Movies like Banned (1989)
The best movies like Banned (1989) are Dave Made a Maze (2017), Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) and Once Bitten (1985). If Banned hooked you with its music and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGhosts (1997)8.1/10 from 305 votes
- NewestHold the Fort (2025)Released 2025
Dave Made a Maze (2017)
Dave, an artist who has yet to complete anything significant in his career, builds a fort in his living room out of pure frustration, only to wind up trapped by the fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his own creation. Ignoring his warnings, Dave’s girlfriend Annie leads a band of oddball explorers on a rescue mission. Once inside, they find themselves trapped in an ever-changing supernatural world, threatened by booby traps and pursued by a bloodthirsty Minotaur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
In Venice Beach, naive Midwesterner JB bonds with local slacker KG and they form the rock band Tenacious D. Setting out to become the world's greatest band is no easy feat, so they set out to steal what could be the answer to their prayers... a magical guitar pick housed in a rock-and-roll museum some 300 miles away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Bitten (1985)
Mark wants to lose his virginity, but his girlfriend wants to wait. Unfortunately for both of them, a 400-year-old vampire Countess needs to turn a virgin into a vampire before Halloween in order to preserve her own youthful appearance, and when she finds Mark, she turns his life upside-down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
Doctor Gulliver is poor, so nothing - not even his charming fiancée Elisabeth - keeps him in the town he lives. He signs on to a ship to India, but in a storm he's washed off the ship and ends up on an island, which is inhibitated by very tiny people. After he managed to convince them he's harmless and is accepted as one of their citizens, their king wants to use him in war against a people of giants. Compared to them, even Gulliver is a gnome.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIdle Hands (1999)
Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Spirits (1988)
When a hotelier attempts to fill the chronic vacancies at his castle by launching an advertising campaign that falsely portrays the property as haunted, two actual ghosts show up and end up falling for two guests.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisScooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)
The Yowie Yahoo starts kidnapping musicians at a concert attended by Scooby and the gang in Vampire Rock, Australia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisForbidden Zone (1982)
A mysterious door in the basement of the Hercules house leads to the Sixth Dimension by way of a gigantic set of intestine. When lovely exchange student Frenchy slips through the door, the diminuitive King Fausto falls in love with her. The jealous Queen Doris takes Frenchy prisoner, and it is up to the Hercules family and friend Squeezit Henderson to rescue her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhosts (1997)
In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an attempt to run Maestro out of town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLove and Monsters (2020)
Seven years since the Monsterpocalypse began, Joel Dawson has been living underground in order to survive. But after reconnecting over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee, Joel decides to venture out to reunite with her, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrick or Treat (1986)
Eddie Weinbauer, a metalhead teen who is bullied at school, looks to his heavy metal superstar idol, Sammi Curr, for guidance. When Curr is killed in a hotel fire, Eddie becomes the recipient of the only copy of his unreleased album, which, when played backwards, brings the rocker back to life. As Halloween approaches, Eddie begins to realize that this isn't only rock 'n roll...It's life and death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHold the Fort (2025)
A HOA turns out to be more troublesome than usual in this wildly amusing, FX-heavy freak-out about newly minted suburbanites unexpectedly forced to take part in a struggle against monstrous forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unhealer (2021)
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPsycho Goreman (2020)
Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord. Using a magical amulet, they force the monster to obey their childish whims, and accidentally attract a rogues’ gallery of intergalactic assassins to small-town suburbia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster (2010)
Scooby-Doo and the gang are on the case when a mysterious lake monster starts scaring the guests at a summer resort in Erie Point, where Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy have taken on seasonal jobs to pay for a barn they accidentally burned down. But in addition to sneaking suspicions, there's some romance in the air.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAirheads (1994)
The Lone Rangers have heavy-metal dreams and a single demo tape they can't get anyone to play. The solution: Hijack an FM rock radio station and hold the deejays hostage until they agree to broadcast the band's tape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocebo (2022)
A fashion designer suffers from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020)
A rebellious teenage princess discovers she has superhuman abilities and joins a secret society of extraordinary second-born royals tasked with protecting the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeavy Metal (1981)
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary (2017)
Documentary on the shock rock group "The Mentors".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Invisible Nation (2006)
A documentary about vivid punk and alternative rock scene of Subotica, the northernmost Serbian city, through the periods of communism, tyranny of the 1990s regime, and economic transition at the beginning of XXI century. Seen through the eyes of its witnesses, these musicians and creative artists deliberately refused the imposed way of behavior, hence staying "invisible" to everyday people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
After Hours (1985)
Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMinor Threat - Live: DC Space-Buff Hall-930 Club (2003)
Minor Threat played one of its last shows at Washington DC's 930 Club in June of 1983; they would only play once more in DC. Two years later, the tapes from the 930 show were edited together and Dischord Records released them as the Minor Threat Live VHS video in 1986. Along with the 40 minute 930 performance, the DVD includes a 1982 Minor Threat show in Camden, NJ, a clip of Minor Threat's 2nd ever show at DC Space in December 1980, and excerpts from a 1983 interview with vocalist, Ian MacKaye.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Dudes (1987)
Two punks from the big city, traveling across the country in a Volkswagen bug, embrace the western ethos when they must take revenge against a group of rednecks for killing their friend in this lighthearted road movie. Along the way, they enlist the help of a young woman who runs a wrecking service.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Green Day: Bullet in a Bible (2005)
Bullet in a Bible documents one of the two biggest shows that Green Day have performed in their career. They played in front of a crowd of over 130,000 people at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in United Kingdom on June 18–19, 2005. The band was supported by Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, and Hard-Fi during their American Idiot world tour. Fourteen of the twenty songs performed at these shows were included on the disc; missing out "Jaded", "Knowledge", "She", "Maria", "Homecoming" and "We Are The Champions". Bullet in a Bible was released as a double-LP set on November 10, 2009, as part of the band's 2009 vinyl re-release campaign.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Ian Dury: On My Life! (1999)
Autobiographical documentary in which Ian Dury, fighting a battle with cancer to which he would later succumb, recalls his life and career. With contributions from painter Peter Blake and members of Dury's band, the Blockheads.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Live at Luton (1999)
In one of his last gigs, Ian Dury performs in concert with The Blockheads at Venue 27 in Luton. Hits include Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3, Mash It Up Harry and Bus Drivers' Prayer. First broadcast 28 March 2004
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Evil Lives: The Misfits A.D. (2016)
A fan produced, unauthorized, non profit concert documentary featuring the Misfits playing their first show since 1983. Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only reuniting with Doyle as "The Misfits" to play two Riot Fest dates in 2016 was an unparalleled example of Hell truly freezing over. A obsession with a single challenge developed: Could one rip all of the crowd shot videos floating around on YouTube and sync their audio in order to recreate the FULL 80 minute show? The answer was yes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
1991: The Year Punk Broke (1992)
David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Like Banned and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Banned?
The closest matches to Banned are Dave Made a Maze (2017), Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) and Once Bitten (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Banned?
Start with Dave Made a Maze (2017), the closest match to Banned.
What is the highest-rated movie like Banned?
Ghosts (1997), rated 8.1/10 by 305 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Banned?
Hold the Fort (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Banned?
Yes: Dave Made a Maze (2017), Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) and Once Bitten (1985).
How are movies similar to Banned chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Banned, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.