Movies like …the thing itself (2018)
The best movies like …the thing itself (2018) are Taxi Driver (1976), Combat Shock (1986) and Silent Running (1972). If …the thing itself hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
…the thing itself
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTaxi Driver (1976)8.1/10 from 14,009 votes
- NewestSlingshot (2024)Released 2024
Taxi Driver (1976)
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCombat Shock (1986)
A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilent Running (1972)
After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlbert Nobbs (2011)
Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Brave Little Toaster (1987)
A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
The staff of an American magazine based in France puts out its last issue, with stories featuring an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBefore Sunrise (1995)
An unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, exploring new ideas while a quiet intimacy grows between them, knowing it may be their only night together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRunning on Empty (1988)
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since then, the Popes have been on the run with the authorities never far behind. Their survival is threatened when their eldest son falls in love with a girl, and announces his wish to live his life on his own terms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this3 Days to Kill (2014)
A dangerous international spy is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. But first, he must complete one last mission - even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world's most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlashbacks of a Fool (2008)
An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (2012)
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHustle & Flow (2005)
With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSlingshot (2024)
An elite trio of astronauts aboard a years-long, possibly compromised mission to Saturn's moon, Titan, gears up for a highly dangerous slingshot manoeuvre that will either catapult them to Titan or into deep space.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Edge of the World (1937)
A way of life is dying on a remote Scottish island, but some of the inhabitants resist evacuating to the mainland.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlatoon (1986)
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBefore Sunset (2004)
Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of the day together before Jesse has to again leave for a flight. They are both in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
A handsome young man trades his soul so that his portrait ages while he stays eternally young.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPath to War (2003)
A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during the Vietnam War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like …the thing itself and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like …the thing itself?
The closest matches to …the thing itself are Taxi Driver (1976), Combat Shock (1986) and Silent Running (1972). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after …the thing itself?
Start with Taxi Driver (1976), the closest match to …the thing itself.
What is the highest-rated movie like …the thing itself?
Taxi Driver (1976), rated 8.1/10 by 14,009 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like …the thing itself?
Slingshot (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like …the thing itself?
Yes: Taxi Driver (1976), Combat Shock (1986) and Silent Running (1972).
How are movies similar to …the thing itself chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside …the thing itself, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.