Movies like The Tell-Tale Heart (1979)
The best movies like The Tell-Tale Heart (1979) are The Bad Seed Returns (2022), American Horror House (2012) and The Woman in Black (1989). If The Tell-Tale Heart hooked you with its tv movie and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Bad Seed (2018)7.0/10 from 368 votes
- NewestNocturne in White (2026)Released 2026
The Bad Seed Returns (2022)
Several years after the murderous events of the first movie left her father dead, Emma is now living with her aunt Angela and navigating high school. Angela’s husband begins to suspect that Emma may not be as innocent as she appears and suggests sending her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, a new girl at school seems to know Emma’s secrets, leaving Emma no choice but to slip back to her old ways and take care of her enemies by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Horror House (2012)
On Halloween night, a sorority house is overrun with ghosts, while a vengeful housemother goes on a killing spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Woman in Black (1989)
A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomeone's Watching Me! (1978)
A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIncident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005)
While driving at night on a mountain road, Ellen gets distracted and hits an abandoned car. When she tries to get help, she is attacked by a backwoods killer and must fight to stay alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDreams in the Witch House (2005)
A college student renting an old room in a boarding house discovers a plot by sinister, otherworldly forces to sacrifice his neighbor's infant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad Seed (2018)
A widower suspects that his seemingly perfect adolescent daughter is a heartless killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStalked by My Doctor (2015)
When a teenage girl is miraculously saved by a heart surgeon, the doctor begins to flirt with her. Her father doesn’t believe her and unbeknownst to all, the doctor is obsessed with the girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Inhabitant (2022)
Like any other teenage girl, Tara is just surviving high school — yet her father and mother seem strangely distant. Amidst a nearby spree of gruesome ax murders, Tara has sightings of terrifying entities, forcing her to question her own sanity and shocking ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hand (1981)
Jon Lansdale is a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident. The hand was not found at the scene of the accident, but it soon returns by itself to follow Jon around, and murder those who anger him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil (1978)
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisInfidelity in Suburbia (2017)
With her husband away at work, and her son at school, Laura dreams of a home-renovation project to supplant her restless days. Elliott, her irresistibly hot private contractor, soon fulfills her more forbidden dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOlder Gods (2023)
After the disappearance of his troubled friend, American Chris Rivers travels to the remote Welsh countryside to investigate what happened – leading him to a dark apocalyptic cult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKept Woman (2015)
Jessica and her fiancé Evan have just moved from the city into their dream home on a quiet suburban street. Soon after, Jessica catches her seemingly friendly new neighbor, Simon, in a strange lie and can't let her suspicions rest. The danger escalates when Simon lures her inside his home and imprisons Jessica in his secret bunker, meticulously decorated in the idealized style of the 1950s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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 thisHailey Dean Mysteries: Murder, With Love (2016)
Former prosecutor-turned-therapist Hailey Dean is a powerhouse, Mensa bright, and acutely observant. During a tragic week, one of her patients loses her parents to separate fatal accidents along with millions of dollars that has seemingly vanished into thin air. When the police begin to question Hailey's patient, shes knows she is innocent. But who is the culprit?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Neon Demon (2016)
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House That Dripped Blood (1971)
A Scotland Yard investigator looks into four mysterious cases involving an unoccupied house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMacabre (2009)
Six friends are captured and tortured by a murderous family after giving a ride home to a desperate stranger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThanatos Phobos (2026)
After being hit in the head, a distraught woman must come to terms with herself on if her injury will be fatal
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Beloved (1998)
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe People Under the Stairs (1991)
Trapped inside a fortified home owned by a mysterious couple, a young boy quickly learns the true nature of the homicidal inhabitants, and secret creatures hidden deep within the walls.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parenting (2025)
Boyfriends Josh and Rohan plan a weekend getaway to introduce their parents, only to discover that their rental is home to an ancient demon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNocturne in White (2026)
An office worker drifts through a nameless government building that runs experiments on humans. As repetition begins to distort her reality, she becomes overwhelmed by the guilt and the sneaking suspicion that she may also be a subject of experimentation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Toxic Avenger (1984)
A gang of thugs devise a cruel hoax that goes horribly wrong as Melvin, a nerdy emaciated janitor at the local health club, is cast through a third story window into a vat of hazardous toxic waste.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988)
Crazy old Professor Gangreen has developed a way to make tomatoes look human for a second invasion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like The Tell-Tale Heart and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Tell-Tale Heart?
The closest matches to The Tell-Tale Heart are The Bad Seed Returns (2022), American Horror House (2012) and The Woman in Black (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Tell-Tale Heart?
Start with The Bad Seed Returns (2022), the closest match to The Tell-Tale Heart.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Tell-Tale Heart?
The Bad Seed (2018), rated 7.0/10 by 368 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Tell-Tale Heart?
Nocturne in White (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like The Tell-Tale Heart?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to The Tell-Tale Heart chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Tell-Tale Heart, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.