Movies like The Institution (1978)
The best movies like The Institution (1978) are Every Breath You Take (2021), Crazy People (1990) and Stonehearst Asylum (2014). If The Institution hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStutz (2022)7.5/10 from 227 votes
- NewestThe Home (2025)Released 2025
Every Breath You Take (2021)
A psychiatrist, whose client commits suicide, finds his family life disrupted after introducing her surviving brother to his wife and daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrazy People (1990)
A bitter ad executive, who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution, where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisStonehearst Asylum (2014)
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Life (1971)
A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Stand of Ellen Cole (2024)
When an evil contractor goes to extreme measures to evict a testy tenant who is standing in the way of his new project, he fails to take into account that this seemingly harmless old woman is a trained killer and will do anything to protect her beloved home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSaint Maud (2020)
Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrank (2014)
A young wannabe musician discovers he has bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Cloned Tyrone (2023)
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy lurking directly beneath their neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElephant Song (2015)
A psychiatrist is drawn into a complex mind game when he questions a disturbed patient about the disappearance of a colleague.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQuiz Show (1994)
Herbert Stempel's transformation into an unexpected television personality unfolds as he secures victory on the cherished American game show, 'Twenty-One.' However, when the show introduces the highly skilled contestant Charles Van Doren to replace Stempel, it compels Stempel to let out his frustrations and call out the show as rigged. Lawyer Richard Goodwin steps in and attempts to uncover the orchestrated deception behind the scenes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHailey Dean Mysteries: A Prescription for Murder (2019)
Psychologist and former prosecutor Hailey Dean aids her friend Detective Garland Fincher in investigating a rapidly growing string of murders at Atlanta Memorial Hospital when Fincher’s girlfriend Dr. Meghan Phillips is named a suspect in the first killing. As the list of suspects grows with each new victim’s death, Hailey’s keen investigative skills, her uncanny ability to read people, and her passion for justice lead her through a labyrinth of clues that eventually point to the killer. But when she gets too close to the truth, Hailey becomes the killer’s next target for murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecret Millionaire (2018)
When a bored millionaire (Steve Lund) is mistaken for a parking attendant by a beautiful girl (Siobhan Williams) who is protesting against his family’s intention of closing a local park, he uses the misunderstanding to get to know her better.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelen (2009)
On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNeverwas (2005)
Zach Riley is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, Millwood. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay (2003)
A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavid and Lisa (1962)
Teenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people, but David remains withdrawn from the other patients and his psychiatrist. Over time, however, David grows interested in 15-year-old Lisa, who suffers from multiple personalities – one who can only speak in rhyme, and the other, a mute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSybil (2007)
A true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Home (2025)
A troubled man starts working at a retirement home and realizes its residents and caretakers harbor sinister secrets. As he investigates the building and its forbidden fourth floor, he starts to uncover connections to his own past and upbringing as a foster child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJimmy P. (2013)
At the end of WWII, Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot who fought in France, suffers from unexplainable symptoms and is admitted to a military hospital. When doctors suspect schizophrenia, an eccentric psychoanalyst takes up the case and starts a conversation with the veteran.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStutz (2022)
In candid conversations with actor Jonah Hill, leading psychiatrist Phil Stutz explores his early life experiences and unique, visual model of therapy.
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 Institution?
The closest matches to The Institution are Every Breath You Take (2021), Crazy People (1990) and Stonehearst Asylum (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Institution?
Start with Every Breath You Take (2021), the closest match to The Institution.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Institution?
Stutz (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 227 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Institution?
The Home (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Institution?
Yes: Every Breath You Take (2021), Crazy People (1990) and Stonehearst Asylum (2014).
How are movies similar to The Institution chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Institution, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.