Movies like The Cuckoo (1922)
The best movies like The Cuckoo (1922) are Beggars of Life (1928), Curse of the Blair Witch (1999) and The Scooby-Doo Project (1999). If The Cuckoo hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFor Sama (2019)8.2/10 from 323 votes
- NewestV/H/S/99 (2022)Released 2022
- In JapaneseTheater of Life: Youth Version (1936)Also in Japanese
Beggars of Life (1928)
After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCurse of the Blair Witch (1999)
A mockumentary exploring the legend of the Blair Witch and the case of the three missing student filmmakers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scooby-Doo Project (1999)
In the Fall of 1999, four teenage sleuths and their Great Dane got lost in the woods while in search of a mystery. This is their story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUncharted (2022)
A young street-smart, Nathan Drake and his wisecracking partner Victor “Sully” Sullivan embark on a dangerous pursuit of “the greatest treasure never found” while also tracking clues that may lead to Nathan’s long-lost brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S/94 (2021)
After the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape, a brutish police SWAT team launches a high-intensity raid on a remote warehouse, only to discover a sinister cult compound whose collection of pre-recorded material uncovers a nightmarish conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoundhay Garden Scene (1888)
The earliest surviving motion-picture film, and believed to be one of the very first moving images ever created, was shot by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince using the LPCCP Type-1 MkII single-lens camera. It was taken on paper-based photographic film in the garden of Oakwood Grange, the Whitley family house in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire (UK), on 14 October 1888. The film shows Adolphe Le Prince (Le Prince’s son), Mrs. Sarah Whitley (Le Prince’s mother-in-law), Joseph Whitley, and Miss Harriet Hartley walking around in circles, laughing to themselves, and staying within the area framed by the camera. Roundhay Garden Scene is often associated with a recording speed of around 12 frames per second and runs for about 2 to 3 seconds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S/99 (2022)
A thirsty teenager's home video leads to a series of horrifying revelations, harkening back to the final punk rock analog days of VHS, while taking one giant leap forward into the hellish new millennium.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this42 Up (1999)
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisV/H/S (2012)
When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire one rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they had bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProject Almanac (2015)
A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chaplin Revue (1959)
Three Chaplin silent comedies "A Dog's Life", "Shoulder Arms", and "The Pilgrim" are strung together to form a single feature length film. Chaplin provides new music, narration, and a small amount of new connecting material. "Shoulder Arms" is now described as taking place in a time before "the atom bomb".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blair Witch Project (1999)
In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Sama (2019)
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDory's Reef Cam (2020)
Dive into the waters below and watch the aquatic wildlife from the world of Nemo and Dory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisFinding Vivian Maier (2014)
Vivian Maier's photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she'd collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shaken the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof's discovery of Vivian Maier, unravelling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew her. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book and this documentary film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
A collection of Warner Brothers short cartoon features, "starring" the likes of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Wile E. Coyote. These animations are interspersed by Bugs Bunny reminiscing on past events and providing links between the individual animations which are otherwise unconnected. This 1979 feature-length compilation includes several of his best cartoons. Among the 11 shorts shown in their entirety are the classics "Robin Hood Daffy," "What's Opera, Doc?," "Bully for Bugs," and "Duck Amuck". The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie provides a showcase not only for Jones's razor-sharp timing, but for the work of his exceptional crew, which included designer Maurice Noble, writer Mike Maltese, composers Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn, and voice actor Mel Blanc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle of the Century (1927)
Fight manager takes out an insurance policy on his puny pugilist and then proceeds to try to arrange for an accident so that he can collect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThese Amazing Shadows (2011)
Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDie Sünden der Väter (1913)
Hanna is a lush and her artist friend abandons her only to reacquaint himself with when she is down and out. His motive is to paint her as a washed up women. When she realizes his intentions she ruins his painting and him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)
Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Making of O'Malley (1925)
A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Theater of Life: Youth Version (1936)
During the 20s in Japan, a romantic student at Tokyo's Waseda University is filled with noble sentiments absorbed from literature but his naive illusions will be shattered by the ruthless realities of money and power.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Poet from the Sea (1927)
Hou Yao wrote, directed and starred in A Poet from the Sea (1927). It was shot in Stanley, Hong Kong. The surviving copy was only 23-minute long, but Hou Yao's romantic side was obvious through the scenic location and beautiful set-up. The love story between Poet (Hou Yao) and his lover (Lee Dan-dan) was pure and lyrical, a gem from China Sun Motion Picture Company (Shanghai) in the 1920s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Drama in the Futurists' Cabaret No. 13 (1914)
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dead Man's Curve (1928)
A grease monkey discovers a defect in an auto engine being turned out by his employer. But since our hero discovers this only after losing an important race, his boss chalks up the loss to Fairbanks' supposed cowardice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Die Flamme (1923)
In 19th century Paris a hedonistic woman marries an aristocrat but has trouble keeping faithful to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Should We Be Silent? (1926)
A melodrama about a painter who is infected with syphilis, refuses treatment, turns to the use instead of narcotics, and withers away.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
China Bound (1929)
After his boss fires him for secretly dating his daughter, Joan, a fired clerk named Eustis and his towering friend Sharkey Nye sneak aboard Joan's China-bound ship. Refusing to be separated, the bumbling duo follows the women on a slapstick journey filled with chaotic, romantic misadventures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cuckoo?
The closest matches to The Cuckoo are Beggars of Life (1928), Curse of the Blair Witch (1999) and The Scooby-Doo Project (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cuckoo?
Start with Beggars of Life (1928), the closest match to The Cuckoo.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cuckoo?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cuckoo?
V/H/S/99 (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Cuckoo?
Yes: Theater of Life: Youth Version (1936).
How are movies similar to The Cuckoo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cuckoo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.