Movies like Secret Desire (1985)
The best movies like Secret Desire (1985) are Effie Gray (2014), Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002) and The River (1984). If Secret Desire hooked you, these 27 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGhosts (1997)8.1/10 from 305 votes
- NewestFilming Hole (2023)Released 2023
- In FrenchLove in the Afternoon (1972)Also in French
Effie Gray (2014)
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002)
The fireworks begin when Madea’s family gathers for her granddaughter’s wedding. As usual, Madea rules the roost, as she and her neighbor, the wacky Mr. Brown, deliver nonstop laughs. Live, love, rejoice...it’s Madea’s Family Reunion!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrangers When We Meet (1960)
A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSex and Death 101 (2007)
A guy's life is turned around by an email, which includes the names of everyone he's had sex with and ever will have sex with. His situation gets worse when he encounters a femme fatale who targets men guilty of sex crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove in the Afternoon (1972)
Successful Parisian lawyer Frédéric is happily married to schoolteacher Hélène. Though he daydreams of affairs with other women, he doesn't come close to acting on such thoughts until he runs into Chloé, a beautiful old acquaintance. Tempted by the vibrant Chloé, Frédéric is torn between impulsive lust and his love for Hélène.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Married Woman (1964)
A superficial woman finds conflict choosing between her abusive husband and her vain lover.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAddicted (2014)
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)
Lizzie McGuire has graduated from middle school and takes a trip to Rome, Italy with her class. And what was supposed to be only a normal trip, becomes a teenager's dream come true.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeatwave (2022)
A woman's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for her boss's wife. She must soon defend herself as she becomes entangled in a web of malice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhosts (1997)
In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an attempt to run Maestro out of town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAn American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars (2012)
A young girl struggles to maintain her school grades while competing as a gymnast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat a Way to Go! (1964)
A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlmost Friends (2017)
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Peek-a-Boo (1951)
Léon, a humble civil servant, has the unusual ability to walk through walls, however thick they are. One day, he falls madly in love with a charming hotel thief by the name of Suzan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFilming Hole (2023)
Two young adults venture into a storm sewer in search of something interesting. They succeed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Olga's House of Shame (1964)
In this third installment of the "Olga" series, our heroine adds jewel smuggling to her repertoire of dope pushing and white slavery. As the vicious Olga (Audrey Campbell) expands her criminal empire, she also encounters more resistance as a string of once-trusted partners turn traitor in an effort to steal the successful racket out from under her. The result is exactly what fans of the series expect, a barrage of torture scenes featuring soldering irons, floggings, spankings, and even an electric chair. As with its predecessors, Olga's House of Shame is a silent black and white film with narration to explain the action, but even with direct commentary it's difficult to keep track of the characters and Campbell (who is occasionally caught laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all) has all the menace of a kindergarten teacher, even when wielding a machete.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Olga's Dance Hall Girls (1969)
This last gasp of the grindhouse "Olga" series is a tossed off shrug of a movie that nonetheless entertains in a tacky, surreal style. Audrey Campbell no longer stars as the sinister femme fatale Olga, and her replacement retains none of her clumsy menace. Instead she languidly lounges about the flimsy sets smoking cigarettes and looking pale and sweaty. This new Olga is apparently too bored by the proceedings to even torture her white slaves. Instead the dirty work is handled by her partner Nick (Larry Hunter), a slimy, weasel faced man who lures innocent housewives into prostitution by offering them jobs as "dance instructors" in Olga's dance hall. Group sex, nude dancing and pretty ladies wrestling in their underwear are the results, along with several long, seemingly impromptu scenes where the characters talk endlessly and in circles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The PCP Story (1977)
The PCP Story is a general overview of an emerging drug problem -the abuse of phencyclidine. The film is journalistic in approach as users and various authorities define the growth, effects, and dangers of the drug. Renowned researchers, R. Stanley Burns, M. D. and Steven E. Lerner, M.S., collaborated closely in the production to assure the accuracy of the film's content. Some of the characteristic signs of the low dose state of intoxication - the blank stare, ataxia, stuttering, incomplete verbal responses, and mystagmus upon testing - are graphically demonstrated by users.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
La Plage (2013)
A Charlotte Eugenie fashion short film for N DEGREES
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Olga's Girls (1964)
Ruthless narcotics dealer and white slavery ring leader Olga keeps her harem of girls in line by hooking them on addictive drugs. Olga suspects an informant in their midst and uses various brutal methods of torture to weed out the squealer. Meanwhile, several of Olga's girls plot their revenge against Olga for her continual sadistic treatment of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Secret Desire?
The closest matches to Secret Desire are Effie Gray (2014), Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002) and The River (1984). Below are 24 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Secret Desire?
Start with Effie Gray (2014), the closest match to Secret Desire.
What is the highest-rated movie like Secret Desire?
Ghosts (1997), rated 8.1/10 by 305 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Secret Desire?
Filming Hole (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Secret Desire?
Yes: Love in the Afternoon (1972), The Married Woman (1964) and Mr. Peek-a-Boo (1951).
How are movies similar to Secret Desire chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Secret Desire, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.