Movies like The Ants (1987)
The best movies like The Ants (1987) are Bad Sister (2015), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and The Young One (1960). If The Ants hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedShelter (2026)7.7/10 from 2,030 votes
- NewestShelter (2026)Released 2026
Bad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSafe Haven (2013)
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpring (2014)
A young man in a personal tailspin flees the US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisShades of Desire (2023)
After her twin sister Aubrey goes missing, Jennifer uncovers the scandalous, secret double-life that Aubrey leads - and that has put both of them in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo One Will Save You (2023)
A lonely woman battles extraterrestrials who threaten her future while forcing her to face her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomeone's Watching Me! (1978)
A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLazareth (2024)
Lee is an aunt whose life mission is to protect her orphaned nieces, Imogen and Maeve, from a self-destructing world, raising them in isolation until an outsider threatens their peaceful existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShelter (2026)
A man living in self-imposed exile on a remote island rescues a young girl from a violent storm, setting off a chain of events that forces him out of seclusion to protect her from enemies tied to his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisImmaculate (2024)
An American nun embarks on a new journey when she joins a remote convent in the Italian countryside. However, her warm welcome quickly turns into a living nightmare when she discovers her new home harbours a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntruders (2015)
Anna suffers from agoraphobia so crippling that when a trio of criminals break into her house, she cannot bring herself to flee. But what the intruders don't realize is that agoraphobia is not her only psychosis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuplex (2003)
When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLate Anthropocene (2016)
Hand processed expired Kodak 7291, Camera: Beaulieu R16, Lens: Angenieux 12-120mm with +3 Diopter, Polarising filter for the clouds. Hand processed in C-41 chem using a Lomo UPB-1A tank. Still haven't mastered removal of the rem-jet anti-halation layer (thats all the white 'static' on the film). The film expired about 40 years ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Butterfly Tale (2023)
A pair of rival butterflies form an unlikely friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Summer Meadow (2024)
A close look at flowers and pollinators on a sunny summer morning.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Nightwatchman (1993)
A nightwatchman who works at a pesticide plant manipulates chemicals (of which he treats a strange garden of marrow-like vines in his apartment) , causing evolution to accelerate, in this short illustrating the harmful effects of human interference with nature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Human Experiments (1979)
A demented prison doctor performs gruesome shock therapy experiments on inmates.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Bug Therapy (2021)
Citronella, a mosquito who faints at the sight of blood, nervously waits outside her first group therapy session, while the Pill Bug therapist, Dr. Pill tries to calm a neurotic group of bugs, each suffering from a mental-health issue: An OCD germaphobic Fly freaks when he runs out of hand sanitizer. A Dragonfly couple struggle with co-dependency; she's literally on top of him. A Grasshopper, addicted to coffee, is so jumpy, he launches himself in mid-sentence. A Praying Mantis who doesn't pray because she thinks she is God. A terrified Spider is deathly afraid of -- spiders. And, a perfectly-camouflaged Stick Bug complains that no one ever "sees" him. Throughout all this, Citronella battles her urge to flee - while Dr. Pill implores her to share her "embarrassing" problem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Garden Friends and Foes (1943)
How to distinguish and deal with various insects that destroy vegetables.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Brooding (2024)
When wildlife photographer Tara returns home from a photo trip to the California mountains, she's beset by violent agoraphobia. Her boyfriend Matthew tries to get her into treatment as she escalates episodes of self-harm, convincing herself that her house has become home to a dark insect brood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Microcosmos (1996)
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ants?
The closest matches to The Ants are Bad Sister (2015), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and The Young One (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ants?
Start with Bad Sister (2015), the closest match to The Ants.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ants?
Shelter (2026), rated 7.7/10 by 2,030 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ants?
Shelter (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Ants chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ants, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.