Movies like Night of the Skull (1974)
The best movies like Night of the Skull (1974) are Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Bone Lake (2025) and The Believers (1987). If Night of the Skull 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 ratedSe7en (1995)8.4/10 from 24,208 votes
- NewestBone Lake (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishWe Are What We Are (2010)Also in Spanish
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBone Lake (2025)
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, bringing terrifying secrets to light and triggering a bloody battle for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Believers (1987)
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies 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 & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJigsaw (2017)
Law enforcement finds itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that's only just begun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Are What We Are (2010)
After the death of a patriarch, a family must try to continue on with a disturbing, ritualistic tradition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
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 thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisFunny Games (2008)
When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
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 thisKidnapped (2010)
Three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into a home in a Madrid gated community, holding the family hostage in its own home, and forcing the father to empty his credit cards. But the family fights back - brutally.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFright (1971)
Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran, brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisFor the Sake of Vicious (2021)
An overworked nurse returns home to find a maniac hiding out with a bruised and beaten hostage. When an unexpected wave of violent intruders descend upon her home, it becomes a fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Spit on Your Grave (2010)
A beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills, rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon, a group of local lowlifes subject her to a nightmare of degradation, rape, and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stepfather (1987)
Seemingly mild-mannered Henry Morrison has just murdered his entire family. After adopting a new identity and skipping town, he begins building a new relationship with a widow and her teenage daughter. However, he soon begins struggling to hide his true identity and maintain a grip on reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSe7en (1995)
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Sleeping Woman (2024)
Ana, a nursing assistant, begins to feel attracted to Agustín, the husband of the woman in a vegetative state that she has been hired to take care of. Soon she begins to be harassed by strange paranormal phenomena that seem to try to throw her out of the house and separate her from Agustín.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWrong Turn (2021)
Jen and a group of friends set out to hike the Appalachian Trail. Despite warnings to stick to the trail, the hikers stray off course—and cross into land inhabited by The Foundation, a hidden community of mountain dwellers who use deadly means to protect their way of life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe 6th Day (2000)
A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarehouse (2014)
When two friends open a Halloween fun house on Devil's Night it is all fun and games until their former sorority sisters begin to arrive. These six sisters are confronted by their past as the night spins out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Three generations of the same family deal with the consequences of unleashing the forces of hell.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisReady or Not (2012)
A new reality television show chooses six contestants to travel to a secluded mansion to compete for one million dollars. The game is Hide-and-Seek. But the rules change when one contestant is found murdered by the very cameraman who was sent to record their every move. The players realize that this is no game. It's a real life horror film and they are the stars. What began as a contest for quick fame and easy fortune becomes a battle for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Lowlife (2017)
The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHellraiser (1987)
A hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain and pleasure are indivisible.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Water (2005)
Dahlia and her five-year-old daughter are ready to begin a new life together. But their new apartment — dilapidated and worn — suddenly seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of dark water and other strange happenings send Dahlia on a haunting and mystifying pursuit — one that unleashes a torrent of living nightmares.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Cutlass (1954)
The teenager Misha Polyakov, being with his mother in a Ukrainian village on vacation with his grandmother and about to return home to Petrograd, offers his best friend Genka to go with him. Suddenly, a white gang of Nikitsky bursts into the village and attacks Misha’s house, where Commissioner Polevoy lives. The purpose of Nikitskiy (aka Nikolskiy) is a dagger located at Polevoy. Saving the commissioner, Misha learns from him the history and secret of the weapon, and receives it for storage with a request to solve the secret. Having returned with adventures to Petrograd, Misha Polyakov with friends begins to unravel the riddle of the dagger, in the handle of which is encrypted text.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
The Rabbit Factor (TBA)
In the adaptation of the darkly comic novel by the Finnish author, Carell will play insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen, who knows most of life’s answers because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal. Everything changes when he suddenly loses his job, and other variables enter the fray. Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. Most pressing: big loans were taken from criminal elements, and the lenders are now keen to get their money back. In the adventure park, Henri also crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a checkered past. As the criminals begin to collect their debts and as Henri’s relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be quantified on a spread sheet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Night of the Skull?
The closest matches to Night of the Skull are Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), Bone Lake (2025) and The Believers (1987). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Night of the Skull?
Start with Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), the closest match to Night of the Skull.
What is the highest-rated movie like Night of the Skull?
Se7en (1995), rated 8.4/10 by 24,208 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Night of the Skull?
Bone Lake (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Night of the Skull?
Yes: We Are What We Are (2010), Kidnapped (2010) and The Sleeping Woman (2024).
How are movies similar to Night of the Skull chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Night of the Skull, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.