Movies like The Descent (2005)
The best movies like The Descent (2005) are River (2027), The Ruins (2008) and The Devil's Mouth (2026). If The Descent hooked you with its adventure and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Thing (1982)8.1/10 from 8,433 votes
- NewestRemain Calm (2026)Released 2026
- Same seriesThe Descent: Part 2 (2009)The Descent
River (2027)
After the death of their father, three siblings take a boat trip to spread their dad's ashes. However, they discover they have inadvertently stumbled onto the hunting grounds of a strange pair of masked killers, and must fight for their lives on a busted motorboat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Coming SoonMovies like thisThe Ruins (2008)
Americans Amy, Stacy, Jeff and Eric look for fun during a sunny holiday in Mexico, but they get much more than that after visiting an archaeological dig in the jungle.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Mouth (2026)
A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ritual (2017)
A group of university friends reunite for a hiking trip in Sweden, but are stalked by a menacing presence when they're diverted through the woods.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderwater (2020)
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrey (2007)
An American family on holiday in Africa becomes lost in a game reserve and stalked by vicious killer lions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Cave (2005)
After a group of biologists discovers a huge network of unexplored caves in Romania and, believing it to be an undisturbed eco-system that has produced a new species, they hire the best American team of underwater cave explorers in the world. While exploring deeper into the underwater caves, a rockslide blocks their exit, and they soon discover a larger carnivorous creature has added them to its food chain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisWrong Turn (2003)
Chris crashes into a carload of other young people, and the group of stranded motorists is soon lost in the woods of West Virginia, where they're hunted by three cannibalistic mountain men who are grossly disfigured by generations of inbreeding.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrawl (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: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Water (2008)
Based on true events, Grace, her boyfriend Adam, and her younger sister, Lee, are on holiday in Northern Australia when they decide to take a tour down a river. As they drift into a swamp, their boat suddenly capsizes. Stranded in the flooded swamp, the three tourists must figure out what to do to survive as they realize they are being watched through the black water.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Based on Wes Craven's 1977 suspenseful cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carter family soon realizes the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family...and they are the prey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBackcountry (2015)
A couple on a deep-wilderness hike become hopelessly lost within an aggressive black bear's territory.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Five friends set out for a weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, expecting nothing more than fun and relaxation. As night falls, they discover that something far more unsettling is at work and that nothing about their getaway is what it seems.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Descent: Part 2 (2009)
Distraught, confused, and half-wild with fear, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where she encountered unspeakable terrors. Unable to plausibly explain to the authorities what happened - or why she's covered in her friends' blood - Sarah is forced back to the subterranean depths to help locate her five missing companions.
Why it matches: Same series: The Descent · both adventure & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue (2007)
When a group of tourists stumble into the remote Australian river territory of an enormous crocodile, the deadly creature traps them on a tiny mud island with the tide quickly rising and darkness descending. As the hungry predator closes in, they must fight for survival against all odds.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Green Inferno (2014)
A group of student activists travel from New York City to the Amazon to save the rainforest. However, once they arrive in this vast green landscape, they soon discover that they are not alone… and that no good deed goes unpunished.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHostel (2006)
Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Quiet Place (2018)
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRemain Calm (2026)
The story follows the two gas station clerks whose routine night shift turns into a fight for survival. A government agent warns them about Mr. Frett, a terrifying creature that tracks and hunts people who show any signs of anxiety, stress, or panic. To stay alive, the characters must force themselves into a state of aggressive positivity and calm.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Indigenous (2014)
A group of five American friends on the cusp of adulthood travel to Panama to relax and reconnect. They befriend a local woman in their hotel bar—and despite some ominous whispers—she goes against the specific instructions of her brother and brings the Americans on a daytrip into the pristine falls at the nearby jungle. What begins as an innocent outing to a picturesque waterfall quickly turns terrifying after she suddenly goes missing. As night closes in, the friends realize too late the truth behind the rumors—the legendary, blood-sucking Chupacabra is now stalking them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like this47 Meters Down (2017)
Two sisters on Mexican vacation are trapped in a shark observation cage at the bottom of the ocean, with oxygen running low and great whites circling nearby, they have less than an hour of air left to figure out how to get to the surface.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Thing (1982)
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCold Prey II (2008)
After surviving the events in the Jotunheimen mountains in which four of her friends were murdered, the badly injured Jannicke is brought to the local hospital. But when she wakes up, the building is dark and deserted... and she soon realizes that her nightmare isn’t over yet.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mist (2007)
After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAs Above, So Below (2014)
When a team of explorers venture into the catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Strangers (2008)
After a 4 a.m. knock at the door and haunting voices, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt’s remote getaway becomes a psychological night of terror as three masked strangers invade. Now they must go far beyond what they thought themselves capable of if they hope to survive.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreen Room (2016)
Members of a punk rock band and a tough young woman are forced to fight for survival after witnessing an act of violence at a skinhead bar.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shallows (2016)
While surfing on a secluded beach, Nancy finds herself in the feeding grounds of a great white shark. Though stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of her ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEden Lake (2008)
When a young couple goes to a remote wooded lake for a romantic getaway, their quiet weekend is shattered by an aggressive group of local kids. Rowdiness quickly turns to rage as the teens terrorize the couple in unimaginable ways, and a weekend outing becomes a bloody battle for survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Water: Abyss (2020)
An adventure-loving couple convince their friends to explore a remote, uncharted cave system in the forests of Northern Australia. With a tropical storm approaching, they abseil into the mouth of the cave, but when the caves start to flood, tensions rise as oxygen levels fall and the friends find themselves trapped. Unknown to them, the storm has also brought in a pack of dangerous and hungry crocodiles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & adventure
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Descent?
The closest matches to The Descent are River (2027), The Ruins (2008) and The Devil's Mouth (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Descent?
People who watched The Descent most often go on to River (2027), The Ruins (2008) and The Devil's Mouth (2026).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Descent?
The Thing (1982), rated 8.1/10 by 8,433 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Descent?
Remain Calm (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Is The Descent part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to The Descent, which includes The Descent: Part 2 (2009).
Are there English movies like The Descent?
Yes: River (2027), The Ruins (2008) and The Devil's Mouth (2026).
How are movies similar to The Descent chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Descent, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.