Movies like El Filandón (1985)
The best movies like El Filandón (1985) are The Devil's Backbone (2001), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Wait (2023). If El Filandón hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMacario (1960)8.7/10 from 228 votes
- Newest40 Acres (2025)Released 2025
- In SpanishThe Devil's Backbone (2001)Also in Spanish
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Spain, 1939. In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, the young Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucía orphanage, where he will make friends and enemies as he follows the quiet footsteps of a mysterious presence eager for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wait (2023)
Eladio, hunting estate keeper, takes a bribe from a veteran hunter. Weeks later, his whole life falls apart. What looked like the opportunity of a lifetime, turns into a macabre descent to hell when he finds out that his misfortune might not be entirely by chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisNocebo (2022)
A fashion designer suffers from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile the Wolf's Away (2017)
A young teen and his misfit group of friends try to escape from a strict boarding school that holds dangerous secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMirage (2018)
During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrom Beyond the Grave (1974)
Four customers purchase, or take, items from Temptations Limited, an antiques shop whose motto is “Offers You Cannot Resist.” A nasty fate awaits all of them; particularly those who cheat the shop's Proprietor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
In 1940, in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl living on the Castilian plain is haunted after attending a screening of James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein and hearing from her sister that the monster is not dead, instead existing as a spirit inhabiting a nearby barn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVacation of Terror II: Diabolical Birthday (1991)
Julio is back, quietly running an antique shop, when a chance encounter with singer Mayra and her younger sister brings him face to face with the evil doll again!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisMona Lisa and the Blood Moon (2022)
A young woman with psychokinetic powers breaks out of a Louisiana asylum and makes her way to New Orleans, where she falls into the city’s netherworld of misfits and miscreants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMacario (1960)
Poor, hungry peasant Macario longs for just one good meal on the Day of the Dead. After his wife cooks a turkey for him, he meets three apparitions, the Devil, God, and Death. Each asks him to share his turkey, but he refuses all except Death. In return, Death gives him a bottle of water which will heal any illness. Soon, Macario is more wealthy than the village doctor, which draws the attention of the feared Inquisition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWerewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012)
Set in a 19th century village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisKM 31: Kilometer 31 (2006)
While driving through the kilometer 31 of a lonely road, Agata Hameran hits a boy. She leaves her car to help the victim and another car runs over her and she falls in a deep coma. Her twin sister Catalina telepathically feels the pain of Agata and hears her whispering for help. Together with her boyfriend Nuno and Agata's mate Omar, they return to the km 31 of the road, and find out that the place is surrounded by supernatural accidents caused by the ghost of a mother that lost her boy many years ago. Further, Catalina discloses that the spirit of Agata is trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKidnapping Mr. Heineken (2015)
The true story of the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the grandson of the founder of the Heineken brewery, and his driver. They were released after a ransom of 35 million Dutch guilders was paid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder in Three Acts (1986)
In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ritual Killer (2023)
Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisLa Casa (2020)
Responding to an urgent call for help, a police officer becomes trapped by the evil spirits of a cursed house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecrets of a Soul (2012)
Secrets of a Soul: Margarethe, Creator of bizarre sculptures! Night club dancer? Mad woman? Victim of an occult conspiracy?! Dark menaces steal her soul and organs. Though dead they keep her alive...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Hollywoodland (2006)
When Hollywood superstar George Reeves dies in his home, private detective Louis Simo is hired to investigate his death and gets caught in a web of lies involving a big studio executive's wife. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Discovery of Heaven (2001)
Disappointed with humanity, God wants to revoke his contract with humanity and wants to take back the stone tablets containing the ten commandments. To this end an angel is sent out to affect the personal lives of three humans so an appropriate child may be conceived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
Justice League: Starcrossed - The Movie (2004)
When the Thanagarians visit Earth, Hawkgirl is forced to choose between loyalty to her people and love for her friends on her adopted planet Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisImmortal Spirit (1999)
When a cop finds himself stalked by another officer, it turns out to be supernatural forces at work as his colleague is possessed by the spirit of his dead lover who wants him and his family dead as well.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Lonely Hearts (2006)
In the late 1940s, a murderous couple known as the 'The Lonely Hearts Killers' kills close to a dozen people. Two detectives try to nab the duo who find their targets via the personals in the paper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead in 3 Days (2006)
When Nina and her high school friends receive eerie text messages declaring that they will all die within three days, they dismiss it as a hokey prank - until one by one, the pals start turning up dead in the alpine countryside. With the cops stymied, Nina and her remaining friends must scour their past for clues to identify the madman before he kills them all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet Kings (2008)
Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wall (1967)
Prisoners await execution by firing squad when they are captured during the Spanish Civil War in this drama taken from the novella by Jean-Paul Sarte. Pablo is a loyalist jailed after he searches for his brother. An Irish mercenary and a Belgian physician are his cellmates. Flashbacks recall their lives before the war as they spend their last moments on Earth waiting for their date with death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison, a Scottish teenager from a tough background sets out to raise the money for a home.
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 El Filandón?
The closest matches to El Filandón are The Devil's Backbone (2001), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Wait (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El Filandón?
Start with The Devil's Backbone (2001), the closest match to El Filandón.
What is the highest-rated movie like El Filandón?
Macario (1960), rated 8.7/10 by 228 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El Filandón?
40 Acres (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like El Filandón?
Yes: The Devil's Backbone (2001), The Wait (2023) and While the Wolf's Away (2017).
How are movies similar to El Filandón chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El Filandón, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.