Movies like In a Sweatbox (2005)
The best movies like In a Sweatbox (2005) are Sonnenallee (1999), The Golden Glove (2019) and Lola (1981). If In a Sweatbox hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOne, Two, Three (1961)7.5/10 from 445 votes
- NewestPortal to Hell (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanSonnenallee (1999)Also in German
Sonnenallee (1999)
A group of kids grow up on the short, wrong (east) side of the Sonnenallee in Berlin, right next to one of the few border crossings between East and West reserved for German citizens. The antics of these kids, their families, of the "West German" friends and relatives who come to visit, and of the East German border guards, all serve to illustrate the absurdity of everyday life on the Sonnenallee, and therefore throughout the former East Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Golden Glove (2019)
A serial killer strikes fear in the hearts of residents of Hamburg during the early 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLola (1981)
Germany in the autumn of 1957: Lola, a seductive cabaret singer-prostitute exults in her power as a temptress of men, but she wants out—she wants money, property, and love. Pitting a corrupt building contractor against the new straight-arrow building commissioner, Lola launches an outrageous plan to elevate herself in a world where everything, and everyone, is for sale. Shot in childlike candy colors, Fassbinder’s homage to Josef von Sternberg’s classic The Blue Angel stands as a satiric tribute to capitalism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCabaret (1972)
Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Are the Night (2010)
One night, 18 year old Lena is bitten by Louise, leader of a female vampire trio that are as deadly as they are beautiful. Her newfound vampiric lifestyle is a blessing and a curse at the same time. At first, she enjoys the limitless freedom, the luxury, the parties. But soon the murderous blood lust of her comrades in arms proves too much for her, and she falls dangerously in love with Tom, a young undercover cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhoenix (2014)
In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRipley's Game (2002)
Tom Ripley - cool, urbane, wealthy, and murderous - lives in a villa in the Veneto with Luisa, his harpsichord-playing girlfriend. A former business associate from Berlin's underworld pays a call asking Ripley's help in killing a rival. Ripley - ever a student of human nature - initiates a game to turn a mild and innocent local picture framer into a hit man. The artisan, Jonathan Trevanny, who's dying of cancer, has a wife, young son, and little to leave them. If Ripley draws Jonathan into the game, can Ripley maintain control? Does it stop at one killing? What if Ripley develops a conscience?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Babysitter (2017)
When Cole stays up past his bedtime, he discovers that his hot babysitter is part of a Satanic cult that will stop at nothing to keep him quiet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBerlin Alexanderplatz (2020)
In 2015, thirty year old refugee Francis, the sole survivor of a boat that illegally crossed the Mediterranean, is drawn into Berlin's seedy underbelly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrain Damage (1988)
Brian comes under the addictive spell of a parasite with the ability to induce euphoric hallucinations in its hosts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Neon Demon (2016)
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPortal to Hell (2025)
After a debt-collector finds a portal to hell in a washing machine at his local laundromat, he’s propositioned into feeding it sinners to save his neighbor’s soul, maybe even at the expense of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne, Two, Three (1961)
In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFaust (2011)
A doctor in early 19th-century Germany becomes infatuated with the sister of a man he unintentionally killed and bargains with the Devil incarnate to conjure their union in exchange for his soul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018)
The young Orthodox Jew, Motti Wolkenbruch, finds himself at a turning point. His beloved mother wants him to get married and presents one marriage candidate after the other. Unfortunately none of the woman pleases him, because they all look just like her. The situation gets even more complicated, when Motti secretly falls in love with the non-Jewish girl Laura, a so-called Shiksa.
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 thisHostel (2006)
Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Now confined to a mental hospital, young Kirsty insists her supposedly dead father is actually stuck in Hell following his wife’s betrayal. Few believe the young woman’s lurid stories aside from the thrill-seeking Dr. Channard. Kirsty is undeterred and, with the help of a fellow patient, heads to Hell for a rescue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn a Land That No Longer Exists (2022)
It's 1989 in East Berlin: Suzie is kicked out of school shortly before she graduates from high school and has to defend herself as a worker in the cable factory. However, a randomly taken photo leads her to the fashion world of the GDR. The editor-in-chief Elsa Wilbrodt put her on the cover of Sibylle, the fashion magazine of the GDR. In the Berlin underground scene she made the acquaintance of the gay fashion designer Rudi and the photographer Coyote. Suzie must decide if she's brave enough to leave the old strands behind forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeerfest (2006)
During a trip to Germany to scatter their grandfather's ashes, German-American brothers Todd and Jan discover Beerfest, the secret Olympics of downing stout, and want to enter the contest to defend their family's beer-guzzling honor. Their Old Country cousins sneer at the Yanks' chances, prompting the siblings to return to America to prepare for a showdown the following year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like In a Sweatbox?
The closest matches to In a Sweatbox are Sonnenallee (1999), The Golden Glove (2019) and Lola (1981). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after In a Sweatbox?
Start with Sonnenallee (1999), the closest match to In a Sweatbox.
What is the highest-rated movie like In a Sweatbox?
One, Two, Three (1961), rated 7.5/10 by 445 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like In a Sweatbox?
Portal to Hell (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like In a Sweatbox?
Yes: Sonnenallee (1999), The Golden Glove (2019) and Lola (1981).
How are movies similar to In a Sweatbox chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside In a Sweatbox, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.