Movies like THE SESSION (2026)
The best movies like THE SESSION (2026) are The Infernal Machine (2022), Goodnight Mommy (2022) and Luckiest Girl Alive (2022). If THE SESSION hooked you with its thriller and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJacob's Ladder (1990)7.4/10 from 2,040 votes
- NewestThe Bodysnatchers (2026)Released 2026
The Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodnight Mommy (2022)
When twin brothers arrive home to find their mother’s demeanor altered and face covered in surgical bandages, they begin to suspect the woman beneath the gauze might not be their mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor X (1932)
A wisecracking reporter investigates the cannibalistic 'Moon Killer' murders tied to a medical academy, culminating in a chilling reenactment experiment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnthinkable (2010)
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAsylum (2005)
A woman becomes very curious about one of her psychiatrist husband's inmates, a man who was found guilty in the murder and disfigurement of his former wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAntichrist (2009)
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cell (2000)
A psychotherapist journeys inside the mind of a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollow Man (2000)
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJacob's Ladder (1990)
After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie, and ex-wife, Sarah, try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer's chiropractor friend, Louis, fails to reach him as he descends into madness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
In 1971, Stanford's Professor Philip Zimbardo conducts a controversial psychology experiment in which college students pretend to be either prisoners or guards, but the proceedings soon get out of hand. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHobo with a Shotgun (2011)
A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city's crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt cops, abused prostitutes and even a pedophile Santa, the Hobo goes about bringing justice to the city the best way he knows how - with a 20-gauge shotgun. Mayhem ensues when he tries to make things better for the future generation. Street justice will indeed prevail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouthbound (2015)
On a desolate stretch of desert highway, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwallow (2020)
Hunter, a newly pregnant housewife, finds herself increasingly compelled to consume dangerous objects. As her husband and his family tighten their control over her life, she must confront the dark secret behind her new obsession.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPossessor (2020)
Tasya Vos, an elite corporate assassin, uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to terminate high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Final (2010)
A group of high school outcasts get revenge on the students that torment them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man in the Trunk (2019)
On an otherwise quiet night there is a startling knock at the door. Andrew Tucker answers the door to find an old friend whom he hasn't seen in years. The disheveled and absent friend comes to him with one request: "I need you to come with me but, I can't tell you where we're going." Andrew takes a chance but learns that every answer brings more questions. Nothing good ever comes knocking after midnight and Andrew's nightmare asks how far you would go to help a friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Blink Twice (2024)
When tech billionaire Slater King meets cocktail waitress Frida at his fundraising gala, he invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. But despite the epic setting, beautiful people, ever-flowing champagne, and late-night dance parties, Frida can sense that there’s something sinister hiding beneath the island’s lush façade.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Vanished Elephant (2014)
A crime novelist receives a vital clue to the whereabouts of his long-missing fiancée.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Bodysnatchers (2026)
A solitary man realizes that everyone else in his neighbourhood is missing - leaving tantalizing signs of sudden disappearances. But does whatever is trying to get in to his home offer salvation or perdition? Maximus Jupiter Corona's eerie film speaks to our shared fears of both abduction and isolation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pathology (2008)
Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMrigjal (2022)
Young ambitious man gets trapped in loop of his own greed
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
8118 (2026)
A geography teacher who is assigned from a rural district to Baku moves into a rented apartment with the help of a close friend. After a murder that takes place in the house, spirits begin to communicate with the teacher. Paranormal events occurring in the apartment, unexpected visitors, and a small child encountered on the street all convey hidden messages to the protagonist. But who is responsible for these murders, and why are the spirits unable to leave the house?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Spiral (2007)
A reclusive telemarketer has only one semblance of a friend: His telecommuter boss. But the telemarketer's social circle seems to improve greatly when a whimsical co-worker enters his life. Only, as he begins to sketch his new friend's portrait, disturbing "voices" from the phone man's past threaten to lead him into a network of destruction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLost Mind (TBA)
Lost Mind is an experimental short film, written and directed by Lucas Donnat, that explores the perception of time and memory through the staging of a man's death. The film questions the boundary between reality and imagination. Here, time is no longer linear: the past becomes the memory of a future, and the future becomes the altered continuation of a past already rewritten. Currently in production.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Torment (1994)
Working extremely hard to keep his hotel afloat, Paul begins hearing voices in his head. Convinced that his wife has been unfaithful, he begins to see every male guest as a potential threat. What follows is Paul's downward spiral into the madness of deranged jealousy where he finally discovers that hell is not a state of mind – hell is himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like THE SESSION?
The closest matches to THE SESSION are The Infernal Machine (2022), Goodnight Mommy (2022) and Luckiest Girl Alive (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after THE SESSION?
Start with The Infernal Machine (2022), the closest match to THE SESSION.
What is the highest-rated movie like THE SESSION?
Jacob's Ladder (1990), rated 7.4/10 by 2,040 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like THE SESSION?
The Bodysnatchers (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to THE SESSION chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside THE SESSION, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.