Movies like Heat Wave (2019)
The best movies like Heat Wave (2019) are The Fallout (2021), The Orphans (2025) and The Hate U Give (2018). If Heat Wave hooked you, these 20 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 2,266 votes
- NewestThe Orphans (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchThe Orphans (2025)Also in French
The Fallout (2021)
In the wake of a school tragedy, Vada, Mia and Quinton form a unique and dynamic bond as they navigate the never linear, often confusing journey to heal in a world that feels forever changed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Orphans (2025)
Gab and Driss, childhood friends on bad terms since they left the orphanage, now have opposite lives - one is a cop with the IGPN, the other a fixer for thugs. When their first love dies in a suspicious accident, her 17-year-old daughter, Leïla, takes Gab's gun and sets off on the trail of a powerful organization willing to do anything to cover the case up. Forced to team up, the orphans must stop her before she crosses a line she can't return from...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReal Genius (1985)
When teenage geniuses Mitch Taylor and Chris Knight, working on an advanced laser project, learn that the military wants to use it as a weapon, they decide to thwart the plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalm Trees and Power Lines (2023)
Seventeen-year-old Lea spends her summer break tanning in her backyard, and drifting between tiptoeing around her needy mother, and aimlessly trailing her best friend and boys from school. This monotony is interrupted by a chance encounter with Tom, a seductive man twice her age who promises an alternative to Lea's unsatisfying adolescent life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA-X-L (2018)
The life of a teenage boy is forever altered by a chance encounter with cutting edge military technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShaft (1971)
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadS (2024)
A teenager stops off to see his dealer to test a new drug before heading off for a night of partying. On the way home, he picks up an injured woman, and the night takes a surreal turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man in the White Van (2024)
In early 1970s Florida, an ominous white van stalks young women. A teenage girl is the latest victim, but this one won't stay a victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreathe (2014)
Charlie, a 17-year-old girl tortured by doubt, is thrilled when she becomes friends with Sarah, but when Sarah tires of Charlie and looks for a new friend, their relationship takes an ominous turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStar Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Following an assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi investigate a mysterious plot into the heart of the Separatist movement and the beginning of the Clone Wars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNenette and Boni (1997)
Teenage siblings Nenette and Boni were raised apart as a result of their parents' divorce. Their mother, who doted on her son Boni, has died. He works for an interesting couple as a pizza baker, and is surprised and enraged when his younger sister, having run away from boarding school, suddenly turns up. There's a problem that they must confront.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Mirror (1946)
A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGangster Squad (2013)
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Invisible (2007)
After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able help him is his attacker.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Poison (1968)
A troubled arsonist spins a tale of espionage to a captivating girl, who becomes enthralled and entangled in his dangerous fantasies, leading to unexpected murder and chaos that change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCall Me by Your Name (2017)
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShades of Desire (2023)
After her twin sister Aubrey goes missing, Jennifer uncovers the scandalous, secret double-life that Aubrey leads - and that has put both of them in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last House on the Left (2009)
When athletic teen Mari Collingwood opts to hang out with her friend Paige in town rather than spend an evening in with her parents vacationing at the family's remote lake house, it marks the beginning of a night no one is going to forget.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Heat Wave?
The closest matches to Heat Wave are The Fallout (2021), The Orphans (2025) and The Hate U Give (2018). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Heat Wave?
Start with The Fallout (2021), the closest match to Heat Wave.
What is the highest-rated movie like Heat Wave?
The Hate U Give (2018), rated 8.1/10 by 2,266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Heat Wave?
The Orphans (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Heat Wave?
Yes: The Orphans (2025), MadS (2024) and Breathe (2014).
How are movies similar to Heat Wave chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Heat Wave, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.