Movies like The Babadook (2014)
The best movies like The Babadook (2014) are Presence (2025), The Keeping Hours (2017) and The Surrender (2025). If The Babadook hooked you with its drama and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFrida (2002)7.4/10 from 2,236 votes
- NewestThe Surrender (2025)Released 2025
Presence (2025)
A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Keeping Hours (2017)
A supernatural love story that centers on two parents whose life together falls apart after their son dies. The man, now a successful lawyer, and the woman, now married and an author, get a chance at reconciliation ten years later.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Eyes of My Mother (2016)
A young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFull Circle (1978)
After the death of her daughter, wealthy housewife Julia Lofting abruptly leaves her husband and moves into an old Victorian home in London to re-start her life. All seems well until she is haunted by the sadness of losing her own child and the ghosts of other children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCastle Freak (1996)
John Reilly discovers that his family's newly inherited castle in Italy is haunted by a relentless, bloodthirsty creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBirth/Rebirth (2023)
A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereditary (2018)
When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about her ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBring Her Back (2025)
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMothers' Instinct (2024)
Housewives Alice and Celine are best friends and neighbours who seem to have it all. However, when a tragic accident shatters the harmony of their lives, guilt, suspicion and paranoia begin to unravel their sisterly bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlapface (2022)
A boy deals with the loss of his mother by creating a relationship with a dangerous monster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisAngel of Mine (2019)
A woman grieving over the death of her daughter loses grip of reality when she begins to think her girl may still be alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou're Not Alone (2020)
After the premature death of her estranged husband, Emma (Winter) regains custody of their young daughter Isla (Jones) and hopes to rebuild their relationship after many years apart. But when an evil entity begins to torment them, mother and daughter are forced to face the inexplicable presence that inhabits the walls of their new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisTalk to Me (2023)
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPoltergeist (1982)
The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDaddy's Head (2024)
A boy and his stepmother fear for their safety after an eerie creature resembling the boy's recently deceased father visits them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisIt Feeds (2025)
A clairvoyant therapist confronts her own personal demons while trying to save a young girl who believes a malevolent entity is feeding on her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOculus (2014)
A woman tries to exonerate her brother's murder conviction by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Good Woman Is Hard to Find (2019)
The recently widowed mother of two, Sarah, is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she's forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving from downtrodden submissive to take-charge vigilante.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders as their newborn's nanny. Only much later does the infant's mother, Claire Bartel, realize Peyton's true intentions -- to destroy Claire and replace her in the family. The nail-biting suspense builds quickly in this chilling psychological thriller about deception and bitter revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Host (2006)
A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHannibal Rising (2007)
The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Worry, I'm Fine (2006)
A 19-year-old searches for her twin brother after he runs away from home, following a fight with their father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmsterdam to Anatolia (2019)
Elissa's life takes a turn when she meets a mysterious man in her English class and she has to quickly decide between her family and him- and going from family-life to a life on the run is a wild choice to everyone but her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Words with Gods (2014)
The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Frida (2002)
A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster's Ball (2001)
A prison guard begins a tentative romance with the unsuspecting widow of a man whose execution he presided over.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Discovery of Heaven (2001)
Disappointed with humanity, God wants to revoke his contract with humanity and wants to take back the stone tablets containing the ten commandments. To this end an angel is sent out to affect the personal lives of three humans so an appropriate child may be conceived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rocky V (1990)
A lifetime of taking shots has ended Rocky’s career, and a crooked accountant has left him broke. Inspired by the memory of his trainer, however, Rocky finds glory in training and takes on an up-and-coming boxer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisF Is for Friendship (2017)
Emily decides to air the skeletons in her closet and brave the scrutiny of a catty dinner party to win back her name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Babadook and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Babadook?
The closest matches to The Babadook are Presence (2025), The Keeping Hours (2017) and The Surrender (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Babadook?
Start with Presence (2025), the closest match to The Babadook.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Babadook?
Frida (2002), rated 7.4/10 by 2,236 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Babadook?
The Surrender (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Babadook?
Yes: Presence (2025), The Keeping Hours (2017) and The Surrender (2025).
How are movies similar to The Babadook chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Babadook, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.