Movies like The Substitute (2022)
The best movies like The Substitute (2022) are Winged Creatures (2009), The Parts You Lose (2019) and Kid Galahad (1962). If The Substitute hooked you with its drama and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRadical (2023)8.3/10 from 523 votes
- NewestThe Tigers (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishUpon Entry (2023)Also in Spanish
Winged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKid Galahad (1962)
After completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Brotherhood of Justice (1986)
High-school students start a vigilante group in their neighbourhood but, as their power increases, they become more abusive and dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIslands (2025)
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUpon Entry (2023)
Diego, a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena, a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Their intention is to boost their professional careers and start a family in 'the land of opportunities'. But upon entering New York airport's immigration area, they are taken to the secondary inspection room, where border officers will subject them to an unpleasant inspection process and a psychologically grueling interrogation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRadical (2023)
In a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, a frustrated teacher tries an unorthodox new method to break through his students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential... and perhaps even their genius.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019)
At a gathering of mystery and true crime fans, Aurora Teagarden’s nephew, Phillip, is accused of murder when an unplanned onstage blackout during the play in which he is performing ends, revealing Phillip holding the bloody knife that has just killed one of the other performers. 12th installment in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Seven-Ups (1973)
A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pelican Brief (1993)
A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tigers (2025)
Antonio and Estrella are diving siblings. He works in maritime works, she studies underwater life and assists him. Its precarious economy could improve after finding cocaine hidden in the hull of a ship anchored in Huelva.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBilly Jack (1971)
A Euro-Indigenous American Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert "freedom school" for runaways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Incomplete Man (2022)
A police officer gets involved in a very peculiar case when he discovers he shares his name with the main suspect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The Teacher (2017)
Teacher in the most prestigious highschool in the country, François enjoys the life he’s always known, in the intellectual and bourgeois society of Paris. Trapped in a situation where he’s forced to accept a job in a school of a tough underprivileged suburb, he finds himself confronted to his own limits and to the upheaval of his values and certainties.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girls with the Red Ribbons (1978)
Jeta is a student who is a member of the illegals and tries to create a group of antifascist girls in her school.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sin piedad (2025)
Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Far from Men (2015)
A French teacher in a small Algerian village during the Algerian War forms an unexpected bond with a dissident who is ordered to be turned in to the authorities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNADIA (2017)
Nadia is a troubled teen girl kicked out of home by her surpassed mother and has nobody to turn to, until her High School's Principal Mr. Green discovers her sleeping rough on a bench and takes her under his wing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Window (2009)
It is a significant day for 80 year old Antonio. After an absence of many years, his estranged son is coming to visit. All must be perfect. There will be a toast with a very special champagne an embrace; warm words that may finally bridge the gap between them-- But before, Antonio must wait. Bedridden, he looks out his window at the Patagonian landscape and sees light and life, the past and the pr
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Scream (1996)
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGemini (2017)
Gemini is a special child with some behavioral disorders. She is an adopted child and to make things even more difficult, her parents are not in the best of terms. She is often ridiculed by her peers, but two of her teachers realize her potential and urges her to egg on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gilda (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Substitute?
The closest matches to The Substitute are Winged Creatures (2009), The Parts You Lose (2019) and Kid Galahad (1962). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Substitute?
Start with Winged Creatures (2009), the closest match to The Substitute.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Substitute?
Radical (2023), rated 8.3/10 by 523 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Substitute?
The Tigers (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Substitute?
Yes: Upon Entry (2023), Radical (2023) and The Tigers (2025).
How are movies similar to The Substitute chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Substitute, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.