Movies like Saaya (1989)
The best movies like Saaya (1989) are Nightmare Cinema (2018), Play Dead (2022) and Play Dead (2025). If Saaya hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSuccubus (2024)8.3/10 from 279 votes
- NewestMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)Released 2026
- In HindiGhost (2019)Also in Hindi
Nightmare Cinema (2018)
A series of down-on-their-luck individuals enter the decrepit and spine-chilling Rialto theater, only to have their deepest and darkest fears brought to life on the silver screen by The Projectionist – a mysterious, ghostly figure who holds the nightmarish futures of all who attend his screenings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dead (2025)
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023)
Vicaria is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)
After a mysterious bout of amnesia, a beloved children’s television host struggles to piece together his fractured memories, only to find his once-cheerful puppet co-stars behaving with sinister intent. As reality unravels, the line between performance and nightmare begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like this6 Souls (2010)
A female forensic psychiatrist discovers that all of one of her patient's multiple personalities are murder victims. She will have to find out what's happening before her time is finished.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorrors of the Black Museum (1959)
A writer of murder mysteries finds himself caught up in a string of murders in London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Oblong Box (1969)
Evil lurks in the gloomy house at Markham Manor where a deranged Sir Edward is the chained prisoner of his brother Julian. When Sir Edward escapes, he embarks on a monstrous killing spree, determined to seek revenge on all those whom he feels have double-crossed him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Return (2020)
After the death of his father, a brilliant college student returns to his family home where he learns that the horrors from his childhood aren't as dead and gone as he once thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaint Catherine (2024)
An orphaned girl is rescued from a satanic ritual and taken to Saint Catherine Institute for homeless youth. There she will learn new skills while facing demons that stalk her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Move (2024)
A grieving woman in a secluded forest encounters a killer who injects her with a paralytic drug. As her body shuts down, her fight for survival begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJigsaw (2017)
Law enforcement finds itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that's only just begun.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuccubus (2024)
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStigmata (1999)
A young woman with no strong religious beliefs, Frankie Paige begins having strange and violent experiences, showing signs of the wounds that Jesus received when crucified. When the Vatican gets word of Frankie's situation, a high-ranking cardinal requests that the Rev. Andrew Kiernan investigate her case. Soon Kiernan realizes that very sinister forces are at work, and tries to rescue Frankie from the entity that is plaguing her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Let Go (2024)
As an evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Resurrected (1991)
Charles Dexter Ward, a wealthy scientist, uses an ancient diary and human remains to begin a terrifying and bloody pursuit for immortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReborn (2018)
A stillborn baby girl is abducted by a deranged morgue attendant and brought back to life by electro-kinetic power. On her sixteenth birthday, traumatized Tess escapes captivity and sets out to find her birth mother leaving a trail of horrifying violent destruction and chilling chaos behind her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaddy's Little Girl (2014)
After the police find Derek’s daughter brutally murdered on the beach, he vows to make the culprit suffer for his actions, even if that person is ‘part of the family.’ With careful research into the history of torture, Derek prepares himself and his basement for a week of brutal tactics that will make his daughter’s killer feel the pain that he has inflicted upon so many others. In a time when stranger danger is ever present, a single father learns that it’s the ones you trust most who have to be watched the closest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGhost (2019)
The story of the film follows Karan Khanna, a politician of Indian origin in the United Kingdom, who is accused of killing his wife. He tells his lawyer that a spirit committed the murder and should be tried.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Raat Ke Andhere Mein (1987)
A group of vagabonds happen to loot a man of ethics and on their way to their hideout take asylum (forcibly) in a house owned by a pregnant woman and her husband. They unintentionally kill the woman's husband and run away. After many years the killers have become big wheels of the society and are now into vulgar display of wealth characterized by frequent high-profile parties and events. However, little do they know that a hideously deformed monster is lurking around them and in the nearby woods seeking revenge for their sins. The killers start dying mysterious deaths at the hands of the monster. Who is this monster and will the remaining ones survive?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Aakhri Cheekh (1991)
A evil man kills young women after having romantic affair with them. By knowing it, four friends get him arrested and electrocuted for death sentence. But his soul returns and starts taking revenge on them and their family one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Khoon Ki Pyasi (1996)
Indian horror revolving around a heart-ripping demon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Aadhi Raat Ke Baad (1965)
A scientist renowned for creating a potion that makes him invisible is framed for the murder of his prospective father-in-law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Underbug (2023)
As India is ravaged by sectarian violence on the eve of its Independence Day, two rioters take refuge in an abandoned house. An eerie presence in the house, however, haunts the men to the edge of sanity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Creature 3D (2014)
People attend their first halt in a newly opened lodge in deep forest, but something is waiting for them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Apartment (2010)
Preeti Sengupta (Tanushree Dutta) is an airhostess living in with her boyfriend Karan Malhotra (Rohit Roy). They share a nice 2BHK apartment in the northern suburbs of Mumbai and are befriended by their elderly neighbor Madhusudan Tanha (Anupam Kher), a struggling poet and lyricist. Tanha is a loner living with his only companion, a Persian cat whom he lovingly calls Shehzadi. Preeti is possessive and has issues with trust. When she mistakenly suspects her boyfriend to be unfaithful, she throws him out of the house but soon realizes she can't afford the payment on the apartment on her own. On the advice of a fellow airhostess, she advertises for a tenant to share her apartment. Enter Neha Bhardwaj (Neetu Chandra), a modest small-town girl asking for accommodation. Very impressed by her simplicity and respectfulness, Preeti believes she has found a perfect roommate. The two girls soon become close - their camaraderie leads them to even become companions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Mona Darling (2017)
A contemporary who-dunnit, with a splash of supernatural, set in a college campus somewhere in India (a la Indian Institute Of Technology) where a few mysterious deaths occur and the only common link between the victims is that, seconds before their deaths, they all accepted a 'facebook friend request' from a certain profile page of Mona_Darling. The person behind the said page, Mona happens to be missing. Her friend, and a fellow student, Sarah recruits the help of a classmate, Wiki - a borderline sociopathic genius. This odd-couple of amateur sleuths carry on their investigation as the story leads them into unexpected corners and terrifying revelations. It's a pacy thriller, confined to limited locations on one single campus, populated by fresh, sexy, young characters that can be executed on a fairly shoestring budget. More importantly it captures the present zeitgeist of young India and its obsession with social networking.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Saaya?
The closest matches to Saaya are Nightmare Cinema (2018), Play Dead (2022) and Play Dead (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Saaya?
Start with Nightmare Cinema (2018), the closest match to Saaya.
What is the highest-rated movie like Saaya?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 279 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Saaya?
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Saaya?
Yes: Ghost (2019), Raat Ke Andhere Mein (1987) and Aakhri Cheekh (1991).
How are movies similar to Saaya chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Saaya, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.