Movies like The Lesser Evil (2014)
The best movies like The Lesser Evil (2014) are The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), Nightbooks (2021) and Pyewacket (2017). If The Lesser Evil hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGhosts (1997)8.1/10 from 305 votes
- NewestMonkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026)Released 2026
The Cabinet of Caligari (1962)
A delirious young woman feels trapped in a remote mansion at the mercy of a madman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightbooks (2021)
Alex, a boy obsessed with scary stories, is trapped by a witch in her modern, magical New York City apartment. His original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping him safe as he desperately tries to find a way out of this twisted place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPyewacket (2017)
A frustrated, angry teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to invoke a witch to kill her mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe Witches (1990)
While staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga, a young boy named Luke inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch reveals a plan to turn all children into mice via a magical formula. When they discover the eavesdropper, the witches test the formula on him. Now, with the help of Helga and hotel manager Mr Stringer, Luke the mouse must fight back against the witches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeeping Tom (1960)
Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night Walker (1964)
A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who supposedly was killed in a fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil Rides Out (1968)
The powers of good are pitted against the forces of evil as the Duc de Richelieu wrestles with the charming but deadly Satanist, Mocata, for the soul of his friend. Mocata has the knowledge and the power to summon the forces of darkness and, as the Duc de Richelieu and his friends remain within the protected pentacle, they are subjected to ever-increasing horror until thundering hooves herald the arrival of the Angel of Death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhosts (1997)
In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an attempt to run Maestro out of town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisBe My Cat: A Film for Anne (2015)
An aspiring Romanian filmmaker goes to horrific extremes to convince Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway to star in his film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtraordinary Tales (2015)
Five tales by Edgar Allan Poe come to life thanks to a pictorical style animation, five tales that exude madness, pestilence, murder and torture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZ (2019)
A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Black Room (1935)
In a 16th-century European town, the ruling family has been given a prophecy that, should there ever be twin boys born, the younger will murder the older; so is dismayed when twins are born to the popular baron. The older grows to be a selfish, slovenly man, who inherits the castle at his father's death and becomes ruler over the formerly happy villagers. He enjoys his power until he learns his younger brother is returning from abroad and, afraid of the prophecy, he determines to murder his sibling, hide his body in the "black room" - an old torture chamber sealed away behind the fireplace - and then impersonate him, right down to his withered arm. In this way he hopes to not only avoid the prophecy, but also escape consequences of his other criminal deeds and obtain marriage to a local girl of the nobility...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Zombie (1932)
A wealthy landowner living in Haiti convinces a sorcerer to lure the woman he has fallen for away from her fiancé. The madman later betrays their agreement by keeping the woman for himself…as a zombie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisManiac (1963)
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCircle (2015)
In a massive, mysterious chamber, fifty strangers awaken to find themselves trapped with no memory of how they got there. Organized in an inward-facing circle and unable to move, they quickly learn that every two minutes, one of them must die…executed by a strange device in the center of the room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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 horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
In the shadow of Castle Dracula, the Prince of Darkness is revived by blood trickling from the head-wound of an unconscious priest attempting exorcism. And once more fear and terror strikes Transylvania as the undead Prince of Darkness stalks the village of Keineneburg to ensnare victims and satisfy his evil thirst.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEfreet (2022)
Sophia, who recently turned 10, is haunted by mysterious nightmares. In her nightmares, a girl named Selinka keeps appearing, showing her things about her mother Tina's past that she shouldn't know anything about. Tina thinks that her ex-husband Markus is secretly seeing Sophia, although he is not allowed to have any contact with her. But when one evening Sophia mentions the name "Efreet", Dana (a close friend of the little family) knows that they are dealing with evil forces.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Half (1993)
Following the public's realization that Thad Beaumont and George Stark are one and the same, the former stages a mock funeral, only for a series of gruesome murders to begin occurring as in his books.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrow Valley (2022)
Mountain biker Benny Jones sets off on a weekend ride to remote Crow Valley but is knocked off his bike in a brutal hit and run. He wakes badly injured in an abandoned cabin where he meets young hiker Greta. When her lies and sanity start to unravel he finds himself in a desperate fight for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Hunted (2021)
A woman flees two serial killers who are hot on her heels in a forest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Biting Tree (2023)
Jacqueline, an overworked and frustrated mother, gets a strange and horrifying request from a tree. When she complies, it brings violence to the forest. Or did she?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Seconds (1966)
An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller Camera Monsters (2020)
A struggling photographer gets more than he bargained for, discovering the truth of what his new camera is really capable of.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
A Stranger Is Watching (1982)
A twisted man holds a TV newswoman and a girl hostage in the bowels of Grand Central Station.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
a song in b minor (2017)
After her father's death, a young girl begins to experience paranormal activities whenever she's near her father's piano.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Lesser Evil?
The closest matches to The Lesser Evil are The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), Nightbooks (2021) and Pyewacket (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Lesser Evil?
Start with The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), the closest match to The Lesser Evil.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Lesser Evil?
Ghosts (1997), rated 8.1/10 by 305 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Lesser Evil?
Monkey’s Magic Merry Go Round (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Lesser Evil?
Yes: The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), Nightbooks (2021) and Pyewacket (2017).
How are movies similar to The Lesser Evil chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Lesser Evil, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.