Movies like Darkling (2022)
The best movies like Darkling (2022) are Bunker (2023), Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996) and The Surrender (2025). If Darkling hooked you with its drama and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSavaged (2014)6.6/10 from 229 votes
- NewestThe Surrender (2025)Released 2025
Bunker (2023)
Trapped in a bunker during World War I, a group of soldiers are faced with an ungodly presence that slowly turns them against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
In the opening stages of the Bosnian War, a small group of Serbian soldiers are trapped in a tunnel by a Muslim force.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeal Team Eight: Behind Enemy Lines (2014)
Seal Team Eight must fight their way deep into Africa's Congo, decommission a secret uranium mine, and stop our most dangerous enemy from smuggling weapon's grade yellow-cake out of the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnclave (2015)
Nenad, ten years Christian boy from a Serbian enclave, determined to create a proper community burial for his late grandfather, crosses enemy lines and makes friends among the Muslim majority in deeply divided, war-torn Kosovo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet and the Black (1983)
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCloak and Dagger (1946)
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisField of Lost Shoes (2015)
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBehold a Pale Horse (1964)
Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kill Team (2019)
When Andrew Briggman — a young soldier in the US Army during the invasion of Afghanistan — witnesses the murderous behavior of fellow soldiers, under the direction of a malevolent Sergeant, he faces a moral dilemma. His increasingly-violent platoon becomes suspicious that someone in their ranks has turned on them, and Andrew begins to fear for his safety. A fictionalized dramatization based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thinning: New World Order (2018)
Blake Redding is trapped in this dark room wanting to protect his love so the only thing he will do is escape like no failed student has done before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalking with the Enemy (2014)
Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent Horthy gives up control of his country to the Nazis, who quickly move Hungarians to ghettos and death camps, with no hope in sight. But the despair changes when a young man named Elek emerges. Separated from his family during the relocations and aided by the woman he loves , Elek defies the enemy by becoming one of them. In a race against time, disguised as a Nazi Officer he embarks on a mission to save his family and thousands of his countrymen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJacknife (1989)
A conflict develops between a troubled Vietnam veteran and the sister he lives with when she becomes involved romantically with the army buddy who reminds him of the tragic battle they both survived.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBat★21 (1988)
Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a temporary shortage of helicopters causes a delay. Working with an Air Force reconnaissance pilot, Capt. Bartholomew Clark, he maps out an escape route.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cursed (2021)
In the late 19th century, a brutal land baron slaughters a Roma clan, unleashing a curse on his family and village. In the days that follow, the townspeople are plagued by nightmares, the baron's son goes missing, and a boy is found murdered. The locals suspect a wild animal, but a visiting pathologist warns of a more sinister presence lurking in the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Vanishing (1993)
The boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaptain Lechi (1960)
Kosmet in the fall of 1944. The Partisans have successfully liberated the town of Prizren from occupying Germans,and Ramiz Leshi, a brave and cunning KNOJ captain, has to liquidate the remainder of the local Quislings, called Balists. They are led by a ruthless, German-trained soldier Kosta and by Ahmet, the brother of the famous Captain. As Ramiz is trying to get Ahmet out of the gang and hunt down the rest of the Balists, 2 new girls arrive in town. One of them is Lola, a bar singer with a questionable agenda, and the other is Vida, a withdrawn music teacher from Belgrade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
Doctor Homer's Brother (1968)
This film predominantly deals with the problems of a young man whom his delusions led into conflict with society. These issues will throw him into an adventure that would be tragic for him, but still helpful for him to see the truth. The story takes place in Kosovo in 1945, in an atmosphere of uncured wounds, wandering, betrayal, burned homes, typhoid and other postwar misery. An authentic story from those days was taken as the film's basis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Chronicles of Sonatine or: Shadows of the Broken Memories (2025)
After the disappearance of a young actress, a director is left alone with memories, guilt, and the silence she left behind. In an attempt to understand what happened, he confronts himself, the past, and an unknown figure who seems to have always been there. Chronicles of Sonatine or: Shadows of the Broken Memories is a story built on half-truths and the people who get lost within them. Can you restore a memory… without distorting it?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & horror
Warriors (2002)
Kosovo, winter 1999. KFOR forces perform their humanitarian task while trying to maintain a difficult neutrality between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs. A platoon of Spanish Army engineers becomes unwittingly caught up in the spiral of violence between the two sides.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Anathema (2006)
A woman who is raped and gives birth to a child in war torn Kosovo, struggles to keep her child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama
The Oak and the Tree (1979)
The story follows the Kosovar partisan hero known as Lisi (Oak), from WWII days, subsequent liberation, until mid-1960s. Lisi was a brave warrior, yet he and his generation remains largely uneducated. However his nephew starts as a courier, and becomes doctor afterwards.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war
Snipers Valley (2007)
Young Bundeswehr soldiers Tom and Charly are stationed in Kosovo with the KFOR peacekeeping force. Their mission is to secure peace. Although the brutal war between the enemy Serbs and Albanians is officially over, the hatred between people continues to smoulder. When Tom and Charly rescue the young Serbian Mirjana from the fatal shot of the young sniper Durcan, they get caught between all fronts. They lose their professional distance due to the resulting closeness to Mirjana - who has to learn that her father was a war criminal - but also to Durcan - whose entire family was wiped out. Soon they are entangled in a conflict about guilt, manipulation, love and revenge...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Unwanted (2017)
A lonely boy, who lives in Amsterdam with his refugee mother from Kosovo, keeps getting into trouble while yearning for her acceptance. But the traumas caused by the war, which his mother hides away from him, turn his world upside down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Man of Earth (1984)
Sokol is a middle-aged Kosovar Albanian who, together with his family, emigrates from Kosovo to Turkey, and faces the foreign and unknown world. After some time he becomes homesick, eventually leaving his last will he gave to his son that when he dies, his bones will be returned to his native country. He dies near of a cliff at the Black Sea coast. In his native village, the news that Sokol has been returned from emigration are being spread.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Swelling River (1981)
In a mining plant in Kosovo, as occurs in many work organizations across the country, workers continue to win new positions in the self-management. The former miner and fighter - now general manager of the factory - is on the side of the workers, but has troubles in personal life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Darkling?
The closest matches to Darkling are Bunker (2023), Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996) and The Surrender (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Darkling?
Start with Bunker (2023), the closest match to Darkling.
What is the highest-rated movie like Darkling?
Savaged (2014), rated 6.6/10 by 229 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Darkling?
The Surrender (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Darkling chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Darkling, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.