Movies like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern (1962)
The best movies like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern (1962) are Tomie: Rebirth (2001), Play Dead (2022) and Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974). If Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedOnibaba (1964)7.7/10 from 515 votes
- NewestThe Devil Comes at Night (2023)Released 2023
- In JapaneseTomie: Rebirth (2001)Also in Japanese
Tomie: Rebirth (2001)
Young art student Hideo paints an unnerving portrait of Tomie, who whispers that she loves him. Inexplicably, he reacts by stabbing her to death with a painting trowel. Two friends, Takumi and Shunichi, arrive on the scene and help him dispose of the body. To cheer him up, the boys take the unwitting murderer to the nearest bar for a party... but a mysterious girl named Tomie shows up, bearing a few odd physical resemblances to the dead girl in the ground.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974)
A notorious bank robber kills his wife and flees the police, only to be captured by a mysterious group of figures in an abandoned town. His beautiful daughter, Lila Lee, receives a letter stating that her father is near death and that he needs to see her. Sneaking away at night from her minister guardian, Lila embarks on a terrifying journey...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Bury the Living (1958)
The new manager of a small-town cemetery becomes convinced that he triggered the untimely deaths of several plot owners by tampering with a certain map. When nobody believes him, he risks his sanity to play God once again and prove his point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMikey (1992)
Mikey just needs a good stable home. He's bounced from foster home to foster home his whole life. He finally lands himself with a new loving family, but their perfect little child is not what he appears to be. His previous caretakers all died of mysterious "accidents" that weren't really accidents at all. Mikey is a cold blooded killer, and it doesn't take long for him to aim his sights on his new adoptive family and anyone else who stands in his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisReincarnation (2005)
A Japanese actress begins having strange visions and experiences after landing a role in a horror film about a real-life murder spree that took place over forty years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil Comes at Night (2023)
A washed up boxer searching for his inheritance must fight for his life when he is trapped in his deceased father's farmhouse by a local cannibal cult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisX-Cross (2007)
Recovering from a failed love affair Shiyori heads to the country, in the company of best friend and bad girl Aiko. Having taken a long soak in the hot spring they retire to their respective cabins. They soon discover that the tranquil village is the home of a cult with a fetish for cutting off female legs. Trying to escape they are split up and keep in touch via their mobile phones. Multiple points of view and time frames keeps the viewer on their toes trying to discern the grisly fate of these "lost" girls.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Curse of Buckout Road (2017)
A college class project on creation and destruction of modern myth, turns terrifying when a trio of young people come to realize the urban legends surrounding the famed Buckout Road may, in fact, be REAL.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvil of Dracula (1974)
Professor Shiraki arrives at an isolated girls' boarding school to take a new position. Upon arrival, he learns the principal's wife died in a car accident and is being kept in the cellar, according to local tradition. The principal startles Shiraki by asking him to become his successor, but Shiraki soon discovers that the principal has much darker motives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Note: Light Up the NEW World (2016)
10 years has passed since the confrontation between Kira and L. Again, Shinigami sends death notes to the ground and due to this, the world soon falls into chaos. Tsukuru is a member of the Death Note special task force team with 6 other investigators including Matsuda who experienced the Kira case of 10 years ago. Mass murders caused by the death note takes place on Wall Street in the U.S., Shibuya in Japan and other places. World famous private investigator Ryuzaki, who is the rightful successor of L, also investigates the mass murders. They discover that 6 death notes exists in the world. A computer virus called Kira spreads in the world. A message in the Kira virus says to turn in 6 death notes. A person who has 6 death notes overwhelm the world. The confrontation begins between the person who wants Kira’s revival and the people who want to stop it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother (2012)
After a chain of deaths at a junior high school, new transfer student Koichi Sakakibara turns to a mysterious girl who holds the key to the dark mystery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPhantasm (1979)
A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbduction (2019)
A man steps out of a park fountain in Ho Chi Minh City with no recollection of who he is or where he came from. As he wanders through the city, piecing together clues to his past, he is relentlessly pursued by mysterious figures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Watch (1973)
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeadsight (2018)
A man with partial blindness and a young pregnant police officer must work together to escape a deadly virus that has spread across Grey County.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnibaba (1964)
While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGantz: Perfect Answer (2011)
Summoned by the black sphere, Kei and Masaru fight against extraterrestrials until Masaru grows tired of fighting and refuses to continue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNinja III: The Domination (1984)
An aerobics instructor becomes a ruthless assassin after being possessed by a slain ninja's spirit, leading to a showdown with a martial arts expert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Snow Woman (1968)
Two sculptors spend the night in a mountain lodge after being caught in a snowstorm. A female spirit appears and takes the life of one of the men. She spares the other man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone what happened that night.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Ghost Story: Passion in Fukagawa (1952)
A ghost story about a woman who dies a violent death and appears to the man she loves as a vengeful spirit. This film marked the turning point in Daiei's shift in emphasis from thrillers to ghost stories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Travels of Lord Mito: The Phantom Cat (1956)
In Numada, Jyoshu, Seijun's mistress dies a horrible death at the hands of a gang of vicious vassals plotting to embezzle the Kuroda family, and her beloved cat takes revenge by becoming an incarnation of the cat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
J-Horror Anthology: Legends (2003)
The video is a compilation of six short stories based on Japanese folklore legends. Each story is approximately 15 minutes long and are briefly introduced by a host. "Peony Lamp" is a story of love, death and ghosts. "She Bear" tells the story of a monster lady who terrorizes passers of a city tunnel. "Yamamba" is a spirit living in the depths of the forests waiting to feed on anyone who ventures there. "Nurarihyon" tells us of a playful spirit visiting a family's restaurant. "Heartbroken trip", a young woman visits a spa not knowing what awaits her. "Lost Souls" a stop during a long car ride turns into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Temptress and the Monk (1957)
A Buddhist monk becomes ensnared by a seductive woman who, according to legend, transforms her lovers into beasts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
A Samurai's Love (1954)
A film about the Ghost of Okiku that's based on the kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Returning Spirit (1955)
A tryst between the young warrior Hagiwara Shinzaburo and beautiful Otsuyu is discovered, and the shamed Otsuyu commits suicide with her maid. Their ghosts subsequently appear to Shinzaburo. He obtains a door-protecting charm and a statue of the goddess Kannon from a priest to keep the spirits from his home. A conniving servant removes the protective devices so that Otsuyu can reach her lover and cart him away to the land of the dead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Appeal on the Cross (1956)
Kusuo Abe stars in this kaidan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations (1956)
A power struggle in the fief of Okazaki causes the death of Namiji, a nobleman's daughter. As her fiancé seeks revenge, he finds Namiji's cat helping him, along the Fifty-Three stations of the Tokaido Road. Co-starring Shintarô Katsu and Takako Irie.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp (1957)
A remake of Kaidan Saga yashiki (1953).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern?
The closest matches to Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern are Tomie: Rebirth (2001), Play Dead (2022) and Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern?
Start with Tomie: Rebirth (2001), the closest match to Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern?
Onibaba (1964), rated 7.7/10 by 515 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern?
The Devil Comes at Night (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern?
Yes: Tomie: Rebirth (2001), Reincarnation (2005) and X-Cross (2007).
How are movies similar to Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ghost Story: Crying in the Night Lantern, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.