Movies like Trauma (1978)
The best movies like Trauma (1978) are Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), The Return (2006) and The Boy (2015). If Trauma hooked you with its horror and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPsycho (1960)8.4/10 from 11,424 votes
- NewestDon't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishDon't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)Also in Spanish
Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)
A mother moves into a new house with her two children. One night she must leave the siblings home alone. What begins as a blast of carefree play soon turns into a claustrophobic horror story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (2006)
Joanna Mills has a successful career but feels her personal life is spinning out of control. She has few friends, an estranged father, and a crazy ex-boyfriend who is stalking her. Joanna begins having terrifying visions of a woman's murder, and it seems that she is the killer's next target. Determined to solve the mystery and escape her apparent fate, Joanna follows her visions to the victim's hometown and finds that some secrets just do not stay buried.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boy (2015)
An intimate portrait of a 9 year old sociopath as he discovers his taste for killing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBaby Blues (2008)
On a secluded family farm, a mother suffers a psychotic break due to postpartum depression, forcing the eldest son to protect his sibling from the mother they have always known and loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Transfiguration (2016)
When troubled teen Milo, who has a fascination with vampire lore, meets the equally alienated Sophie, the two form a bond that begins to blur Milo's fantasy into reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Straw (2024)
A rural roadside diner becomes the host of a maniacal killing spree – leaving a young waitress to clean up the mess. After hard-headed Nancy fires the staff at her dad’s diner, she decides to cover the last shift of the night by herself. Little does she know, she is far from alone. The day is coming back to haunt her and when things begin to spiral out of control, she must fight for her life over the course of one long night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisSpider (2002)
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo One Gets Out Alive (2021)
An immigrant in search of the American dream is forced to take a room in a boarding house and soon finds herself in a nightmare from which she can't escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisShirley (2020)
A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Harvest (2023)
In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Butterfly (2017)
Paul is a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who picks up a drifter and offers him a place to stay. However, when the deranged stranger takes Paul hostage and forces him to write, their unhinged relationship brings buried secrets to light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinged Creatures (2009)
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEndless Night (1972)
Shiftless dreamer Michael Rogers fantasizes about a lifestyle above his means and marries a wealthy, young girl who just came of age. They hire a famous architect to build their dream home amidst a series of suspicious incidents. The spouse has dark intentions toward his naive, inexperienced bride. Secrets from his past and sinister ties to their house guest Greta lead to a terrible turn of unexpected events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPsycho (1960)
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe House of Snails (2021)
A writer secludes himself in the mountains and falls in lust with local Berta. After realizing the oddities of the rural community the author starts to question the lines between reality and fiction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeep Water (2022)
A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHush... 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Could Have Been (2017)
A once gifted writer buries her former life beneath superficiality and greed; however, she is forced to confront her true self when her life is thrown into chaos by the work of his deceased daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Smoke (1995)
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShadowlands (1993)
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack Kerouac's Road: A Franco-American Odyssey (1987)
Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Catching Feelings (2017)
Set in a chic and middle class Johannesburg, a jaded academic and his journalist wife have their lives turned upside down when a celebrated and hedonistic older writer unexpectedly moves into their home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
My Old Lady (2014)
Mathias Gold is a down-on-his-luck New Yorker who inherits a Parisian apartment from his estranged father. But when he arrives in France to sell the vast domicile, he's shocked to discover a live-in tenant who is not prepared to budge. His apartment is a viager—an ancient French real estate system with complex rules pertaining to its resale—and the feisty Englishwoman Mathilde Girard, who has lived in the apartment with her daughter Chloé for many years, can by contract collect monthly payments from Mathias until her death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEm Uma Noite Escura, As Rosas São Amarelas (2010)
The film showcases an unusual night in Fabio's life, a writer married to the beautiful Paula. He leaves his home for a walk and ends up boarding on a 'trip' through the sullen streets of a big city. His encounters with the strange characters of the night mix with flashbacks of the couple's life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
A disillusioned young writer living in New York City turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Knight's Tale (2001)
William Thatcher, a knight's peasant apprentice, gets a chance at glory when the knight dies suddenly mid-tournament. Posing as a knight himself, William won't stop until he's crowned tournament champion—assuming matters of the heart don't get in the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984)
A henpecked housewife ekes out a meager existence, surrounded by a host of colorful characters: her ungrateful husband, her delinquent sons, her headstrong mother-in-law, and her sex worker neighbor, among others.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Trauma?
The closest matches to Trauma are Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), The Return (2006) and The Boy (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Trauma?
Start with Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), the closest match to Trauma.
What is the highest-rated movie like Trauma?
Psycho (1960), rated 8.4/10 by 11,424 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Trauma?
Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Trauma?
Yes: Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), The House of Snails (2021) and What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984).
How are movies similar to Trauma chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Trauma, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.