Movies like The Devil's Backbone (2001)
The best movies like The Devil's Backbone (2001) are Before I Wake (2016), The Orphanage (2007) and The Skin I Live In (2011). If The Devil's Backbone hooked you with its fantasy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)8.1/10 from 22,708 votes
- NewestSoul Reaper (2024)Released 2024
- In SpanishThe Orphanage (2007)Also in Spanish
Before I Wake (2016)
An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Orphanage (2007)
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage, intent on reopening it. Before long, her son starts to communicate with a new invisible friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Skin I Live In (2011)
A brilliant plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wait (2023)
Eladio, hunting estate keeper, takes a bribe from a veteran hunter. Weeks later, his whole life falls apart. What looked like the opportunity of a lifetime, turns into a macabre descent to hell when he finds out that his misfortune might not be entirely by chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGhost Story (1981)
Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year-old secret. When one of Edward Wanderley's twin sons dies in a bizarre accident, the group begins to see a pattern of frightening events developing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho Can Kill a Child? (1976)
A couple of English tourists arrive at the island of Almanzora, off the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where they discover that there are no adults in a small fishing village, only some children who stare at them and smile mysteriously.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMirage (2018)
During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVenus (2022)
Lucía, a club dancer on the run, takes refuge in a sinister building on the outskirts of Madrid where her sister Rocío lives with her daughter Alba.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterview with the Vampire (1994)
A vampire relates his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness, and dark hunger to an over-curious reporter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
In 1940, in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl living on the Castilian plain is haunted after attending a screening of James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein and hearing from her sister that the monster is not dead, instead existing as a spirit inhabiting a nearby barn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Endless Trench (2019)
A small village in Huelva, Andalusia, Spain, 1936. Higinio and Rosa have been married only for a few months when the Civil War breaks out. Higinio, being afraid of possible reprisals from the rebel faction, decides to use a hole dug in his own house as a temporary hideout.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPan's Labyrinth (2006)
In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPiggy (2022)
A bullied overweight teenager sees a glimpse of hope when her tormentors are brutally abducted by a mesmerizing stranger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this32 Malasana Street (2020)
Malasaña neighborhood, Madrid, Spain, 1976. While political turmoil ravages the streets all over the country, the Olmedo family arrives in the big city and settles into their new apartment. They soon discover that they are not the only ones roaming its corridors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Photographer of Mauthausen (2018)
Spanish photographer Francesc Boix, imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, works in the SS Photographic Service. Between 1943 and 1945, he hides, with the help of other prisoners, thousands of negatives, with the purpose of showing the freed world the atrocities committed by the Nazis, exhaustively documented. He will be a key witness during the Nuremberg Trials.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Ogre (1979)
Spain, 1973. Dictator Francisco Franco has ruled the country since 1939 with an iron fist; but he is now a very old and sick man. The future of the weakened regime is in danger. Admiral Carrero Blanco is his natural successor. The Basque terrorist gang ETA decides that he must die to prevent the dictatorship from continuing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBird Box Barcelona (2023)
After a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, Sebastian must navigate his own survival journey through the desolate streets of Barcelona. As he forms uneasy alliances with other survivors and they try to escape the city, an unexpected and even more sinister threat grows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisGoodbye (2019)
Seville, Spain. Juan Santos, a convicted petty criminal, gets out of jail for a day to celebrate with Triana, his wife, the first communion of their daughter Estrella.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSister Death (2023)
Spain, 1949. Narcisa, a novice, arrives at an old convent, converted into a girls' school, to work as a teacher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigers Are Not Afraid (2017)
When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoul Reaper (2024)
A teenager with the ability to enter other people's dreams. When he witnesses a dark spirit taking people's lives in their dreams, he quickly realizes that it's related to the mysterious deaths that are happening in the real world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & fantasy
Dark Water (2002)
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretham Undu Sookshikkuka (2017)
A haunted mansion amidst Kingini Nagar Housing Colony is converted into a police station. Ghosts in the mansion get provoked by the intrusion of the police. To overcome the horrible night duties, cops take the help of Babu, an outlaw yet sincere guy. Will Babu and his gang be able to solve the mystery behind the haunted mansion?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
The Door (2017)
A mysterious abandoned factory began the first day of shooting. When carrying the heroine Zhu Sha, deputy director, "the forefront of the film" program host a dream bus and other people arrived at the factory, shooting the venue was empty, landlord let everyone in the factory standby, he went out to during supper we buy, wait, deputy director bizarre but died in the bathroom
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
The Shadow Within (2007)
Little Maurice Dumont lives with his mother in a village in the mountains. His twin brother Jacques died at birth. But Maurice told that he could speak with Jacques. The doctor, Dr. Prevost and her husband, who teaches at the local school, are of the opinion that his mother's strict upbringing is not good for Maurice. One day, they discover strange injuries on him. At the same time some women of the village plan to use Maurice's ability to communicate with the dead to contact their dead relatives. But this is not a good idea ...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Dark Fables (2015)
A group of kids embarks in a macabre adventure, full of characters from the Brazilian popular imaginary - the werewolf, a witch, a ghost, monsters and The Saci.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & fantasy
Below (2002)
In the dark silence of the sea during World War II, the submarine USS Tiger Shark prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission. But for the shell-shocked crew, trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, this is about to become a journey into the sensory delusions, mental deceptions and runaway fears that lurk just below the surface of the ocean.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart and Souls (1993)
A fateful night in 1959, four people die when the bus they are riding crashes. They continue as ghosts; their souls become eternally entwined to the life of a child born at the moment of their deaths as his guardians. Baby Thomas grows up to be a businessman who has memories of his playmates, but assumes they are products of his youthful imagination. When the ghosts realize they need Thomas' help to move on to the afterlife, they decide to make an appearance once more.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Devil's Backbone?
The closest matches to The Devil's Backbone are Before I Wake (2016), The Orphanage (2007) and The Skin I Live In (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Devil's Backbone?
Start with Before I Wake (2016), the closest match to The Devil's Backbone.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Devil's Backbone?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), rated 8.1/10 by 22,708 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Devil's Backbone?
Soul Reaper (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Devil's Backbone?
Yes: The Orphanage (2007), The Skin I Live In (2011) and The Wait (2023).
How are movies similar to The Devil's Backbone chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Devil's Backbone, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.