Movies like Carnival of Souls (1998)
The best movies like Carnival of Souls (1998) are Clown (2014), The Jester (2023) and The Jester 2 (2025). If Carnival of Souls hooked you with its horror and thriller, 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 280 votes
- NewestThe Jester 2 (2025)Released 2025
Clown (2014)
A loving father finds a clown suit for his son's birthday party, only to realize the suit is part of an evil curse that turns its wearer into a killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Jester (2023)
A malevolent being known as The Jester terrorizes the inhabitants of a small town on Halloween night, including two estranged sisters who must come together to find a way to defeat this evil entity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jester 2 (2025)
When teen magician Max crosses paths with the sinister Jester on Halloween night, she must outsmart a supernatural killer whose magic is all too real and whose tricks always end up in blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClown in a Cornfield (2025)
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline Killer (2024)
Moira Cole endeavors to rebuild her shattered life after her family's murder at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWhisper (2007)
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisOn Halloween (2020)
A journalist goes in search of the truth after a series of brutal deaths and disappearances lead back to an urban legend about a serial killing clown that has stalked the woods of Century Park for over a hundred years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurse of Chucky (2013)
After her mother's mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to the mounting bloodshed and chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInsidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
A prequel set before the haunting of the Lambert family that reveals how gifted psychic Elise Rainier reluctantly agrees to use her ability to contact the dead in order to help a teenage girl who has been targeted by a dangerous supernatural entity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil (1978)
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & 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 & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInsidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
The haunted Lambert family seeks to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInsidious: The Last Key (2018)
Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jack in the Box: Awakening (2022)
When a vintage Jack-in-the-box is opened by a dying woman, she enters into a deal with the demon within that would see her illness cured in return for helping it claim six innocent victims.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jack in the Box Rises (2024)
When a creepy Jack-in-the-Box is discovered and opened on the grounds of an exclusive girls' school, six brave students soon enter a fight to the finish against the unleashed demon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerrifier (2018)
A mute maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone else who gets in his way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Funhouse (1981)
Rebellious teen Amy defies her parents by going to a trashy carnival that has pulled into town. In tow are her boyfriend, Buzz, and their friends Liz and Richie. Thinking it would be fun to spend the night in the campy "Funhouse" horror ride, the teens witness a murder by a deformed worker wearing a mask. Locked in, Amy and her friends must evade the murderous carnival workers and escape before it leaves town the next day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisTerrifier 2 (2022)
Resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County to terrorize a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisU-Turn (2023)
Radhika, a journalism intern is investigating bike riders violating traffic on a city flyover, turns sinister when she becomes prime suspect in the mysterious death of one of the motorists, she is forced to prove her innocence and find the real culprit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Psycho (1998)
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Phantom of the Opera (1998)
A series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of an Opera house. Below the theatre stalks a man raised by creatures of the underworld.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisSudden Impact (1983)
When a young rape victim takes justice into her own hands and becomes a serial killer, it's up to Dirty Harry Callahan, on suspension from the SFPD, to bring her to justice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing Kong (1976)
An oil company expedition disturbs the peace of a giant ape and brings him back to New York to exploit him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan on Fire (2004)
Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this2001 Maniacs (2005)
On their way to Spring Break, college kids take a detour through an old Southern town. The people of Pleasant Valley insist the kids stay for their annual barbecue celebration... but instead of getting a taste of the old South, the old South gets a taste of them!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisRipley's Game (2002)
Tom Ripley - cool, urbane, wealthy, and murderous - lives in a villa in the Veneto with Luisa, his harpsichord-playing girlfriend. A former business associate from Berlin's underworld pays a call asking Ripley's help in killing a rival. Ripley - ever a student of human nature - initiates a game to turn a mild and innocent local picture framer into a hit man. The artisan, Jonathan Trevanny, who's dying of cancer, has a wife, young son, and little to leave them. If Ripley draws Jonathan into the game, can Ripley maintain control? Does it stop at one killing? What if Ripley develops a conscience?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Above Water (1996)
Judge George brings his young wife, Nathalie, to a remote island for a vacation. But while George accompanies their only neighbor -- Nathalie's childhood friend Lance -- on a fishing trip, Nathalie spends time with her ex, Kent. When Kent ends up dead the next morning, Nathalie tries to hide the evidence before her husband gets home. After the body is found, the events of the previous night unravel, with unexpected revelations.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReckless (2014)
This stylish, sexually charged thriller revolves around two men who kidnap a woman and chain her to a bed as they await the ransom money. As the clock ticks, the woman discovers that she may have a relationship with one of the kidnappers that she never expected...and that the two men may have a relationship with each other that no one could have expected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Carnival of Souls?
The closest matches to Carnival of Souls are Clown (2014), The Jester (2023) and The Jester 2 (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Carnival of Souls?
Start with Clown (2014), the closest match to Carnival of Souls.
What is the highest-rated movie like Carnival of Souls?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 280 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Carnival of Souls?
The Jester 2 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Carnival of Souls?
Yes: Clown (2014), The Jester (2023) and The Jester 2 (2025).
How are movies similar to Carnival of Souls chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Carnival of Souls, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.