Movies like Nightmares (1980)
The best movies like Nightmares (1980) are The Other (2025), Z (2019) and Carrie (1976). If Nightmares hooked you with its horror and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInsidious: Out of the Further (2026)7.7/10 from 1,032 votes
- NewestInsidious: Out of the Further (2026)Released 2026
The Other (2025)
Unable to conceive, a couple seeks to build a family with a young orphan, survivor of tragic childhood. But their act of love turns to horror when they realize the violence in their foster's past has returned to destroy the new family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarrie (1976)
Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White faces bullying from her classmates and abuse from her fanatically pious mother. When she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers, things take a dark and violent turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBagman (2024)
For centuries and across cultures, parents have warned their children of the legendary Bagman, who snatches innocent children and stuffs them into his vile, rotting bag—never to be seen again. Patrick McKee narrowly escaped such an encounter as a boy, which left him with lasting scars throughout his adulthood. Now, Patrick’s childhood tormentor has returned, threatening the safety of his wife Karina and son Jake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
Confined to a secluded rest home and trapped within his stroke-ridden body, a former Judge must stop an elderly psychopath who employs a child's puppet to abuse the home's residents with deadly consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dead (2022)
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is using the corpses for his sick and twisted business, and when he realises that Chloe still has a pulse, a terrifying game of cat and mouse ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloodline Killer (2024)
Moira Cole endeavors to rebuild her shattered life after her family's murder at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYou'll Never Find Me (2024)
Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVicious (2025)
When Polly receives a mysterious box, it comes with one rule: place inside something she needs, something she hates, and something she loves. If she doesn’t obey, it will consume everything—and everyone—she’s ever known.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & 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 thisHereditary (2018)
When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about her ancestry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInsidious: Out of the Further (2026)
Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlease Don't Feed the Children (2025)
After a viral outbreak ravaged the country’s adult population, a group of orphans heads south in search of a new life, only to find themselves at the mercy of a deranged woman harboring a dangerous secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisOracle (2023)
A young woman accepts a job on a property with a traumatic history. Upon her arrival, she soon realizes that the nightmares of her childhood are connected to the evil in the house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEli (2019)
A boy named Eli with a rare autoimmune disorder is confined to a special experimental clinic for his treatment. He soon begins experiencing supernatural forces, turning the supposedly safe facility into a haunted prison for him and his fellow patients.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoogeyman (2005)
Every culture has one – the horrible monster fueling young children's nightmares. But for Tim, the Boogeyman still lives in his memories as a creature that devoured his father 16 years ago. Is the Boogeyman real, or did Tim make it up to explain why his father abandoned his family?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisCut (2000)
A group of film students set out to finish filming a movie that was never completed after its director was murdered. After they begin filming, they realize they're in for a bit of trouble, not unlike the late director...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDevil's Harvest (2003)
It seems innocent enough. Struggling young artist Daniel King is invited by his childhood friend Natasha...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Patrick (1978)
A comatose hospital patient harasses and kills through his powers of telekinesis to claim his private nurse as his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDying Breed (2008)
An extinct species, the Tasmanian tiger. A long-forgotten legend, “The Pieman” aka Alexander Pearce, who was hanged for cannibalism in 1824. Both had a desperate need to survive; both could have living descendants within the Tasmanian bush. Four hikers venture deep into isolated territory to find one of these legends, but which one will they come upon first?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey (2002)
A psychology student who experienced night terrors as a child must face the chilling realization that her nightmares were not all in her head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCoulrophobia (TBA)
Seven people gather in a therapy room to face their shared, debilitating fear of clowns. As they share their traumas, they desperately try to find a way to overcome their common fear.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Death Pool (2017)
Johnny Taylor has a big problem: he LOVES to drown good-looking girls. When he sees water and attractive females together, something in his head begs him to kill - the psychological result of a traumatic near-drowning during his childhood at the hands of a twisted babysitter. Fighting the urge to act on his sinister thoughts most of his adult life, Johnny finally succumbs to his dark instincts when the only work he can find is around water, cleaning pools. Filled with colorful characters, beautiful women and set against the backdrop of the LA party scene, Death Pool encapsulates the desire for fame, the lust for desire, and the urge to kill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
New York After Midnight (1978)
Monique is a 35 year old French woman, living in New York. The daughter of a French diplomat who has remarried, Monique has no financial worries, and holds a good job with a publishing firm. She finds relationships difficult, and frequently suffers acute depression. Her nights are filled with strange dreams, and apparitions of flashing lights.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Slip (2006)
"Slip" is the story of Sarah, a young woman who witnessed her mother's murder as a child. Now grown, Sarah is haunted by her mother's memory, her restless soul, opening a gateway for the spirits of the recently departed. Sarah is compelled to do their bidding so their souls may rest in peace. One of these souls leads her to Cal, a young car thief who is one car away from going legit. Unfortunately, Cal is wrongfully accused of stealing from his partners and now they want him dead.Sarah, drawn by the spirit of Cal's murdered nephew, becomes an avenging angel, awakening a dark spirit of her past while risking all to save a total stranger. Now in a race for their lives as well as their souls, Cal and Sarah soon discover that there are far more fearsome things than men with guns.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Nightmares and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Nightmares?
The closest matches to Nightmares are The Other (2025), Z (2019) and Carrie (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Nightmares?
Start with The Other (2025), the closest match to Nightmares.
What is the highest-rated movie like Nightmares?
Insidious: Out of the Further (2026), rated 7.7/10 by 1,032 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Nightmares?
Insidious: Out of the Further (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Nightmares?
Yes: The Other (2025), Z (2019) and Carrie (1976).
How are movies similar to Nightmares chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nightmares, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.