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Movies like Nightmare (1972)

The best movies like Nightmare (1972) are Waiting for Anya (2020), Battleground (1949) and Walking with the Enemy (2014). If Nightmare hooked you with its drama and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Waiting for Anya (2020)

    During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  2. Battleground (1949)

    Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  3. Walking with the Enemy (2014)

    Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent Horthy gives up control of his country to the Nazis, who quickly move Hungarians to ghettos and death camps, with no hope in sight. But the despair changes when a young man named Elek emerges. Separated from his family during the relocations and aided by the woman he loves , Elek defies the enemy by becoming one of them. In a race against time, disguised as a Nazi Officer he embarks on a mission to save his family and thousands of his countrymen.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  4. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)

    Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. The One That Got Away (1957)

    Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

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  6. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

    The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II. Adapted from four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  7. Outlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)

    A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  8. King Rat (1965)

    When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. Among the American prisoners is Cpl. King, a wheeler-dealer who has managed to establish a pretty good life for himself in the camp. King soon forms a friendship with an upper-class British officer who is fascinated with King's enthusiastic approach to life.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  9. Taking Sides (2002)

    One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' de-Nazification programme. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order to bear on an occupied Germany. An American major is given the Furtwangler file, and is told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  10. The Young Lions (1958)

    The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

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  11. Behold a Pale Horse (1964)

    Manuel Artiguez, a famous bandit during the Spanish civil war, has lived in French exile for 20 years. When his mother is dying he considers visiting her secretly in his Spanish home town. But his biggest enemy, the Spanish police officer Vinolas, prepared a trap at the hospital as a chance to finally catch Artiguez.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

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  12. The Guns of Navarone (1961)

    A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  13. The Dam Busters (1955)

    The story of the conception of a new British weapon for smashing the German dams in the Ruhr industrial complex and the execution of the raid by 617 Squadron 'The Dam Busters'.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  14. Hurricane (2018)

    Polish pilots overcome prejudice to fight against the Luftwaffe with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in the hope of protecting both Great Britain and their own Poland from the German advance.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

  15. Cross of Iron (1977)

    It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  16. The Beast of War (1988)

    During the war in Afghanistan a Soviet tank crew commanded by a tyrannical officer find themselves lost and in a struggle against a band of Mujahadeen guerrillas in the mountains.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  17. Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

    An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & drama

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  18. Wolf Hound (2022)

    Inspired by the real-life German special operations unit KG 200 that shot down, repaired, and flew Allied aircraft as Trojan horses, "Wolf Hound" takes place in 1944 German-occupied France and follows the daring exploits of Jewish-American fighter pilot Captain David Holden. Ambushed behind enemy lines, Holden must rescue a captured B-17 Flying Fortress crew, evade a ruthless enemy stalking him at every turn, and foil a plot that could completely alter the outcome of World War II.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war

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  19. Sahara (1995)

    After the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, U.S. Army sergeant Joe Gunn leads his tank into the Sahara desert, in order to evade advancing Rommel's forces and reach Allied lines. Along the way he picks up few Allied soldiers, but soon they are running out of water. They find water at the ancient well, but the well is a goal of an entire German battalion. Despite the impossible odds, Sergeant Gunn decides to defend the well.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war

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  20. The Eastern Front (2020)

    A dwindling group of German soldiers battle to return to their lines on the harsh Eastern Front.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war

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  21. Devils on the Doorstep (2001)

    During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

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  22. The Shop on Main Street (1965)

    In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  23. Hospital of the Transfiguration (1979)

    The beginning of the occupation. A closed mental world for the sick. Dr. Kauters values ​​only methods of resolution, Dr. Rygier is a believer in strong authority, Dr. Marglewski considers psychic property a form of haunting, Dr. Nosilewska left Austria after the Nazi occupation. The writer Sekułowski seeks shelter. The young, newly arrived doctor, Stefan, refuses to remain passive in the face of the situation and events...

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

  24. Into the Darkness (2020)

    Karlskov is a self made, successful owner of a large electronics factory, has a wife and five children. They live the good, privileged upper-class life on Strandvejen north of Copenhagen when the Nazis occupy Denmark in April 1940. Karl struggles to continue production at the factory, but to protect his family and employees he reluctantly begins to produce for the German market. It brings him into a controversial collaboration with the occupying power and causes painful breaks in the family.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

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  25. Star Sand (2017)

    In the closing days of World War II, Japanese-American Hiromi, a girl age 16, encounters an American deserter, Bob, and a Japanese soldier, Iwabuchi, living together in a cave on a small island in Okinawa. The two men are deserters from their armies; yet both vow never to harm another human being again. Hiromi looks after the deserters until another soldier appears and the peace of the cave is shattered. It leads to the death of three of them and a fascinating mystery that isn't solved until the present day.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

  26. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

    Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & war

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  27. Orders to Kill (1958)

    A grounded American fighter pilot is switched to espionage on a special job in which he must kill a small-time Paris lawyer suspected of double-crossing France by selling out radio operators to the Nazis.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & drama

  28. Labyrinth of Lies (2014)

    A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  29. Washington Melodrama (1941)

    An elderly businessman plans what he thinks is an innocent night on the town while his wife is away. Instead, he finds himself involved in a showgirl's murder.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

  30. Yesterday Is Over Your Shoulder (1940)

    A wartime short encouraging workers to join free, government-organised engineering training schemes.

    Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Like Nightmare and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Nightmare?

The closest matches to Nightmare are Waiting for Anya (2020), Battleground (1949) and Walking with the Enemy (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Nightmare?

Start with Waiting for Anya (2020), the closest match to Nightmare.

What is the highest-rated movie like Nightmare?

Devils on the Doorstep (2001), rated 8.2/10 by 200 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Nightmare?

Wolf Hound (2022) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Nightmare?

Yes: Waiting for Anya (2020), Battleground (1949) and Walking with the Enemy (2014).

How are movies similar to Nightmare chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nightmare, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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