Movies like Return of the Dead (1979)
The best movies like Return of the Dead (1979) are Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016), Witch Hunt (2021) and Southbound (2015). If Return of the Dead hooked you with its horror and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Innocents (1961)7.5/10 from 707 votes
- NewestSumma Daemoniaca Travesti (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseLegend of the Mountain (1979)Also in Chinese
Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016)
Just one enchanted jewel stands between earth and an army of evil spirits led by the devious ghoul, Phears. With the help of his new girlfriend and ghost pals, Max Doyle races to find the crystal and save the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWitch Hunt (2021)
In a modern America where witches are real and witchcraft is illegal, a sheltered teenager must face her own demons and prejudices as she helps two young witches avoid law enforcement and cross the southern border to asylum in Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
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 fantasy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNightbooks (2021)
Alex, a boy obsessed with scary stories, is trapped by a witch in her modern, magical New York City apartment. His original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping him safe as he desperately tries to find a way out of this twisted place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGinger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)
Brigitte has escaped the confines of Bailey Downs but she's not alone. Another werewolf is tailing her closely and her sister's specter haunts her. An overdose of Monkshood - the poison that is keeping her transformation at bay - leads to her being incarcerated in a rehabilitation clinic for drug addicts where her only friend is an eccentric young girl by the name of Ghost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLegend of the Mountain (1979)
A traveling scholar is intent on translating a Buddhist sutra that is said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He slowly finds himself entangled in a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mortuary Collection (2020)
In the phantasmagorical town of Raven's End, a misguided young girl takes refuge in a decrepit old mortuary. The eccentric undertaker chronicles the strange history of the town through a series of twisted tales, each more terrifying than the last, but the young girl's world is unhinged when she discovers that the final story... is her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisBooks of Blood (2020)
A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Five train passengers are joined by a mysterious fortuneteller who offers to read Tarot. A quintet of stories unfold: an architect returns to his ancestral home to find a vengeful werewolf; a doctor suspects his new wife is a vampire; an intelligent vine takes over a house; a jazz musician plagiarises music from a voodoo ceremony; and a pompous art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightmare 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisNo One Gets Out Alive (2021)
An immigrant in search of the American dream is forced to take a room in a boarding house and soon finds herself in a nightmare from which she can't escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dogs (2025)
After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrilogy of Terror (1975)
A horror anthology containing three stories: a female college professor is aggressively pursued by one of her students; a prudish brunette determines that her free-spirited blonde sister is evil; and a woman's night turns upside down after she purchases an ancient Zuni fetish doll.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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 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 horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Innocents (1961)
In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAsylum (1972)
A young psychiatrist applies for a job at a mental asylum and must pass a test by interviewing four patients. He must figure out which of the patients, is in fact, the doctor that he would be replacing if hired.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtraordinary Tales (2015)
Five tales by Edgar Allan Poe come to life thanks to a pictorical style animation, five tales that exude madness, pestilence, murder and torture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Bags (1993)
A horror anthology containing three stories: a female college student working a graveyard shift is terrorized by a serial killer; a hair transplant goes horribly wrong; and a baseball player loses an eye and gets a new one from a recently executed murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnforgotten Love (2010)
Korn was hit at the head during a robbery, when he wake up, he lost his memory over what had happen before. Now he has to write down everything before he forgets them. However, Korn always feels that there is something happened to someone during the robbery and he has to find out before it's too late. Time passes and Korn is still unable to recall who is that "someone". One day, Korn was told about a haunted 13 floor near his house, and coincidentally he appears at that floor for some reason. Is it "someone" that draws Korn's attention to the 13th floor? What happened to that "someone" during the robbery?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Scary Tales: The Return of Mr. Longfellow (2003)
After the events in the first Scary Tales movie, Mr Longfellow (Joel D. Wynkoop) has moved on from his bogus job placement agency to a new venture, to allow him to tell his fantastical tales. Welcome to "Mr. Longfellow's Used Car Lot."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Exit (2020)
Events take a sinister turn one night in London, when two very different couples arrive at a double-booked apartment. Actions have consequences and not all debts are paid for with money. Leaving, it's harder than you think.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Sleeping with the Dead (2002)
A detective and a doctor, who are tracking down consecutive murders, find Cindy, a mysterious lady who is long thought to be dead, killed by the men who raped her. As the body count rises, the two men begin to suspect that ghostly revenge is the motive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worst Laid Plans (2022)
Three tales of vacation-themed horror adapted from the bestselling book by Grindhouse Press.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Summa Daemoniaca Travesti (2026)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Another Roommate (2012)
Yukio and Suzuka are a couple living together. Yukio keeps working and quitting his job to write novels, and Suzuka is anxious about their future. Yukio's father, Shigeru, was a popular novelist, but he was a man who never cared about his family, beating and cheating on the young Yukio. Yukio still harbors mixed feelings toward Shigeru, who has already passed away. Suzuka soon begins to feel uncomfortable with Yukio's words and actions...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Shake, Rattle & Roll III (1991)
In three tales of extreme horror, a young couple hires a mysterious nanny for their baby; a young woman discovers that her sister has been dead and been made alive again; and a student unwittingly brings home from a beach field trip the egg of an alien monster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Shake, Rattle & Roll IV (1992)
Three unrelated stories of horror include a substitute teacher who preys on a small school; neighborhood children being abducted by a tree-dwelling monster; and a group of Manila residents plagued by attacks from a Manananggal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Shake, Rattle & Roll V (1994)
Three tales of unbridled terror follow a couple vacation on a secluded island where strange forces are at work to keep them there; a young woman whose boyfriend is ill meets a handsome young man in the woods who seems to exhibit magical powers that can cure her sick friend, on the condition that she stay with him forever; and a family who move into a new apartment, unaware of a supernatural tragedy that occurred there.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Return of the Dead?
The closest matches to Return of the Dead are Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016), Witch Hunt (2021) and Southbound (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Return of the Dead?
Start with Mostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016), the closest match to Return of the Dead.
What is the highest-rated movie like Return of the Dead?
The Innocents (1961), rated 7.5/10 by 707 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Return of the Dead?
Summa Daemoniaca Travesti (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Return of the Dead?
Yes: Legend of the Mountain (1979).
How are movies similar to Return of the Dead chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Return of the Dead, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.