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Movies like Now Playing (2026)

The best movies like Now Playing (2026) are Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), The Boy Behind the Door (2020) and Terrifier (2011). If Now Playing hooked you with its horror, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)

    After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  2. The Boy Behind the Door (2020)

    Bobby tries to save himself and his best friend when they are kidnapped on their way home from school.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. 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 this
  4. Saint Catherine (2024)

    An orphaned girl is rescued from a satanic ritual and taken to Saint Catherine Institute for homeless youth. There she will learn new skills while facing demons that stalk her.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  5. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

    A demonic force has chosen Freddy Krueger as its portal to the real world. Can Heather Langenkamp play the part of Nancy one last time and trap the evil trying to enter our world?

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. The 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  7. The 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

  8. Dark 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  9. The Jester: Chapter 3 (2019)

    On Halloween night, a young girl has no one to go trick-or-treating with....until The Jester offers to tag along.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Play Dead (2025)

    A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  11. Dark 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 this
  12. Reborn (2018)

    A stillborn baby girl is abducted by a deranged morgue attendant and brought back to life by electro-kinetic power. On her sixteenth birthday, traumatized Tess escapes captivity and sets out to find her birth mother leaving a trail of horrifying violent destruction and chilling chaos behind her.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. The Deliverance (2024)

    Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her family into a new home for a fresh start. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. The Curse of Buckout Road (2017)

    A college class project on creation and destruction of modern myth, turns terrifying when a trio of young people come to realize the urban legends surrounding the famed Buckout Road may, in fact, be REAL.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  15. Night of the Living Dead (1990)

    A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. The Boogeyman (2023)

    Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Z (2019)

    A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

    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 nameless traveller fiancé 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

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. Silver Bullet (1985)

    The small city of Tarker's Mills is startled by a series of sadistic murders. The population fears the work of a maniac, but sightings of a mysterious, hairy creature soon spread. People lock themselves up at night, but there's one boy who's still outside…

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Nightmare Cinema (2018)

    A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror

Like Now Playing and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Now Playing?

The closest matches to Now Playing are Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), The Boy Behind the Door (2020) and Terrifier (2011). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Now Playing?

Start with Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), the closest match to Now Playing.

What is the highest-rated movie like Now Playing?

Night of the Living Dead (1990), rated 6.9/10 by 1,043 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Now Playing?

Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Now Playing?

Yes: Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), The Boy Behind the Door (2020) and Terrifier (2011).

How are movies similar to Now Playing chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Now Playing, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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