Movies like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest (2016)
The best movies like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest (2016) are Pulse (2001), Ring 2 (1999) and Ring (1998). If The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRing (1998)7.1/10 from 1,789 votes
- NewestBodycam (2026)Released 2026
- In JapanesePulse (2001)Also in Japanese
Pulse (2001)
In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lures some of its inhabitants desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRing 2 (1999)
While investigating the horrifying death of her boyfriend, Mai Takano learns about a videotape haunted by the spirit of a disturbing girl named Sadako, which kills anyone who watches it exactly one week later. When her boyfriend’s son, Yoichi, starts to develop the same psychic abilities as Sadako, Takano must find a way to keep the boy and herself from becoming the next victims.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisRing (1998)
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNoroi: The Curse (2005)
A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaint Catherine (2024)
An orphaned girl is rescued from a satanic ritual and taken to Saint Catherine Institute for homeless youth. There she will learn new skills while facing demons that stalk her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParanormal Activity (2009)
After a young, middle-class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly the most active in the middle of the night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarian (2022)
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBodycam (2026)
A call to a quiet suburban home unleashes unthinkable carnage when two officers mistakenly shoot a man and his infant child, spiraling the tragedy into a fierce, unrelenting fall into the unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSenritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 01: Operation Capture the Slit-Mouthed Woman (2012)
1st Entry in a mockumentary series from Koji Shiraishi. Depicts a TV crew as they cover the urban legend of "Kuchisake-Onna" or "Slit-Mouthed Woman".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Watch (1973)
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Follows (2015)
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974)
A notorious bank robber kills his wife and flees the police, only to be captured by a mysterious group of figures in an abandoned town. His beautiful daughter, Lila Lee, receives a letter stating that her father is near death and that he needs to see her. Sneaking away at night from her minister guardian, Lila embarks on a terrifying journey...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHaunter (2013)
A teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth but her actions have consequences for herself and others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVicious (2025)
When Polly receives a mysterious box, it comes with one rule: place inside something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. If she doesn’t obey, it will consume everything—and everyone—she’s ever known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caller (1987)
One night, an unusual stranger in need asks a woman living alone in a house in the woods if he can use her phone. It soon becomes clear that they're playing a strange mind game and that there's something very wrong about the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisEvil of Dracula (1974)
Professor Shiraki arrives at an isolated girls' boarding school to take a new position. Upon arrival, he learns the principal's wife died in a car accident and is being kept in the cellar, according to local tradition. The principal startles Shiraki by asking him to become his successor, but Shiraki soon discovers that the principal has much darker motives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ring (2002)
Journalist Rachel Keller investigates a strange videotape that may be behind the untimely deaths of four teenagers. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. Rachel tracks down the video... and watches it. Now she has just seven days to unravel the mystery of the Ring in order to save herself and her son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParanormal Activity: Tokyo Night (2010)
Koichi takes care of his sister, who has recently returned from a trip abroad in the United States as she is not well. While caring for her, he records evidence of ghosts in their home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S (2012)
When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire one rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they had bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhoenix Forgotten (2017)
Twenty years after three teenagers disappeared in the wake of mysterious lights appearing above Phoenix, Arizona, unseen footage from that night has been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Grounds (2010)
A group of college students experience the ultimate close encounter of the most ferocious kind in the deserts outside of Roswell, New Mexico in this documentary styled horror film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
It Exists (2014)
"Ia Wujud" follows a a group of teenagers who breaks into an abandoned theme park. Set at a time before the flurry of horror stories from the Highland Tower case, the group believes that ghosts do not exist. So they challenge each other to a 'spirit of the coin' game in the abandoned park, but they soon find that ultimately what they are looking for actually exists.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Ready or Not (2012)
A new reality television show chooses six contestants to travel to a secluded mansion to compete for one million dollars. The game is Hide-and-Seek. But the rules change when one contestant is found murdered by the very cameraman who was sent to record their every move. The players realize that this is no game. It's a real life horror film and they are the stars. What began as a contest for quick fame and easy fortune becomes a battle for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
America's Most Haunted (2013)
The crew of a popular ghost hunting show gets more than they bargained for when they come across a location that's actually haunted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Zombinator (2012)
College students from Youngstown, Ohio were planning a simple fashion blogging documentary before a zombie invasion changed their film, and their lives. Teaming up with an ex-soldier turned zombie-hunter, the co-eds face threats from the undead and their corporate overlords.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Bag Witch Project (1999)
"The Bag Witch Project" documents the misadventures of three hapless gamers as they try to find the legendary Bag Witch gaming tournament. "On August 3, 1998, three roleplayers disappeared in a hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while looking for a gaming tournament...A year later, their footage was found."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
A New York University professor returns from a rescue mission to the Amazon rainforest with the footage shot by a lost team of documentarians who were making a film about the area's local cannibal tribes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWekufe: The Origin of Evil (2016)
A student travels with her boyfriend to Chiloé, remote Patagonia island in southern Chile, to investigate the link that exists between the high number of sexual related crimes and the myths 'n' legends that surround this mysterious place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Embedded (2013)
A seasoned news correspondent and cameraman embed themselves with a posse that set off into the rugged wilderness of the Rocky Mountains to find a missing child who may become the next victim of what is believed to be a rogue grizzly...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Ucxioru Cult Tape (2022)
An experimental short analog horror story with lovecraftian vibes, inspired by the Jonestown Massacre true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest?
The closest matches to The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest are Pulse (2001), Ring 2 (1999) and Ring (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest?
Start with Pulse (2001), the closest match to The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest?
Ring (1998), rated 7.1/10 by 1,789 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest?
Bodycam (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest?
Yes: Pulse (2001), Ring 2 (1999) and Ring (1998).
How are movies similar to The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Forest: Visiting the Spirit of a Friend Who Disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.