Movies like Once Upon A Nightmare (2016)
The best movies like Once Upon A Nightmare (2016) are The Boogeyman (2023), Dark Harvest (2023) and Never Let Go (2024). If Once Upon A Nightmare hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Painted Bird (2019)7.1/10 from 201 votes
- NewestHokum (2026)Released 2026
The Boogeyman (2023)
Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Harvest (2023)
In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.
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 thisGretel & Hansel (2020)
A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
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 horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Deliverance (2024)
Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her family into a new home for a fresh start. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCinderella's Curse (2024)
Desperate Cinderella summons her fairy godmother from an ancient flesh-bound book, seeking revenge on her evil stepmother and stepsisters who abuse and torment her daily.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Knight's War (2025)
A fearless knight braves a deadly realm to save the Chosen One’s soul. Facing witches, demons, and brutal foes, he discovers her return could ignite chaos and doom humanity.
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 thisNosferatu (2024)
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMostly Ghostly 3: One Night in Doom House (2016)
Just one enchanted jewel stands between earth and an army of evil spirits led by the devious ghoul, Phears. With the help of his new girlfriend and ghost pals, Max Doyle races to find the crystal and save the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1974)
A notorious bank robber kills his wife and flees the police, only to be captured by a mysterious group of figures in an abandoned town. His beautiful daughter, Lila Lee, receives a letter stating that her father is near death and that he needs to see her. Sneaking away at night from her minister guardian, Lila embarks on a terrifying journey...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWitch Hunt (2021)
In a modern America where witches are real and witchcraft is illegal, a sheltered teenager must face her own demons and prejudices as she helps two young witches avoid law enforcement and cross the southern border to asylum in Mexico.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Curse of Buckout Road (2017)
A college class project on creation and destruction of modern myth, turns terrifying when a trio of young people come to realize the urban legends surrounding the famed Buckout Road may, in fact, be REAL.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo Witches (2023)
A matriarchal witch passes on her sinister inheritance to her grand-daughter, triggering the most horrific curses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisLust for a Vampire (1971)
In 1830, the Karnstein heirs use the blood of an innocent to bring forth the evil that is the beautiful Mircalla - or as she was in 1710, Carmilla. The nearby Finishing School offers rich pickings not only in in the blood of nubile young ladies but also with the headmaster who is desperate to become Mircalla's disciple, and the equally besotted and even more foolish author Richard Lestrange.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn the Lost Lands (2025)
A queen sends the powerful and feared sorceress Gray Alys to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands in search of a magical power, where she and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight both man and demon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHokum (2026)
When novelist Ohm Bauman retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents' ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past.
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 thisThe Company of Wolves (1984)
Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which innocent maidens are tempted by wolves who are hairy on the inside. As Rosaleen grows into womanhood, will the wolves come for her too?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Painted Bird (2019)
After losing his parents, a young Jewish boy wanders Eastern Europe, seeking refuge during World War II.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers (1984)
An intelligent, fearless boy living in a superstitious Transylvanian village goes out into the world to figure out what everyone else is afraid of, "the shivers." A king hires him to rid his castle of ghosts and evil spirits, expecting him to die like all who have tried before him, but the boy is more fearless than he could have known.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Hansel & Gretel (2007)
When Eun-soo gets lost in a country road, he meets a mysterious girl and is led to her fairytale ike house in the middle of the forest. There, Eun-soo is trapped with the girl and her siblings who never age. Eun-soo finally discovers a way out which is written on a fairy tale book. But the book tells a story of none other than himself!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wishflower (2021)
A short film that could very well be in the same universe as Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, involving some dark magic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Hansel & Gretel (2025)
Darker re-visioning of the Grimm's fairy-tale by directors León and Cociña, where the narrative itself becomes lost.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
How to hold a cloud to the ground (2019)
When she arrives in a new world, Isabela is tasked with discovering her true essence. Watched by Shadow, the guardian of this ghostly place, Isabela meets other travelers and reevaluates her memories, relationships and emotions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Deadtime Stories (1986)
A babysitting uncle tells his charges three horror stories: about a killer witch; Little Red Riding Hood and a werewolf; and Goldi Lox and the three bears.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mad Hatter (2021)
An eccentric professor takes four of his students to the mansion of the “Mad Hatter”, an urban legend driven insane by mercury poisoning and grief. He says that there’s nothing to worry about now: the strange, shambling “caretakers” that haunt the home are merely servants that have fallen to inbreeding, and the Hatter himself has been dead for years. But as the students start disappearing one by one, those that remain start to question if the professor’s experiment is truly scientific...and if the Hatter didn’t just succumb to his madness, but decided to spread it...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisBelle (2023)
A young farmgirl, Belle, with a history of being trapped in toxic relationships, becomes trapped by the Beast who promises to cure her sick father with a rose if she stays with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon A Nightmare?
The closest matches to Once Upon A Nightmare are The Boogeyman (2023), Dark Harvest (2023) and Never Let Go (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon A Nightmare?
Start with The Boogeyman (2023), the closest match to Once Upon A Nightmare.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon A Nightmare?
The Painted Bird (2019), rated 7.1/10 by 201 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon A Nightmare?
Hokum (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once Upon A Nightmare?
Yes: The Boogeyman (2023), Dark Harvest (2023) and Never Let Go (2024).
How are movies similar to Once Upon A Nightmare chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon A Nightmare, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.