Movies like The Drowned (2006)
The best movies like The Drowned (2006) are The Bad Seed (1956), The Thinning: New World Order (2018) and Bad Ronald (1974). If The Drowned hooked you with its horror and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Bad Seed (1956)7.1/10 from 283 votes
- NewestShutter (2025)Released 2025
The Bad Seed (1956)
Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter's darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda's dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Thinning: New World Order (2018)
Blake Redding is trapped in this dark room wanting to protect his love so the only thing he will do is escape like no failed student has done before.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Ronald (1974)
When awkward teen Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a young girl whose sister rejected his affections, his overbearing mother decides to hide him from the law by creating a concealed room in their home for him to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961)
A crusty, eccentric priest recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMermaid Down (2019)
A mermaid is ripped from the ocean by a fishing crew only to be tortured and to have her tail cut off. A seemingly helpful stranger intervenes, but then locks her away in an institution for mentally disturbed young women, where no one believes she is a mermaid. With no way out, she is forced to count on her survival instincts, and fight for her life at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Watcher in the Woods (1980)
After an American family moves to an old country manor in rural England, one of the daughters is tormented by the spirit of the owner's long lost daughter, who mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago during a solar eclipse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Invitation (2016)
Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPyewacket (2017)
A frustrated, angry teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to invoke a witch to kill her mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisGrip of the Strangler (1958)
A researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long dead strangler.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Walker (1964)
A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who supposedly was killed in a fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButterfly Kisses (2018)
A filmmaker discovers a box of video tapes depicting two students' disturbing film project featuring a local horror legend, The Peeping Tom. As he sets out to prove this story is real and release it as a work of his own, he loses himself and the film crew following him into his project.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisChildren of the Damned (1964)
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but identical intelligence and have a strange bond to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtortion (2017)
A doctor desperately tries to save his wife and their 5 year old son after their vacation in the Bahamas takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Usher (1960)
Convinced that his family is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hellbent on stopping his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the cursed Usher bloodline from expanding. When her fiancé Philip Winthrop arrives at the crumbling estate to claim his bride, Roderick goes to ruthless—even deadly—lengths to keep them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPisaasu (2014)
A violinist experiences paranormal experience in his flat after a death of a girl who he tries to save due to accident. Later he realises that actually the spirit is helping him and he tries to find out who killed the girl by accident.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait (2007)
A Korean writer travels to Vietnam to do research for her story about a cursed portrait of a Vietnamese girl named Muoi.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & horror
Daughter of the Mind (1969)
Professor Samuel Hale Constable is a government expert in the field of cybernetics. He and his wheelchair-bound wife Lenore became parents late in life, only to lose their daughter Mary before she reached adolescence. Now their daughter's spirit seems to be reaching out to her grief-stricken father from beyond the grave, encouraging him to give up the important project on which he's been working.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Bestseller (2010)
Following a humiliating plagiarism scandal, an author moves to an isolated small-town house with her daughter to write her comeback novel. Desperate for inspiration, she communicates with a mysterious ghostly presence that has befriended her daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisFanatic (1965)
A young woman is terrorized by her former fiance's demented mother who blames her for her son's death. Also known as Die! Die! My Darling!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShutter (2025)
After a senior analog photographer discovers the spectral image of a former college student haunting his photos and coming to life, his girlfriend investigates the phantom, uncovering a horrific past crime that is now claiming his friends' lives one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Repulse (TBA)
A troubled young woman embarks on a dangerous mission to find her runaway sister, navigating a world of exploitation, prostitution and sexual slavery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Phone (2002)
Soon after getting a new phone, a woman notices strange things starting to happen. When she investigates, she discovers that everyone who has had her phone number before her has died suddenly and mysteriously.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Swamp (1956)
A man’s wife dies in a swamp. Her ghost returns to haunt him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & drama
And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973)
In the late 18th century, two newlyweds move into the stately mansion of the Fengriffen family. The young bride is victim of terrifying visions and apparitions, threatening her very sanity. A London psychiatrist comes to her help and uncovers the terrible secret that haunts the estate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Drowned?
The closest matches to The Drowned are The Bad Seed (1956), The Thinning: New World Order (2018) and Bad Ronald (1974). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Drowned?
Start with The Bad Seed (1956), the closest match to The Drowned.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Drowned?
The Bad Seed (1956), rated 7.1/10 by 283 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Drowned?
Shutter (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Drowned?
Yes: The Bad Seed (1956), The Thinning: New World Order (2018) and Bad Ronald (1974).
How are movies similar to The Drowned chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Drowned, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.