Movies Like Howl

If you liked Howl (2010), a drama movie directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, 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
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
★ 7/10Also drama
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills…
2
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.
3
Shutter Island (2010)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
4
Gods and Monsters (1998)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
It's 1957, and James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from…
5
Naked Lunch (1991)
★ 7/10Also drama
Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede…
6
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
7
Moonlight (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his…
8
A Million Little Pieces (2019)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A young drug-addled writer approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonizing detox at a treatment center in Minnesota.
9
Not Without Hope (2025)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
10
uwantme2killhim? (2013)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
Based on the Vanity Fair article of the same title, a story about a young boy drawn into a web of lies through an online chatroom.
11
Mysterious Skin (2005)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.
12
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small west Texas town, patient and apparently thoughtful. Some people think he is a little slow and maybe boring, but that is the worst they say about him…
13
Bronson (2009)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
14
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with…
15
The Double (2014)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace and seduces the woman he desires.
16
Lockdown (2000)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and…
17
The Green Mile (1999)
★ 8.5/10Also drama
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's…
18
Chatroom (2010)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
When strangers Jim, Eva, Emily and Mo meet William online in his new 'Chelsea Teens!' chatroom, they're completely seduced by his fast-talking, charismatic character. But beneath the surface lies a much darker truth…
19
An Englishman in New York (2009)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
Biographical drama based on the last 20 years of Crisp's life. The literary figure and gay iconoclast emigrated to New York in 1981 and lived there until his death. The film observes Crisp in both his public and…
20
Fight Club (1999)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an…