Movies like The Orphanage (2007)
The best movies like The Orphanage (2007) are Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), Castle Freak (1996) and Don't Listen (2020). If The Orphanage hooked you with its horror and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Others (2001)7.6/10 from 7,561 votes
- NewestDon't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishDon't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)Also in Spanish
Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026)
A mother moves into a new house with her two children. One night she must leave the siblings home alone. What begins as a blast of carefree play soon turns into a claustrophobic horror story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
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 thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Listen (2020)
After a tragic turn of events at the new home he's fixing up, Daniel hears a ghostly plea for help, spurring him to seek out a famous paranormal expert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Lies Beneath (2000)
Norman and Claire Spencer are a seemingly happily married couple who uncover a terrible secret… a secret so disturbing it threatens to destroy them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurnt Offerings (1976)
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this825 Forest Road (2025)
After a family tragedy, Chuck Wilson hopes to start a new life in Ashland Falls with his wife Maria and little sister Elizabeth, but he quickly discovers that the town has a dark history of being haunted by a ghostly woman who drives residents to suicide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisYou're Not Alone (2020)
After the premature death of her estranged husband, Emma (Winter) regains custody of their young daughter Isla (Jones) and hopes to rebuild their relationship after many years apart. But when an evil entity begins to torment them, mother and daughter are forced to face the inexplicable presence that inhabits the walls of their new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Others (2001)
Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPresence (2025)
A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo One Gets Out Alive (2021)
An immigrant in search of the American dream is forced to take a room in a boarding house and soon finds herself in a nightmare from which she can't escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarrowbone (2017)
A young man and his three younger siblings are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStir of Echoes (1999)
After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Entity (1982)
A single mom is raped by an invisible force. Her psychiatrist believes the experience stems from childhood trauma, while she knows something supernatural is at play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarian (2022)
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpider (2002)
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House at the End of Time (2013)
The story of Dulce, a mother who has encounters with apparitions inside her old house. She must decipher a mystery that could trigger a prophecy: the death of her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil (1978)
Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Caller (1987)
One night, an unusual stranger in need asks a woman living alone in a house in the woods if he can use her phone. It soon becomes clear that they're playing a strange mind game and that there's something very wrong about the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Grudge 3 (2009)
Jake Kimble, the sole survivor of the Chicago massacre, is killed while in solitary confinement. His doctor begins investigating the claims he made about a long-haired woman in white, as a mysterious Japanese woman arrives at his old apartment building to help them get rid of the curse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThis Man Must Die (1969)
When his young son is killed in a hit and run accident, Charles Thenier resolves to hunt down and murder the killer. By chance, Thenier makes the acquaintance of an actress, Helène Lanson, who was in the car at the time of the accident. He then meets Helène’s brother-in-law, Paul Decourt, a truly horrible individual.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMimic 2 (2001)
Detective Klaski investigates the death and mutilation of three men and soon crosses paths with Remy, an entomologist. Soon, he discovers that she is being stalked by a giant shape-shifting insect who is bent on taking over New York.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Abandoned (2006)
Marie, a film producer, returns to her native Russia to find her birth parents. She quickly learns they are dead, and she has inherited their long-empty farmhouse. At the farm, she meets Nicolai, who claims to be her twin brother. Events take a terrifying turn when the two spot a pair of ghastly doppelgangers and the house itself seems to propel them toward a fate they should have met 40 years earlier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLetters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this2 or 3 Things I Know About Him (2005)
What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Small Change (1976)
The lives of a motherless young man, who's just starting to find interest in women, and his physically abused, poverty stricken friend, are mixed with more or less innocent childhood experiences and challenges most their age experience.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Heart (2020)
A hitchhiker makes his way towards the coast.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ask the Dust (2006)
Mexican beauty Camilla hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini, a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOur Mother's House (1967)
Seven children bury their mother and hide her death - until their long-lost father returns.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Orphanage?
The closest matches to The Orphanage are Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), Castle Freak (1996) and Don't Listen (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Orphanage?
Start with Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), the closest match to The Orphanage.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Orphanage?
The Others (2001), rated 7.6/10 by 7,561 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Orphanage?
Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Orphanage?
Yes: Don't Leave the Kids Alone (2026), Don't Listen (2020) and Marrowbone (2017).
How are movies similar to The Orphanage chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Orphanage, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.