Movies like 81 (1996)
The best movies like 81 (1996) are Hunger (2008), The Iron Lady (2011) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). If 81 hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEast of Eden (1955)7.5/10 from 847 votes
- NewestGuns Up (2025)Released 2025
Hunger (2008)
The story of Bobby Sands, the IRA member who led the 1981 hunger strike during The Troubles in which Irish Republican prisoners tried to win political status.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Iron Lady (2011)
A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEast of Eden (1955)
In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their father. Cal is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, how to get ahead in business and in life, and how to relate to his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
The original '70s TV family is now placed in the 1990s, where they're even more square and out of place than ever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Seduction (1994)
A devious femme fatale steals her husband’s drug money and hides out in a small town where she meets the perfect dupe for her next scheme.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatchmen (2009)
In a gritty and alternate 1985, the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown. But after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered, an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so they uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaria (2024)
Maria Callas, the world's greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatchmen: Chapter II (2024)
Suspicious of the events ensnaring their former colleagues, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are spurred out of retirement to investigate. As they grapple with personal ethics, inner demons and a society turned against them, they race the clock to uncover a deepening plot that might trigger global nuclear war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Romance (2021)
When librarian Taylor Harris suddenly loses her job, she decides to visit her brother in a small town in Montana. There, she gets involved in the fight to help save her brother's hotel from tycoon Joel Sheenan, who wants to renovate it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoal! (2005)
Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer... However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that—a dream. Until one day an extraordinary turn of events has him trying out for Premiership club Newcastle United.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt's a Free World... (2007)
Working-class Angie, sacked from a recruitment agency for bad public behaviour, teams up with her flatmate to run a similar business from their kitchen. With immigrants desperate for work, the opportunities are considerable, particularly for two girls so in tune with these times.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this7th Heaven (1927)
In 1910s Paris, a sewer worker disillusioned with Christianity feels his prayers have been answered when he chances upon a street waif and they fall in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShirley (2024)
Shirley Chisholm makes a trailblazing run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.
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 thisMeantime (1983)
A working-class family in London's East End is struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the mother Mavis is working; father Frank and the couple's two sons Colin, a timid, chronically shy individual and Mark, an outspoken, headstrong young man, are on the dole. This situation is contrasted by the presence of Mavis's sister Barbara, and her husband John, whose financial and social loftiness appears to be a comfortable facade over the unspoken soreness of a lackluster marriage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kitchen (2019)
The mobster husbands of three 1978 Hell's Kitchen housewives are sent to prison by the FBI. Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia's matters into their own hands — proving unexpectedly adept at everything from running the rackets to taking out the competition… literally.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuns Up (2025)
When a job goes horribly wrong, an ex-cop and family man who moonlights as a mob henchman has one night to get his family out of the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 81?
The closest matches to 81 are Hunger (2008), The Iron Lady (2011) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 81?
Start with Hunger (2008), the closest match to 81.
What is the highest-rated movie like 81?
East of Eden (1955), rated 7.5/10 by 847 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 81?
Guns Up (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like 81?
Yes: Hunger (2008), The Iron Lady (2011) and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996).
How are movies similar to 81 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 81, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.