Movies like Substance (2017)
The best movies like Substance (2017) are MirrorMask (2005), Chaos Walking (2021) and A Thousand Words (2012). If Substance hooked you with its fantasy, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSlumberland (2022)7.2/10 from 998 votes
- Newest40 Acres (2025)Released 2025
MirrorMask (2005)
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaos Walking (2021)
Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Thousand Words (2012)
Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack’s life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he’s got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zero Theorem (2013)
A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)
A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod: Serengeti (2017)
God presides over a prehistoric tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo of a Kind (1983)
God has had enough of the bad behavior and attitude of humankind, and has decided to start it all over. It is up to a struggling inventor and a bank teller, both with very amateur criminal minds, to save the world by falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKilling Jesus (2015)
Jesus of Nazareth’s life and ministry were subject to seismic social and political events that led to his execution and changed the world forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unhealer (2021)
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFrom Beyond the Grave (1974)
Four customers purchase, or take, items from Temptations Limited, an antiques shop whose motto is “Offers You Cannot Resist.” A nasty fate awaits all of them; particularly those who cheat the shop's Proprietor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHideaways (2011)
The elder one of each generation in the Furlong family is equipped with an extraordinary capacity. James discovers the nature of his at the time of an accident which causes the death of his father and his grandmother. Haunted by this mysterious evil he hides in a forest not to harm anybody. A few years later, Mae also takes refuge it in the forest and meets James.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPriest (2011)
In an alternate world, humanity and vampires have warred for centuries. After the last Vampire War, the veteran Warrior Priest lives in obscurity with other humans inside one of the Church's walled cities. When the Priest's niece is kidnapped by vampires, the Priest breaks his vows to hunt them down. He is accompanied by the niece's boyfriend, who is a wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisNine Days (2021)
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Tower (2017)
A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisOh, God! (1977)
When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVesper (2022)
After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDate with an Angel (1987)
Aspiring composer Jim Sanders is engaged to spoiled rich girl Patty. But the morning after his bachelor party, Jim wakes up to discover a beautiful, broken-winged angel in his pool. When everyone finds out about his heavenly houseguest, Jim must cope with a dangerously jealous fiancée, an exploitive future father-in-law and a group of buddies with an outrageous business plan!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlumberland (2022)
A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Substance?
The closest matches to Substance are MirrorMask (2005), Chaos Walking (2021) and A Thousand Words (2012). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Substance?
Start with MirrorMask (2005), the closest match to Substance.
What is the highest-rated movie like Substance?
Slumberland (2022), rated 7.2/10 by 998 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Substance?
40 Acres (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Substance?
Yes: MirrorMask (2005), Chaos Walking (2021) and A Thousand Words (2012).
How are movies similar to Substance chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Substance, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.