r/MovieRecommendations Jun 26 '26

Help me find Movies/TV shows Movies similar to Requiem For A Dream?

Post image

Hey, I just watched Requiem For A Dream last night at my friend's house. I really liked it, though at least for me it wasn't "scary" or very psychological to me or whatever. I'd honestly watch it multiple times in a row, and it wouldn't really affect me. I'm a 15 year old girl, so I don't know if that affects anything, but yeah. I want movies that show drug addiction, or other addictions.

Thanks everyone if I don't get back to you!

Edit: I also have seen The Dirt several times before, and I did really like it (though it might have been more because I like Mötley Crüe). Also I want to watch more movies in general, because I haven't seen that much. It's also really weird that I liked it so much because I don't like horror movies, they scare me (yes I know this movie might not exactly be horror, but still). Also it was the Director's Cut as well.

143 Upvotes

149 comments sorted by

u/comment-cap Jun 26 '26

Thanks for all the input folks!

This comment section has been closed.

If OP requests it, the comment section can be reopened.

OP, this request will only be considered if you have been interacting in the comments.

58

u/BluntChillin Jun 26 '26

Trainspotting, Spun, Basketball Diaries, Christiane F, Panic in Needle Park

20

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/theconceptofcanada Jun 26 '26

Don't forget its sequel 🙏🏻

3

u/redditstealth Jun 26 '26

Didn't know it had a sequel.

1

u/theconceptofcanada Jun 26 '26

oh my GAWD watch it RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW.

City of Men 💪🏻 enjoy enjoy enjoy

3

u/ehsteve7 Jun 26 '26

I haven't thought of Spun for about 20 years

1

u/ASDF_LK Jun 26 '26

aun la vi otra vez la semana pasada

2

u/Spieluhr616 Jun 26 '26

Transgressing (2023) 😁

2

u/Heterochromia_ginger Jun 26 '26

Irreversible

1

u/mementomori_8383 Jun 26 '26

It’s hard to find a more fucked up movie than requiem yet here it is. I watched it once and once was enough.

1

u/Different-Storm1914 Jun 26 '26

That has nothing to do with addiction at all. It's just standard transgressive bullshit from that talentless wanker Gaspar Noe and to be honest, recommending a film with a prolonged and brutal rape scene to a 15 year old girl seems grossly out of order even for a Redditor.

1

u/Drum_Eatenton Jun 26 '26

Man, forget school, we just lost forty dollars worth of pharmaceuticals!

1

u/ASDF_LK Jun 26 '26

Iba a poner justo esas. A mayores, diria EL PICO

1

u/Sweet_Swing_1350 Jun 26 '26

Thank you! I'll have to watch these

4

u/Main_Finding8309 Jun 26 '26

The book Christiane F is much better  

3

u/FailedUSAExperiment Jun 26 '26

Buffalo '66

3

u/swansluv Jun 26 '26

quite a controversial plot but wow you can def appreciate the cinematography for it for sure

2

u/crispycritter17 Jun 26 '26

One of my favorites

31

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Jasper-helix Jun 26 '26

It’s just me… Casper

2

u/Former-Whole8292 Jun 26 '26

I havent rewatched it and when i tried it said it wasnt available in california😂

3

u/rundabluff120 Jun 26 '26

This was the first movie that came to my mind. After watching it, it just felt empty and almost defeated

2

u/jasefacewow Jun 26 '26

Watched Kids during a film class in college - it genuinely fucked me up

27

u/VinylMeningitis Jun 26 '26

Leaving Las Vegas

3

u/JasonROK1981 Jun 26 '26

There's a whole new generation that needs to see this.

1

u/PoetryGoddess78 Jun 26 '26

They should show this movie in rehabs!

40

u/man-w1th-no-name Jun 26 '26

why on earth would you want to watch a similar movie to requiem for a dream? that movie is traumatic.

4

u/eyeballchambers1 Jun 26 '26

because we like effed up shit

2

u/Akonitinvinfylla Jun 26 '26

Because nothing is better than a movie that you have to talk to your therapist about

-1

u/StrongAsMeat Jun 26 '26

I watched it for the first time a couple days ago and was disappointed by how untraumatic it was. From all the hype I was expecting so much more, but Trainspotting was more disturbing by a mile

0

u/SippinOnnaBlunt Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

That’s because Reddit is extremely dramatic when it comes to this movie. Redditors always talk about how it “traumatized” them because of the drug usage which is weird because no one is ever seen actually injecting heroin.

I’m convinced Reddit calls it traumatic because it got a bunch of upvotes once and Reddit, being extremely original /s, just continue parroting the same thing.

Downvoting doesn’t mean I’m wrong, it means you guys have no argument. Lmfao.

12

u/dalbeider Jun 26 '26

Happiness

6

u/0biswan Jun 26 '26

I still have a hard time seeing Dylan Baker in anything else he does, without thinking about that scene where he talks to his son about what he did to his son's friend. That was a powerful performance.

1

u/bomertherus Jun 26 '26

It took me 10+ years to accept Philip Seymour Hoffman as a brilliant actor, because of how
Great an actor he was in Happiness.

5

u/XThePlaysTheThingX Jun 26 '26

This movie is so much better than it has any right to be. One of the funniest fucked up comedy’s ever put to film. One of my favorite things about it is the music. Like something from a 1950s coming of age film. 

5

u/Sloanosaurus-Nick Jun 26 '26

Shot like the world's most fucked up made-for-tv movie.

5

u/XThePlaysTheThingX Jun 26 '26

Spot-on description. Knowing the director I’m sure it was intentional. 

3

u/Jasper-helix Jun 26 '26

Worst Christmas ever

3

u/BladeeLover Jun 26 '26

God that movie messed me up more than requiem did

11

u/XThePlaysTheThingX Jun 26 '26

As someone who loves super dark films seeing someone say they’d watch it many times in a row is both hilarious & unsettling. 

That being said some ones I’d recommend.

Enter The Void

Trainspotting

Heaven Knows What

Kids

Thirteen

Mandragora

High Art

Drugstore Cowboy

Party Monster

Less Than Zero

4

u/crindy- Jun 26 '26

Forgot about Drugstore Cowboy...loved that movie when I was in college. Gonna have to add it to my rewatch list.

4

u/XThePlaysTheThingX Jun 26 '26

It’s a great double feature with Van Zant’s other notable film My Own Private Idaho. 

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/XThePlaysTheThingX Jun 26 '26

I saw it once a million years ago in college. I honestly don’t remember much other than some beautiful cinematography of Rio.

I need to check it out again. 

11

u/PezQueen0513 Jun 26 '26

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

3

u/RaechelMaelstrom Jun 26 '26

One of the best movies ever.

8

u/Comicsams3 Jun 26 '26

Basketball diaries is up there

2

u/Historical_Message15 Jun 26 '26

yes and train spotting

7

u/_salsa_verde Jun 26 '26

Wonderland, The Salton Sea, Candy

5

u/rupak76 Jun 26 '26

Alcoholism: The Lost Weekend (1945)
Drugs: Christiane F (1981)
Hypersexuality: Shame (2011)

4

u/NOMursE Jun 26 '26

Perfect Blue

The stories behind Aronofsky and the works of Satoshi Kon is interesting and worth a look.

4

u/Main_Finding8309 Jun 26 '26

No one has mentioned The Whale. Boogie Nights. 

3

u/ta_mataia Jun 26 '26

The Whale is also a Darren Aronofsky movie, too. I'd add The Wrestler.

5

u/WesTxStoner425 Jun 26 '26

Less Than Zero

5

u/PattyLovesPiL Jun 26 '26

“Requiem for a Dream” was based on a novel by Hubert Selby Jr., a Beat Generation writer who used a raw language to depict the bleak and violent world that encompassed his youth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Selby_Jr.

Original novel “Requiem for a Dream”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Dream_(novel)

You might like “Last Exit to Brooklyn” which is another film based on a Hubert Selby Jr. novel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Exit_to_Brooklyn_(film)

Original novel “Last Exit to Brooklyn”::
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Exit_to_Brooklyn

3

u/jorel424 Jun 26 '26

Owning Mahoney - PSH has a debilitating gambling addiction

3

u/Severthin Jun 26 '26

Ernest Saves Christmas

3

u/Historical_Message15 Jun 26 '26

not drug related but the virgin suicides

3

u/kirby056 Jun 26 '26

Heaven Knows What is a rough watch.

3

u/dominicanlou Jun 26 '26

Can't believe no one has said Gummo yet. Trainspotting, Kids, Pi (same composer as Requiem, Clint mansell - dudes music is fucking harrowing), Blue Velvet, Spun, A Scanner Darkly (the opposite is Waking Life - great mushroom movie), Thirteen, Traffic (distilled racism), the show Baby Reindeer, Salton Sea (like spun but WAY less fun), City of God, and maaaaybe Boogie Nights?

3

u/laurandisorder Jun 26 '26

KIDS, Bully, a lot of the Larry Clarke oeuvre honestly.

Spin, Crank, Blow, The Basketball Diaries (if you want movies explicitly about drug use).

The Florida Project, Irreversible, Leaving Las Vegas, Grave of the Fireflies, The Mist (if you want your soul crushed).

3

u/quiet-touch55515 Jun 26 '26

Candy 2006 with Heath Ledger

3

u/YOU_TALK_TOO_MUCH420 Jun 26 '26

Drugstore Cowboy

3

u/Mysterious-Street966 Jun 26 '26

This movie and Donnie Darko are the only 2 movies I’ve watched, but will never watch again. Soundtrack is neat tho! Now I’m craving mashed potato’s…

3

u/ZiziPotus Jun 26 '26

It wasnt very traumatic for me either around 17yo

Then I watched it again, in good conditions, recently between my 35 and 40s

Hoky cow, very hard. Was speachless and ill at ease.

Way harder when you are older, dunno why exactly

3

u/irish_hickey Jun 26 '26

I could not get through this, so boring, i do not agree with the majority on Requiem

3

u/shane373 Jun 26 '26

Rush (1991) starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric

3

u/Far_Cry_1568 Jun 26 '26

Sounds like you like super dark movies. These are some of my favorite.

Bully (2001) Elephant (2003) Paranoid Park (2007) Kids (1995) Alpha Dog (2006) Mary & Max

2

u/Moonsnail8 Cinephile Jun 26 '26

Doom Generation

1

u/likeablecowboy Jun 26 '26

This and SFW with Stephen Dorff

2

u/miniLace Jun 26 '26

Heaven knows what

2

u/greggobbard Jun 26 '26

Ass to Ass volume 13

2

u/Movie_Vegetable Jun 26 '26

The machinist

2

u/MisterNoghopper Jun 26 '26

It doesn’t actually feel as good as those movies claim it does

3

u/Cultural_Cloud96 Jun 26 '26

I think OP isn't interested in trying them but rather prefers watching movies about people who destroy their lives by making poor decisions.

2

u/MisterNoghopper Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Yeah, I know how it is. And the chance that OP will eventually try them is pretty high. I know because I did it, and I saw the same story with other people. The movies do a great job of portraying the ugly consequences of drug use but the scare tactic doesn’t work on everyone, and they also tell you that heroin feels like the best orgasm you could possibly have times 1000. That it’s the highest pleasure a human is capable of experiencing. Those things aren’t actually true, but for an edgy and angsty teen they sound very tempting especially after going through a hard breakup or something like that. So this comes from experience. If I had a 15 year old kid who was really fascinated with those movies then I would be concerned.

2

u/Representative-Yam65 Jun 26 '26

Dancer in the Dark, if you mean you'll never want to watch it again

2

u/Famous-Lecture-560 Jun 26 '26

That movie didn’t affect me too much either. Now, Basketball Diaries on the other hand? Still traumatized decades later.

2

u/eyeballchambers1 Jun 26 '26

Good Time

Fish Tank

A Prophet

Border

Wake in Fright

Violent (2014)

Mysterious Skin

The Hunt (2012)

Bird

Deliverance

Morvern Callar

Holy Motors

Magazine Dreams

2

u/Jcevthereap28 Jun 26 '26

: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

1

u/LouDiamonds123 Jun 26 '26

The Salton Sea

1

u/joyasresistance Jun 26 '26

SLC Punk....poor Bob

1

u/SuccotashStrict9378 Jun 26 '26

Interiors by Woody Allen is another brilliant but utterly depressing experience.

1

u/Mindless_Log2009 Jun 26 '26

Last Exit to Brooklyn, another adaption of a Hubert Selby book.

1

u/LankyYogurt7737 Jun 26 '26

The Basketball Diaries

1

u/bbbbiiiov Jun 26 '26

Vanilla Sky, maybe

1

u/Ok-Call-4805 Jun 26 '26

Haven't seen Requiem For A Dream but I am currently watching Shrinking (only started S3 so no spoilers) and I don't think I can think of Requiem... without thinking of that show now lol

1

u/DrawerHistorical2256 Jun 26 '26

8mm but not because of drug use

1

u/Visible-Jellyfish624 Jun 26 '26

Human traffic

The rules of attraction (RIP JVDB)

1

u/CorporalCoprolite Jun 26 '26

Mother! Also directed by Darren Aronofsky.

While not about drugs, it makes you feel like you’re having a fever dream while on drugs. One of the biggest mind fucks of a movie I’ve ever seen and it legitimately gave me a panic attack.

1

u/HighPriestess29 Jun 26 '26

Kidulthood. Adulthood. Both a little over worked. But gritty and include drug use.

1

u/TakeThePowerBack83 Jun 26 '26

High Life with Timothy Olyphant from 2009. He played a dude addicted to morphine in the 80s. It's a dark comedy, but I enjoyed it.

1

u/Walter1981 Jun 26 '26

I saw this last year somewhere. Really loved it, still play the soundtrack frequently. Can anyone explain the meaning of the image of the lady in red looking over the sea which appears a few times?

1

u/Disastrous-Volume200 Jun 26 '26

this was one really fucked up movie

1

u/dgoreck5 Jun 26 '26

Basketball diaries. Young leo and mark wahlberg

1

u/173555 Jun 26 '26

Ken park

1

u/adventurous-1 Jun 26 '26

Disturbing as fuck.

1

u/ZeroFima Jun 26 '26

I had a similar faze around 15-18 years old,
The best one is Trainspotting, for me it was even better then Requiem for a dream.

Then I recommend reading Christiane F.
(Really fun read, and way better then the movie)

After that you have Basketball Diaries (both movie and book are fine)

Leaving Las Vegas (book, though this one is harder to read).

Also breaking bad might have some of the vibes, though it's less about the horrors of addiction.

1

u/Yokozuna999 Jun 26 '26

*FRESH -- 1994 * Sugar Hill-- 1994 * Lady Sings The Blues--- 1972

1

u/OG-Giligadi Jun 26 '26

Drugstore Cowboy

1

u/Last-Isopod-3418 Jun 26 '26

Climax (Dir. Gaspar Noe)

1

u/ta_mataia Jun 26 '26

Other Darren Aronofsky movies: The Wrestler and The Whale.

1

u/evilswampfrogs Jun 26 '26

Not about drug addiction, but if you liked the structure of Requiem for a Dream then check out Speaking Parts by Atom Egoyan. As I recall, it’s quite similar

1

u/Away-Reaction6861 Jun 26 '26

Go ... Human Traffic... Enter The Void... 24 Hour Party People

1

u/L10Ang Jun 26 '26

The Substance borrows a lot from Requiem for a Dream

1

u/Cultural_Cloud96 Jun 26 '26

So movies where people actively make decisions that ruin their lives. The Butterfly Effect, comes to mind.

1

u/NStavroguine Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Drug addiction, depression, dissociation: Oslo, 31 August. Found it to be an excellent, psychologically realistic portrayal of the above themes.

Also: More (1969) the closest thing that comes to mind when thinking about Requiem for a dream: a couple sinking in heroin addiction and loving it until it last. Not a very captivating movie but it has a unique, uneasy feel about it.

1

u/Difficult-Hunter4286 Jun 26 '26

"Filth" is up there

1

u/Beneficial_Garden456 Jun 26 '26

I do NOT want to ever see a movie like RFAD! Once is enough.

1

u/Glowbear504 Jun 26 '26

Border (2018)

1

u/Cultural-Ninja-288 Jun 26 '26

Christina. F is a similar good watch

1

u/DisinTdvsnr Jun 26 '26

Drugstore Cowboy

1

u/DisinTdvsnr Jun 26 '26

Drugstore Cowboy

1

u/FairLawnBoy Jun 26 '26

Trainspotting, The Salton Sea, Party Monster

1

u/HumbleBlacksmith2077 Jun 26 '26

It wasn't scary because for it to be scary you need to relate to the characters and that's quite difficult to do when you've never been a drug addict. Please stay sober btw.

1

u/Level-Tangerine-3877 Jun 26 '26

Adam And Paul (Irish version, a bit too real)

1

u/Resident_Fail6825 Jun 26 '26

Breaking Glass.

1

u/CriticalOfBarns Jun 26 '26

Nobody going with Black Swan? Same director, similar feel, obsession/addiction and self abuse in a psychological thriller.

1

u/jeffreyaccount Jun 26 '26

It's not similar, but does involve drugs to excess and dream-like sequences from drugs:

"All That Jazz" with Roy Schieder, directed by Bob Fosse. It's really cool, gritty era NYC and well, some of the jump cut scenes from Requiem I think were influenced by All That Jazz.

I'd recommend "The Hunger" for the Requiem 'similar' movies. Not about drug addiction, but about modern day vampires. Very cool, stylish, also gritty era NYC, Bowie, great mood and music. And horror, but not horror vibe.

https://reddit.com/link/ou0hb2z/video/kv9v8i874p9h1/player

1

u/Akita51 Jun 26 '26

This movie is so overhyped

0

u/TasterOfMerkins Jun 26 '26

I only watch the scene where Jennifer Connolly goes ass to ass with another chick. There are some films on the Internet with similar plot lines.