Movies like The Dentist (1996)
The best movies like The Dentist (1996) are Grindhouse (2007), The Prowler (1981) and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007). If The Dentist hooked you with its thriller and horror, 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 1,039 votes
- NewestInsidious: Out of the Further (2026)Released 2026
Grindhouse (2007)
Grindhouse combines Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. It is presented as a double feature with fictitious exploitation trailers preceding each segment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Prowler (1981)
Thirty years after a murder on the night of Avalon Bay's graduation dance, the sleepy town's teens meet grisly ends at the hands of a prowler once thought to be a jilted soldier home from war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
When hundreds of videotapes showing torture, murder and dismemberment are found in an abandoned house, they reveal a serial killer's decade-long reign of terror and become the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives have ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Mary (2013)
A young medical student struggling to pay tuition is drawn into the shady world of underground body-modification.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDressed to Kill (1980)
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisButcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)
Rejected by her lover, the only man left in Cheryl's life is the orphaned nephew she has raised as her own son. She'll stop at nothing to keep Billy with her. When her plans misfire, she is swept up into an insane frenzy that means death to anyone who comes between her and her obsession. But the investigating detective is convinced that Billy is the real killer - and determined to prove it. Madness and fanaticism work together to drag all concerned into a terrifying vortex of blood-letting that adds a nightmarish twist to the classic Oedipus story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
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 thisThe Invisible Man (2020)
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
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 thisHaunt (2019)
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an extreme haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMother's Day (2010)
Crazed members of a sadistic family return to their childhood home to terrorize the new owners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCircus of Horrors (1960)
A plastic surgeon and his nurse join a bizarre circus to escape from the police. Here he befriends deformed women and transforms them for his "Temple of Beauty". However, when they threaten to leave, they meet with mysterious accidents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollow Man (2000)
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaw (2004)
Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaw 3D (2010)
As a deadly battle rages over Jigsaw's brutal legacy, a group of Jigsaw survivors gathers to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmile (2022)
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHider in the House (1989)
A deranged man hides in the attic of a new house and becomes obsessed with the unsuspecting family that moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call (2013)
Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man in the Trunk (2019)
On an otherwise quiet night there is a startling knock at the door. Andrew Tucker answers the door to find an old friend whom he hasn't seen in years. The disheveled and absent friend comes to him with one request: "I need you to come with me but, I can't tell you where we're going." Andrew takes a chance but learns that every answer brings more questions. Nothing good ever comes knocking after midnight and Andrew's nightmare asks how far you would go to help a friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Psycho (1998)
A young female embezzler arrives at the Bates Motel, which has terrible secrets of its own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Jolly Monkey (2025)
40 years ago, families disappeared near the isolated Jolly Monkey motel. Today, the family of the owners return to discuss what to do with the place. One by one they are killed by a someone dressed as the motel's mascot and need to escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Stir of Echoes (1999)
After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play 2 (1990)
Chucky is reconstructed by a toy factory to dispel the negative publicity surrounding the doll, and tracks young Andy Barclay to a foster home where the chase begins again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChild's Play 3 (1991)
Eight years after seemingly destroying the killer doll, teen Andy Barclay is placed in a military school, and the spirit of Chucky returns to renew his quest and seek vengeance after being recreated from a mass of melted plastic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPresumed Innocent (1990)
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Terror (2020)
When a young girl is murdered in Lakewood Park a group of journalists by the names of Alex, Josh and Luke venture into the woods to find evidence and take their journalism experience to new heights. However, as things in Lakewood Park become more and more sinister, the trio of investigators begin to believe they are getting more than they bargained for in this bloody broad daylight nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Audition (2000)
Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Dentist?
The closest matches to The Dentist are Grindhouse (2007), The Prowler (1981) and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Dentist?
Start with Grindhouse (2007), the closest match to The Dentist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Dentist?
Insidious: Out of the Further (2026), rated 7.7/10 by 1,039 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Dentist?
Insidious: Out of the Further (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Dentist?
Yes: Grindhouse (2007), The Prowler (1981) and The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007).
How are movies similar to The Dentist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Dentist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.