Movies like Circus of Dread (2012)
The best movies like Circus of Dread (2012) are A Story of Derry (2026), Castle Freak (1996) and The Other (1972). If Circus of Dread hooked you with its drama and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedScarface (1983)8.2/10 from 13,682 votes
- NewestA Story of Derry (2026)Released 2026
A Story of Derry (2026)
Hundreds of years before Pennywise, three youngsters venture into the Western Wood...where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCastle Freak (1996)
John Reilly discovers that his family's newly inherited castle in Italy is haunted by a relentless, bloodthirsty creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other (1972)
A series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLet Me In (2010)
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. A remake of the movie “Let The Right One In” which was an adaptation of a book.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChildren of the Damned (1964)
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but identical intelligence and have a strange bond to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSomething Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
In a small American town, a diabolical circus arrives, granting wishes for the townsfolk, but twisted as only the esteemed Mr. Dark can make them. Can two young boys overcome the worst the devil himself can deal out?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSanta Sangre (1989)
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless, cult leader mother, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren encounter what would become one of the most sensational cases from their files. The fight for the soul of a young boy takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in U.S. history that a murder suspect would claim demonic possession as a defense.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Serpent's Egg (1977)
In 1923 Berlin, following the suicide of his brother, an American acrobat struggles to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism, and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrankenstein (2025)
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreaks (1932)
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
A doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous depraved fiend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn American Crime (2007)
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarnival of Souls (1962)
Mary Henry ends up the sole survivor of a fatal car accident through mysterious circumstances. Trying to put the incident behind her, she moves to Utah and takes a job as a church organist. But her fresh start is interrupted by visions of a fiendish man. As the visions begin to occur more frequently, Mary finds herself drawn to the deserted carnival on the outskirts of town. The strangely alluring carnival may hold the secret to her tragic past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Eyes of My Mother (2016)
A young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Surrender (2025)
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe New Kids (1985)
A brother and his young sister come to a small town to find out a local gang terrorizes the population.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClown in a Cornfield (2025)
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParanormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)
Margot is a documentary filmmaker looking to meet her long-lost mother and extended family in a secluded Amish community. She and her film crew soon realize the family that welcomes them into their home might be hiding a sinister secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaw (2004)
Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKill Giggles (2020)
Tommy wasn't born a psychopath, but one horrifying thing has led him to pursue a lifelong killing spree. Tommy is triggered by those monsters in makeup… clowns. His hunt is not confined to a single jester and he won't stop until he has killed every clown on earth. When he falls for Eve, life takes a wonderful turn and life seems worth living again – until he discovers his new girlfriend's father is the most terrifying clown of all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Scarface (1983)
After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGladiator (2000)
After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNatural Born Killers (1994)
Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi (2003)
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOliver Twist (2005)
An orphan endures a harsh life in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin, and eventually finds a better life, exposing the cruelties of poverty and child labor in Victorian England.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this28 Days Later (2002)
Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs -- and it's absolutely impossible to contain.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA History of Violence (2005)
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaw III (2006)
Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detectives scramble to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Circus of Dread?
The closest matches to Circus of Dread are A Story of Derry (2026), Castle Freak (1996) and The Other (1972). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Circus of Dread?
Start with A Story of Derry (2026), the closest match to Circus of Dread.
What is the highest-rated movie like Circus of Dread?
Scarface (1983), rated 8.2/10 by 13,682 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Circus of Dread?
A Story of Derry (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Circus of Dread?
Yes: A Story of Derry (2026), Castle Freak (1996) and The Other (1972).
How are movies similar to Circus of Dread chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Circus of Dread, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.