Movies like The Ventriloquist (2012)
The best movies like The Ventriloquist (2012) are Dummy (2002), Magic (1978) and The Beaver (2011). If The Ventriloquist hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWon't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)8.0/10 from 628 votes
- NewestMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)Released 2026
Dummy (2002)
An ex-office worker becomes a ventriloquist, leading to a date with his unemployment counselor; but his quirky family and a gauche female friend may thwart his new career and love life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMagic (1978)
A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beaver (2011)
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWon't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
For more than thirty years, and through his television program, Fred Rogers (1928-2003), host, producer, writer and pianist, accompanied by his puppets and his many friends, spoke directly to young children about some of life's most important issues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCollateral Beauty (2016)
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself (2006)
A recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns. Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Your Eyes (2014)
Two seemingly unconnected souls from different corners of the United States make a telepathic bond that allows them to see, hear, and feel the other's experiences, creating a connection that cannot be broken.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lonely Guy (1984)
A writer for a greeting card company learns the true meaning of loneliness when he comes home to find his girlfriend in bed with another man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Friend of Dorothy (2025)
Dorothy is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy's daily routine of pills, prunes, and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Was a Quiet Man (2007)
An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Different Man (2024)
Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMay (2003)
A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Ghost Story (2017)
Recently deceased, a white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to console his bereft wife, only to find that in his spectral state he has become unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLimelight (1952)
A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRequiem for a Dream (2000)
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRailway Station (1980)
Warsaw's Central Railway Station. 'Someone has fallen asleep, someone's waiting for somebody else. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. The film is about people looking for something.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The April Chill (2010)
The story of a Soviet military serviceman and a male Georgian dancer. An anti-violence film about the awakening of human instinct in an invader
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896)
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStille Nacht (1969)
A Materialaktion (an art performance/happening in which objects are used to create an art piece) by Viennese Aktionist Otto Muehl. The setting is a solemn Christmas celebration.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
We Live in Prague (1934)
A 13-minute documentary film depicting life in Prague.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Kindly Lion (1970)
This is an animated version of Yanase Takashi's picture book featuring the friendship between a mother dog, Muku-muku, who lost her puppy, and the baby lion Buru-buru, who lost her mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Pockets (2012)
A homeless bum, bored of eating the same food every night, promises his girlfriend a special dinner. He plans to take her out with money robbed from a passing stranger. But the bum’s in for a surprise when the man he targets for his mugging turns out to have special – and hilarious – powers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Softer Touch (2009)
Theo and Jacob were just after a good night of Drugs, Alcohol and perhaps some lovin. They ended up with much more than they anticipated. This short film was actually filmed in 2005 but has just got a release though imdb and youtube.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Haze (2005)
A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ventriloquist?
The closest matches to The Ventriloquist are Dummy (2002), Magic (1978) and The Beaver (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ventriloquist?
Start with Dummy (2002), the closest match to The Ventriloquist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ventriloquist?
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018), rated 8.0/10 by 628 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ventriloquist?
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Ventriloquist?
Yes: Dummy (2002), Magic (1978) and The Beaver (2011).
How are movies similar to The Ventriloquist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ventriloquist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.