Movies like Simulacra (2014)
The best movies like Simulacra (2014) are Monster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013), Destino (2003) and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012). If Simulacra hooked you with its animation and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)8.0/10 from 1,154 votes
- NewestDRAWN OUT (2025)Released 2025
Monster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013)
The Monstruitas of Monster High are obsessed with going to Scaris, The City of Frights for Fashion international competition where the winner will become the apprentice of the world famous Madame Ghostier designer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDestino (2003)
Short film to a song of love lost and rediscovered, a woman sees and undergoes surreal transformations. Her lover's face melts off, she dons a dress from the shadow of a bell and becomes a dandelion, ants crawl out of a hand and become Frenchmen riding bicycles. Not to mention the turtles with faces on their backs that collide to form a ballerina, or the bizarre baseball game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012)
After a hurricane levels his city, a young man wanders into a mysterious library where books literally come to life. This film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2012.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLou (2017)
A lost-and-found box holds a mysterious and unseen monster within.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger (2020)
Jess joins her friends at a party in a dilapidated mansion hosted by the mysterious Seth. When odd things begin to happen to Jess and her friends, the Phantom Stranger intervenes to save her from a dreary fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House (2022)
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScared Shrekless (2010)
Shrek challenges Donkey, Puss in Boots and his other fairy tale character friends to spend the night in Lord Farquaad's haunted castle, telling scary stories to see who can resist becoming scared and stay the longest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCosmos Laundromat (2015)
On a desolate island, a suicidal sheep named Franck meets his fate…in the form of a quirky salesman named Victor, who offers him the gift of a lifetime. The gift is many lifetimes, actually, in many different worlds – each lasting just a few minutes. In the sequel to the pilot, Franck will find a new reason to live…in the form of a bewitching female adventurer named Tara, who awakens his long-lost lust for life. But can Franck keep up with her?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDC Showcase: Death (2019)
Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019)
It's been ten years since the dragons moved to the Hidden World, and even though Toothless doesn't live in New Berk anymore, Hiccup continues the holiday traditions he once shared with his best friend. But the Vikings of New Berk were beginning to forget about their friendship with dragons. Hiccup, Astrid, and Gobber know just what to do to keep the dragons in the villagers' hearts. And across the sea, the dragons have a plan of their own...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow (2013)
When Brainy Smurf is favored to win the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the ninth year in a row, Gutsy Smurf sets out to discover how Brainy wins every year. Gutsy’s investigation takes him into spooky Smurfy Hollow–and right into Gargamel’s trap! Can Brainy and Gutsy, with the help of Smurfette, put aside their rivalry before Gargamel captures them–or worse, they come face-to-face with the legendary ghost, the Headless Horseman?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad God (2021)
A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSintel (2010)
A wandering warrior finds an unlikely friend in the form of a young dragon. The two develop a close bond, until one day the dragon is snatched away. She then sets out on a relentless quest to reclaim her friend, finding in the end that her quest exacts a far greater price than she had ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThru the Mirror (1936)
Mickey has been reading Alice in Wonderland, and falls asleep. He finds himself on the other side of the mirror, where the furniture is alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMonster High: Haunted (2015)
Lurk what's waiting for the Monster High ghouls when they bring their killer fashion to the howlways of the spooktacular Haunted High! When the ghouls of Monster High follow Spectra Vondergeist one day, they discover a creeperiffic Ghost World with an all-spirit school. But their scary-cute student bodies are hardly welcome with the very strict Principal Revenant, and she punishes Spectra with frightful detention chains that prevent her from re-joining Monster High. Now, it's up to the imperfectly perfect friends to take on ghostly forms in order to save one of their own from disappearing forever!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTome of the Unknown (2013)
Wirt and Gregory are brothers who get tired of walking, so, they borrow a car from a romantic songster made of vegetables.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDC Showcase - Constantine: The House of Mystery (2022)
John Constantine wakes up in the eerie House of Mystery with no recollection of how he got there. Fortunately, Zatanna and his friends are all there. Unfortunately, they have a bad habit of turning into demons and ripping him to shreds, over and over again!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)
A documentary filmmaker interviews the now-famous Trevor Slattery from behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2 (2011)
This short film continues the adventures of the title character as he tries to retrieve his elusive acorn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMater and the Ghostlight (2006)
Mater, the rusty but trusty tow truck from Cars, spends a day in Radiator Springs playing scary pranks on his fellow townsfolk. That night at Flo's V8 Café, the Sheriff tells the story of the legend of the Ghostlight, and as everyone races home Mater is left alone primed for a good old-fashioned scare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRain in the Sunshine (2013)
Schoolboy Hinata has a big crush on his classmate Shigure, but is too shy to tell her. On the day Shigure is leaving, Hinata flies off on the wings of a bird chasing after her to tell how he feels!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & fantasy
Head (1975)
An ingenious, witty essay on making filmed, photographed, drawn, painted, and Xeroxed images move. Reverberating between multi-media versions of the same events, playing with disjunctions between figure and ground, HEAD is a 'trickfilm' meditation on portraiture; the animator, as actor, lives through his drawings, which in turn become actors who influence his own self-image. An insider's diary on the process of creation, HEAD is a brilliant encyclopedic exploration of the circular relationship between the animator and his creation, of the nature of animated illusion itself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Portrait Studio (2013)
Late 19th century Japan: a studio photographer who always captures his clients’ best smile. One day he tries to coax a smile out of a little girl, but… A nostalgic tale of a relationship that transcends wars and disasters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
DRAWN OUT (2025)
On the eve of leaving for college, Randy discovers that the childhood drawings she's long forgotten are not quite ready to let her go. When her imaginary friends come to life, they pull her into a surreal final adventure through her own home, one that forces her to confront buried memories, unresolved guilt, and the fear she's been avoiding. As fantasy and reality collide, Randy must decide whether to run from her past or face it head-on, learning that growing up doesn't mean leaving every part of yourself behind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
One Self: Fish/Girl (1998)
A young woman's diary depicts her layered, poetic, inner efforts to deal with the world and overcome self-doubt.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Last Interview (2012)
Mr. Baek, a job seeker, is vulnerable to sunlight. Despite his unusual illness, he is eager to get a job. Finally, today is Mr. Baek's last interview.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Girl And The Star (1970)
A fairy tale about how the girl, Lola, became friends with the star.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
A Cautionary Tail (2012)
A little girl is born with a tail that expresses her emotions. As a child, her parents celebrate their daughter's uniqueness and her tail inspires magical make-believe adventures with her friends. As she grows up, however, the young woman faces pressure to fit in, and must choose between conformity and self-expression. An animated short film starring Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, using a striking collage of 3D animated characters and hand-made miniature sets.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Hasan Everywhere (2010)
Hasan Everywhere is an animation which broaches the subtlety of a relationship between a man and a woman who bear the passports of enemies, to sympathetically deal with the subjects of death, grief, lost opportunity; but mostly it seeks to demonstrate the possibility of friendship triumphing over the deepest of rifts between two people. In that regard it is most unusual among the standard fare of animated shorts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Marty: A Wild West Neverland (2016)
Marty - A Wild West Neverland is an adventure-fantasy set in a world inhabited by only kids. Marty and Dee cross paths with the ruthless One-Eyed Johnny and the Krimson Kids where they experience the harsh realities of tyranny and violence in the West.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Simulacra?
The closest matches to Simulacra are Monster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013), Destino (2003) and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Simulacra?
Start with Monster High: Scaris City of Frights (2013), the closest match to Simulacra.
What is the highest-rated movie like Simulacra?
How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019), rated 8.0/10 by 1,154 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Simulacra?
DRAWN OUT (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Simulacra chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Simulacra, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.