Movies like The River Between Us (2021)
The best movies like The River Between Us (2021) are Burden of Dreams (1982), Touching the Void (2003) and Apocalypto (2006). If The River Between Us hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKoyaanisqatsi (1983)7.9/10 from 814 votes
- NewestPitfall (2025)Released 2025
Burden of Dreams (1982)
The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTouching the Void (2003)
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisApocalypto (2006)
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDarc (2018)
To bring down a global human trafficking ring, an Interpol agent recruits the help of a brutal criminal with inside knowledge of the yakuza.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Neighbor Adolf (2022)
South America, 1960. A lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim, but when the evidence still appears to be inconclusive, Polsky is forced to engage in a relationship with the enemy in order to obtain irrefutable proof.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle (2017)
In 1981, an enthusiastic young adventurer follows his dreams into the Bolivian Amazon jungle with two friends and a guide with a mysterious past. Their journey quickly turns into a terrifying ordeal as the darkest elements of human nature and the deadliest threats of the wilderness lead to an all-out fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEradication (2022)
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitfall (2025)
After a young man is separated from his friends in the woods, he falls into a ten-foot deep pit of spikes, impaling him through his leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that his fall was not an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoylent Green (1973)
In the year 2022, overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Survivors (2014)
In the near future, society collapses and water becomes scarce. When a greedy water baron starts violently clearing out survivors, Kendal, a 17-year-old teenager, fights the baron's henchman to keep a well open.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTurbo Kid (2015)
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an orphaned teen must battle a ruthless warlord to save the girl of his dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeized (2020)
Hiding out with his son Taylor on the Mexican coast, Nero hopes to put his violent Special Forces career behind him. But after Nero’s home is attacked and Taylor is abducted, the mysterious Mzamo orders Nero to slaughter the members of three rival crime syndicates. If he fails, Taylor will die. Now, with bullets flying and bodies dropping as Nero completes his mission, he races to find Mzamo’s hideout and seek revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shift (2023)
Following a tense encounter with a mysterious stranger with otherworldly powers, a man finds himself banished to a parallel, tyrannical Earth, where he fights to get back to the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prowler (1981)
Thirty years after a murder on the night of Avalon Bay's graduation dance, the sleepy town's teens meet grisly ends at the hands of a prowler once thought to be a jilted soldier home from war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisRiver of Blood (2024)
Four kayakers take the wrong river into a jungle inhabited by a tribe of merciless cannibals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExplorer: The Last Tepui (2022)
This documentary starring climber Alex Honnold and famous biologist Bruce Means document their expedition to the South American sky islands in search of new species and discoveries. Follows elite climber Alex Honnold and a world-class climbing team led by National Geographic Explorer and climber Mark Synnott on a grueling mission deep in the Amazon jungle as they attempt a first-ascent climb up a 1000 foot sheer cliff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Roy and Gilbert's fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again. The two friends plot an escape, but the hitchhiker's peculiar physical affliction, an eye that never closes even when he sleeps, makes it impossible for them to tell when they can make a break for it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alpinist (2021)
The life of Canadian mountain climber Marc-André Leclerc as he pushes the boundaries of climbing while on an expedition to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The River Between Us?
The closest matches to The River Between Us are Burden of Dreams (1982), Touching the Void (2003) and Apocalypto (2006). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The River Between Us?
Start with Burden of Dreams (1982), the closest match to The River Between Us.
What is the highest-rated movie like The River Between Us?
Koyaanisqatsi (1983), rated 7.9/10 by 814 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The River Between Us?
Pitfall (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The River Between Us?
Yes: Burden of Dreams (1982), Touching the Void (2003) and Apocalypto (2006).
How are movies similar to The River Between Us chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The River Between Us, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.