Movies like Arivu (1979)
The best movies like Arivu (1979) are Child's Play (1972), Rachel, Rachel (1968) and The Best of Me (2014). If Arivu hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSeven Pounds (2008)7.6/10 from 7,460 votes
- NewestNormal (2026)Released 2026
Child's Play (1972)
At an exclusive boys' school, a new gym teacher is drawn into a feud between two older instructors, and he discovers that everything at the school is not quite as staid, tranquil and harmless as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRachel, Rachel (1968)
Rachel is a 35-year-old school teacher who has no man in her life and lives with her mother. When a man from the big city returns and asks her out, she begins to have to make decisions about her life and where she wants it to go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Best of Me (2014)
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their small hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFist Fight (2017)
When one school teacher gets the other fired, he is challenged to an after-school fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Wonderland (2018)
Heidi, who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery’s big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love, Chris, now a teacher, and offers to help him find a new last-minute location for the Christmas dance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFar from the Madding Crowd (2015)
In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a hardworking young sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Whole Wide World (1996)
In 1930s Texas, pulp fiction master Robert E. Howard is introduced to Novalyne Price, a teacher with aspirations of becoming an author herself, and they begin a unique relationship filled with conversation and imagination. Although the possibility exists for romance, Howard's obsession with his work and dedication to his sick mother leads Price to look elsewhere for love, leaving Howard feeling betrayed and alone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestry Rides Again (1939)
Tom Destry, son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Pounds (2008)
An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSome Came Running (1958)
A former novelist returns to his small Midwest town after serving in the Army during WWII, to the chagrin of his social-climbing brother, and becomes close with an easy-going professional gambler and torn between two very different women.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOdd Thomas (2013)
In a California desert town, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Farmer's Daughter (1947)
After leaving her family's farm to study nursing in the city, a young woman finds herself on an unexpected path towards politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShout (1991)
A new music teacher in a 1955 West Texas home for wayward boys brings new vision and hope for many of the interned boys.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisJohnny Belinda (1948)
A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2026)
An unassuming substitute sheriff with a troubled past responds to a bank robbery in a small, sleepy town and unknowingly uncovers something far more explosive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen Calls the Heart (2013)
Elizabeth Thatcher, a cultured young teacher in 1910, fears leaving her comfortable world in the city. But when she accepts a teaching position in a frontier town, she finds new purpose and love with a handsome Royal Canadian Mountie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirecreek (1968)
A peace-loving, part-time sheriff in the small town of Firecreek must take a stand when a gang of vicious outlaws takes over his town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ron Clark Story (2006)
Passionate and innovative teacher Ron Clark leaves his small hometown to teach in one of Harlem's toughest schools. But to break through to the students, he must use unconventional methods, including his ground-breaking classroom rules, to help them reach their potential. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Arivu?
The closest matches to Arivu are Child's Play (1972), Rachel, Rachel (1968) and The Best of Me (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Arivu?
Start with Child's Play (1972), the closest match to Arivu.
What is the highest-rated movie like Arivu?
Seven Pounds (2008), rated 7.6/10 by 7,460 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Arivu?
Normal (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Kannada movies like Arivu?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Arivu chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Arivu, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.