Movies like Orpheus Descending (1990)
The best movies like Orpheus Descending (1990) are Disappearing Acts (2000), The Hunchback (1997) and The Santa Squad (2020). If Orpheus Descending hooked you with its tv movie and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedNaked (1993)7.3/10 from 721 votes
- NewestThe Santa Squad (2020)Released 2020
Disappearing Acts (2000)
A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hunchback (1997)
Based on Victor Hugo's famed novel, the story of Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre Dame, and his unrequited love for the gypsy girl, Esmeralda.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Santa Squad (2020)
Allie, an out of work art teacher, has to accept a job with the Santa Squad to help wealthy widower Gordon and his two precious daughters rediscover the magic of Christmas. As Allie is lifting the holiday spirits of the family with Christmas decorations, cookies and shopping, her kindness is rewarded with the most unexpected of gifts: love!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas Kiss (2011)
Wendy Walton is the best designer in Boston... but no one knows it yet. Hoping to kick-start her career, Wendy has left work with the local theatre to take a job as an assistant to Priscilla Hall, the most prestigious designer in the city. Ms. Hall works Wendy around the clock, which is how Wendy finds herself trapped in an elevator late one night with an incredibly handsome stranger. Wendy and the mystery man share an impulsive, romantic, life changing kiss before the doors open and Wendy runs out, leaving him behind. The next day at work, Wendy answers the door to find the handsome gentleman standing in front of her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Magic of Ordinary Days (2005)
Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBorrowed Hearts (1997)
Single mom Kathleen Russell (Roma Downey) and her daughter Zoey pretend to be Kathleen's boss's "family" so he can close a major business deal with the mysterious Mexican financier Javier Del Campo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Valentine's Match (2020)
Fired from her job as a reality TV host, Natalie returns home for Valentine's Day, only to find herself running the town festival's auction with her ex-fiancé thanks to two scheming mothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHome for Christmas Day (2017)
Jane is a single mother dead set on protecting her teenage daughter Betsy from the harsh realities of life. When Betsy falls in love with an enlisted man, Jane tries her best to steer Betsy away from heartache. Little does Jane realize she and her daughter are about to learn important lessons of the heart and that taking chances can sometimes lead to the most extraordinary happy endings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNorthanger Abbey (2007)
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Finds You in Valentine (2016)
Kennedy Blaine, a Californian girl, inherits a ranch in the small town of Valentine in Nebraska. Before she sells the property, she decides to spend the summer in her house and learn more about her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter the Storm (2019)
Lauren wants to rebuild her community, including her family home, in the aftermath of a devastatingly disastrous storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteel Magnolias (2012)
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spirit of Christmas (2015)
A woman falls in love with a man who is somewhat unavailable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Blossoms (2017)
Violet is a chemist who is carrying on the legacy of her Belgian family's perfume company by recreating her late father's secret formula.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNora Roberts' Montana Sky (2007)
The wealthy stock dealer bequeaths his Montana farm to the three daughters provided they would live there together at least for a year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJane Eyre (1997)
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFallen Angel (1945)
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWild 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 & romance
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInferno (1999)
Eddie Lomax is a drifter who has been in a suicidal funk since the death of his close friend Johnny. Riding his motorcycle into a small desert town where Johnny once lived, Lomax is confronted by a gang of toughs, who beat him and steal his bike. However, Lomax is not a man to take an injustice lying down, and soon he begins exacting a violent revenge on the men who stole his motorcycle, with local handyman Jubal Early lending a hand and several area ladies offering aid and comfort.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCannery Row (1982)
Doc, who has just moved to Cannery Row, realizes that the only entertainment is the brothel. There he meets the spunky Suzy and they fall in love, giving them both a renewed chance at life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisPicnic (1955)
Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThis Property Is Condemned (1966)
Owen Legate, a railroad official, comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down the local railway - the town's main income. But Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoontide (1942)
After a drunken night out, a longshoreman thinks he may have killed a man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 thisNaked (1993)
An unemployed Brit vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Orpheus Descending?
The closest matches to Orpheus Descending are Disappearing Acts (2000), The Hunchback (1997) and The Santa Squad (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Orpheus Descending?
Start with Disappearing Acts (2000), the closest match to Orpheus Descending.
What is the highest-rated movie like Orpheus Descending?
Naked (1993), rated 7.3/10 by 721 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Orpheus Descending?
The Santa Squad (2020) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Orpheus Descending?
Yes: Disappearing Acts (2000), The Hunchback (1997) and The Santa Squad (2020).
How are movies similar to Orpheus Descending chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Orpheus Descending, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.





























