Movies like The Great Alligator (1979)
The best movies like The Great Alligator (1979) are Night Watch (1973), The American Backyard (2025) and The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972). If The Great Alligator hooked you with its horror and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDeep Water (2026)7.4/10 from 728 votes
- NewestDeep Water (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianThe American Backyard (2025)Also in Italian
Night Watch (1973)
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe American Backyard (2025)
A troubled young man falls for an American military auxiliary in postwar Italy. A year later, he relocates to the American Midwest to write his first novel, next to her elderly mother's house—separated by a grim garden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)
A high-rise apartment populated by models, nightclub dancers and call girls becomes the focus of a mysterious serial killer. When a young model named Jennifer and her friend Marilyn move into one of the victims' former apartments, Jennifer becomes the next target and the pair try to identify the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cellar (2022)
When Keira Woods' daughter mysteriously vanishes in the cellar of their new house in the country, she soon discovers there is an ancient and powerful entity controlling their home that she will have to face or risk losing her family's souls forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMadhouse (1974)
A horror movie star returns to his famous role after spending years in a mental institution, but the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe City of the Dead (1960)
In Whitewood, Massachusetts, a presumed witch places a curse on the town before she is burned at the stake. 300 years later, a college student arrives and checks into the mysterious Raven's Inn to research the town's history with witchcraft.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse on Haunted Hill (1959)
Frederick Loren invites five strangers to the party of a lifetime and offers each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in the reportedly haunted house. Armed with a gun for protection, each guest arrives in a hearse and will either leave in it much richer…Or dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace with the Devil (1975)
Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEradication (2022)
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and a shadowy agency hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBasilisk: The Serpent King (2006)
Two millennia ago, a Lybian king has a basilisk (snake-shaped dragon), which petrifies people, subjected to the same fate with a golden scepter during a solar eclipse. Both these and several victims are dug up by modern archaeologist Harrison 'Harry' McColl's expedition. Despite a cryptic warning from tribal locals, everything goes to his Colorado university's museum. It's all exhibited during another eclipse, which leads to the monster reviving. Harry and some of his friends must try to petrify the monster again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilver Bullet (1985)
The small city of Tarker's Mills is startled by a series of sadistic murders. The population fears the work of a maniac, but sightings of a mysterious, hairy creature soon spread. People lock themselves up at night, but there's one boy who's still outside…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuperhost (2021)
Two travel vloggers check into a vacation rental with a host that will do anything for a good review.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisOverdrive (2017)
Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Water (2026)
A group of international passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai is forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. The terrified group is forced to work together and overcome their differences if they hope to escape their sinking plane and the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDeadsight (2018)
A man with partial blindness and a young pregnant police officer must work together to escape a deadly virus that has spread across Grey County.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play (2019)
At a gathering of mystery and true crime fans, Aurora Teagarden’s nephew, Phillip, is accused of murder when an unplanned onstage blackout during the play in which he is performing ends, revealing Phillip holding the bloody knife that has just killed one of the other performers. 12th installment in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Unhealer (2021)
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl in the Fog (2017)
A gripping and chilling thriller that brings us to a hazy mountain village where an enigmatic detective is investigating the sudden disappearance of fifteen-year-old girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shed (2019)
The story of Stan, an orphaned teenager stuck living with his abusive grandfather and tasked with routinely protecting his best friend from high school bullies. When Stan discovers a murderous creature has taken refuge inside the tool shed in his backyard, he tries to secretly battle the demon alone until his bullied friend discovers the creature and has a far more sinister plan in mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Limits of Control (2009)
A mysterious stranger works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Black Castle (1952)
Englishman Sir Ronald Burton enters the castle of Austrian nobleman Count von Bruno, complete with torture chamber and moat, while investigating the disappearance of two friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alligator People (1959)
Under therapeutic hypnosis, a seemingly well-adjusted young woman tells a fantastic story, verified by lie detector, of her forgotten marriage to a man who disappeared on the day of their honeymoon, and of her search for him which takes her to a lonely mansion in a remote section of swampland tenanted by snakes, alligators, a drunken one-armed lout, a mysterious doctor, and a cold-hearted elderly woman who lives alone in a brooding manse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Cat and the Canary (1939)
A group of potential heirs gather in a forbidding old house to learn which of them will inherit a fortune. Later, they learn that a flesh-rending maniac is loose.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of Gator Face (1996)
Small-town Mississippians overreact to the appearance of a mythical swamp monster, partially the work of teen hoaxers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Xtinction: Predator X (2010)
When her father seemingly goes missing, divorcee Laura LeCrois is forced to return home after a 20-year hiatus. However, home is not the way Laura remembers it. Her father is in major debt with the bank, her ex-boyfriend is the town sheriff, and her ex-husband has quit his job as a world-renowned professor who is now suspiciously buying up swampland in the area. In an effort to save the swamp and to pass the time, Laura decides to work the dying family business giving boat tours of the Louisiana swamp. But on her first sunset tour, deep in the swamp, Laura and her passengers witness two Bayou swamp rats toss a squirming body into a gator pit, only the gators aren't the ones that feast on the flesh. Instead it's the most terrifying creature Laura has ever seen...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this'Gator Bait (1974)
Desirée lives deep in the swamp and supports herself and her siblings by poaching. After an accident involving Deputy Billy and a friend, the Sheriff, Deputy and a family of locals go after Desirée. Soon the hunters become the hunted as she exacts her revenge for their violence against her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)
While searching for oil in the deadly swamplands of the Florida Everglades, members of a geological expedition meet an insane doctor who is working on an experiment to create a creature that is part man and part alligator.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Crawl (2019)
When a huge hurricane hits her hometown in Florida, Haley ignores evacuation orders to look for her father. After finding him badly wounded, both are trapped by the flood. With virtually no time to escape the storm, they discover that rising water levels are the least of their problems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack of the Meth Gator (2024)
On a small island in the Florida Everglades, a DEA agent and a local sheriff gather a team of locals to take down a giant meth-fueled alligator.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisMurders in the Zoo (1933)
Dr. Gorman is a millionaire adventurer, traveling the world in search of dangerous game. His bored, beautiful, much younger wife entertains herself in the arms of other men. In turn, Gorman uses his animals to kill these men. When a New York City zoo suggests a fundraising gala, Gorman sees a prime opportunity to dispatch the dashing Roger and anyone else who might cross him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Great Alligator?
The closest matches to The Great Alligator are Night Watch (1973), The American Backyard (2025) and The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Great Alligator?
Start with Night Watch (1973), the closest match to The Great Alligator.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Great Alligator?
Deep Water (2026), rated 7.4/10 by 728 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Great Alligator?
Deep Water (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The Great Alligator?
Yes: The American Backyard (2025), The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) and The Girl in the Fog (2017).
How are movies similar to The Great Alligator chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Great Alligator, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.