Movies like Painting with Light (1974)
The best movies like Painting with Light (1974) are They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Maniac (1963) and UNABOMBER (2026). If Painting with Light hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)7.4/10 from 5,947 votes
- NewestUNABOMBER (2026)Released 2026
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
As his life comes to its end, famous Hollywood director Orson Welles puts it all on the line at the chance for renewed success with the film The Other Side of the Wind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisManiac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUNABOMBER (2026)
Follow Ted Kaczynski's transformation from Harvard prodigy into the infamous Unabomber. Subjected to controversial psychological experiments by Professor Henry Murray, Kaczynski's troubled past resurfaces decades later when his manhunt, led by FBI agent Joanne Miller, brings to light the chilling consequences of ambition and isolation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCashback (2007)
After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Finale (2018)
In 1960, a team of Israeli secret agents is deployed to find Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi architect of the Holocaust, supposedly hidden in Argentina, and get him to Israel to be judged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)
In the midst of World War II, Sherlock Holmes rescues the Swiss inventor of a new bomb-sight from the Gestapo and brings him to England, where he quickly falls into the clutches of the evil Professor Moriarty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Defying Acts (2007)
On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con the famous magician.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisFrom the Terrace (1960)
Alfred Eaton, an ambitious young executive, climbs to the top of New York's financial world as his marriage crumbles. At the brink of attaining his career goals, he is forced to choose between business success, married to the beautiful, but unfaithful Mary and starting over with his true love, the much younger Natalie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaw Abiding Citizen (2009)
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Quiet Earth (1985)
After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
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 thisBlackmail (1929)
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World of Suzie Wong (1960)
A Hong Kong prostitute tries modeling and falls for the artist who's painting her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe X-Files (1998)
Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Eyes of Orson Welles (2018)
A poetic journey into the visual world of the legendary filmmaker and actor Orson Welles (1915-85) that reveals a new portrait of a unique genius, both of his life and of his monumental work: through his own eyes, drawn by his own hand, painted with his own brush.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanvas (2020)
After a heartbreaking loss, a grandfather struggling to reclaim his passion for painting finds the inspiration to create again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn Dangerous Ground (1951)
A big-city cop is reassigned to the country after his superiors find him too angry to be an effective policeman. While on his temporary assignment he assists in a manhunt of a suspected murderer.
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 thisExtraordinary Measures (2010)
Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children are diagnosed with Pompe disease—a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist, Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of his children. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Knight Before Christmas (2019)
A medieval English knight is magically transported to present day where he ends up falling for a high school science teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Painting with Light?
The closest matches to Painting with Light are They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Maniac (1963) and UNABOMBER (2026). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Painting with Light?
Start with They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), the closest match to Painting with Light.
What is the highest-rated movie like Painting with Light?
Law Abiding Citizen (2009), rated 7.4/10 by 5,947 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Painting with Light?
UNABOMBER (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Painting with Light?
Yes: They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018), Maniac (1963) and UNABOMBER (2026).
How are movies similar to Painting with Light chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Painting with Light, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.