Movies like Purgatory (1999)
The best movies like Purgatory (1999) are Snow Queen (2002), Love's Enduring Promise (2004) and Basilisk: The Serpent King (2006). If Purgatory hooked you with its fantasy and western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDead Man (1995)7.3/10 from 1,823 votes
- NewestSoul Trader (2025)Released 2025
Snow Queen (2002)
Since a bitter winter storm stole the life of Gerda's mother, she and her father have sadly continued to run the remote hotel they call home. Lonely and isolated, Gerda's only joy is Kai, the handsome bellboy. A mysterious guest with an icy stare arrives at the hotel one night, wrapped in fur and diamonds. By daybreak, the "Snow Queen" has vanished with Kai! Gerda embarks on a journey of morphing seasons, fantastical creatures, and long-frozen mysteries in a desperate quest to find her stolen love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Enduring Promise (2004)
In the 1800s frontier, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though she's met a hero from one of her novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBasilisk: The Serpent King (2006)
Two millennia ago, a Lybian king has a basilisk (snake-shaped dragon), which petrifies people, subjected to the same fate with a golden scepter during a solar eclipse. Both these and several victims are dug up by modern archaeologist Harrison 'Harry' McColl's expedition. Despite a cryptic warning from tribal locals, everything goes to his Colorado university's museum. It's all exhibited during another eclipse, which leads to the monster reviving. Harry and some of his friends must try to petrify the monster again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch's Garden (2009)
Middleton prepares for its bicentennial, and Grey House is to be the party venue. Good witch Cassie is remodeling it as B&B. her first and only guest, Nick Chasen, claims to be a distant relative. He produces papers to prove he's the heir of the builder, colonial era captain Hamblin, while the Grey lady was his mistress and stole it. Police chief and lover Jake Russell goes all the way to motivate her to fight and disprove the claim before she's effectively disowned. Brandon is dared to pass a rascals-initiation by local brat Steve and Duke. George's gardening skills lead to romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBonanza: The Return (1993)
A man with a grudge against the late Little Joe seeks revenge on the Cartwrights and attempts to take over the Ponderosa.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 fantasy
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 fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Devil's Arithmetic (1999)
An American-born Jewish adolescent, Hannah Stern, is uninterested in the culture, faith and customs of her relatives. However, she begins to revaluate her heritage when she has a supernatural experience that transports her back to a Nazi death camp in 1941. There she meets a young girl named Rivkah, a fellow captive in the camp. As Rivkah and Hannah struggle to survive in the face of daily atrocities, they form an unbreakable bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
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 fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Man (1995)
On the run after committing murder, an accountant encounters a strange Native American man who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKristin's Christmas Past (2013)
Kristin, a cynical 34-year-old, drinks a mysterious champagne on Christmas Eve and wakes up seventeen years in the past, sharing a room with her 17-year-old self. Given the chance to change the worst Christmas of her life, she attempts to fix past mistakes, only to discover surprising truths about her family that may help her mend her present-day relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Amazing Mr. Blunden (2021)
Jamie and Lucy have an encounter with what appears to be a pair of ghost children. But these spooky kids, Sara and Georgie, aren’t actually ghosts. They’ve travelled forwards in time to seek help, believing they’re going to be murdered by the wicked Mr and Mrs Wickens. And Lucy and Jamie’s strange visitor seems to be the key to it all. With his help, they must travel back to 1821 to save Sara and Georgie and redeem their remorseful new friend – The Amazing Mr Blunden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost World (2001)
This Lost World is a splendid BBC TV dramatisation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventure story. Bob Hoskins makes an unusually genial Professor Challenger, far less of a bully than Doyle's character, but his slightly stereotyped companions are nicely filled out by a solid cast. James Fox is Challenger's more timid but still covertly adventurous rival, Tom Ward is the moustachioed big game hunter who faces an Allosaurus with an elephant gun, and Matthew Rhys plays the tagalong reporter hoping to impress his faithless fiancée.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Long Journey (2005)
Missie's surprise pregnancy sets her on a new course that is both thrilling and terrifying. After all the planning and dreaming, she and her husband Willie are headed west in a covered wagon, leaving behind the prairie home of Missie's parents. Now, caught between the excitement of the new adventure and the pain of not knowing when she'll see her family again, Missie copes with the challenges, and cherishes the rewards, of her new homestead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shadow Riders (1982)
After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCraig Before the Creek (2023)
Before he was Craig of the Creek, he was just Craig — a new kid in a new town. All Craig wants is to go back to his old friends at his old home. But when he learns that the nearby creek is hiding a lost treasure that could make his wish come true, Craig sets off on a journey to find it — navigating the perilous suburban wilderness, forging new friendships, all while being pursued by a fearsome band of pirates who are bent on destroying the Creek itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThor: God of Thunder (2022)
Thor’s villainous brother Loki has escaped Asgard to search for Yggdrasil — The Tree of the Nine Realms. The tree holds the power of the Universe, and is secreted away on Earth. With the help of giant wolf god Fenrir, Loki plans to destroy the tree and replant it in his image, giving him dominion over all. Now Thor must follow Loki to Earth to wage an epic battle that will hold the two worlds in its balance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisUnder Wraps (2021)
Three friends try to save their mummified friend, Harold, from greedy criminals by returning him to his resting place before midnight on Halloween.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnnie Claus Is Coming to Town (2011)
This year, Santa’s daughter takes her first trip away from the North Pole during the Christmas season hoping to find adventure and love in sunny California. While Santa watches his daughter through a magic snow globe, Annie arrives in L.A. and becomes friends with the owner of Candy Cane Inn, Lucy, and her daughter, Mia. She also quickly lands a job at Wonderland Toys. Wonderland Toys’ owner, Ted is struggling to stay in business selling old-fashioned toys in a digital world. Annie soon realizes that she wants Ted’s business to thrive because she has feelings for this Christmas traditionalist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
Zia, distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers that there is no real ending, only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly similar to his old one, just a bit worse. Discovering that his ex-girlfriend has also "offed" herself, he sets out on a road trip to find her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSwitch (1991)
Steve Brooks, a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he must have a sincere relationship with a female and make her fall in love with him. If not, Steve's soul will become the property of the devil. But the devil hedges his bet, and Steve is reincarnated as a woman named Amanda Brooks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Heavenly Kid (1985)
After dying in a car crash, Bobby Fantana is forced to pay for his misdeeds by becoming someone's guardian angel. He reluctantly agrees to watch over awkward high schooler Lenny Barnes, teaching him how to be cool and confident. As Bobby teaches Lenny, the two form a close bond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Ascension (TBA)
The gates of Heaven & Hell have been broken and the afterlife is in ruins. One group of new arrivals must find a way to put things right to prevent an eternal battle between good & evil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Until Death (2024)
Alex and Chiara die in a car crash just after getting married. In the purgatory where they are now trapped, they are asked to make a decision : stay together or split up for good, as they are slyly advised in the afterlife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Eyes of Dante (2021)
He is considered the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages and his work unfolds the whole panopticon of occidental education – theology, philosophy, sciences, politics and literature. But who has really read it, the “Divine Comedy”? Who knows more of its creator Dante Alighieri than that he had an eagle-like profile and was in love with a woman named Beatrice? 700 years after Dante’s death, the filmmaker Adolfo Conti travels through Italy with Dante’s words in mind and eyes to see the world as Dante did. As the film encounters the beauty of arts and the Tuscan landscape, the forces of nature, a dramatic life story is unfolded.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Soul Trader (2025)
A despondent soul arrives in a strange place where he must confront his (mostly) inner demons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Dante's Inferno (1911)
The classic tale of Dante's journey through hell, loosely adapted from the Divine Comedy and inspired by the illustrations of Gustav Doré. This historically important film stands as the first feature from Italy and the oldest fully-surviving feature in the world, and boasts beautiful sets and special effects that stand above other cinema of the era.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHighway to the Moon (2025)
Follows the experiences of young Black men whose lives have been abruptly snatched away. Micah is a young man who finds himself in the Inbetween, a mysterious realm between life and death, after his life is suddenly cut short. As he journeys through this liminal space, guided by a group of other young men, they confront what it means to be a Black boy in today’s society, weaving together a narrative of resilience and self-discovery, in order to ultimately empower each other to embrace empathy, mutual compassion and self-worth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
No Exit (1954)
The scene is a tawdry hotel room in Limbo, where several damned souls are gathered. At first, the group fails to comprehend where they are or why they're there. When the horrible truth dawns upon them, they carp and snipe at one another, blaming everyone but themselves for their dismal fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Like Purgatory and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Purgatory?
The closest matches to Purgatory are Snow Queen (2002), Love's Enduring Promise (2004) and Basilisk: The Serpent King (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Purgatory?
Start with Snow Queen (2002), the closest match to Purgatory.
What is the highest-rated movie like Purgatory?
Dead Man (1995), rated 7.3/10 by 1,823 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Purgatory?
Soul Trader (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Purgatory?
Yes: Snow Queen (2002), Love's Enduring Promise (2004) and Basilisk: The Serpent King (2006).
How are movies similar to Purgatory chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Purgatory, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.