Movies like The Nights Before Christmas (2020)
The best movies like The Nights Before Christmas (2020) are Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025), The Children (2008) and God Is a Bullet (2023). If The Nights Before Christmas hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHalloween (1978)7.6/10 from 6,530 votes
- NewestPsycho Killer (2026)Released 2026
Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025)
After witnessing his parents' brutal murder on Christmas Eve, Billy transforms into a Killer Santa, delivering a yearly spree of calculated, chilling violence. This year, his blood-soaked mission collides with love, as a young woman challenges him to confront his darkness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Children (2008)
A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPsycho Killer (2026)
Following the brutal murder of her husband, a Kansas highway patrol officer sets out on a journey to track down the perpetrator. As the hunt progresses, she comes to realize the man responsible is a sadistic serial killer, and the depth of his mental depravity and his sinister agenda is more twisted than anyone could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lodge (2020)
When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
After kidnapping a father and his two kids, the Gecko brothers head south to a seedy Mexican bar to hide out in safety, unaware of its notorious clientele.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Believers (1987)
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThanksgiving (2023)
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerrifier 3 (2024)
Five years after surviving Art the Clown's Halloween massacre, Sienna and Jonathan are still struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they're safe, Art returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Two decades after surviving a massacre on October 31, 1978, former baby sitter Laurie Strode finds herself hunted by persistent knife-wielder Michael Myers. Laurie now lives in Northern California under an assumed name, where she works as the headmistress of a private school. But it's not far enough to escape Myers, who soon discovers her whereabouts. As Halloween descends upon Laurie's peaceful community, a feeling of dread weighs upon her -- with good reason.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHalloween (1978)
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisHouse of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
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 thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaw VI (2009)
Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline (2019)
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBooks of Blood (2020)
A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenagers of Elm Street. Only this time, they're out to get each other, too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Demon Of Serling (2023)
Reagan Rossi discovers his neighbor-Mr. Yarley-is a local serial killer dubbed 'The Demon of Serling', and the two men embark on a night of enlightenment leading to bleak and darkly funny consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Leech (2022)
A devout priest welcomes a struggling couple into his house at Christmas time. What begins as a simple act of kindness quickly becomes the ultimate test of faith once the sanctity of his home is jeopardized.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Santa Bastard (2015)
This Christmas is going to be a bitch for a single mother and her son... Because He's a bastard!!!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Resurrection (1999)
A jaded homicide detective has been put on the case of a ruthless killer in the city of Chicago, who leaves a trail of horribly mutilated and dismembered corpses along with perversely ironic biblical quotes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cell (2000)
A psychotherapist journeys inside the mind of a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
Mrs Rosie Forrest, aka 'Auntie Roo', has a holiday tradition of inviting orphans to her mansion for a party. But Roo isn't completely sane; she lost her husband and is obsessed with her deceased daughter, whose corpse she still keeps in the house. When Katy Coombs sneaks into the party with her brother, Christopher, the deranged biddy abducts the young girl with the hopes of replacing her daughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnna and the Apocalypse (2018)
A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven—at Christmas—forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash, and sing their way to survival. In a desperate race to reach their loved ones, they soon learn that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilization falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mistletoe Bough (1904)
During a game of hide and seek, a new bride hides in a chest and remains undiscovered until a strange visitation thirty years later.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Can I Be Your Bratwurst, Please? (2008)
A newly arrived guest of a Hollywood hotel charms and amazes the regulars, and they decide to invite him to their Christmas dinner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Nights Before Christmas?
The closest matches to The Nights Before Christmas are Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025), The Children (2008) and God Is a Bullet (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Nights Before Christmas?
Start with Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025), the closest match to The Nights Before Christmas.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Nights Before Christmas?
Halloween (1978), rated 7.6/10 by 6,530 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Nights Before Christmas?
Psycho Killer (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Nights Before Christmas?
Yes: Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025), The Children (2008) and God Is a Bullet (2023).
How are movies similar to The Nights Before Christmas chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Nights Before Christmas, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.