Movies like Hello Stranger (2012)
The best movies like Hello Stranger (2012) are Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) and A Scooby-Doo! Christmas (2002). If Hello Stranger hooked you with its mystery and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Hello Stranger
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLove Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)7.7/10 from 741 votes
- NewestCaddo Lake (2024)Released 2024
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Nancy Drew, a smart high schooler with a penchant for keen observation and deduction, stumbles upon the haunting of a local home. A bit of an outsider struggling to fit into her new surroundings, Nancy and her pals set out to solve the mystery, make new friends, and establish their place in the community
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)
The Great Depression hits home for nine year old Kit Kittredge when her dad loses his business and leaves to find work. Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin stars as Kit, leading a splendid cast in the first ever "American Girl" theatrical movie. In order to keep their home, Kit and her mother must take in boarders - paying house - guests who turn out to be full of fascinating stories. When mother's lockbox containing all their money is stolen, Kit's new hobo friend Will is the prime suspect. Kit refuses to believe that Will would steal, and her efforts to sniff out the real story get her and friends into big trouble. The police say the robbery was an inside job, committed by someone they know. So if it wasn't Will, then who did it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Scooby-Doo! Christmas (2002)
On the way to Daphne's relatives' condominium, the Mystery Inc. gang detours through the town of Winter Hollow, where the vengeful Headless Snowman has destroyed the town's Christmas spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)
A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)
In this epic two-part finale, the Doctor comes face to face with the mysterious Missy, and an impossible choice is looming. With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies, and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmelia’s Children (2024)
When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaddo Lake (2024)
When an 8-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes on Caddo Lake, a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHaunted (1995)
Professor David Ash exposes false spiritulists and mediums. He is invited to Edbrook to resolve the fears and torments within its secretive family. Soon after arriving Ash begins to doubt his own senses, and watching the strange behaviour of its residents does not make his task any easier. In time, he finds there's more to Edbrook than even he can debunk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train to Lisbon (2013)
Raimund Gregorius, having saved a beautiful Portuguese woman from leaping to her death, stumbles upon a mesmerizing book by a Portuguese author, which compels him to suddenly abandon the boring life he has led for years and to embark on an enthralling adventure. In search of the author, Gregorius acts as detective, pulling together pieces of a puzzle that involves political and emotional intrigue and the highest possible stakes. His voyage is one that transcends time and space, delving into the realms of history, medicine and love, all in search of true meaning to his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Loud House Movie (2021)
The Loud family travel to Scotland and discover they are descendants of Scottish royalty as they move into their giant ancestral castle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)
A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Romance (2021)
When librarian Taylor Harris suddenly loses her job, she decides to visit her brother in a small town in Montana. There, she gets involved in the fight to help save her brother's hotel from tycoon Joel Sheenan, who wants to renovate it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lie (2018)
A father and daughter are on their way to dance camp when they spot the girl's best friend on the side of the road. When they stop to offer the friend a ride, their good intentions soon result in terrible consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodnight Mommy (2022)
When twin brothers arrive home to find their mother’s demeanor altered and face covered in surgical bandages, they begin to suspect the woman beneath the gauze might not be their mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Simple Twist of Fate (1994)
When Michael McCann is thrown over by the woman he loves, he becomes something of a misanthrope and a miser, spending all of his spare money on collectible gold coins. Living in the same town is an affluent family with two sons: John and Tanny. Tanny's a wild boy, whom John cannot control, and one night he breaks into McCann's house, and steals the gold and disappears, which nearly confirms McCann's distrust of mankind. But then, a mysterious young woman dies in the snow outside McCann's house, and her small daughter makes her way to McCann's house and into McCann's life and heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlashback (2021)
Frederick Fitzell is living his best life—until he starts having horrific visions of Cindy, a girl who vanished in high school. After reaching out to old friends with whom he used to take a mystery drug called Mercury, Fredrick realizes the only way to stop the visions lies deep within his own memories, so he embarks on a terrifying mental odyssey to learn the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999)
The Chipmunks work in an amusement park attraction. After Alvin drives a crazy tour group, they miss their next performance and are locked in the park after closing time. Little do they know that the real Dr. Frankenstein has been hired in a new attraction called, "Frankenstein's Castle"; figuring that the castle isn't scary enough, the mad scientist recreates the real Monster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The original '70s TV family is now placed in the 1990s, where they're even more square and out of place than ever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBibi Blocksberg (2002)
Elation in Neustadt: by the means of a little witching, Bibi Blocksberg saved two kids from burning to death. While her mother Barbara, a witch of flesh and blood herself, is very proud of her daughter, father Bernhard, overworked and stressed, disapproves greatly of her supernatural antics. Then Bibi gets a message from Walpurgia, the senior witch: she is going to receive her crystel ball, that will make a "real" witch of her, early. Proudly, Bibi jumps up her broom to fly to the Blocksberg, the witches' headquarters. But Rabia, one of the few evil witches, aging in misery and with a secret, begrudges her all the glory...and her youth. And so Rabia sets off events that will soon make Bibi's life fall into pieces.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Headless Woman (2008)
After running into something with her car, Vero experiences a particular psychological state. She realizes she might have killed someone.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Frankie (2004)
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUrban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)
On a prom-night dare, a trio of high school friends chant an incantation, unleashing an evil spirit from the past with deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisNim's Island (2008)
A young girl inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates with a reclusive author of the novel she's reading.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
SnoozefestMovies like thisSunburn (TBA)
A mother inexplicably and abruptly walks out on her family and hitches a ride to a nowhere beach town 100 miles away. It’s the start of a twisted plan that involves a murder in her past, a hidden stash of millions, and an urge to be free from all the men who have tried to control her. By the time she’s over the state line, we realize this isn’t the first time she’s vanished. She has several secret lives scattered in her wake, and the people she left behind are eager for revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Material Girls (2006)
Two wealthy sisters, both heiresses to their family's cosmetics fortune, are given a wake-up call when a scandal and ensuing investigation strip them of their wealth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Collective (2008)
Jessica (Wynn Everett) travels to New York City to help her sister but she is nowhere to be found. As she delves into a world of darkness and lies surrounding a spiritually depraved community calling itself 'The Collective' with her friend Tyler (Kelly Overton) she has to decide if she will risk her life to save her sister.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Like Hello Stranger and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hello Stranger?
The closest matches to Hello Stranger are Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) and A Scooby-Doo! Christmas (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hello Stranger?
Start with Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), the closest match to Hello Stranger.
What is the highest-rated movie like Hello Stranger?
Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003), rated 7.7/10 by 741 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hello Stranger?
Caddo Lake (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Hello Stranger?
Yes: Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008) and A Scooby-Doo! Christmas (2002).
How are movies similar to Hello Stranger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hello Stranger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.