Movies like Short Sharp Shock (1998)
The best movies like Short Sharp Shock (1998) are Berlin Calling (2008), Trainspotting (1996) and This Is England (2007). If Short Sharp Shock hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrainspotting (1996)8.0/10 from 10,820 votes
- NewestWasteman (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanBerlin Calling (2008)Also in German
Berlin Calling (2008)
A man tours clubs around the globe with his manager and girlfriend. On the eve of their largest album release he is admitted to a psychiatric clinic after overdosing at a gig.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrainspotting (1996)
Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThis Is England (2007)
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends, even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGigantic (1999)
The Hamburg friends Walter, Ricco and Floyd take each day as it comes between the estates of tower blocks and fast food restaurants. All three are in their early twenties and are dreaming of another life when Floyd suddenly takes a job on a freighter going to Singapore.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChiko (2008)
This is the story of Isa, who grows up in a Hamburg suburb. It might be one of the world's richest cities but every beast has its belly and here, in the very underbelly, Chiko lives in a world where violence, staking and keeping a claim, and drug taking are the norm. Where down is not an option, Chiko is determined to rise to the top, whatever and whomever it costs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSun and Concrete (2023)
The four friends Lukas, Julius, Gino and Sanchez are trying to survive the everyday life in Neukölln, Berlin between drugs, gangs, rap, violence and boredom. Until they are one day making a serious decision with serious consequences because of a dead certain plan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBerlin Alexanderplatz (2020)
In 2015, thirty year old refugee Francis, the sole survivor of a boat that illegally crossed the Mediterranean, is drawn into Berlin's seedy underbelly.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWholetrain (2006)
This feature takes a look at the graffiti movement and young people who populate the niche culture. Following four such artists as they shape the graffiti community through both their art and their interactions, the film tells the story of how the foursome's decision to paint an entire train would affect their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
In the Fade (2017)
Katja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRhinegold (2022)
Xatar’s way from the ghetto to the top of the charts is as dramatic as it is daring. From the hell of an Iraqi jail, Giwar Hajabi emigrated to Germany as a young boy with his family in the mid-1980s and has to start right at the bottom. There are opportunities, but far more obstacles. Giwar’s rise from petty criminal to major dealer is swift. Until one shipment goes missing. In order to clear his debts with the cartel, he plans a legendary gold heist. But just as everything goes wrong, another door opens for Giwar thanks to his passion for music …
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy (2000)
Benjamin, a 16-year-old with lousy grades, switches to a boarding school in order to eventually reach grammar school. Adjusting to his new environment is difficult as he has to struggle with being a teen... specially when he falls in love to the school's dream girl, Malen.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Edukators (2004)
Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Are Young. We Are Strong. (2014)
On 24th August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock, a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women, and children on what has since become known as "The Night of the Fire." The riots became a symbol of xenophobia in the just-reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Free Will (2006)
After nine years in psychiatric detention Theo, who has brutally assaulted and raped three women, is released. Living in a supervised community, he connects well with his social worker Sascha, finds a job at a print shop and even a girlfriend, Nettie, his principal's brittle and estranged daughter. But even though superficially everything seems to work out Theo's seething rage remains ready to erupt.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPusher II (2004)
Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPusher (1996)
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBang, Boom, Bang (1999)
Bank robber Kalle Grabowski escapes from prison while his unemployed smalltime crook buddy is sitting around doing nothing after he just lost all their money. A fast paced comedy from German director Peter Thorwarth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Prophet (2009)
Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrill Point (2002)
Christian is a presenter at a small radio station. His wife Katrin directs traffic in a car park. Both are friends with Uwe, who runs a fast food kiosk, and Ellen, who works in a perfume shop. Their four lives are stuck in a rut. Until the day Chris and Ellen sleep together and upset the balance of the two couples...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Dublin Oldschool (2018)
Join Jason on a chemically enhanced trip through the streets of Dublin as he stumbles from one misguided adventure to another. Somewhere between the DJs, decks, drug busts and hilltop raves, he stumbles across a familiar face from the past, his brother Daniel. Daniel is an educated homeless heroin addict living on the streets of Dublin. The brothers haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years but over a lost weekend they reconnect and reminisce over tunes, trips, their history and their city. Two brothers living on the edge but perhaps they have more in common than they think.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
What to Do in Case of Fire? (2001)
The humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former East Germany. At the end of the 80s, they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to terms with the reason they separated 12 years ago.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnd Along Come Tourists (2007)
Sven arrives in nowadays Auschwitz to do his civil service at the memorial. He encounters unfriendliness, especially by Stanislaw Krzeminski, the 85 year old KZ-survivor, and Krzysztof Lanuszewski, brother of his early love affair Ania. Even his boss Herold, the places manager, does little to help Sven familiarize. But when problems accumulate Sven realises that he already has become involved.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Berlin Blues (2003)
In October 1989, the part of the West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg called SO 36, had been largely shut off by the Wall from the rest of the city for 28 years. A lethargic sub-culture of students, artists, bohemians and barflys had flourished among crumbling buildings. Part of that microcosm is barkeeper Frank, semi-formally called 'Herr Lehmann' by friends and patrons. He hangs out drinking, sports utter disregard for anything beyond SO 36 and lazily pursues an affair with cook Katrin. His lifestyle is gradually disturbed, when his parents show up for a visit, things go awry with Katrin and his best friend Karl starts to act strange. Meanwhile, political turmoil mounts on the other side of the Wall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKnockin' on Heaven's Door (1997)
Two young men, Martin and Rudi, both suffering from terminal cancer, get to know each other in a hospital room. They drown their desperation in tequila and decide to take one last trip to the sea. Drunk and still in pajamas they steal the first fancy car they find, a 60's Mercedes convertible. The car happens to belong to a bunch of gangsters, which immediately start to chase it, since it contains more than the pistol Martin finds in the glove box.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye Berlin (2016)
Maik, a fourteen-year-old teenager, sets out on a road trip during summertime with Tschick, a new classmate, in a stolen car. The two share life changing experiences during the eventful journey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWasteman (2026)
Taylor's hopes for a fresh start post-parole are jeopardised by cellmate Dee's arrival. As Dee takes Taylor under his wing, a vicious attack tests their bond, forcing Taylor to choose between protecting Dee and his own chances at freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisState of Grace (1990)
Hell's Kitchen, New York. Terry Noonan returns home after a ten-year absence. He soon reconnects with Jackie, a childhood friend and member of the Irish mob, and rekindles his love affair with Jackie's sister Kathleen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Born Losers (1967)
A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers single-handedly. He rescues young Vicky Barrington from their clutches, but then has to contend with not only the thugs, but also the ineffectual and racist local lawmen, who have it out for the half-Native American Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rookie (1990)
Veteran cop Nick Pulovski is used to playing musical partners; many of the partners he's had in the past have died on the job, and often as a result of Nick's risky tactics. But the rookie who's been assigned to help Nick bust a carjacking ring is almost as hotheaded as he is … and when Nick gets kidnapped, his newbie partner is his only hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove Is Colder Than Death (1970)
Small-time pimp Franz is torn between his mistress and Bruno, the gangster sent after him by a shady crime syndicate he has refused to join.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Short Sharp Shock?
The closest matches to Short Sharp Shock are Berlin Calling (2008), Trainspotting (1996) and This Is England (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Short Sharp Shock?
People who watched Short Sharp Shock most often go on to Berlin Calling (2008), Trainspotting (1996) and This Is England (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like Short Sharp Shock?
Trainspotting (1996), rated 8.0/10 by 10,820 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Short Sharp Shock?
Wasteman (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Short Sharp Shock?
Yes: Berlin Calling (2008), Gigantic (1999) and Chiko (2008).
How are movies similar to Short Sharp Shock chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Short Sharp Shock, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.