Movies like American Nightmare (2002)
The best movies like American Nightmare (2002) are Psycho (1998), American Nightmare (1983) and I, Madman (1989). If American Nightmare hooked you with its crime and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStrange Darling (2024)6.9/10 from 1,101 votes
- NewestThe Jester 2 (2025)Released 2025
Psycho (1998)
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAmerican Nightmare (1983)
A man investigates the disappearance of his sister with the help of her roommate. He uncovers a trail of prostitution, incest, blackmail...and murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & crime
I, Madman (1989)
A bookshop clerk starts seeing the disfigured killer from her favorite 1950s pulp novels come to life and start killing people around her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisNight Visitor (1989)
A teenager insists he saw a satanist kill the call girl next door, and tries to prove it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Hitcher in the Dark (1989)
A sick young man drives around in his daddy's camper, looking for lone stray females to kidnap, torture, rape and murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & horror
The Stepfather (1987)
Seemingly mild-mannered Henry Morrison has just murdered his entire family. After adopting a new identity and skipping town, he begins building a new relationship with a widow and her teenage daughter. However, he soon begins struggling to hide his true identity and maintain a grip on reality.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkinned Alive (1990)
Crawldaddy and her two kids are travelling across the country on the search for victims. The dysfunctional family has the disturbing habit of skinning people alive before killing them. When their van breaks down, they are put up by a friendly couple.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
The Dentist (1996)
Dr. Alan Feinstone has everything: a beautiful wife and a successful career in dentistry. However, when he discovers his wife's affair, he realizes that behind every clean, white surface lies the stench of decay.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeranged (1974)
A man living in rural Wisconsin takes care of his bed-ridden mother, who is very domineering and teaches him that all women are evil. After she dies, he misses her, and a year later digs her up and takes her home. He learns about taxidermy and begins robbing graves to get materials to patch her up, and inevitably begins looking for fresher sources of materials. Based loosely on the true story of Ed Gein.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisMidnight Movie (2008)
At a seedy theater in a sleepy suburban town, a group of friends get together for a midnight screening of an early 1970s horror film, unaware that the director has something more in store for them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFender Bender (2016)
In a small New Mexico town, teenager Hilary gets into a fender bender and innocently exchanges her personal information with the other driver, a terrifying and bizarre serial killer who stalks the country’s endless miles of roads and streets with his old rusty car, hungrily searching for his next unsuspecting victim.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
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: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (2012)
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCry_Wolf (2005)
After a local woman is murdered, a group of teenage liars create a warning e-mail of a serial killer named “The Wolf”, coming on the next full moon. The teens describe each death method The Wolf uses, but when the described victims actually do start turning up dead, suddenly no one knows where the lies end and the truth begins.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCandyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995)
Annie, a young schoolteacher struggling to solve the brutal murder of her father, unwittingly summons the "Candyman" to New Orleans, where she learns the secret of his power, and discovers the link that connects them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFound (2012)
Marty is the ideal fifth grader—he gets good grades, listens to his teachers and doesn't start trouble in class. But a darkness is beginning to fall over Marty's life, the kids at school won't stop picking on him, his parents just don't seem to understand him, and now Marty must grapple with a terrible secret that threatens to destroy life as he knows it—his big brother is a serial killer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCherry Falls (2000)
When students in the small town of Cherry Falls learn a serial killer is targeting virgins, they realize their only chance of survival is to throw a “Pop Your Cherry” party.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Chrissie and her friends set out on a road trip for a final fling before one is shipped off to Vietnam. Along the way, bikers harass the foursome and cause an accident that throws Chrissie from the vehicle. The lawman who arrives on the scene kills one of the bikers and brings Chrissie's friends to the Hewitt homestead, where young Leatherface is learning the tools of terror.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Rejects (2005)
The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell, who is not afraid of being as ruthless as his target.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLeatherface (2017)
A young nurse is kidnapped by a group of violent teens who escape from a mental hospital and take her on the road trip from hell. Pursued by an equally deranged lawman out for revenge, one of the teens is destined for tragedy and horrors that will destroy his mind, moulding him into a monster named Leatherface.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisInside (2007)
Months after a tragic accident, Sarah, a young pregnant woman, must spend Christmas Eve alone in her house before giving birth the next day. But in the middle of the night, a creepy visitor knocks at her door willing to do anything to get what they want, setting off a night of pure terror.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUrban Legend (1998)
A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. Exactly one year later, the deadly secret resurfaces as they're stalked by a hook-handed figure.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2009)
While driving to Las Vegas for the bachelor party of her sister Melissa and her fiance Bobby, Kayla stops the car at a gas station to meet her date, Nik, a guy she met on the internet. Nik convinces her to take a secondary road under the protest of Bobby but the car breaks down. They find a house in the middle of nowhere and decide to take the car parked in the house's garage to the next city...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Killing Floor (2007)
A literary agent moves into a penthouse apartment. Soon after the move, he receives crime scene photographs that seem to have taken place in his new apartment. Next he receives a series of stalker videotapes that document his every move.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Jester 2 (2025)
When teen magician Max crosses paths with the sinister Jester on Halloween night, she must outsmart a supernatural killer whose magic is all too real and whose tricks always end up in blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMother's Day (2010)
Crazed members of a sadistic family return to their childhood home to terrorize the new owners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like American Nightmare and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like American Nightmare?
The closest matches to American Nightmare are Psycho (1998), American Nightmare (1983) and I, Madman (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after American Nightmare?
People who watched American Nightmare most often go on to Psycho (1998), American Nightmare (1983) and I, Madman (1989).
What is the highest-rated movie like American Nightmare?
Strange Darling (2024), rated 6.9/10 by 1,101 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like American Nightmare?
The Jester 2 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like American Nightmare?
Yes: Psycho (1998), American Nightmare (1983) and I, Madman (1989).
How are movies similar to American Nightmare chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside American Nightmare, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.