Movies like The Neon Spectrum (2017)
The best movies like The Neon Spectrum (2017) are Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dear Frankie (2004) and The Secret of Moonacre (2009). If The Neon Spectrum hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLetter from an Unknown Woman (1948)7.8/10 from 355 votes
- NewestDoing Life (2026)Released 2026
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDear Frankie (2004)
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret of Moonacre (2009)
When 13 year old Maria Merryweather's father dies, leaving her orphaned and homeless, she is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live with Sir Benjamin, an eccentric uncle she didn't know she had, at the mysterious Moonacre Manor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020)
After freeing a young Bedouin girl from her unjust imprisonment in Jerusalem, an Australian adventuress, together with her devoted police detective friend, begins to unravel a decade-old mystery concerning priceless emeralds, an ancient curse and the disappearance of the girl's mother and massacre of her tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCowboys (2020)
Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Ride (2009)
A young boy travels across Australia with his father, who's wanted by the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Journey of Natty Gann (1985)
America is in the depths of the Great Depression. Families drift apart when faraway jobs beckon. A courageous young girl confronts overwhelming odds when she embarks on a cross-country search for her father. During her odyssey, she forms a close bond with two diverse traveling companions: a magnificent, protective wolf, and a hardened drifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Light Between Oceans (2016)
A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Piano (1993)
When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited pre-teen daughter Flora to the wilderness of 19th-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWalkabout (1971)
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDavid Copperfield (1935)
A young man journeys from a difficult childhood to maturity, exploring social injustice, personal development, and the complexities of human relationships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe History of Love (2016)
The story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sense of an Ending (2017)
A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCargo (2017)
After being infected in the wake of a violent pandemic and with only 48 hours to live, a father struggles to find a new home for his baby daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Mile: Chapter One (2026)
After being released from special forces, a father tries to reconnect with his daughter by taking her on a tour of college, but they soon find themselves fighting for more than their lost relationship when a murderous cult pursues them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War Zone (1999)
An alienated teenager, saddened that he has moved away from London, must find a way to deal with a dark family secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLetter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoing Life (2026)
A single mother and an incarcerated man forge an unlikely bond through heartfelt letters, unlocking a door to redemption, hope and love against all odds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAll of Us Strangers (2023)
One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life.
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 The Neon Spectrum?
The closest matches to The Neon Spectrum are Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dear Frankie (2004) and The Secret of Moonacre (2009). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Neon Spectrum?
Start with Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), the closest match to The Neon Spectrum.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Neon Spectrum?
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), rated 7.8/10 by 355 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Neon Spectrum?
Doing Life (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Neon Spectrum?
Yes: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Dear Frankie (2004) and The Secret of Moonacre (2009).
How are movies similar to The Neon Spectrum chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Neon Spectrum, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.