Movies like DeKalb Elementary (2017)
The best movies like DeKalb Elementary (2017) are Home Room (2002), Hounddog (2008) and The Hate U Give (2018). If DeKalb Elementary hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Hate U Give (2018)8.1/10 from 2,264 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
Home Room (2002)
A high school shooting has repercussions on the town and students.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hate U Give (2018)
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)
After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDear Zoe (2022)
Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLight It Up (1999)
On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Organization (1971)
After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWorth (2021)
Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life Before Her Eyes (2008)
As the 15th anniversary of a fatal high school shooting approaches, former pupil Diana McFee is haunted by memories of the tragedy. After losing her best friend Maureen in the attack, Diana has been profoundly affected by the incident - her seemingly perfect life shaped by the events of that day.
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 thisDuck! The Carbine High Massacre (1999)
Derwin and Derick, Neo-Nazis, plan to commit a school shooting and kill themselves after a sick joke by school jocks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Taps (1981)
Military cadets take extreme measures to ensure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStaudamm (2014)
A young man called Roman is working for an attorney. Roman has to travel to a small village in Bavaria, in order to get some files from a local police station. These files keep records about a high school massacre committed by a student a year ago. Due to bureaucratic reasons, Roman has to stay in the village for a few days. By accident he meets a young girl called Laura, who has survived the massacre. By becoming more acquainted to Laura, Roman also becomes more interested in the tragic event. Later on he realizes that Laura is hiding a secret. She has been more involved in the incident.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays (TBA)
Narrated through her diary, the story is a fictional account of Laura, a petite self-destructive and remote teenager living a drug fuelled dead-end, latch-key existence in a Southern Californian suburb.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Polytechnique (2009)
A dramatization of the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, on December 9, 1989, where 14 female engineering students were murdered (and 13 were wounded) by a 25 year old psychotic misogynist armed with a semi-automatic weapon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhite Rabbit (2013)
A bullied student sees visions of a rabbit he was forced to kill as a child, and those visions propel him into a state where his imagination causes him to carry out violent acts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalevolence (2004)
Antonio owes the Robaldo family a hundred G's, Gray wants revenge on the street gang who mugged him, Jimmy's escaped from prison, and his brother/accomplice David has many serious mental conditions. Detective Brickley is hot on their trail willing to stop them with any means necessary, while a pair of rogue psychiatrists track them to discover the roots of David's condition. It isn't long before the paths of these characters cross with violent and tragic consequences. The result is a shocking and disturbing portrait of human nature at its worst that can only be summed up in one word: Malevolence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Just a Drill (2019)
Determined to follow the rules in an active shooter drill, an overworked teacher in an underfunded classroom battles the impossible choices a leader must make when the drill becomes a horrifying reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
To Save a Life (2009)
Jake Taylor has everything. He has a beautiful girl, he's the champion in basketball and beer pong, and everyone loves him. Then, an old childhood friend of his commits suicide. Jake wonders what he could've done to save his friend's life. A youth minister tells him that Jake needs God. So Jake becomes a Christian. However, things begin to spin out of control. Jake is going to realize just what it means to be a Christian and how, to save a life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Hero, Balthazar (2026)
Eager to impress his activist crush, a wealthy New York teenager follows an online connection to Texas, where he's convinced he can stop an act of extreme violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like DeKalb Elementary?
The closest matches to DeKalb Elementary are Home Room (2002), Hounddog (2008) and The Hate U Give (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after DeKalb Elementary?
Start with Home Room (2002), the closest match to DeKalb Elementary.
What is the highest-rated movie like DeKalb Elementary?
The Hate U Give (2018), rated 8.1/10 by 2,264 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like DeKalb Elementary?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like DeKalb Elementary?
Yes: Home Room (2002), Hounddog (2008) and The Hate U Give (2018).
How are movies similar to DeKalb Elementary chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside DeKalb Elementary, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.