FilmsBatman ReturnsLike this

Films like Batman Returns.

Batman Returns (1992) reads as Sombre, breathless, measured superhero / action, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Batman (1989) poster
1. Batman1989

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) poster
2. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome1985

Keeps the documentary-plain realism and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

They Live (1988) poster
3. They Live1988

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Robot Carnival (1987) poster
4. Robot Carnival1987

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Phantasm II (1988) poster
5. Phantasm II1988

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the documentary-plain realism — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001) poster
6. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie2001

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the documentary-plain realism — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) poster
7. Bram Stoker's Dracula1992

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Dead or Alive: Final (2002) poster
8. Dead or Alive: Final2002

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Swordsman (1990) poster
9. The Swordsman1990

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Darkman (1990) poster
10. Darkman1990

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Hiruko the Goblin (1991) poster
11. Hiruko the Goblin1991

Keeps the documentary-plain realism and the chilly detachment; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

The Bride with White Hair 2 (1993) poster
12. The Bride with White Hair 21993

Keeps the documentary-plain realism and the chilly detachment; trades toward a unmistakable directorial hand.

These are Batman Returns’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

Find my film for tonight — 60 sec →