Movies like Nightmares (1983)
The best movies like Nightmares (1983) are Splinter (2008), Books of Blood (2020) and Willard (1971). If Nightmares hooked you with its horror and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAlien: Romulus (2024)7.2/10 from 5,051 votes
- NewestTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)Released 2026
Splinter (2008)
When their plans for a nature trip go awry, Polly and boyfriend Seth decide to check into a motel. On their way, they're carjacked and kidnapped by low-rent crooks Dennis and Lacey, who take the victims and their SUV to a nearby gas station. Along the way, they encounter an increasingly terrifying horde of parasites, and if any of them intend to survive, they'll have to outsmart the deadly organisms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBooks of Blood (2020)
A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWillard (1971)
A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father by his boss. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates. However, when one of them is killed at work, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Light (2019)
A woman returns to her family home and discovers it to be inhabited by monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhosts of War (2020)
A group of World War II American soldiers encounter a supernatural enemy as they occupy a French castle previously under Nazi control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Alone (2024)
Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Ethan, a young man with amnesia navigates the dangerous landscape in search of his lost love Emma. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Mae, a hardened and eccentric survivor. Together, Ethan and Mae face threats both human and otherwise before a fateful encounter with Kai unravels a secret that lies just beyond Ethan's fractured memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContainment (2015)
Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath Machine (1995)
Chaank Armaments is experimenting with the ultimate fighting machine which is part human - part machine. So far, the Hardman project has been unreliable and has killed a number of innocent people. The genius behind this project is Jack who lives in a world of models, toys and magazines. When he is fired by Cale for killing a few corporate officers, he unleashes the ultimate killing machine called the 'Warbeast' against Cale and those who would help her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlien: Romulus (2024)
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYear 10 (2024)
After the fall of civilization, the few survivors have been driven to cannibalism. A young man must confront a violent tribe that has murdered his father and stolen the medicine that keeps his girlfriend alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (2020)
After the death of his father, a brilliant college student returns to his family home where he learns that the horrors from his childhood aren't as dead and gone as he once thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mist (2007)
After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Signal (2007)
A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisNightbreed (1990)
A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of friendly monsters are hiding from humanity. Meanwhile, a sadistic serial killer is looking for a patsy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014)
A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisEradication (2022)
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)
Burt Gummer and Travis Welker find themselves in a fight for survival after investigating deadly giant worm attacks in the Canadian arctic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisNever Let Go (2024)
As an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Entity (1982)
A single mom is raped by an invisible force. Her psychiatrist believes the experience stems from childhood trauma, while she knows something supernatural is at play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mist (TBA)
After a small town in Maine is consumed by a thick mysterious fog from which creatures emerge to attack the townsfolk, a group of survivors hole up in a local grocery store.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
Khawarij (TBA)
A man and his wife attempt to escape from an extremist Islamic cult known as the Khawarij, led by his own father, the village chief. They are haunted by demons conjured by black magic practitioners among the villagers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The 'Burbs (1989)
When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoodland Grey (2022)
When a man living alone in the woods saves the life of a young woman, they are forced to coexist. Chaos ensues when the woman makes a terrifying discovery in the woods behind the man's home and unleashes something truly haunting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
INK (2016)
A traumatized woman seeks penance and personal transformation through tattooing after surviving a devastating pregnancy. One night, drenched in booze and ink, her deepest fears threaten to consume her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Dai-Kaiju vs. Giant Girl (2024)
A once-in-a-100,000-years global heatwave melts the Antarctic ice, awakening DAI-KAIJU from its long sleep! A great battle between DAI-KAIJU, which is over 100 meters long, and a giant girl begins in Shinjuku.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
The making of a horror movie takes on a terrifying reality for students at the most prestigious film school in the country. At Alpine University, someone is determined to win the best film award at any cost - even if it means eliminating the competition. No one is safe and everyone is a suspect.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)
An ambitious director sets out to revive a faded slasher franchise, but her meeting with the film’s reclusive original star spirals into a terrifying maze of obsession, fear, and blood-soaked delusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)
Chris Miller, living with her stepmother in a large secluded mansion, finds her isolation interrupted by the arrival of an unknown scythe-wielding killer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Pathology (2008)
Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.
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 Nightmares?
The closest matches to Nightmares are Splinter (2008), Books of Blood (2020) and Willard (1971). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Nightmares?
Start with Splinter (2008), the closest match to Nightmares.
What is the highest-rated movie like Nightmares?
Alien: Romulus (2024), rated 7.2/10 by 5,051 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Nightmares?
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Nightmares?
Yes: Splinter (2008), Books of Blood (2020) and Willard (1971).
How are movies similar to Nightmares chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nightmares, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.