Movies Like Drowning by Numbers (1988)

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 comedy, crime, drama film from Peter Greenaway with a MovieMagicScore of 7.0/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Dig and The Bookshop.

Comedy Crime Drama

The Dig

2021

As WWII looms, a wealthy widow hires an amateur archaeologist to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain's past resonate in the face of its uncertain future‎.

6.9

MagicScore

The Bookshop

2017

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.

6.5

MagicScore

Witchfinder General

1968

England, 1645. The cruel civil war between Royalists and Parliamentarians that is ravaging the country causes an era of chaos and legal arbitrariness that allows unscrupulous men to profit by exploiting the absurd superstitions of the peasants; like Matthew Hopkins, a monster disguised as a man who wanders from town to town offering his services as a witch hunter.

6.5

MagicScore

Bullitt

1968

Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.

7.2

MagicScore

Cut Off

2018

A coroner finds a capsule in the head of a heavily mutilated corpse, containing a phone number and single word: the name of his daughter.

6.6

MagicScore

The Boneyard

1991

Children turned into zombies wreak havoc in a coroner's building with just a burned-out psychic, an experienced cop and two coroners to stop the madness.

5.7

MagicScore

Doom Asylum

1988

A demented former lawyer uses autopsy equipment to kill off the teenagers who trespass on the long-abandoned asylum he inhabits. Filmed on location in an actual abandoned asylum.

5.2

MagicScore

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

2016

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

6.8

MagicScore

The Vampire

1957

A small town doctor mistakenly ingests an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats which transforms the kindly medic into a bloodthirsty monster.

6.2

MagicScore

#10

Blacula

1972

An 18th century African prince is turned into a vampire while visiting Transylvania. Two centuries later, he rises from his coffin attacking various residents of Los Angeles and meets Tina, a woman who he believes is the reincarnation of his deceased wife.

5.4

MagicScore

#11

The Skulls II

2002

After joining the Skulls, Ryan Sommers (Robin Dunne) is warned not to betray any secrets about the organization or its high-powered members. However, when Ryan witnesses a murder within the Skulls' private chambers, he finds that the closer he gets to revealing the truth - the more dangerous life becomes.

4.7

MagicScore

#12

Mifune

1999

Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law’s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.

7.0

MagicScore

#13

The Girl in Black Stockings

1957

Residents at a posh Utah hotel become suspects when a girl is found murdered during a pool party. Local sheriff Jess Holmes takes charge of the investigation and must discover who among the terrified guests and staff -- including bodacious vixen Harriet Ames, the hotel's bitter, crippled proprietor, visiting lawyer David Hewson and his secretary, Beth -- is the culprit, even as murders continue to take place.

6.1

MagicScore

#14

Frauds

1993

The film is a story of the ways in which insurance investigator Roland Copping interferes in and manipulates the lives of others with outrageous games and gimmicks. Eventually he becomes involved in an escalating vendetta with a couple who make an unusual insurance claim.

6.0

MagicScore

#15

Marihuana

1936

A young girl named Burma attends a beach party with her boyfriend and after she smokes marijuana with a bunch of other girls, she gets pregnant and another girl drowns while skinny dipping in the ocean. Burma and her boyfriend go to work for the pusher in order to make money so they can get married. However, during a drug deal her boyfriend is killed leaving Burma to fend for herself. Burma then becomes a major narcotics pusher in her own right after giving up her baby for adoption.

3.6

MagicScore

#16

My First Summer

2020

Isolated on a remote property, 16-year-old Claudia finds her world transformed when a spirited girl named Grace wanders into her garden.

8.0

MagicScore

#17

The Hours

2002

The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

7.3

MagicScore

#18

A Killer Among Friends

1992

A teenage girl disappears and later turns up drowned, with a log across her back. Three years later, a former friend comes forward with some answers.

7.2

MagicScore

#19

Ju Dou

1990

A woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband's nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband's heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing technicolour, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.

7.1

MagicScore

#20

The Dry

2021

Aaron Falk returns to his drought-stricken hometown to attend a tragic funeral. But his return opens a decades-old wound - the unsolved death of a teenage girl.

6.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Drowning by Numbers?

The top films similar to Drowning by Numbers by MovieMagicScore are The Dig (6.9), The Bookshop (6.5), Witchfinder General (6.5). Each shares comedy/crime/drama themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Drowning by Numbers worth watching?

Drowning by Numbers holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.0/10 from 184 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Drowning by Numbers?

Drowning by Numbers (1988) is a comedy, crime, drama film directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson.

Where can I find more recommendations like Drowning by Numbers?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more comedy recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Dig Movies like The Bookshop Movies like Witchfinder General Movies like Bullitt Movies like Cut Off Movies like The Boneyard

About movies like Drowning by Numbers

This ranked list pairs Drowning by Numbers (1988), a comedy and crime and drama film from Peter Greenaway, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Joan Plowright take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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