Movies like Nightmare at Shadow Woods (1987)
The best movies like Nightmare at Shadow Woods (1987) are Halloween (1978), Halloween Ends (2022) and The Children (2008). If Nightmare at Shadow Woods hooked you with its horror and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHalloween (1978)7.6/10 from 6,524 votes
- NewestBlack Phone 2 (2025)Released 2025
Halloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween Ends (2022)
Four years after the events of Halloween in 2018, Laurie has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Children (2008)
A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPsycho II (1983)
Norman Bates is declared sane and released from the facility in which he was being held, despite the complaints of Lila Loomis, sister of his most famous victim. Is he really cured, or will he kill again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Phone 2 (2025)
Four years after defeating The Grabber, Finney Blake is struggling with life after captivity. When his younger sister Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the Black Phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp, the siblings become determined to solve the mystery and confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece.
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 thisThe Black Phone (2022)
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween (2018)
Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPilgrim (2019)
In an attempt to remind her family of their privilege and help them bond, Ms. Anna Barker invites Pilgrim reenactors to stay with them over Thanksgiving. When the “actors” refuse to break character, the Barker family learns that there is such a thing as too much gratitude.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Prowler (1981)
Thirty years after a murder on the night of Avalon Bay's graduation dance, the sleepy town's teens meet grisly ends at the hands of a prowler once thought to be a jilted soldier home from war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMa (2019)
Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisYou're Next (2013)
When the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway, the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of their victims harbors a secret talent for fighting back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrick (2019)
A detective tries to track down a masked killer who reappears every Halloween to wreak bloody havoc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisGunpowder Milkshake (2021)
To protect an 8-year-old girl, a dangerous assassin reunites with her mother and her lethal associates to take down a ruthless crime syndicate and its army of henchmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThanksgiving (2023)
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenagers of Elm Street. Only this time, they're out to get each other, too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJeepers Creepers (2001)
On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck, and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOddity (2024)
After the brutal murder of her twin sister, Darcy goes after those responsible by using haunted items as her tools for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play (1988)
After being shot in a toy store, a serial killer transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A mother then gifts it to her six-year-old son Andy, which unleashes terror upon the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fifth Cord (1971)
A journalist finds himself on the trail of a murderer who's been targeting people around him, while the police are considering him a suspect in their investigation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBerserk! (1967)
A lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Skull (1965)
Esoterica collector Dr Maitland buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source; the artifact is what remains of the Marquis De Sade. Much too soon, Maitland discovers that the skull is turning him into a frenzied killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCircus of Fear (1966)
A circus becomes the location for stolen loot and murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010)
After surviving the incidents in Barrow, Alaska, Stella Olemaun relocates to Los Angeles, where she intentionally attracts the attention of the local vampire population in order to avenge the death of her husband, Eben.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisGirls Guns and Blood (2019)
A Sexy Grindhouse/Action/Comedy where a little brothel in Texas gets robbed by a gang of thieves. The ladies are not going to take this laying down and track down the thieves and take them out one by one in both sexual and violent ways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Interpreter (2005)
After Silvia Broome, an interpreter at United Nations headquarters, overhears plans of an assassination, an American Secret Service agent is sent to investigate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHer Study of a Killer (2023)
A group of Liberty High School's alumni are preparing for their fifteen-year reunion when the death of one of their most beloved teachers starts a chain of events filled with secrets and revenge no one expects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Collector (2002)
The detective Maud Graham hides her sensibility behind the image of a strong and independant woman. She frequently offers her hospitality to a 16-year-old prostitute, Grégoire, a young man who became her friend. But when the teenager decides to invite a 12-year-old boy who is running away from home, Maud is near illegality. In addition, the detective has to deal with a serial killer who had already killed and mutilated many women. When she understands that the killer is very intelligent and organized, she elaborates a strategy to arrest him. There starts a dangerous game where the two teenagers that Graham is protecting will be implied. The killer is getting closer, revealing more and more of his madness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Strangler (1964)
An overweight lab technician with low self esteem, brought on by his dominant mother, becomes a serial killer of female nurses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Nightmare at Shadow Woods?
The closest matches to Nightmare at Shadow Woods are Halloween (1978), Halloween Ends (2022) and The Children (2008). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Nightmare at Shadow Woods?
Start with Halloween (1978), the closest match to Nightmare at Shadow Woods.
What is the highest-rated movie like Nightmare at Shadow Woods?
Halloween (1978), rated 7.6/10 by 6,524 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Nightmare at Shadow Woods?
Black Phone 2 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Nightmare at Shadow Woods?
Yes: Halloween (1978), Halloween Ends (2022) and The Children (2008).
How are movies similar to Nightmare at Shadow Woods chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nightmare at Shadow Woods, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.