Movies like Thanksgiving (2023)
The best movies like Thanksgiving (2023) are The Children (2008), The Lodge (2020) and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021). If Thanksgiving hooked you with its horror and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHalloween (1978)7.6/10 from 6,530 votes
- NewestUntil You're Alone (2026)Released 2026
The Children (2008)
A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lodge (2020)
When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParanormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)
Margot is a documentary filmmaker looking to meet her long-lost mother and extended family in a secluded Amish community. She and her film crew soon realize the family that welcomes them into their home might be hiding a sinister secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenagers of Elm Street. Only this time, they're out to get each other, too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrick (2019)
A detective tries to track down a masked killer who reappears every Halloween to wreak bloody havoc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilent Night, Deadly Night (2025)
After witnessing his parents' brutal murder on Christmas Eve, Billy transforms into a Killer Santa, delivering a yearly spree of calculated, chilling violence. This year, his blood-soaked mission collides with love, as a young woman challenges him to confront his darkness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
After a man dressed as Santa Claus brutally murders Billy Chapman's parents, little Billy then endures the cruelty of a sadistic nun at his orphanage. Years later, when adult Billy has to fill in for an absent in-store Santa, his childhood trauma brings him to the breaking point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNightmare at Shadow Woods (1987)
Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys -- that is, until one of them takes an axe to the face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHalloween II (1981)
After failing to kill stubborn survivor Laurie and taking a bullet or six from former psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael Myers has followed Laurie to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where she's been admitted for Myers' attempt on her life. The institution proves to be particularly suited to serial killers, however, as Myers cuts, stabs and slashes his way through hospital staff to reach his favorite victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Two decades after surviving a massacre on October 31, 1978, former baby sitter Laurie Strode finds herself hunted by persistent knife-wielder Michael Myers. Laurie now lives in Northern California under an assumed name, where she works as the headmistress of a private school. But it's not far enough to escape Myers, who soon discovers her whereabouts. As Halloween descends upon Laurie's peaceful community, a feeling of dread weighs upon her -- with good reason.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Based on Wes Craven's 1977 suspenseful cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carter family soon realizes the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family...and they are the prey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFriday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Five years after the horrible bloodbath at Camp Crystal Lake, new counselors roam the area, not sensing the ominous lurking presence that proves that the grisly legend is real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween (2007)
The early years of young Michael Myers and the events leading up to his fateful Halloween night murder rampage in the quiet town of Haddonfield, Illinois.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline (2019)
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisDawn of the Dead (1978)
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
Retired military commander Colonel Dale Murphy hosts the simulated post-apocalyptic reality show where participants are challenged to survive a remote West Virginia wasteland. But the show turns into a nightmarish showdown when each realizes they are being hunted by an inbred family of cannibals determined to make them all dinner!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween Kills (2021)
Michael manages to free himself from Laurie Strode's trap to resume his ritual bloodbath. As she fights for her life from injuries from their last encounter, she inspires her daughter Karen, her granddaughter Allyson, and all of Haddonfield to rise up against the unstoppable monster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMandy (2018)
The Shadow Mountains, 1983. Red and Mandy lead a loving and peaceful existence; but when their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUntil You're Alone (2026)
After becoming the lead suspect in a series of brutal slayings, a close-minded architect must team up with a free-spirited sex worker in order to clear his name and solve the crimes before they become the killer's next victims in this suspenseful, stylish, and hilarious queer love letter to Hitchcock, De Palma, and the Italian giallo.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Nerve (2001)
A man seems to possess a psychic link to a serial killer who has abducted his 4-year-old son. This black-and-white short played numerous film festivals in 2001. Parts were eventually folded into Prendes' 2003 feature Corpses Are Forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Inland Empire (2006)
When actress Nikki Grace gets the lead role in a cursed film, her world becomes more and more surreal, blending realities and ideas of infidelity, reincarnation, and supernatural forces.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gift (2000)
Annie Wilson, young widow and mother of three, makes her living foretelling others' futures—though her own has become cloudier than even she can see. Threatened by a client's violent husband and plagued by visions of a missing local woman, Annie finds herself pulled into a thicket of lies and deception in which her extraordinary gift may ultimately get her killed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCube Zero (2004)
A young programmer whose job is to watch over the reality-warping Cube defies orders to rescue an innocent mother trapped in one of its rooms.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisLemming (2005)
After the death of his boss's wife, a young engineer faces the sudden psychological metamorphosis of his own wife, seemingly possessed by the soul of the deceased...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLaura (1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZodiac (2007)
Police conduct a manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNever Have I Ever (TBA)
Alex has invited a group of friends whom he hasn't seen in ages to spend the weekend at his parent's summer home. As the alcohol begins pouring the group's tightly knit history begins to unravel. An ill-advised game of Never Have I Ever seems to bring the festivities to a screeching halt. As the group separates to deal with their various emotional drama, an intruder crashes the party to silence them all for good. In one night, a years old secret will come to the surface and fighting is the only means of survival. The truth hurts, but a knife hurts deeper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Like Thanksgiving and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Thanksgiving?
The closest matches to Thanksgiving are The Children (2008), The Lodge (2020) and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Thanksgiving?
Start with The Children (2008), the closest match to Thanksgiving.
What is the highest-rated movie like Thanksgiving?
Halloween (1978), rated 7.6/10 by 6,530 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Thanksgiving?
Until You're Alone (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Thanksgiving?
Yes: The Children (2008), The Lodge (2020) and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021).
How are movies similar to Thanksgiving chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Thanksgiving, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.