Movies like The Smiling Man (2017)
The best movies like The Smiling Man (2017) are Saint Catherine (2024), Succubus (2024) and Vicious (2025). If The Smiling Man hooked you with its horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSuccubus (2024)8.3/10 from 279 votes
- NewestThe Dreadful (2026)Released 2026
Saint Catherine (2024)
An orphaned girl is rescued from a satanic ritual and taken to Saint Catherine Institute for homeless youth. There she will learn new skills while facing demons that stalk her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuccubus (2024)
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Absolute CinemaMovies 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
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
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 Dreadful (2026)
In medieval England, Anne and her domineering mother-in-law Morwen struggle to survive on the outskirts of society. But when a man from Anne's past returns from war, a curse begins to take shape through a mysterious knight and threatens to destroy them all.
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 thisThe Last Breath (2024)
A group of old college friends reunite on a Caribbean scuba diving trip exploring the wreckage of a WWII battleship and find themselves trapped inside the underwater labyrinth of rusted metal surrounded by great white sharks.
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 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhisper (2007)
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
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 thisThe Final (2010)
A group of high school outcasts get revenge on the students that torment them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerrifier (2011)
After witnessing a brutal murder on Halloween night, a young woman becomes the next target of a maniacal entity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Kill It (2016)
Demon hunter Jebediah Huntley teams up with an FBI agent to battle a supernatural force in the southern state of Mississippi.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Five train passengers are joined by a mysterious fortuneteller who offers to read Tarot. A quintet of stories unfold: an architect returns to his ancestral home to find a vengeful werewolf; a doctor suspects his new wife is a vampire; an intelligent vine takes over a house; a jazz musician plagiarises music from a voodoo ceremony; and a pompous art critic is pursued by a disembodied hand.
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 thisThe Unhealer (2021)
A botched faith healing bestows supernatural Shaman powers on a bullied teenager. When his lifelong tormentors pull a prank that kills someone he loves, he uses his powers for revenge and goes on a bloody rampage to settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat We Found Out There (2021)
Two friends find more than they bargained for while hiking out in the treacherous wilderness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Erasmus (2016)
Montse just wanted to make a documentary about partying at the Barcelona night clubs. But what begins as a fun evening out turns into hours of unending terror as Montse's video cameras capture a mysterious fiend killing off her friends one by one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Spree (2020)
Desperate for an online following, a rideshare driver has figured out a deadly plan to go viral and he will stop at nothing to get his five minutes of fame.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPsychic Darkness Video 27 (2018)
The 27th installment and collection of horror videos that carefully select and introduce psychic images that are being born from darkness and are about to be buried in the darkness!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Head Cases: Serial Killers in the Delaware Valley (2013)
Serial killer Wayne Montgomery committed 41 murders between 1979 and 2007, leaving behind an extensive video library of his life's work. Now, a new generation is carrying on Wayne's brutal legacy in a terrifying world where rules do not apply. Press play and take a trip through the mind of one of history's most prolific serial killers - and his devoted followers who are out for blood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Psychic Darkness Video 71 (2022)
The 71st installment of the popular horror documentary series!! A contributor who visited with his lover when he heard that the school building of the junior high school he used to go to will be demolished. There is an inexplicable existence in the image of the smartphone when I'm looking around with permission to go inside...! The contributor remembers a bizarre incident that happened while he was in school...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Specter (2014)
The town of Midground is threatened by a tsunami caused by a massive earthquake in the North Pacific Ocean. After other unexplainable events transpire, Chase Lombardi and friends are forced to discover whether they are experiencing a natural phenomenon or something else all together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Hazzard Files Part One (2024)
Three professional paranormal investigators stumble upon a lost cemetery in the woods of the PNW and what they discover after spending some time investigating will shock you to the core. A fake phony doctor by the name of Linda Hazzard murdered victims of her starvation cure by starving them to death. Their souls have come alive in this documentary film to bridge the living with the dead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Psychic Darkness Video 41 (2020)
The 41st installment and collection of horror videos that carefully select and introduce psychic images that are being born from darkness and are about to be buried in the darkness!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Psychic Darkness Video 47 (2020)
The 47th installment and collection of horror videos that carefully select and introduce psychic images that are being born from darkness and are about to be buried in the darkness!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Smiling Man?
The closest matches to The Smiling Man are Saint Catherine (2024), Succubus (2024) and Vicious (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Smiling Man?
Start with Saint Catherine (2024), the closest match to The Smiling Man.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Smiling Man?
Succubus (2024), rated 8.3/10 by 279 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Smiling Man?
The Dreadful (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Smiling Man?
Yes: Saint Catherine (2024), Succubus (2024) and Vicious (2025).
How are movies similar to The Smiling Man chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Smiling Man, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.