Movies like Evening Light (2026)
The best movies like Evening Light (2026) are Lock Up (1989), Escape Plan (2013) and There Was a Crooked Man... (1970). If Evening Light hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFar from the Tree (2021)8.1/10 from 395 votes
- NewestPlay Dirty (2025)Released 2025
Lock Up (1989)
Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape Plan (2013)
Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThere Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Sierra (1941)
Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrute Force (1947)
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Legend of Everfree (2016)
When Canterlot Highschool goes on a trip to Camp Everfree, they’re surprised to find a magical force is causing strange things to happen around camp. With the help of the Mane 6 and especially Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle must confront the dark “Midnight Sparkle” within herself and embrace her newfound magical abilities to save the camp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYES DAY (2021)
A mom and dad who usually say no decide to say yes to their kids' wildest requests — with a few ground rules — on a whirlwind day of fun and adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBirdman of Alcatraz (1962)
After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnimal Factory (2000)
Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (2014)
Velma discovers she's inherited her great-great-uncle's cursed castle in Transylvania, Pennsylvania. The team decide to go there on a spooky adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Yakuza (1974)
When George Tanner does business with high-ranking Yakuza Tono, Tono kidnaps his daughter, and George summons his old friend, private eye Harry Kilmer, to Japan to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFar from the Tree (2021)
On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Sight (1998)
Meet Jack Foley, a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco is a federal marshal who chooses all the right moves … and all the wrong guys. Now they're willing to risk it all to find out if there's more between them than just the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Time for Nuts (2006)
Scrat comes across a time machine and is transported to various times all in pursuit of his beloved acorn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeyond Re-Animator (2003)
Once again tampering with mother nature to disastrous results, Dr. Herbert West continues his research while serving time in a maximum security prison for his previous exploits. West's limited prison-cell experiments are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a new prison doctor and the brother of the girl who suffered from West's experiments 13 years earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlay Dirty (2025)
Expert thief Parker gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTough Guys (1986)
Harry Doyle and Archie Lang are two old-time train robbers, who held up a train in 1956 and have been incarcerated for thirty years. After serving their time, they are released from jail and have to adjust to a new life of freedom. and soon realize that they still have the pizzazz when, picking up their prison checks at a bank, they foil a robbery attempt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreathe (2017)
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
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 Evening Light?
The closest matches to Evening Light are Lock Up (1989), Escape Plan (2013) and There Was a Crooked Man... (1970). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Evening Light?
Start with Lock Up (1989), the closest match to Evening Light.
What is the highest-rated movie like Evening Light?
Far from the Tree (2021), rated 8.1/10 by 395 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Evening Light?
Play Dirty (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Evening Light chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Evening Light, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.