Movies like Classic Ghost Stories (1986)
The best movies like Classic Ghost Stories (1986) are A Nasty Piece of Work (2019), The Woman in Black (1989) and American Horror House (2012). If Classic Ghost Stories hooked you with its horror and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKwaidan (1965)7.7/10 from 490 votes
- NewestPocongdorie (2025)Released 2025
A Nasty Piece of Work (2019)
A mid-level corporate employee finds out he’s not getting the Christmas bonus he was expecting, but his boss invites him to earn a promotion by beating his professional rival in a violent competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Woman in Black (1989)
A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Horror House (2012)
On Halloween night, a sorority house is overrun with ghosts, while a vengeful housemother goes on a killing spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisTrilogy of Terror (1975)
A horror anthology containing three stories: a female college professor is aggressively pursued by one of her students; a prudish brunette determines that her free-spirited blonde sister is evil; and a woman's night turns upside down after she purchases an ancient Zuni fetish doll.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Boogedy (1986)
A novelty-salesman moves his family into a new house. Initially dismissing incidents as more of their father's practical jokes, the family soon learns that the house is haunted by people who lived in the house 300 years previously.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fair Haired Child (2006)
A creepy couple kidnaps a teenage outcast and locks her in their basement with their seemingly kindhearted adolescent son - who harbors a terrifying secret involving the forces of evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (2007)
Cassie, a 13 year old Gothic girl, is trying to fit in at her new school. To entertain herself, she plays a series of pranks on the popular kids and her younger brother, Max. When she goes to a Halloween store looking for new tricks, she finds a little book called "The Evil Thing"
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 thisLady in White (1988)
Locked in a school closet during Halloween 1962, young Frank witnesses the ghost of a young girl and the man who murdered her years ago.
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 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 thisThe Kindred (2021)
After her father’s suicide, a young mother investigates what led to his death. But when she is haunted by spirits and unearths an unsolved mystery from 30 years ago, she discovers a dark family history that could prove deadly for her child.
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 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Innocents (1961)
In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrick (2019)
A detective tries to track down a masked killer who reappears every Halloween to wreak bloody havoc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisThe 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 thisThe Dogs (2025)
After fleeing his psychotic father, a young teen and his mom seek refuge in a remote farmhouse, only to face a pack of ferocious dogs and the sinister spirits that haunt the property.
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 thisBlack Christmas (2006)
As the residents of sorority house Pi Kappa Sigma prepare for the festive season, a stranger begins a series of obscene phone calls with dubious intentions...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Isle (2019)
1846 and another ship crashes on the rocks of an almost deserted island in Scotland. Three sailors survive the wreck and make it to shore where the few locals take them in as they wait for the mainland boat to come for them. But the sailors' survival story has only just started as they uncover the strange past of the once vibrant island.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisChristmas Blood (2017)
Christmas Blood is a thriller-slasher about a feared serial killer, called Nissen, who has struck Norway's countryside every Christmas Eve for over 13 years. Investigators Rasch and Hansen are trying to solve the riddle before he returns. This time it appears that it is northern Norway that will face Nissen's bloodbath.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Santa's List (TBA)
The film is set in the small town of Deep Haven, known for its world-renowned Santa Claus festival that keeps the small town alive all year round. But beneath all the Christmas Spirit, tinsel and lights, there’s a darkness lurking. And this year, the 12 days of Christmas get turned upside down. After the murder of her best friend, big city detective, Eve, is lured back to her hometown to solve the crime. With each passing victim, the killer seems to be closer to home than ever. Will she solve what “my true love gave to me” before it’s too late or will Santa check the final name off his list?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Christmas Evil (1980)
Garbed in his red suit, Harry, a toy factory worker, decides that the only thing he can do to save the spirit of Christmas is to become Santa Claus himself and make all of the naughty townspeople pay... in blood!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisKwaidan (1965)
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ghosts of Angela Webb (2005)
Angela Webb believes her house is haunted. Psychics Alexander Stewart and Bernadette Fieldstone are contacted to try to uncover the secrets hidden within her home. What they experience is more than a mere haunting. They come to understand that reality is far more horrifying than fiction. What makes this ghost story unique is that it is based on a true story. In 2001 the two psychics investigated an old western New Jersey farmhouse. So powerful were the images they captured on film, a British television production company met with Angela Webb to do a television special at her house! The story IS factual; the conclusion is shocking.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Elves (1989)
While conducting a pagan ritual in the woods with her friends, Kirsten inadvertently awakens the spirit of a demonic Christmas elf involved in a neo-Nazi plot to bring about the master race. After the rent-a-Santa in her department store is murdered, an unemployed, alcoholic ex-cop takes the job and the two set out to unravel the mystery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mitchell Tapes (2017)
This found footage horror film is the aftermath of a paranormal investigation gone wrong. The concept of their new reality TV series "The Ghost Kids", was to get together a group of teenagers who were more sensitive to paranormal, and then have them investigate the most haunted locations in the country. For the pilot episode they go to Clay County West Virginia, where legend tells that local man Sam Mitchell abducted and killed a suspected 30 children in his house, before being found out and lynched by the townspeople. Gathered around a campfire, "The Ghost Kids" hear the story of Sam Mitchell from their producers for the first time, and are then locked into the house overnight. With paranormal equipment and cameras running, "The Ghost Kids" are ready to find out if the spirit of Sam Mitchell still resides there.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Pocongdorie (2025)
While cleaning out their parental home, siblings Dwi and Daya come across their deceased mother, who came back from the dead as a pocong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Classic Ghost Stories?
The closest matches to Classic Ghost Stories are A Nasty Piece of Work (2019), The Woman in Black (1989) and American Horror House (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Classic Ghost Stories?
Start with A Nasty Piece of Work (2019), the closest match to Classic Ghost Stories.
What is the highest-rated movie like Classic Ghost Stories?
Kwaidan (1965), rated 7.7/10 by 490 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Classic Ghost Stories?
Pocongdorie (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Classic Ghost Stories?
Yes: A Nasty Piece of Work (2019), The Woman in Black (1989) and American Horror House (2012).
How are movies similar to Classic Ghost Stories chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Classic Ghost Stories, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.