Movies like Donnie Darko (2001)

Name: Donnie Darko
Released: 2001

10 films to watch after Donnie Darko, ranked by how well they match its tone — not just its genre.

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

1

Tideland (2005)

Fit 68%

Shares Fantasy and Drama with Donnie Darko.

Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.
2

Wings of Desire (1987)

Fit 60%

Shares Drama and Fantasy with Donnie Darko.

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
3

Byzantium (2013)

Fit 60%

Shares Drama and Fantasy with Donnie Darko.

Residents of a coastal town learn, with deadly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought refuge at a local boarding house, the Byzantium.
4

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

Fit 59%

Shares Drama and Mystery with Donnie Darko.

13-year-old Rynn Jacobs lives in a New England beach town. Whenever the landlady inquires after Rynn's father, she claims that he's not available. But when the landlady's son, Frank, won't leave Rynn alone, she teams up with a neighbor Mario to maintain the dark family secret that she's been keeping to herself.
5

Closet Monster (2016)

Fit 58%

Shares Drama, Fantasy and Mystery with Donnie Darko.

A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.
6

The Dark (2005)

Fit 52%

Shares Mystery with Donnie Darko.

In an attempt to pull her family together, Adèlle travels with her young daughter Sarah to Wales to visit her father. The morning after they arrive, Sarah mysteriously vanishes in the ocean. Not long after, a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to their missing daughter reveals that she has retuned from the dead — and that Sarah has been taken to the Welsh underworld.
7

American Beauty (1999)

Fit 48%

Shares Drama with Donnie Darko.

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
8

Blade Runner (1982)

Fit 48%

Shares Drama with Donnie Darko.

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
9

I Still See You (2018)

Fit 46%

Shares Fantasy and Mystery with Donnie Darko.

Ten years after an apocalyptic event left the world haunted by ghosts, Veronica 'Ronnie' Calder receives a threatening message from beyond the grave. Joining forces with a mysterious classmate, Kirk, Ronnie descends into a shadow world that blurs the bounds of the living and the dead—and begins a desperate race against time to stop a cunning killer.
10

Breaking the Waves (1996)

Fit 45%

Shares Drama with Donnie Darko.

In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.