Movies like Jacob's Ladder (1990)
The best movies like Jacob's Ladder (1990) are They Look Like People (2016), Combat Shock (1986) and Repulsion (1965). If Jacob's Ladder hooked you with its drama and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedShutter Island (2010)8.2/10 from 26,790 votes
- NewestRedwood Diaries (2026)Released 2026
They Look Like People (2016)
Suspecting that people are transforming into malevolent shape-shifters, Wyatt flees to New York City to seek out his estranged childhood friend Christian.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCombat Shock (1986)
A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRepulsion (1965)
Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMirrors (2008)
An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDonnie Darko (2001)
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShutter Island (2010)
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like this10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHis House (2020)
After making a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, a young refugee couple struggle to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an unspeakable evil lurking beneath the surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Swan (2010)
A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOpen Grave (2013)
A man awakes -- without memory -- in a pit full of bodies and must figure out if the people who rescued him are the killers, or if he is the murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 thisDaniel Isn't Real (2019)
A troubled college freshman resurrects his imaginary friend to help him cope with a violent trauma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & 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 horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStay (2005)
Psychiatrist Sam Foster has a new patient, Henry Letham, who claims to be suicidal. In trying to diagnose him, Sam visits Henry's prior therapist and also finds Henry's mother -- even though Henry has said that he murdered both of his parents. As reality starts to contradict fact, Sam spirals into an unstable mental state. Then he finds a clue as to how and when Henry may try to kill himself, and races to try to stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmile 2 (2024)
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jacket (2005)
A military veteran goes on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhost Stories (2018)
Professor Philip Goodman devotes his life to exposing phony psychics and fraudulent supernatural shenanigans. His skepticism soon gets put to the test when he receives news of three chilling and inexplicable cases -- disturbing visions in an abandoned asylum, a car accident deep in the woods and the spirit of an unborn child. Even scarier -- each of the macabre stories seems to have a sinister connection to the professor's own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVideodrome (1983)
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvent Horizon (1997)
In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its maiden voyage. However, it soon becomes evident that something sinister resides in its corridors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRedwood Diaries (2026)
When strange entries begin appearing in her diary written in handwriting that isn't hers, new student Evie Quinn is pulled into a chilling mystery as the messages reveal secrets, predict impossible events, and point toward a truth someone has desperately tried to bury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Dolly Baby - Rhythm & Flesh (2025)
In a world where humans are treated like dolls—every part replaceable—Adisa, a struggling musician, faces pressure to buy a new voice before a career-defining gig. Desperate, he turns to the Body Shop, a chaotic underground clinic. The procedure could change everything for him… but is this what he really wants?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & horror
Amalgam (2026)
Helen is a visual artist who isolates herself in a house to prepare for a new artistic project. Her solitude is disrupted when her wife, Angela, returns from a trip. However, Helen begins to experience hallucinations and growing paranoia, leading her to question whether the woman in her house is truly Angela or an imposter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Love and the Demonic Psyche (2018)
A hallucinatory retelling of the Greek myth about Pan and Syrinx's brutalist romantic love. Inspired by the short films of Maya Deren, Curtis Harrington and the art of Rosaleen Norton and Brett Whiteley, 'Love and the Demonic Psyche' channels French poet Arthur Rimbaud's proclivity for a derangement of the senses, culminating in a Cocteau style blood painting invocating the horned God of Panic. Encompassed in psychedelic visuals and Moroccan trance music, this film should be viewed in the spirit in which it was made.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & horror
The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980)
A young woman has spent her life tormented by the death of her mother, who was on a ship torpedoed during World War II. When her father hires an investigator to look into the circumstances of the mother's death 30 years prior, it triggers a new rash of emotional turmoil for the young woman and uncovers a heinous crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Shadow Wounds (2026)
After waking alone in a dark forest with no memory of how she got there, a young woman follows a mysterious lantern while being haunted by whispers that seem to know her deepest fears. As reality and nightmare begin to merge, she must confront the truth hidden within the shadows before it consumes her completely.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
The Intruder (2017)
Naples. Present day. Giovanna, a combative 60-year-old social worker on the frontline of the daily war against pervasive criminality, is confronted, like a modern Antigone, with a moral dilemma that threatens to destroy her work and her life. Giovanna runs an after-school centre that takes care of underprivileged children; a grassroots alternative to the mafia dominance of the city. But one day, young Maria, wife of a ruthless Camorra criminal on the run, and her two children take refuge at the centre, and ask Giovanna for protection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKingdom of Strangers (2022)
On the Pacific coast of Los Angeles, Ali and Yaffa struggle to remember the Arab Mediterranean cities they have left behind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Regina (1990)
Regina is a beautiful, educated and independent woman whose boyfriend tells her that he is going to marry a young girl expecting a baby. As Regina inherits a house in a little town, an opportunity arises to change her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Angels' Salvation (2020)
The film tells the story of young girls being lured abroad through social media, where their organs are removed, sold, and subjected to sexual exploitation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Jacob's Ladder?
The closest matches to Jacob's Ladder are They Look Like People (2016), Combat Shock (1986) and Repulsion (1965). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Jacob's Ladder?
Start with They Look Like People (2016), the closest match to Jacob's Ladder.
What is the highest-rated movie like Jacob's Ladder?
Shutter Island (2010), rated 8.2/10 by 26,790 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Jacob's Ladder?
Redwood Diaries (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Jacob's Ladder?
Yes: They Look Like People (2016), Combat Shock (1986) and Repulsion (1965).
How are movies similar to Jacob's Ladder chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Jacob's Ladder, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.