Movies Like Dreams in Nightmares

If you liked Dreams in Nightmares (2026), a drama movie directed by Shatara Michelle Ford, 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
Scarecrow (1973)
★ 7/10Also drama
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
2
Head Full of Honey (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
3
Pariah (2011)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
4
Interstate 60 (2002)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
An aspiring painter meets various characters and learns valuable lessons while traveling across America.
5
Hounddog (2008)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
6
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in…
7
Don't Make Me Go (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A terminally ill man and his teenage daughter embark on a road trip from California to New Orleans for his 20th college reunion. While there, he secretly hopes she can reunite with the mother who left them long ago.
8
Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A group of gay friends spend summer weekends together at a lakeside house in upstate New York. As the season progresses and secrets begin to surface, the complex relationships within the group are sometimes strained…
9
Flow (1996)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.
10
The Boys in the Band (2020)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.
11
Boy Erased (2018)
★ 7/10Also drama
Jared, the son of a Baptist pastor in a small American town, is outed to his parents at age 19. Jared is faced with an ultimatum: attend a gay conversion therapy program – or be permanently exiled and shunned by his…
12
Thelma & Louise (1991)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond…
13
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…
14
The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with…
15
Uncle Frank (2020)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
In 1973, when Frank Bledsoe and his 18-year-old niece Beth take a road trip from Manhattan to Creekville, South Carolina for the family patriarch's funeral, they're unexpectedly joined by Frank's lover Walid.
16
Nomadland (2021)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
17
Bessie (2015)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
18
End of Sentence (2019)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Newly widowed Frank Fogle embarks on a journey to Ireland to scatter his late wife’s ashes. His estranged son, Sean, recently released from prison, agrees to join only when his father promises that they’ll never see…
19
American Honey (2016)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A restless teenager escapes her troubled home and joins a traveling crew of young drifters selling magazines across the American Midwest. Immersed in a world of reckless partying, risky hustles, and fleeting romances…
20
Lucky Them (2013)
★ 6/10Also drama
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what…