Movies like Shadows of the Mind (1979)
The best movies like Shadows of the Mind (1979) are The Evil (1978), The Hideout (2007) and Bloodline (2019). If Shadows of the Mind hooked you with its thriller and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSuccubus (2024)8.3/10 from 279 votes
- NewestThe Other (2025)Released 2025
The 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 thisThe Hideout (2007)
A mystery-thriller about an Italian woman who moves to Davenport to open a restaurant. After her husband commits suicide, she spends fifteen years recovering at a Minnesota mental hospital. When she builds herself up enough to begin another restaurant, she discovers that a murder took place there fifty years earlier. She decides to investigate and finds a secret plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline (2019)
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisStonehearst Asylum (2014)
An Oxford Medical School graduate takes a position at a mental institution and soon becomes obsessed with a female mental patient, but he has no idea of a recent and horrifying staffing change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other (2025)
Unable to conceive, a couple seeks to build a family with a young orphan, survivor of tragic childhood. But their act of love turns to horror when they realize the violence in their foster's past has returned to destroy the new family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline Killer (2024)
Moira Cole endeavors to rebuild her shattered life after her family's murder at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCheat (2023)
On the surface it's believed to be another urban legend - a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek, Pennsylvania. But the town's unusually high suicide rate is finally convincing both locals and college students that everything is not as it seems. When Maeve - a female college student - sleeps with Charlie, the married man of the host family she is staying with, both sense the deadly curse is closing in on them. Unable to get anyone to believe them, Maeve and Charlie seek out a local history student to help find answers and figure out a way to defend themselves. It all comes undone, however, as several people are horrifically killed by the savage being - one-by-one at a rapid pace. Eventually, Maeve, Charlie and the few survivors band together in an attempt to defeat the monster once and for all.
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 thisBlackwood (2014)
Having recovered from a shattering emotional breakdown, college professor Ben Marshall relocates to the countryside with his wife and young son, hoping for a fresh start. He has a teaching job lined up and a new home to move into; things finally look to be going Ben's way. Until, that is, he starts to feel that something isn't quite right in the house. Finding himself plagued by spectral visions, Ben becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a local mystery that appears to be putting the lives of his family in danger
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisEradication (2022)
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Punch (2014)
Milton, a college dropout, was only supposed to cook meth for one day. Broken out of rehab by a brash young woman and her trigger-happy ("ex") boyfriend and driven to a remote cabin the woods, Milton finds himself drawn into a dangerous love triangle gone haywire. The couple's deadpan half-truths spin around Milton like a song on repeat. They seem to read him like an open book, until a mysterious message opens his eyes to his cursed existence. With unlimited ammunition, any hunting tool they could desire, and an ever-growing body count, for what did Milton really sign up?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Possessed (2021)
A man with the ability to exorcise demons fights to protect his loved ones after a sudden surge in demonic possessions. After discovering his nephew's girlfriend has the same supernatural gift, they join forces for the ultimate confrontation. Inspired by actual events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 Last Breath (2024)
A group of old college friends reunite on a Caribbean scuba diving trip exploring the wreckage of a WWII battleship and find themselves trapped inside the underwater labyrinth of rusted metal surrounded by great white sharks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
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 thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuccubus (2024)
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUnsane (2018)
A woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she is confronted by her greatest fear.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCruel & Unusual (2014)
Wrongly condemned for killing his wife, a man finds himself in a mysterious institution where he is sentenced to relive her death for eternity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGothika (2003)
After a car crash, criminal psychologist Dr. Miranda Grey regains consciousness only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. She's been accused of murdering her husband Dr. Douglas Grey — but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-worker, Dr. Pete Graham, of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCase 39 (2009)
In her many years as a social worker, Emily Jenkins believes she has seen it all, until she meets 10-year-old Lilith and the girl's cruel parents. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm the child, and so Emily assumes custody of Lilith while she looks for a foster family. However, Emily soon finds that dark forces surround the seemingly innocent girl, and the more she tries to protect Lilith, the more horrors she encounters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlone in the Dark (1982)
A quartet of murderous psychopaths break out of a mental hospital during a power blackout and lay siege to their doctor's house.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSecond Name (2002)
After the suicide of her beloved father, the biologist Daniella Logan visits her catatonic mother in a mental institution to tell the tragic event and her mother calls her "Josephine". Daniella goes to the cemetery and finds that her father's grave had been opened and his corpse was profaned. She decides to investigate, and receives a message of a diabetic priest, Father Elias, who tells her about an ancient fanatic religious sect of followers of Abraham that kills the first child. Later, she meets a weird man, Toby Harris, who claims to be his legitimate father. Daniella continues seeking the truth about her origins and discloses very dark secrets about her family and friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisWretched (TBA)
In the idyllic town of Mills falls, a daring group of kids stumble upon a dark secret at a farmhouse that left one dead, and the rest forever scarred. Ten years later, Melissa is released from a metal institution and back into town, where she must face the returning darkness, and ultimately find out of the evil is real, or simply descends from the wretched corners of her mind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
The Fifth Floor (1978)
A young woman collapses on the disco dance floor of what's revealed to be strychnine poisoning. Assuming that this is an attempt at suicide, her boyfriend and doctor have her committed to the Fifth Floor, an asylum with obviously crazy inmates and a predatory orderly. The problem is, she's still sane!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Blood Song (1982)
A psychopath escapes from a mental institution and starts a murder spree, which ends in the pursuing of a young handicapped girl, who once got a blood transfusion from him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Bloody Moon (1981)
After being released from a mental asylum, a disfigured man becomes obsessed with a student at his sister’s boarding school while grappling with his dark past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ring Two (2005)
After the ordeal with Samara, Rachel and Aiden move to a rural town. But soon Rachel learns about the death of a girl in a similar fashion. To save Aiden, she must dig into Samara's past even further.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSuddenly, Last Summer (1959)
The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shadows of the Mind?
The closest matches to Shadows of the Mind are The Evil (1978), The Hideout (2007) and Bloodline (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shadows of the Mind?
Start with The Evil (1978), the closest match to Shadows of the Mind.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shadows of the Mind?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 279 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shadows of the Mind?
The Other (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Shadows of the Mind?
Yes: The Evil (1978), The Hideout (2007) and Bloodline (2019).
How are movies similar to Shadows of the Mind chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shadows of the Mind, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.