Movies like The Cold Lands (2013)
The best movies like The Cold Lands (2013) are Scarecrow (1973), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Black Butterfly (2017). If The Cold Lands hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)7.5/10 from 603 votes
- NewestOur Hero, Balthazar (2026)Released 2026
Scarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Butterfly (2017)
Paul is a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who picks up a drifter and offers him a place to stay. However, when the deranged stranger takes Paul hostage and forces him to write, their unhinged relationship brings buried secrets to light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou Can Count on Me (2000)
A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTuesday (2024)
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMothers' Instinct (2024)
Housewives Alice and Celine are best friends and neighbours who seem to have it all. However, when a tragic accident shatters the harmony of their lives, guilt, suspicion and paranoia begin to unravel their sisterly bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)
Follows a young boy who runs away from home in the search of his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHorns (2013)
In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Season (2025)
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisL.I.E. (2001)
With his mother dead and his father busy at work, Howie feels adrift in his New York suburb. He and his friend Gary spend their time burglarizing their neighbors' homes — until they make the mistake of robbing the house of Big John, a macho former Marine who is also an unrepentant pedophile. He propositions Howie, who declines, but the two eventually develop an unlikely and dangerous friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHesher (2010)
A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
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 thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thing with Feathers (2025)
Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)
A New York couple's relationship is tested after the loss of their child. This film is the wide-released combination of the original two :him and :her volumes that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWanted: Perfect Mother (1970)
It tells of a couple, Dante and Elsa who hires a new governess, Carla to care for their four children. The governess quickly establishes rapport with the children and the husband creating rumors of an affair. Before things could go wrong, Carla decides to leave. Elsa dies in a car accident and the widower decides to marry again and getting a new mother to his children. Carla is the popular one among several choices, but the head servant poisons the minds of the children against her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Wild Seed (1965)
A 17-year-old girl runs away from her east coast home, going west to Los Angeles to meet her biological father. She has learned from letters her mother kept that he was tragically separated from her before the girl's birth. On the road, she is protected and befriended by an independent-minded young drifter who helps her on her journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Picture of You (2014)
Kyle and Jen, estranged siblings, travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they make a discovery that turns their world upside-down. A Picture of You is a serious movie about life that gets sideswiped in the supermarket parking lot by a funny movie about death. It’s a story about family, loss, secrets, letting go, and starting anew.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Marriage Fool (1998)
Recently widowed after 41 years of marriage, Frank Walsh meets the outgoing Florence, sparking joy back into his life again. However, there is clear disapproval of her from his grown children, especially his eldest son Robert. As Frank and Florence grow closer in their relationship, Robert begins to change his perspective on their commitment and devotion to one another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Postman (1997)
In 2013, there are no highways, no I-ways, no dreams of a better tomorrow, only scattered survivors across what was once the United States. Into this apocalyptic wasteland comes an enigmatic drifter with a mule, a knack for Shakespeare, and something yet undiscovered: the power to inspire hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBirdsong (2022)
Following the death of their mother, one sister tries to convince the other that she isn't really gone.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bunraku (2010)
In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Daddy (2021)
Kazuo Mido is a pastor at a small church. He lost his wife 8 years ago and raises his only daughter, a junior high school student, singlehandedly. When she is diagnosed with an illness, he undergoes a drastic change.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
During a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. The doctor's assistant, wife of the local foreman, tends to him in prison. That night, the town is attacked and they both disappear—only the arrow of a cannibal tribe is found. Hunt and a few of his men go in search of the prisoner and the foreman's wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Hero, Balthazar (2026)
Eager to impress his activist crush, a wealthy New York teenager follows an online connection to Texas, where he's convinced he can stop an act of extreme violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cold Lands?
The closest matches to The Cold Lands are Scarecrow (1973), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Black Butterfly (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cold Lands?
Start with Scarecrow (1973), the closest match to The Cold Lands.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cold Lands?
The Secret Life of Bees (2008), rated 7.5/10 by 603 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cold Lands?
Our Hero, Balthazar (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Cold Lands?
Yes: Scarecrow (1973), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Black Butterfly (2017).
How are movies similar to The Cold Lands chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cold Lands, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.