Movies like The Head Returns (2020)
The best movies like The Head Returns (2020) are The Invitation (2016), Watcher (2022) and Don't Hang Up (2016). If The Head Returns hooked you with its horror and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Invisible Man (2020)7.1/10 from 6,562 votes
- NewestRedwood Diaries (2026)Released 2026
The 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 thisWatcher (2022)
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia — a young actress who just moved to town with her husband — notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Hang Up (2016)
An evening of drunken prank calls becomes a nightmare for a pair of teenagers when a mysterious stranger turns their own game against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonstrous (2022)
Laura, traumatized by an abusive relationship, runs away from her former husband with her seven-year-old son Cody. But in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find they have another, bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisContainment (2015)
Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNight Watch (1973)
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Invisible Man (2020)
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSelf Reliance (2024)
When a man is offered a million dollars to play a game in which hunters try to kill him, he thinks he has found the perfect loophole: they can only attack when he’s alone. His only problem is that none of his friends or family believe the game is real. Forced to seek companionship in unexpected places, he navigates the bizarre challenge with humor, paranoia, and a surprising search for connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Hunt (2020)
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Resurrected (1991)
Charles Dexter Ward, a wealthy scientist, uses an ancient diary and human remains to begin a terrifying and bloody pursuit for immortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOlder Gods (2023)
After the disappearance of his troubled friend, American Chris Rivers travels to the remote Welsh countryside to investigate what happened – leading him to a dark apocalyptic cult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou'll Never Find Me (2024)
Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight of the Hunted (2023)
When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she's made the plaything of a sociopath sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her life, but also figure out who wants her dead and why.
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 thisThe Astronaut (2025)
After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurve (2016)
Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a woman tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caller (1987)
One night, an unusual stranger in need asks a woman living alone in a house in the woods if he can use her phone. It soon becomes clear that they're playing a strange mind game and that there's something very wrong about the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisGrave Encounters (2011)
A crew from a paranormal reality television show lock themselves in a haunted psychiatric hospital. They search for evidence of paranormal activity as they shoot what ends up becoming their final episode.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStranger in the Woods (2024)
Olivia and her friends go on a vacation. After Olivia nearly drowns with a slit wrist in her bathtub after her fiancé's funeral, her friends suspect that she tried to kill herself, but she believes someone attacked her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRedwood Diaries (2026)
When strange entries begin appearing in her diary written in handwriting that isn't hers, new student Evie Quinn is pulled into a chilling mystery as the messages reveal secrets, predict impossible events, and point toward a truth someone has desperately tried to bury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Meurtre du tableau (2025)
An artist, surrounded by the mess in her studio, struggles with frustration as she tries to find inspiration for her new painting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
The Woods That Wail (2025)
Three friends head into a notorious haunted forest for a camping trip, but things take a terrifying turn when one friend goes missing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Overtime (2021)
In an office late at night, an employee by the name of Reza is working overtime alone. After some time, he gets bored and goes on his social media. Every post he encounters that is uninteresting to him is commented negatively through forms of insults or satire. After a while, he finds a video of a girl who wants to kill herself. Reza comments on the post and is later DM-ed by a girl who then sends photos of him in the office. Reza becomes afraid and so he attempts to leave the building.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Tony (2010)
Unemployed and unemployable, Tony is a sympathetic recluse with severe social problems, an addiction to VHS action films and a horrible moustache. Occasionally he snaps and murder is the result…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAudrey Rose (1977)
A man is convinced that 11-year old girl, Ivy, is the reincarnation of his own daughter Audrey Rose, who died in a fiery car accident, along with his wife, two minutes before Ivy was born.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbduct (2025)
A woman's peaceful mountain getaway takes a bizarre turn when her boyfriend disappears, and a random naked man shows up claiming to be him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Skyline (2010)
When strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, people are drawn outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth. Now the band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Next Scream You Hear (1974)
The police receive an anonymous tip that Bernard Peel has murdered his wife, Jennifer. Peel declares his innocence, but there is a substantial amount of evidence contradicting his story. Is someone trying to frame Mr. Peel? Peel asks private detective Matthew Earp to investigate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Like The Head Returns and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Head Returns?
The closest matches to The Head Returns are The Invitation (2016), Watcher (2022) and Don't Hang Up (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Head Returns?
Start with The Invitation (2016), the closest match to The Head Returns.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Head Returns?
The Invisible Man (2020), rated 7.1/10 by 6,562 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Head Returns?
Redwood Diaries (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Head Returns?
Yes: The Invitation (2016), Watcher (2022) and Don't Hang Up (2016).
How are movies similar to The Head Returns chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Head Returns, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.