revenge
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
86-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his 8 year-old grandson, Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mouse That Roared (1959)
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDog Star Man (1965)
Described as a "cosmological epic" and "creation myth", Dog Star Man illustrates the odyssey of a bearded woodsman climbing through a snow-covered mountain with his dog to chop down a tree. While doing so, he witnesses various mystical visions with various recurring imagery such as a woman, child, nature, and the cosmos while making his ascent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou're a Big Boy Now (1966)
Naive library clerk Bernard Chanticleer moves out of his parents’ home and into a chaotic city full of eccentric landlords, meddling parents, and romantic missteps. Infatuated with a glamorous but manipulative go-go dancer, he learns through heartbreak—and the kindness of a steadfast admirer—what growing up really means.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDalíland (2022)
In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps aging genius Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this2bhk (2024)
2 flatmates unfold the layers of their relationship on a random Sunday afternoon after they encounter a power cut.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Jo (2025)
Jo; or The Act of Riding a Bike is Zefier's third film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Oro Parece (2012)
A joke so poorly told and unfunny that the characters within the joke are forced to reveal their spirit through the process of their own destruction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Awe Shocks (2011)
An instructional film detailing the manufacturing process of a whole new consumer product, as well as its many uses, applications, and social benefits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Dancing Voice of Youth (2022)
A girl with a mysterious background arrives at the city, whose existence gradually becomes as light as the floating air. In the dark night of a chaotic age, must we live like spectres?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Fish Eye (2025)
The story of a lonely man who accidentally discovers an old camera and uses it to capture pictures of his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Above the Lake (1995)
Avant-garde homage to pre-revolution Russian silent movies, and to the poet Aleksandr Blok.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Victim (TBA)
After almost being hit by a car, a young man's provocative gesture quickly escalates into a life or death chase into the woods. A figure appears who sends the night spiraling into nightmarish insanity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Mangúe-Bangúe (1971)
The quasi-fictional story of transgender sex workers living in Rio de Janeiro's swampy red light district, who are joined by a group of hippies and a runaway stockbroker, "Mangue-Bangue" is the paradigmatic expression of the post-1968 spirit of desbunde, the Brazilian slang catchword for "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll".
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Surface Tension and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Surface Tension?
The closest matches to Surface Tension are In the Soup (1992), Avatar: Creating the World of Pandora (2010) and Watching the Detectives (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Surface Tension?
Start with In the Soup (1992), the closest match to Surface Tension.
What is the highest-rated movie like Surface Tension?
The Congress (2013), rated 6.4/10 by 609 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Surface Tension?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Surface Tension?
Yes: In the Soup (1992), Avatar: Creating the World of Pandora (2010) and Watching the Detectives (2007).
How are movies similar to Surface Tension chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Surface Tension, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.