Movies like Child's Play (1980)
The best movies like Child's Play (1980) are Please Don't Feed the Children (2025), The Bad Seed (1956) and Shut In (2022). If Child's Play hooked you with its thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedProtector (2026)8.4/10 from 648 votes
- NewestProtector (2026)Released 2026
Please Don't Feed the Children (2025)
After a viral outbreak ravaged the country’s adult population, a group of orphans heads south in search of a new life, only to find themselves at the mercy of a deranged woman harboring a dangerous secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bad Seed (1956)
Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter's darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda's dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShut In (2022)
A young single mother is held captive along with her two children by a violent ex and must plot their escape before it’s too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStillwater (2021)
Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoom (2015)
Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBefore I Wake (2016)
An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPossum (2018)
A disgraced children's puppeteer returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront his wicked stepfather and the secrets that have tortured him his entire life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Recently fired and desperate for work, a troubled young man named Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But he soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGerald's Game (2017)
When her husband's sex game goes wrong, Jessie (who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house) faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisM (1951)
In the city, someone is murdering children. The police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tall Man (2012)
When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Book of Henry (2017)
Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShe Rides Shotgun (2025)
Newly released from prison and marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly, at all costs. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly forge a bond under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive—and she teaches him the true meaning of unconditional love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStowaway (2022)
A tenacious party girl fights to survive after three thieves commandeer her luxury yacht. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prophecy (1995)
The angel Gabriel comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated war in Heaven. However, it is hidden inside of a Native American girl and only a former priest and a schoolteacher can stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSucker Punch (2011)
A young woman, institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, retreats into a vivid fantasy world where she envisions a plan to escape. Gathering a group of fellow inmates, she embarks on a quest to collect five mystical items, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHobo with a Shotgun (2011)
A vigilante homeless man pulls into a new city and finds himself trapped in urban chaos, a city where crime rules and where the city's crime boss reigns. Seeing an urban landscape filled with armed robbers, corrupt cops, abused prostitutes and even a pedophile Santa, the Hobo goes about bringing justice to the city the best way he knows how - with a 20-gauge shotgun. Mayhem ensues when he tries to make things better for the future generation. Street justice will indeed prevail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCase 39 (2009)
In her many years as a social worker, Emily Jenkins believes she has seen it all, until she meets 10-year-old Lilith and the girl's cruel parents. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm the child, and so Emily assumes custody of Lilith while she looks for a foster family. However, Emily soon finds that dark forces surround the seemingly innocent girl, and the more she tries to protect Lilith, the more horrors she encounters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProtector (2026)
Nikki's life is shattered when her daughter is kidnapped. Thrust into the criminal underworld while hunted by cops and military, she must fight to rescue her child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Final (2010)
A group of high school outcasts get revenge on the students that torment them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuel (1971)
Traveling businessman David Mann angers the driver of a rusty tanker while crossing the California desert. A simple trip turns deadly, as Mann struggles to stay on the road while the tanker plays cat and mouse with his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMission: Impossible III (2006)
Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen Davian, an international broker of arms and information, who's as cunning as he is ruthless. Davian emerges to threaten Hunt and all that he holds dear – including the woman Hunt loves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeserted (2010)
In a desperate attempt to survive, two deserters and a green beret try to reunite with their forces after the enemy unleashes its secret weapon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Road to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisChanging Lanes (2002)
A rush-hour fender-bender on New York City's crowded FDR Drive, under most circumstances, wouldn't set off a chain reaction that could decimate two people's lives. But on this day, at this time, a minor collision will turn two complete strangers into vicious adversaries. Their means of destroying each other might be different, but their goals, ultimately, will be the same: Each will systematically try to dismantle the other's life in a reckless effort to reclaim something he has lost.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlackout (2021)
While on a routine mission, an astronaut soon finds herself battling for command, facing forces known -- and unknown -- intent on destroying her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Rise: Blood Hunter (2007)
A reporter on the trail of a sinister cult wakes up in a morgue to find herself a member of the undead. She goes on a personal vendetta against a group a cultists who are responsible for her death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCrank (2006)
Chev Chelios, a hit man wanting to go straight, lets his latest target slip away. Then he awakes the next morning to a phone call that informs him he has been poisoned and has only an hour to live unless he keeps adrenaline coursing through his body while he searches for an antidote.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZero Sum Theorem (TBA)
On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Adam has began to suspect something unusual about the world around him; it's all a simulation. As his sister Alice attempts to help him through his episode of poor mental health, can Adam separate paranoid delusions from reality or is there more at work than he realises.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pooka (2023)
A retired detective moves to a rural village in Ireland where he discovers numerous missing children. He takes the investigation into his own hands due to the absence of police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Child's Play and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Child's Play?
The closest matches to Child's Play are Please Don't Feed the Children (2025), The Bad Seed (1956) and Shut In (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Child's Play?
Start with Please Don't Feed the Children (2025), the closest match to Child's Play.
What is the highest-rated movie like Child's Play?
Protector (2026), rated 8.4/10 by 648 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Child's Play?
Protector (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Child's Play?
Yes: Please Don't Feed the Children (2025), The Bad Seed (1956) and Shut In (2022).
How are movies similar to Child's Play chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Child's Play, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.