Movies like Violently Happy (2016)
The best movies like Violently Happy (2016) are Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022), My Mom Jayne (2025) and The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019). If Violently Happy hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
Go behind the scenes with stars, puppeteers and creators as they bring Jim Henson's magical world of Thra back to life in a sweeping fantasy series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarmontown (2014)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012)
Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006)
Follow the evolution of the 'Halloween' movies over the past twenty-five years. It examines why the films are so popular and revisits many of the original locations used in the films - seeing the effects on the local community. For the first time, cast, crew, critics and fans join together in the ultimate 'Halloween' retrospective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste (2022)
A sexual wellness company gains fame and followers, then members come forward with shocking allegations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAs I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDownloaded (2013)
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad (2013)
A documentary about the making of season five of the acclaimed AMC series Breaking Bad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFuck (2006)
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLooking for Richard (1996)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Curse of the Dragon (1993)
A 1993 documentary film about Bruce Lee. The film includes interviews from some of his fellow students and opponents who worked alongside him in his movies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLouis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars (2012)
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrew: The Man Behind the Poster (2013)
A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInto (2020)
What are you into? Explore the world of BDSM and kink in this documentary featuring rubber, latex, leather, sissy play, puppy play, and much more.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Vanilla (2017)
Look around. Everything you see and touch can taste like vanilla.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sex, Death & Eyeliner (1999)
Documentary directed by W.K. Border, that which dives into the aspects of contemporary Gothic subculture, vampirism, and BDSM culture. Filmed in 1997 in California.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Writer of O (2005)
Published in Paris in 1954, Story of O was an immediate bestseller and literary scandal: an elegantly written S&M fantasy that had all the hallmarks of being an autobiographical account by the pseudonymous Pauline Réage. In 1994 Dominique Aury, a mild-mannered, dowdy editor for France’s prestigious Gallimard press, revealed her authorship. Pola Rapaport explores Aury's inspiration, recreating the world of '50s literary Paris and setting it against dramatic sequences that bring the infamous book to life. The author as well as various French intellectuals expound on the thorny relationship between sexuality and power, submission and freedom, liberation and non-being.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Fifty Shades Uncovered (2015)
Fifty Shades Uncovered is a brand new feature documentary filmed in London and New York which explores the twilight zone of submissive romance and the power of the Fifty Shades of Grey film and books. Featuring the latest interviews from authors, stars and fans, take an in-depth look into why this trilogy has become such a runaway success, whether classified as erotic fiction, adult romance or mommy porn, it lifts the lid on a cultural and sexual phenomenon that won’t be restrained as it reaches world domination!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sweet Sweet Kink: A Collection of BDSM Stories (2019)
Sweet Sweet Kink takes a sweet, sweet peek into the kinky world of bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism through stories of intimate connection, consensual exploration, and deep self-reflection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Inside the Fifty Shades: Real Women Confess (2013)
A cinematic exploration of the dominance and submission lifestyle as revealed in the best-selling book trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. In this film, real women and men reveal their experiences, wants and desires as participants in the world of dominance and submission.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
La Fata (2026)
Isabella, a young dominatrix and digital sex worker, embraces, interprets, and brings to life fantasies that defy definition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Sex Positive (2009)
Sex Positive explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary gay S&M hustler turned AIDS activist in the 1980s, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has never been aptly credited. Mr. Berkowitz emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic demanding a solution to the problem before the outside world would take heed. Now destitute and alone, Mr. Berkowitz tells his story to a world who never wanted to listen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Graphic Sexual Horror (2009)
Graphic Sexual Horror takes a peek behind the terrifying facade behind the most notorious of bondage websites, exploring the dark mind of its artistic creator and asking hard questions about personal responsibility. Interviews reveal deep fascinations with bondage and sadomasochism that run parallel, and in fact become irreversibly entwined with the lure of money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Violently Happy?
The closest matches to Violently Happy are Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022), My Mom Jayne (2025) and The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Violently Happy?
Start with Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022), the closest match to Violently Happy.
What is the newest movie like Violently Happy?
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Violently Happy?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Violently Happy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Violently Happy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.