Movies like The Damned Son (1958)
The best movies like The Damned Son (1958) are Three on a Match (1932), Dog Pound (2010) and The Young Savages (1961). If The Damned Son hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Damned Son
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Book of Henry (2017)7.5/10 from 1,388 votes
- NewestParadise Is Burning (2023)Released 2023
Three on a Match (1932)
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDog Pound (2010)
Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young Savages (1961)
A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Little Princess (1939)
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Book of Henry (2017)
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTommy (1975)
After a series of traumatic childhood events, a psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy becomes a master pinball player and the object of a religious cult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wind and the Lion (1975)
At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers, and the attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisL.I.E. (2001)
With his mother dead and his father busy at work, Howie feels adrift in his New York suburb. He and his friend Gary spend their time burglarizing their neighbors' homes — until they make the mistake of robbing the house of Big John, a macho former Marine who is also an unrepentant pedophile. He propositions Howie, who declines, but the two eventually develop an unlikely and dangerous friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvelyn (2002)
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Concrete Jungle (1982)
An unfortunate and naive girl is set up by her boyfriend and convicted of drug smuggling. She is sent to a women's correctional facility where she must constantly struggle to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas in Angel Falls (2017)
Gabby Messinger, a Guardian Angel who has trouble following the rules and is known for meddling in the love live’s of others, is tasked by the Angel Michael to help the town of Angel Falls find its Christmas spirit again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive Fingers (2006)
Martijn, an idealistic Dutch pianist, travels to Morocco to help start a food program for malnourished children. Within moments of his arrival, however, Martijn is abducted by a group of terrorists, injected with a debilitating drug, and imprisoned. Under threat of death, the young man engages in a mental chess match with Ahmat, trying to learn his captor's true objective and avoid a horrible fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Elizabeth Smart (2017)
The story of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and captivity, as told from her perspective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe United States of Leland (2003)
A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Skin (2019)
A Marine veteran working as a school janitor tries to mend his relationship with his son after a divorce. When his son is killed by a police officer found innocent without standing trial, he takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Fury (1950)
A family man – desperate for a job – latches onto a friend who encourages him into being a criminal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerro callejero (1980)
An abandoned child steals to survive and has problems when he decides to steal from the priest who helps him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKes (1970)
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManic (2002)
In lieu of prison, Lyle, a violent adolescent, is placed in a juvenile mental institution where he encounters a group of equally troubled teens. This motley crew—abused, sexually confused, violent, and yet hanging on by their grit and anger—becomes Lyle's last lifeline as he fights to find meaning in a world that seems to defy understanding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalking Across Egypt (1999)
An elderly widow befriends an orphaned juvenile delinquent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Fevers (2014)
Benjamin is at war: with life, with adults, with himself. From his earliest childhood onwards, the 13-year old has been shunted from one care home to another. When his mother has to go to prison, he is sent to his father, whom he has never known. The man turns out to be a dead loss, a warehouseman who's given up on life, a man in his mid-40s who still lives with his Moroccan parents in a high-rise block in the banlieue. Benjamin's turbulence and violence soon prove too much for his new family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Accuse My Parents (1944)
Ignored by his alcoholic parents, Jimmy Wilson starts hanging around with some shady characters. After falling in love with a lounge singer, Jimmy tries to impress her by doing jobs for her shady boss. After one of these jobs goes bad, Jimmy ends up on the run. Eventually, he must confront the truth, his past, and his parents. The judge cites parental neglect in the case of a teenager (John Miljan) charged with murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Young Adult Matters (2021)
Se-jin, a high school student, becomes pregnant and gets ostracized by her family and school. While wandering the streets, she meets Joo-yeong, an experienced runaway, and tries to get an abortion with Joo-yeong's help.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Paradise Is Burning (2023)
Left to their own devices by their absent mother, Laura and her two sisters revel in the excitement of freedom, letting their days unfold without the constraints of adult supervision. However, when Laura receives a call that threatens to place them in foster care, she frantically searches for a substitute mother to avoid this fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dead of Summer (1970)
A woman left alone in Morocco by her architect husband begins to lose her mind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Française (2008)
A determined young woman goes up against the Moroccan traditions where the only way for a girl is marriage and children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Damned Son?
The closest matches to The Damned Son are Three on a Match (1932), Dog Pound (2010) and The Young Savages (1961). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Damned Son?
Start with Three on a Match (1932), the closest match to The Damned Son.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Damned Son?
The Book of Henry (2017), rated 7.5/10 by 1,388 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Damned Son?
Paradise Is Burning (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Damned Son chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Damned Son, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.