Movies like For What I Had to Fear (2009)
The best movies like For What I Had to Fear (2009) are The Neighbors' Window (2019), Anuja (2024) and A Corner in Wheat (1909). If For What I Had to Fear hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
The Neighbors' Window (2019)
The story of a middle-aged woman with small children whose life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnuja (2024)
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurfew (2012)
At the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister asking him to look after his nine-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSAS: Red Notice (2021)
An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrand Upon the Brain! (2007)
After returning home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPiss (2010)
Kurtis Conner and his friends embark on a pissy adventure through the piss forest to find Prague and Lucifer to see how particular he actually is about his cheese.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays (2022)
Hungry for sun, light and warmth, a group of teenagers embark on a dream trip to the Balearic Islands.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Annalyn (2012)
Agnes is not satisfied with her life. She wants a change, but her relationship with her single parent father and dominant girlfriend inhibit her to do something about it. When the father introduces his new wife, Annalyn, everything changes. The same-aged Filipino stepmother helps Agnes see a new path. Soon emerges something that no one could have foreseen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
An Arabian Night (2020)
Spending his last night as a civilian in his dream-like local tennis club, Michael, a young British soldier confronts a glimpse of the near future waiting for him on the other side of the night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Those Who Never Left (2025)
Two years after the Beirut blast, a girl continually revisits the last night she spent with her family in their home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Boy Who Couldn’t Feel Pain (2022)
The Boy Who Couldn't Feel Pain is set in Grants, New Mexico and tells the fictional small-town legend of Chester, a street fighter who can't feel any pain. When Annie, a bowling alley employee who just moved into town challenges him for a fight, things begin to change.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Here (2025)
In East Riding, Yorkshire, seventeen-year-old Kaden reluctantly takes a job at the local strawberry field over the Summer. A quiet introvert, Kaden doesn’t fit in with the other farmhands, who are all older, and more experienced, and treat him with contempt. It is here he encounters Lucas, an aloof eighteen-year-old who has worked at the farm for several Summers now. Underneath his initial indifference, Lucas hides a deeper curiosity for Kaden. Desires disentangle in this new, uninhibited, and sun-drenched environment, as the two boys tentatively begin to explore their feelings towards one another in secret, a kinship that forces them to confront their own internalized homophobia, shame, and sense of belonging.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Lamb (2002)
A poor father lives with his blind son, dog and sheep. When he can't find any food, he is forced to make a hard decision.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nur ein kleines bisschen Liebe (1977)
A young sex worker in search of love...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nur die Sehnsucht bleibt (1976)
Early short film by Wolfgang Büld
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like For What I Had to Fear?
The closest matches to For What I Had to Fear are The Neighbors' Window (2019), Anuja (2024) and A Corner in Wheat (1909). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after For What I Had to Fear?
Start with The Neighbors' Window (2019), the closest match to For What I Had to Fear.
What is the highest-rated movie like For What I Had to Fear?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like For What I Had to Fear?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like For What I Had to Fear?
Yes: The Neighbors' Window (2019), Anuja (2024) and A Corner in Wheat (1909).
How are movies similar to For What I Had to Fear chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside For What I Had to Fear, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.