Movies like How to make a scary story? (2024)
The best movies like How to make a scary story? (2024) are Terrifier (2011), American Horror House (2012) and Warning: Do Not Play (2019). If How to make a scary story? hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGhost Mansion (2021)7.2/10 from 274 votes
- NewestThe Moddey Dhoo (2025)Released 2025
- In KoreanWarning: Do Not Play (2019)Also in Korean
Terrifier (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 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 thisWarning: Do Not Play (2019)
A struggling director makes a desperate bid to dig into the urban legend about a film shot by a ghost, at the risk of her own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912)
Dr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThir13en Ghosts (2001)
Arthur and his two children inherit his uncle's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to twelve ghosts. When the family, accompanied by a nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine 'designed by the Devil and powered by the dead' to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by a ghost hunter and his rival, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhost Mansion (2021)
A horror webtoon writer journeys to a shabby apartment building in search of ideas. The building's caretaker tells him about multiple strange events that happened throughout the building's history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisMr. Boogedy (1986)
A novelty-salesman moves his family into a new house. Initially dismissing incidents as more of their father's practical jokes, the family soon learns that the house is haunted by people who lived in the house 300 years previously.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisMaXXXine (2024)
In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisOther Side of the Box (2018)
A couple receives a mysterious package from an old friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dogs (2025)
After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy's Little Girl (2014)
After the police find Derek’s daughter brutally murdered on the beach, he vows to make the culprit suffer for his actions, even if that person is ‘part of the family.’ With careful research into the history of torture, Derek prepares himself and his basement for a week of brutal tactics that will make his daughter’s killer feel the pain that he has inflicted upon so many others. In a time when stranger danger is ever present, a single father learns that it’s the ones you trust most who have to be watched the closest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuimoon: The Lightless Door (2021)
In 1990, at a secluded community center, the custodian murders all the guest lodgers and kills himself. Ever since, on every Old Year's Night, paranormal events begin to take place within the building. Eventually, the center is shut down and left abandoned for years. A renowned paranormal investigator who had lost his mother during an exorcism and three college students who heard about the rumor of the unexplained phenomena heads over to the building, resolved to uncover the buried secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClown in a Cornfield (2025)
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Harvest (2023)
In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fair Haired Child (2006)
A creepy couple kidnaps a teenage outcast and locks her in their basement with their seemingly kindhearted adolescent son - who harbors a terrifying secret involving the forces of evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Haunted (1991)
When the Smurl family moves into a duplex, they find out it's haunted. When the Catholic Church is no help, they reach out to famous demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBEYOND SIGHT (2025)
In Beyond Sight, Dália is a teenager desperate to belong, even if it means adopting the cruel prejudices of her toxic group of friends. But when an unexpected accident leaves her blind, Dália finds herself on the other side of the judgment she once inflicted. Struggling to adapt, she crosses paths with a mysterious doctor who offers her a chance to regain her sight—through an experimental substance that promises not just vision, but a transformation into her best self: Zoe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The First Wave (2014)
Following the outbreak of an aggressive virus, a young woman awakes in a hospital bed. As the horrifying events that led her there are revealed, it becomes clear that the cure is just the beginning. This short film is a prequel for the feature film, The Third Wave, which was written at the Binger FilmLab 2012. The project also won the Best Story Pitch award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, June 2012.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Snuff: A Director's Cut (2008)
An intense and disturbing horror short film made in 2008 for the "CUT!" competition. British channel Zone Horror. The work explores the sinister atmosphere behind the production of a snuff film from the director's point of view. It was selected among the 10 finalists of the competition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Daughters of Darkness, revised and corrected (1987)
The daughters of Pandora on a special mission ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Refused (1980)
Frieda Liappa in this short film casts an alternative gaze on the notion of historicity. Loukia is a teenager currently staying at her cousin’s house in Athens. Unlike her cousin she is timid and quite stressed for the school exam. She studies history. Between the lines of her book the historical events sprung up in a multidimensional way. Liappa transverses the dimensions of the real the imaginary and the symbolic. She invites the viewer to consider the construction of the filmic as well as the historical text. She succeeds in making a film with an open end and to leave room for our own contingent constructions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Moddey Dhoo (2025)
Past and present collide when a mythical beast is reawakened by a couple exploring a historic castle on the Isle of Man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Delicious (2020)
Scarlet invites her friends to a family dinner but the host's signature dish makes the night unforgettable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Paralys (2016)
A sleepy Sunday afternoon in an apartment. A woman dozes off in front of the TV. When she wakes up she finds herself in a kind of limbo between dream and reality. And in the periphery a dark figure is moving towards her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Wrath of God: Confrontation (2012)
WRATH OF GOD: CONFRONTATION is the first in a series of films with overarching stories that take us from the dawn of human civilization all the way to its technological epitome. A mysterious relic lies at the heart of their pursuit. Some want power to dominate. Others want peace and freedom. In the end, the choice is our own... Adam is a man with a violent past and a desire to escape the terrible wrath he has wrought on many others. Hurt and betrayed, he turns his anger on those who gave him up in search of the relic he helped steal. Kruger is a man whose allegiance lies to whomever pays him the most. Having lost his family to war early in life, Kruger's innocence was twisted into a solitary desire for self preservation at any cost.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Valencia - Chapter I (2016)
One December night, Alice works as a babysitter while the baby's parents go out for the night. As time passes and the night deepens, she begins to receive chilling threats from a man who seems to be watching her from every blind spot in the darkness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like How to make a scary story??
The closest matches to How to make a scary story? are Terrifier (2011), American Horror House (2012) and Warning: Do Not Play (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after How to make a scary story??
Start with Terrifier (2011), the closest match to How to make a scary story?.
What is the highest-rated movie like How to make a scary story??
Ghost Mansion (2021), rated 7.2/10 by 274 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like How to make a scary story??
The Moddey Dhoo (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like How to make a scary story??
Yes: Warning: Do Not Play (2019), Ghost Mansion (2021) and Guimoon: The Lightless Door (2021).
How are movies similar to How to make a scary story? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside How to make a scary story?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.