Movies like Dark Carnival (1993)
The best movies like Dark Carnival (1993) are Haunt (2019), Scream (1996) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). If Dark Carnival hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedScream (1996)7.4/10 from 8,405 votes
- Newest825 Forest Road (2025)Released 2025
Haunt (2019)
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an extreme haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream (1996)
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHalloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Two decades after surviving a massacre on October 31, 1978, former baby sitter Laurie Strode finds herself hunted by persistent knife-wielder Michael Myers. Laurie now lives in Northern California under an assumed name, where she works as the headmistress of a private school. But it's not far enough to escape Myers, who soon discovers her whereabouts. As Halloween descends upon Laurie's peaceful community, a feeling of dread weighs upon her -- with good reason.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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
SnoozefestMovies like thisF (2010)
A group of teachers must defend themselves from a gang of murderous kids when their school comes under siege after hours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil (1978)
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (2007)
Cassie, a 13 year old Gothic girl, is trying to fit in at her new school. To entertain herself, she plays a series of pranks on the popular kids and her younger brother, Max. When she goes to a Halloween store looking for new tricks, she finds a little book called "The Evil Thing"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Body (2018)
In Los Angeles, on Halloween night, a hitman tries to transport a corpse in plain sight, but people he stumbles upon on the street, believing that his sophisticated appearance is a magnificent disguise, constantly stand in his way to congratulate him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Horror House (2012)
On Halloween night, a sorority house is overrun with ghosts, while a vengeful housemother goes on a killing spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisScary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, Halloween night, 1968. After playing a joke on a school bully, Stella and her friends decide to sneak into a supposedly haunted house that once belonged to the powerful Bellows family, unleashing dark forces that they will be unable to control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInsidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPuppetmaster (1989)
After being contacted by their mysterious former colleague, four psychics arrive at a secluded hotel where they are stalked by a group of murderous puppets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this825 Forest Road (2025)
After a family tragedy, Chuck Wilson hopes to start a new life in Ashland Falls with his wife Maria and little sister Elizabeth, but he quickly discovers that the town has a dark history of being haunted by a ghostly woman who drives residents to suicide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisInsidious: The Last Key (2018)
Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Haunting (1963)
Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNight of the Living Dead (1990)
A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
Mary Lou Maloney, Hamilton High's Prom Queen of 1957, is killed during her coronation ceremony due to a prank gone wrong by her jilted boyfriend, Billy Nordham. Thirty years later, teen Vicki Carpenter is in the running for Prom Queen, but accidentally unleashes the vengeful spirit of Mary Lou, who will stop at nothing to be rightfully crowned, even if it means taking Vicki's poor body for a cruise!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInsidious: The Red Door (2023)
To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh Lambert and a college-aged Dalton Lambert must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family's dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Dress Massacre (TBA)
A bikini competition takes a tragic turn as a mysterious killer begins to eliminate the competition one by one leading up to the event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Deadly Camp 2003 (2003)
A psychotic family kills a group of people in a lonely island.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Grudge 3 (2009)
Jake Kimble, the sole survivor of the Chicago massacre, is killed while in solitary confinement. His doctor begins investigating the claims he made about a long-haired woman in white, as a mysterious Japanese woman arrives at his old apartment building to help them get rid of the curse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisLianne (2024)
Social Media influencer Erin takes her millions of fans on a live stream adventure inside an abandoned haunted house to raise money for the disease that took her friends life. The longer she stays the more she can raise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Blood Cove (2019)
Young reporter Joanie Craven goes missing in the small town of Beansboro. Now it's up to her father and a skeptical local police detective to thwart the efforts of the villainous Blood Cove killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Slotherhouse (2023)
Emily Young, a senior, wants to be elected as her sorority's president. She adopts a cute sloth, thinking it can become the new mascot and help her win, until a string of fatalities implicate the sloth as the main suspect in the murders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisCatatonia (2014)
The lone survivor of the brutal Oakhurst Sanatorium Murders, suffers from severe post-traumatic dissociative disorder in a state run mental health facility. Budget-cuts lead to the transfer of the criminally-insane killer she escaped right to her hospital, while the true supernatural force behind the killings wants to finish what begun the night of the murders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Urban Fears (2019)
Most horror stories take place in suburban areas, but these three teenagers are about to realize that those are not the only places where these things happen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Ever since killing the Fisherman one year ago, Julie James is still haunted by images of him after her. When her best friend Karla wins free tickets to the Bahamas, Julie finds this a perfect opportunity to finally relax. But someone is waiting for her. Someone who she thought was dead. Someone who is out again for revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisI'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)
Several teenagers in a small-town in Colorado concoct a July 4th prank based on a frightening legend that goes awry when their friend ends up accidentally killed; however, the teens agree to keep their involvement a secret from the authorities, who continue to search for the man who apparently killed their friend. A year later, with the July 4th celebration coming up again, the teenagers realize that they're being stalked by someone who clearly intends on keeping the horrible legend alive by killing them off.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dark Carnival?
The closest matches to Dark Carnival are Haunt (2019), Scream (1996) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dark Carnival?
Start with Haunt (2019), the closest match to Dark Carnival.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dark Carnival?
Scream (1996), rated 7.4/10 by 8,405 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dark Carnival?
825 Forest Road (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dark Carnival?
Yes: Haunt (2019), Scream (1996) and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).
How are movies similar to Dark Carnival chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dark Carnival, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.