Movies like Wahnsinn (1919)
The best movies like Wahnsinn (1919) are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Faust (1926) and Dementia (1955). If Wahnsinn hooked you with its horror and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Wahnsinn
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)7.9/10 from 1,853 votes
- NewestThe Surrender (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)Also in German
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFaust (1926)
Murnau’s epic adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy stands with Fritz Lang’s Metropolis among the supreme achievements of German silent cinema. Gösta Ekman plays the alchemist who, his faith shaken in a time of plague, is offered the gift of healing and eternal youth… in exchange for his soul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDementia (1955)
In a shadowy world stitched from nightmares, a young woman's harrowing journey in a seedy hotel unveils her traumatic past. Haunted by violence and stalked through desolate streets, her psyche unravels as she confronts an abusive husband and unsettling memories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisHold Your Breath (2024)
In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMandy (2018)
The Shadow Mountains, 1983. Red and Mandy lead a loving and peaceful existence; but when their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil the End of the World (1991)
In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHello Sister, Goodbye Life (2006)
A college student must take care of her 7-year-old half sister after the death of their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Experiment (2010)
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hands of Orlac (1924)
A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is horrified to learn they once belonged to a murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestiny (1921)
As a young couple stops and rests in a small village inn, the man is abducted by Death and sequestered behind a huge doorless, windowless wall. The woman poisons herself in order to join him and is met by Death, who gives her three opportunities to prove that love is stronger than death, thereby freeing her beloved from his fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBerlin Express (1948)
In post-war Europe, a diverse group of passengers aboard a U.S. Army train to bombed-out Frankfurt becomes involved in a Nazi assassination plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmelia’s Children (2024)
When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Golem (1915)
This mostly lost film is often confused with director Paul Wegener third and readily available interpretation of the legend; Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920). In this version of the golem legend, the golem, a clay statue brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to save the Jews from the ongoing brutal persecution by the city's rulers, is found in the rubble of an old synagogue in the 20th century. Brought to life by an antique dealer, the golem is used as a menial servant. Eventually falling in love with the dealer's wife, it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010)
1975, Swiss Alps: In a remote mountain village, a beautiful and mysterious woman shows up. Only the village policeman takes care of the strange woman and tries to find out who she is. There are hints that she came from the Höhenalp Alp, where herdsmen do unthinkable things to get the company of women. Many dark truths are revealed that should better have remained hidden. A tragedy of lust, insanity and murder is brought to a seemlingly pure and perfect world. It is the beginning of a nightmare of religious insanity, hypocrisy, abuse and belief in demons, who destroys a young family and brings a whole village to destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad God (2021)
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red House (1947)
An old man and his sister are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter, concerning a hidden abandoned farmhouse, located deep in the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoad to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Road to London (1921)
An American millionaire visiting London falls in love with a young aristocrat and elopes with her, pursued by a rival suitor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Price for Folly (1915)
Noble born but dissolute M. Jean de Segni receives word from his lawyers that his profligate ways, including keeping mercenary actress Dorothea Jardeau, have led to his ruin which he accepts with a shrug of the shoulders. As word spreads Jean’s father-the Duke, who has managed to keep the boy’s mother in the dark about her son’s true nature, realizes she will soon know. Terminally ill and fearing Jean reducing them to penury, the father decides to take his beloved wife with him and kills her. Jean is at first suspected but the Duke saves him by confessing his guilt. Nevertheless, everyone, including his Dorothea, believes the Duke lied to save his son, and after his father's death Jean finds himself a social outcast. An argument leads to a duel where Jean realizes his folly has killed his parents, and he fires in the air, receiving a mortal wound from his adversary.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rags and the Girl (1915)
Wealthy young broker Tom Raine is set upon in a lonely wood by a tramp, knocked out, and stripped of his clothes. Dressed in the tramp's rags, he reaches a hut in time to save veritable wood-nymph June from a beating at the hands of her cruel foster parents. They drive him from the place, but June saves him from being torn to pieces by their huge watchdog, and Tom falls deeply in love with June. They're seen talking by her foster parents, and the father goes after Tom with a club. A fearful fight results, but the timely arrival of Tom's family, who saw the affair from their auto, stops a tragedy. Tom explains matters, his family taking a liking to June, she returns home with them, and Tom and June marry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Heavy Villains (1915)
Retired businessman F.G. Lawrence favors Philip Preston for a son-in-law; Mrs. Lawrence prefers Reggie, the Dainty Dude. There's trouble, right there. Mrs. L. becomes suspicious of a stout stranger prowling about the place and tells Mary, the husky cook, to point him out to Serena Slim, the slender sleuth. The mysterious fat man happens to be Mary's beau, so she sics Serena onto John Bouncer, Philip's fat uncle. Serena is some "shadow" and the police must be called in to stop the comedy of errors which follows. After explanations all around, Lucy nestles her pretty head on Philip's shoulder while her parents soothe Bouncer's ruffled feelings.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Cave Girl (1921)
Margot Sperry, who keeps house for her guardian, a professor who wants to revert to primitive modes of living, finds it difficult to find food in the winter wilderness and resorts to pilfering from the Bates's winter camp. Divvy, engaged to a girl he does not love, meets Margot on one of her raids and falls in love with her. Baptiste, a half-breed employed by the Bates family, is discharged for stealing and burns the camp, driving the family to refuge with Margot. Elsie, hoping to regain Divvy's affections, dresses in boyish clothes similar to Margot's. Joining forces with Baptiste, they capture Margot, and Baptiste takes her in a canoe downstream. Realizing her mistake, Elsie warns Divvy, who bests the half-breed and then rescues Margot from the falls. A lost film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Lullaby (1924)
Tony is sentenced to be hanged for the murder of his friend, Pietro, whom he found seducing his bride, Felipa, and she is sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment as an accessory. Born in prison, her child is taken from her at the age of three and is adopted by the judge, now governor, who sentenced the parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Two Shall Be Born (1924)
As he lies dying, Count Florian Zuleski of Poland, the head of a committee working for perpetual peace among European nations, entrusts his daughter, Mayra, with the dangerous mission of delivering some important documents to New York. Arriving in the United States, Mayra is unable to establish contact with the Polish representative and goes to live with her aunt. She soon meets Brian Kelly, who is working as a traffic cop after being disinherited by his irate millionaire father for not entering into a marriage of convenience with patrician Janet Van Wyck.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
California or Bust (1927)
Jeff Daggett, owner of a garage in Rockett, Arizona, neglects his business for work on a new type of automobile motor, while Johnny Fox, his assistant, handles the business. President Holtwood of a motor company and his daughter Nadine are driving to California when their car breaks down near Rockett.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Viy (1909)
Based on a the horror novella of the same name. First Russian horror film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Mother Instinct (1917)
When her baby daughter Eleanor is traumatized after her father perishes in a storm at sea, Mother Coutierre sends the girl to live with her aunt in Paris. Years later, Eleanor, now a successful model in Paris, is surprised by a visit from her elder sister Marie, who has come to hide the birth of her illegitimate child. When Mother Coutierre arrives and believes Eleanor to be the infant's mother, Eleanor continues the deception so that her sister can marry Pierre Bondel, a fisherman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wahnsinn?
The closest matches to Wahnsinn are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Faust (1926) and Dementia (1955). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wahnsinn?
Start with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), the closest match to Wahnsinn.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wahnsinn?
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), rated 7.9/10 by 1,853 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wahnsinn?
The Surrender (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Wahnsinn?
Yes: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Faust (1926) and Until the End of the World (1991).
How are movies similar to Wahnsinn chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wahnsinn, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.