Movies Like House of Sand and Fog

If you liked House of Sand and Fog (2003), a drama movie directed by Vadim Perelman, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Night Always Comes (2025)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
2
Pacific Heights (1990)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A couple works hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately one of their tenants has plans of his own.
3
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
★ 7/10Also drama
Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems…
4
The Towering Inferno (1974)
★ 7/10Also drama
At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
5
Beautiful Boy (2018)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
6
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10Also drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
7
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates…
8
The Enforcer (1976)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Dirty Harry Callahan returns again, this time saddled with a rookie female partner. Together, they must stop a terrorist group consisting of angry Vietnam veterans.
9
Spider (2002)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
10
Mammal (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the…
11
Life as a House (2001)
★ 7.1/10Also drama
When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
12
The Lost Bus (2025)
★ 7/10Also drama
A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.
13
The Good Neighbor (2022)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and…
14
Ken Park (2003)
★ 6/10Also drama
Teen skater Ken Park (nicknamed Krap Nek; his name spelled and pronounced backward) kills himself at a Visalia skate park; his death bookends the lives of four other young people who knew him: Shawn, the most…
15
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Jack Slavin is an environmentalist with a heart condition who lives with his daughter, Rose, on an isolated island. While Jack fights against developers who wish to build in the area, he also craves more contact with…
16
The Poker House (2008)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.
17
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to…
18
Menace II Society (1993)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
19
Cutter's Way (1981)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Alex Cutter is a boozy, belligerent and deeply cynical Vietnam veteran whose encounter with a landmine during the war has left him minus an eye, a leg and an arm. When his drifter playboy friend Richard Bone is falsely…
20
The Glass House (2001)
★ 6/10Also drama
When Ruby and Rhett's parents are killed in a car accident, their carefree teenage lives are suddenly shattered. Moving to an incredible house in Malibu with the Glasses', old friends of the family, seems to be the…