Movies like The Contestants (2016)
The best movies like The Contestants (2016) are Nocebo (2022), Barbarian (2022) and Dark Harvest (2023). If The Contestants hooked you with its fantasy and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)7.3/10 from 6,797 votes
- NewestBackrooms (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishBelzebuth (2019)Also in Spanish
Nocebo (2022)
A fashion designer suffers from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarian (2022)
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
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 & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
Mary Lou Maloney, Hamilton High's Prom Queen of 1957, is killed during her coronation ceremony due to a prank gone wrong by her jilted boyfriend, Billy Nordham. Thirty years later, teen Vicki Carpenter is in the running for Prom Queen, but accidentally unleashes the vengeful spirit of Mary Lou, who will stop at nothing to be rightfully crowned, even if it means taking Vicki's poor body for a cruise!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Entity (1982)
A single mom is raped by an invisible force. Her psychiatrist believes the experience stems from childhood trauma, while she knows something supernatural is at play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
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 & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStarry Eyes (2014)
A hopeful young starlet uncovers the ominous origins of the Hollywood elite and enters into a deadly agreement in exchange for fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBackrooms (2026)
A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelzebuth (2019)
While leading a police investigation of a massacre in a public school at the border of Mexico and U.S.A, special Agent Emanuel Ritter links this strange case to the coming and rising of the ancient demon Belzebuth. But in order to stop the trail of upcoming infanticides, Ritter shall have to confront himself before dealing with the forces of good and evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Knight's War (2025)
A fearless knight braves a deadly realm to save the Chosen One’s soul. Facing witches, demons, and brutal foes, he discovers her return could ignite chaos and doom humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Light (2019)
A woman returns to her family home and discovers it to be inhabited by monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisSmile (2022)
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of Snails (2021)
A writer secludes himself in the mountains and falls in lust with local Berta. After realizing the oddities of the rural community the author starts to question the lines between reality and fiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Inhabitant (2022)
Like any other teenage girl, Tara is just surviving high school — yet her father and mother seem strangely distant. Amidst a nearby spree of gruesome ax murders, Tara has sightings of terrifying entities, forcing her to question her own sanity and shocking ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Signal (2007)
A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDust Bunny (2025)
Ten-year-old Aurora asks her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed that she claims ate her family. To protect her, he must battle an onslaught of assassins while accepting that some monsters are real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAwareness (2023)
Ian is a teenager who lives with his father on the outskirts by running small scams using Ian's ability to generate visual illusions upon unsuspecting victims. When one of his cons goes awry, his abilities publicly spiral out of control and Ian becomes the target of two rival organizations, each seeking to exploit his powers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHusbandhood (2016)
In January of 2014, five filmmakers suddenly disappear while shooting in the nearby Drigh Lake Larakana woods. One week later, their camera was found.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Ermon County: Gateway of the Fallen (2015)
ERMON COUNTY is a found-footage style mystery-thriller. Set in an old farmhouse, the story unravels through surveillance cameras as two siblings struggle to decipher the mysterious disappearance of their younger brother. A mystery that will lead them into a web of pure evil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Bloody Way of Ehraman (2021)
A film crew travels out to a village in Anatolia to shoot a movie. But after each were affected by a dream they saw, the remaining four team members decide to stay and investigate the incident.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & fantasy
Armageddon Gospels (2019)
Refugee gods, transposed to flesh and blood, wash ashore to rouse the myths of ancient Britain, half-drowned in a forgotten past. They disperse through shifting realities to awaken the giant Albion and find the holy grail in a ritual to save England from the rot of darkness and hatred that's strangling its soul.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Nightlight (2015)
Five friends play a game in a "mysterious" forest with a long history as a beacon for troubled young people contemplating suicide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lucifer Effect (2017)
The film centers around 8 people, from all walks of life, who thought they had bought a 'movie role' in a horror film, only to be locked inside the haunted mental asylum to test "The Lucifer Effect" experiment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Video Cassette of 31 Degrees North Latitude (2010)
The ancient and mysterious Shennongjia has been rumored for a long time that savages appeared and there were more than two hundred witnesses. Eight documentary filmmakers walked into this "virgin land" to find the legendary wild man. The bizarre disappearances and deaths of the members of the expedition give people reason to believe that this area is indeed filled with an unpredictable force.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDreams of a Dead God (2026)
October 1936: In the swamps north of New Orleans, sanity and reality itself are tested during the filmed interrogation of a kidnapper and murderer with ties to an ancient cult.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Lianne (2024)
Social Media influencer Erin takes her millions of fans on a live stream adventure inside an abandoned haunted house to raise money for the disease that took her friends life. The longer she stays the more she can raise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Like The Contestants and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Contestants?
The closest matches to The Contestants are Nocebo (2022), Barbarian (2022) and Dark Harvest (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Contestants?
Start with Nocebo (2022), the closest match to The Contestants.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Contestants?
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021), rated 7.3/10 by 6,797 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Contestants?
Backrooms (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Contestants?
Yes: Belzebuth (2019), The House of Snails (2021) and Awareness (2023).
How are movies similar to The Contestants chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Contestants, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.