Movies like Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
The best movies like Happy Birthday to Me (1981) are Scream (1996), April Fool's Day (1986) and Urban Legend (1998). If Happy Birthday to Me hooked you with its horror and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHalloween (1978)7.6/10 from 6,531 votes
- NewestScream 7 (2026)Released 2026
Scream (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 & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisApril Fool's Day (1986)
On April Fool's Day weekend, a group of college friends gather together at a secluded island mansion to celebrate their final year of school, where they soon become prey for an unseen murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUrban Legend (1998)
A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream 4 (2011)
Fifteen years after the original Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott returns home to promote her new book about surviving trauma, only for a new Ghostface killer to emerge, targeting a new group of teens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream 7 (2026)
When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, Sidney must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream (2022)
Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream 2 (1997)
Two years after the Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott acclimates to college life while someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the fatal mistake of dumping their victim's body into the sea. Exactly one year later, the deadly secret resurfaces as they're stalked by a hook-handed figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMercy Black (2019)
A woman is sent to a mental institution after stabbing her classmate in an attempt to conjure an evil spirit called, Mercy Black. Fifteen years later she's released, and must save her nephew, who has become obsessed with the phenomenon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Not a Serial Killer (2016)
In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer while keeping his own inner demons at bay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor X (1932)
A wisecracking reporter investigates the cannibalistic 'Moon Killer' murders tied to a medical academy, culminating in a chilling reenactment experiment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream VI (2023)
Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMa (2019)
Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHalloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 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 thisFreddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenagers of Elm Street. Only this time, they're out to get each other, too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Raven (2012)
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark City (1998)
A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProm Night (2008)
Donna's senior prom is supposed to be the best night of her life, though a sadistic killer from her past has different plans for her and her friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisJeepers Creepers (2001)
On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck, and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)
Beautiful Mandy Lane isn't a party girl but, when classmate Chloe invites the Texas high school student to a bash in the countryside, she reluctantly accepts. After hitching a ride with a vaguely scary older man, the teens arrive at their destination. Partying ensues, and Mandy's close pal, Emmet, keeps a watchful eye on the young males making a play for Mandy. Then two of the students are murdered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisFelidae (1994)
A domestic house cat named Francis investigates the grisly feline murders taking place in his new neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 6th Day (2000)
A world of the very near future in which cattle, fish, and even the family pet can be cloned. But cloning humans is illegal - that is until family man Adam Gibson comes home from work one day to find a clone has replaced him. Taken from his family and plunged into a sinister world he doesn't understand, Gibson must not only save himself from the assassins who must destroy him to protect their secret, but uncover who and what is behind the horrible things happening to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFunny Games (2008)
When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarehouse (2014)
When two friends open a Halloween fun house on Devil's Night it is all fun and games until their former sorority sisters begin to arrive. These six sisters are confronted by their past as the night spins out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisKiller Clown (2010)
A serial killer dressed in a clown mask and a long black robe terrorizes a small town and murders people randomly and for no apparent reason. A man whose girlfriend gets killed by the clown seeks revenge and enacts his own brand of vigilante justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Blood Widow (2014)
Laurie and Hugh are a successful young couple who have just closed on a weekend home away from the city. Unbeknownst to them, the neighboring property contains the crumbling remains of a boarding school that was shuttered in the wake of an unspeakable massacre. The sole survivor of that massacre still resides in the ruins of the school, hiding from the world and wanting only to be left alone. When Laurie and Hugh's friends explore the property, they have no idea that they disturbed an emotionally-broken killing machine: The Blood Widow.
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 Happy Birthday to Me?
The closest matches to Happy Birthday to Me are Scream (1996), April Fool's Day (1986) and Urban Legend (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Happy Birthday to Me?
Start with Scream (1996), the closest match to Happy Birthday to Me.
What is the highest-rated movie like Happy Birthday to Me?
Halloween (1978), rated 7.6/10 by 6,531 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Happy Birthday to Me?
Scream 7 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Happy Birthday to Me?
Yes: Scream (1996), April Fool's Day (1986) and Urban Legend (1998).
How are movies similar to Happy Birthday to Me chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Happy Birthday to Me, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.