Movies like What Lies Within the Darkness (2024)
The best movies like What Lies Within the Darkness (2024) are Mikey (1992), The Strangers (2008) and The Ghost Within (2023). If What Lies Within the Darkness hooked you with its horror, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
What Lies Within the Darkness
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBarbarian (2022)6.9/10 from 3,700 votes
- NewestDust Bunny (2025)Released 2025
Mikey (1992)
Mikey just needs a good stable home. He's bounced from foster home to foster home his whole life. He finally lands himself with a new loving family, but their perfect little child is not what he appears to be. His previous caretakers all died of mysterious "accidents" that weren't really accidents at all. Mikey is a cold blooded killer, and it doesn't take long for him to aim his sights on his new adoptive family and anyone else who stands in his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Strangers (2008)
After a 4 a.m. knock at the door and haunting voices, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt’s remote getaway becomes a psychological night of terror as three masked strangers invade. Now they must go far beyond what they thought themselves capable of if they hope to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ghost Within (2023)
A young woman revisits her family home desperate to discover her sister Evie's murderer 20 years before. After a series of terrifying encounters with Evie's ghost at 09:09pm, Margot knows she must fight to learn the truth once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Light (2019)
A woman returns to her family home and discovers it to be inhabited by monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerrifier (2011)
After witnessing a brutal murder on Halloween night, a young woman becomes the next target of a maniacal entity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDust Bunny (2025)
Ten-year-old Aurora asks her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed that she claims ate her family. To protect her, he must battle an onslaught of assassins while accepting that some monsters are real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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 thisNever Let Go (2024)
As an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond.
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 thisThe Boogeyman (2023)
Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightmare Cinema (2018)
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisZ (2019)
A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shed (2019)
The story of Stan, an orphaned teenager stuck living with his abusive grandfather and tasked with routinely protecting his best friend from high school bullies. When Stan discovers a murderous creature has taken refuge inside the tool shed in his backyard, he tries to secretly battle the demon alone until his bullied friend discovers the creature and has a far more sinister plan in mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)
A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBagman (2024)
For centuries and across cultures, parents have warned their children of the legendary Bagman, who snatches innocent children and stuffs them into his vile, rotting bag—never to be seen again. Patrick McKee narrowly escaped such an encounter as a boy, which left him with lasting scars throughout his adulthood. Now, Patrick’s childhood tormentor has returned, threatening the safety of his wife Karina and son Jake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo Witches (2023)
A matriarchal witch passes on her sinister inheritance to her grand-daughter, triggering the most horrific curses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
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 thisBunnyman Vengeance (2017)
The man known as Bunnyman returns home to find his family running a haunted house attraction. The family welcomes him home, but soon realizes you cannot domesticate a wild animal. Death and mayhem ensue as the family turn on one another to fulfill their bloodlust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReborn (2018)
A stillborn baby girl is abducted by a deranged morgue attendant and brought back to life by electro-kinetic power. On her sixteenth birthday, traumatized Tess escapes captivity and sets out to find her birth mother leaving a trail of horrifying violent destruction and chilling chaos behind her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What Lies Within the Darkness?
The closest matches to What Lies Within the Darkness are Mikey (1992), The Strangers (2008) and The Ghost Within (2023). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What Lies Within the Darkness?
Start with Mikey (1992), the closest match to What Lies Within the Darkness.
What is the highest-rated movie like What Lies Within the Darkness?
Barbarian (2022), rated 6.9/10 by 3,700 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What Lies Within the Darkness?
Dust Bunny (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like What Lies Within the Darkness?
Yes: Mikey (1992), The Strangers (2008) and The Ghost Within (2023).
How are movies similar to What Lies Within the Darkness chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What Lies Within the Darkness, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.