Movies like Bad Principal (2012)
The best movies like Bad Principal (2012) are Southbound (2015), The Spine of Night (2021) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021). If Bad Principal hooked you with its fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSoul (2020)8.1/10 from 11,902 votes
- NewestThe Primevals (2023)Released 2023
Southbound (2015)
On a desolate stretch of desert highway, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Spine of Night (2021)
When ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind, a group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
When Shao Kahn's Outworld barbarians terrorize Earthrealm, Lord Raiden is determined to put an end to the carnage once and for all. This leaves one option: a final Mortal Kombat tournament for the future of Earthrealm – win it or lose everything. Raiden's elite fighters Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and a few new faces kick the action into overdrive as they go head-to-head with Outworld's most bloodthirsty warriors. But deep in the Netherrealm, an unspeakable scheme by the malevolent Shinnok unfolds, threatening to obliterate existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIdle Hands (1999)
Anton is a cheerful but exceedingly non-ambitious 17-year-old stoner who lives to stay buzzed, watch TV, and moon over Molly, the beautiful girl who lives next door. However, it turns out that the old cliché about idle hands being the devil's playground has a kernel of truth after all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeavy Metal (1981)
The embodiment of ultimate evil, a glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with bizarre stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGinger Snaps (2000)
The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger's first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger's wounds miraculously heal but something is not quite right. Now Brigitte must save her sister and save herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShadow Master (2022)
After being slain by a group of criminals, a man is reborn with animal-like superpowers and makes it his mission to right the wrongs of his city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
The vicious, power-mad Kano is determined to take over Earthrealm, one soul at a time. Assisted by a trio of cold Black Dragon mercenaries, he embarks on a brutal assault from town to defenseless town. The choice is simple: kneel or be annihilated. Kenshi, a rebel warrior, calls on Kuai Liang, the only one powerful enough to challenge the malevolent Kano. But Kuai Liang has given up the ways of the warrior, and Kenshi is too undisciplined to defeat Kano himself. If Kuai Liang cannot break through the glacier of doubt that holds him back, Earthrealm will fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies 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 fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScream Blacula Scream (1973)
After an aging voodoo priestess dies, her arrogant son Willis Daniel's believes he is next in line to lead. He is outraged when Lisa, his mother's adopted apprentice is chosen as the leader. Willis seeks revenge by reviving the African prince Blacula — but soon finds that he cannot control him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisGinger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)
Brigitte has escaped the confines of Bailey Downs but she's not alone. Another werewolf is tailing her closely and her sister's specter haunts her. An overdose of Monkshood - the poison that is keeping her transformation at bay - leads to her being incarcerated in a rehabilitation clinic for drug addicts where her only friend is an eccentric young girl by the name of Ghost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrick 'r Treat (2007)
Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank, and a bitter old recluse receives an uninvited guest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnter the Void (2010)
This psychedelic tour of life after death is seen entirely from the point of view of Oscar, a young American drug dealer and addict living in Tokyo with his prostitute sister, Linda. When Oscar is killed by police during a bust gone bad, his spirit journeys from the past -- where he sees his parents before their deaths -- to the present -- where he witnesses his own autopsy -- and then to the future, where he looks out for his sister from beyond the grave.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWishmaster (1997)
The Djinn, having been released from his ancient prison, seeks to capture the soul of the woman who discovered him, thereby opening a portal and freeing his fellow Djinn to take over the earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO Lucky Man! (1973)
An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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 fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMandy (2018)
The Shadow Mountains, 1983. Red and Mandy lead a loving and peaceful existence; but when their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVampires (1998)
The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist in sunlight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrawberry Mansion (2021)
In the not-too-distant future, an all-seeing surveillance state conducts “dream audits” to collect taxes on the unconscious lives of the populace. Mild-mannered government agent James Preble travels to a remote farmhouse to audit the dreams of Arabella “Bella” Isadora, an eccentric, aging artist. Entering Bella’s vast VHS archive, which contains a lifetime of dreams, Preble stumbles upon a secret that offers him a chance at love—and hope for escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrisálida (2016)
Ernesto, a biologist who lives with his mother, spends his days teaching at the university and waiting for his chrysalis to grow. One day everything is different, something suddenly changes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Hide and Seek (2013)
A school girl visits a house to take a koto lesson. She meets her teacher and her son and they seem to be playing "HIDE and SEEK" in the house. Koto lesson starts but the girl soon realizes that there's something very odd about the teacher.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Soul (2020)
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIncorrectly Drawn Hen (1963)
At school the dunce draws a Picasso style chicken on the black board. The chicken comes to life, runs away, and finds itself in the teacher's garden. The teacher thinks he has discovered a new species and christens it with his own name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Yobi, The Five-Tailed Fox (2007)
After losing her family to fox hunters, five-tailed Yobi lives in the forest with some shipwrecked aliens, far away from the humans. When one of her alien friends gets captured by a villager, Yobi has no choice but to adventure into the human world to rescue him. At the village, Yobi meets many humans, including Geum Yee who studies at a school for maladjusted children. Interested in Geum Yee, Yobi joins the students and revels in the fun of human life, but both a fox hunter and a mysterious shadow man are on her trail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ideal (2011)
It's a high school summer job for Julia and Alexander - the chance to earn money and work with eccentric, charismatic social studies teacher, Mr. Zenidro. But something else awaits them in the empty, yet mysterious school building. As the past and present begin to blur together so do sanity and madness, and Mr. Zenidro draws them into a lesson on history one can't find in books.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Window to Paris (1993)
Nikolai (played by Sergei Dontsov) has been fired from his job as a music teacher and has to live in the gym until he finds a place to stay. Finally, he gets a communal room in the apartment of Gorokhov (Victor Mikhalkov). The room's previous inhabitant, an old lady, has died a year ago, and yet her cat, Maxi, is still in the locked room, healthy and fat. Soon, Nikolai and his neighbours discover the mystery: there is a window to Paris in the room. That's when the comedy begins - will the Russians be able to cope with the temptation to profit from the discovery?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his chocolate factory to five lucky kids, penniless Charlie Bucket seeks the golden ticket that will make him a winner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShrek the Third (2007)
After the King of Far Far Away dies, Shrek and Fiona are to succede. However, Shrek wants to return to his cozy swamp and live in peace and quiet, so when he finds out there is another heir to the throne, he and Donkey set off to bring him back to rule the kingdom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bad Principal?
The closest matches to Bad Principal are Southbound (2015), The Spine of Night (2021) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bad Principal?
Start with Southbound (2015), the closest match to Bad Principal.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bad Principal?
Soul (2020), rated 8.1/10 by 11,902 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bad Principal?
The Primevals (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Bad Principal?
Yes: Southbound (2015), The Spine of Night (2021) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021).
How are movies similar to Bad Principal chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bad Principal, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.