Movies like Sanctus (1990)
The best movies like Sanctus (1990) are Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) and For Sama (2019). If Sanctus 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
- NewestAtropia (2025)Released 2025
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisThe Banana Splits Movie (2019)
A boy named Harley and his family attend a taping of The Banana Splits TV show, which is supposed to be a fun-filled birthday for young Harley and business as usual for Rebecca, the producer of the series. But things take an unexpected turn - and the body count quickly rises. Can Harley, his mom and their new pals safely escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNot Quite Hollywood (2008)
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Soup (1992)
An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Caesar (1973)
Raised in Harlem, Tommy Gibbs becomes a successful mob boss but he clashes with the rival Mafia and his old enemy, dirty cop McKinney.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisRoom 237 (2012)
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wrath of Becky (2023)
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, 16-year-old Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman -- a kindred spirit named Elena. However, when a violent group known as the Noble Men break into their home, attack them and take their beloved dog, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho Is Cletis Tout? (2001)
With a hitman’s gun aimed at him, Finch tells the story of how he broke out of jail, fell in love, and took the identity of a man wanted by the Mafia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisOne Child Nation (2019)
Through interviews with both victims and instigators, Nanfu Wang, a first-time mother, breaks open decades of silence on a vast, unprecedented social experiment that shaped — and destroyed — countless lives in China.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Mary (2013)
A young medical student struggling to pay tuition is drawn into the shady world of underground body-modification.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPorno (2019)
When a group of naive teens working at a movie theater in a small Christian town discover a mysterious film hidden in its basement, they unleash an alluring succubus who gives them a sex education…written in blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHard to Die (1990)
While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings six months previously, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S/2 (2013)
Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. The screens crackle and pop endlessly with monochrome vistas of static white noise permeating the brain and fogging concentration. But you must fight the urge to relax: this is no mere movie night. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouthbound (2015)
On a desolate stretch of desert highway, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
Harlem's African-American population is being ripped off by the Rev. Deke O'Malley, who dishonestly claims that small donations will secure parcels of land in Africa. When New York City police officers Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson look into O'Malley's scam, they learn that the cash is being smuggled inside a bale of cotton. However, the police, O'Malley, and lots of others find themselves scrambling when the money goes missing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKroko (2003)
She is the blonde poison of the backyards, the femme fatale of the Wedding side street. Coolness hangs heavy on her eyelids. It could be mistaken for boredom - if it weren't for her tough tone of voice and her willingness to ice-coldly clear her opponents out of the way. One of her license-free joyrides results in an accident. A court orders her to do community service in a shared flat for the disabled, which she finds an imposition. But the "normalos" she lives with aren't that great either, and it seems as if Kroko finds something in the "spastics" that she lacks in her everyday life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAtropia (2025)
When an aspiring actress in a military role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
John the Violent (1973)
The story of Ioannis Zachos, a young psychopath who commits a murder in Athens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Erl King (1931)
A young man races to save his son's life, but death – incarnated in the child's imagination as the titular Erl King – calls unceasingly.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Wrong Light (2017)
A charismatic activist leads a globally-regarded NGO that provides shelter and education for girls rescued from brothels in Northern Thailand. But as the filmmakers meet the girls and their families, discrepancies begin to emerge and the story takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Secret Garden (1993)
A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHere Come the Girls (2013)
HERE COME THE GIRLS is a brutal examination of the life of Joe Truman, a 34-year-old aspiring musician, father, and drug user. This unsettling para-documentary follows Young Jean Lee's guerrilla-style interrogation of Joe's private life through snapshots of his environment and relationships. Spurred on by Joe's apparent discomfort, Young Jean invades his personal space to expose his lonely apartment, his drug and alcohol habits, and his most secret vulnerabilities. Young Jean's interviews with Joe's mother, ex-wife, daughter, and unrequited love interest border on the cruel and unusual, and are a painful pleasure to watch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Tick Tock Lullaby (2007)
A wry interweave film about baby making and how as time marches on the decision gets more intense and less romantic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sanctus?
The closest matches to Sanctus are Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) and For Sama (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sanctus?
Start with Kiss Me Deadly (1955), the closest match to Sanctus.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sanctus?
For Sama (2019), rated 8.2/10 by 323 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sanctus?
Atropia (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sanctus?
Yes: Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) and For Sama (2019).
How are movies similar to Sanctus chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sanctus, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.