Movies like A Step From the Shadows (1970)
The best movies like A Step From the Shadows (1970) are Bad Moms (2016), Smashed (2012) and The Way Back (2020). If A Step From the Shadows hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
A Step From the Shadows
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)7.9/10 from 1,217 votes
- NewestKnot (2025)Released 2025
Bad Moms (2016)
When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and comedic self-indulgence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmashed (2012)
Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter… and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something’s got to give. But change isn’t exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Way Back (2020)
A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction, attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Florida Project (2017)
The story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
A headstrong young woman returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDays of Wine and Roses (1963)
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClean and Sober (1988)
Hotshot real estate salesman Daryl has a bad cocaine habit. After embezzling his company's money, he wakes up next to a girl who overdosed. To hide from the police, he checks into a rehabilitation program guaranteeing anonymity. Under the mentorship of counselor Craig, Daryl accepts that he has a substance abuse problem. As he falls in love with fellow patient Charlie, Daryl begins committing to a newly sober life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost Weekend (1945)
Longtime alcoholic Don Birnam has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last – one way or another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this28 Days (2000)
After getting into a car accident while drunk on the day of her sister's wedding, Gwen Cummings is given a choice between prison or a rehab center. She chooses rehab, but is extremely resistant to taking part in any of the treatment programs they have to offer, refusing to admit that she has an alcohol addiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLymelife (2008)
A coming of age dramedy where infidelity, real estate, and Lyme disease have two families falling apart on Long Island in the early eighties. Scott, 15, is at the point in his life when he finds out that the most important people around him, his father, his mother, and his brother, are not exactly who he thought they were. They are flawed and they are human.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuperbad (2007)
Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHoney Boy (2019)
The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome Back, Little Sheba (1953)
A mismatched couple's marital problems come to the surface when the husband develops an interest in their pretty boarder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Spectacular Now (2013)
Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected romance blossoms between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl on the Train (2016)
Rachel Watson, devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBack to Black (2024)
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad News Bears (1976)
An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo Weeks in Another Town (1962)
After spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen a Man Loves a Woman (1994)
An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKrystal (2018)
A young man living a sheltered life develops a crush on a stripper and joins her Alcoholics Anonymous group just so he can be in the same room with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisPrincess (2021)
When his younger sister, a single parent, moves into the second apartment with her 5-year-old daughter Nina, an unexpected friendship develops between Josef and the uncared-for little girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Night Dad Brought Us Home (2017)
A personal film by Steffan Strandberg about his adolescence with an alcoholic mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998)
After a mysterious blackout, a son goes out to investigate and captures footage of actual aliens. When the aliens follow he and his brothers back to their home all hell breaks lose.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKnot (2025)
Each knot on a red string marks a man’s journey through life and the sacrifices he makes. Far from home, he struggles to balance duty, dreams, and family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisAfonya (1975)
Afonya Borshev is a plumber who drinks a lot, flirts a lot and doesn't care too much about tomorrow. His wife left him, his boss placed him on probation, his whole life is falling apart, but he doesn't realize it. When Afonya met Katya at a dance club he didn't pay her much attention, yet she may be the only one who can help him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNil by Mouth (1997)
The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder Capricorn (1949)
A British ex-convict in colonial Australia and his fragile wife, haunted by the past crime that binds them, struggle to rebuild their lives when a young newcomer stirs long-buried passions and secrets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like A Step From the Shadows and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Step From the Shadows?
The closest matches to A Step From the Shadows are Bad Moms (2016), Smashed (2012) and The Way Back (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Step From the Shadows?
Start with Bad Moms (2016), the closest match to A Step From the Shadows.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Step From the Shadows?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), rated 7.9/10 by 1,217 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Step From the Shadows?
Knot (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Step From the Shadows?
Yes: Bad Moms (2016), Smashed (2012) and The Way Back (2020).
How are movies similar to A Step From the Shadows chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Step From the Shadows, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.