Movies like Life After Life (1981)
The best movies like Life After Life (1981) are Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), Vicious (2025) and Succubus (2024). If Life After Life hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSuccubus (2024)8.3/10 from 279 votes
- NewestPinocchio: Unstrung (2026)Released 2026
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVicious (2025)
When Polly receives a mysterious box, it comes with one rule: place inside something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. If she doesn’t obey, it will consume everything—and everyone—she’s ever known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuccubus (2024)
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Other (2025)
Unable to conceive, a couple seeks to build a family with a young orphan, survivor of tragic childhood. But their act of love turns to horror when they realize the violence in their foster's past has returned to destroy the new family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThinner (1996)
An obese lawyer finds himself growing "Thinner" when an old Romani man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the old man to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Sorcerers (1967)
An aging hypnotist creates a device that allows the user to control the mind of another person, but his wife abuses its power by manipulating a younger man to commit evil acts.
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 thisThe Boogeyman (2023)
Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Inhabitant (2022)
Like any other teenage girl, Tara is just surviving high school — yet her father and mother seem strangely distant. Amidst a nearby spree of gruesome ax murders, Tara has sightings of terrifying entities, forcing her to question her own sanity and shocking ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisSaint Catherine (2024)
An orphaned girl is rescued from a satanic ritual and taken to Saint Catherine Institute for homeless youth. There she will learn new skills while facing demons that stalk her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEyes of Laura Mars (1978)
A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisReborn (2018)
A stillborn baby girl is abducted by a deranged morgue attendant and brought back to life by electro-kinetic power. On her sixteenth birthday, traumatized Tess escapes captivity and sets out to find her birth mother leaving a trail of horrifying violent destruction and chilling chaos behind her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiary of a Madman (1963)
Simon Cordier, a French magistrate and amateur sculptor comes into contact with a malevolent entity. The invisible - yet corporeal - being, called a "horla" is capable of limited psychokinesis and complete mind control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Possessed (2021)
A man with the ability to exorcise demons fights to protect his loved ones after a sudden surge in demonic possessions. After discovering his nephew's girlfriend has the same supernatural gift, they join forces for the ultimate confrontation. Inspired by actual events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shed (2019)
The story of Stan, an orphaned teenager stuck living with his abusive grandfather and tasked with routinely protecting his best friend from high school bullies. When Stan discovers a murderous creature has taken refuge inside the tool shed in his backyard, he tries to secretly battle the demon alone until his bullied friend discovers the creature and has a far more sinister plan in mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Professor Van Helsing had been asked to help against the tyranny of skeletal creatures that are responsible for terror and death amongst the peasants in rural China. He is the only person qualified to deal with the cause of these phenomena, for the undead are controlled by the most diabolical force of all.... Count Dracula. But he is not alone- to aid him comes a mystical brotherhood of seven martial arts warriors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisNight of the Animated Dead (2021)
An animated retelling of ‘Night of the Living Dead’, in which a group of people in a rural farmhouse struggle to survive the threat of bloodthirsty zombies.
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 thisPinocchio: Unstrung (2026)
Influenced by a sinister Cricket and created by Geppetto, Pinocchio launches a violent crusade to carve himself into a real boy like his brother James, one piece at a time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPinocchio's Revenge (1996)
Defense attorney Jennifer Garrick acquires a Pinocchio puppet from a condemned serial killer. Her pre-teen daughter, Zoe, mistakes the puppet as a birthday present and grows attached to her new friend. Suddenly, accidents begin to happen to those who cross Zoe. Zoe claims it's her Pinocchio doll but her therapist thinks otherwise. Pinocchio promises he'll behave if Zoe will cut his strings...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Pocong Shroud Ghost (2022)
A young girl finds a puppet that's haunted with an evil spirit from another land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Gremlins (1984)
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gingerdead Man (2005)
An evil yet adorable Gingerbread man comes to life with the soul of a convicted killer, and this real life cookie monster wreaks havoc on the girl who sent the killer to the electric chair.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisDogshit (2026)
A man desperate to regain his lost edge becomes convinced that a grotesque new deodorant is the key to confidence, power, and success.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Puppet Master II (1990)
A new team of paranormal researchers has come to the hotel to investigate its murder-soaked past; the puppets -- led by a new member, Torch -- shed some light on the matter, as they tunnel, burn, strangle and hook to survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPuppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1992)
After hearing that mystical toymaker Andre Toulon has managed to create a troupe of sentient, living puppets, Nazi underling Dr. Hess sets his sights on exploiting Toulon's powers for the glory of the Reich.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPuppet Master 4 (1993)
Blade, Tunneler, and Pinhead go toe-to-toe with a team of terrifying, gremlin-like creatures known as "Totems" that are sent by the Egyptian demon Sutekh to recapture the magic stolen by Toulon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPuppet Master 5 (1994)
Sutekh, the dark pharaoh from another dimension, sends his own puppet, Totem, to continue his quest to kill Rick and steal the magic which animates the puppets.
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 Life After Life?
The closest matches to Life After Life are Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), Vicious (2025) and Succubus (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Life After Life?
Start with Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026), the closest match to Life After Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like Life After Life?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 279 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Life After Life?
Pinocchio: Unstrung (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Life After Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Life After Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.