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Bird Box poster

Movies that feel likeBird Box (2018)

Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.

If you loved Bird Box, the closest films we have are Under the Shadow (2016), Titane (2021) and La Llorona (2019). All three share Bird Box's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Berberian Sound Studio (2012).

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If Bird Box hit the spot, these will too

Under the Shadow poster
Under the Shadow
2016 Β· dir. Babak Anvari
πŸ… 99%β˜… 6.8drama Β· horror Β· warNetflix

A mother shielding her child from an unseen evil as the world falls apart

The difference: War-haunted Tehran ghost story, not a rafting dash to safety

After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.

Titane poster
Titane
2021 Β· dir. Julia Ducournau
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.4drama Β· thriller Β· horrorRent or buy

The same unblinking dread, and a fierce bond formed in crisis

The difference: Body-horror shock value replaces the survivalist creature-feature premise

A woman with a metal plate in her head from a childhood car accident embarks on a bizarre journey, bringing her into contact with a firefighter who's reunited with his missing son after 10 years.

La Llorona poster
La Llorona
2019 Β· dir. Jayro Bustamante
πŸ… 96%β˜… 6.6thriller Β· horror Β· dramaRent or buy

A supernatural reckoning closes in slowly on a household under siege

The difference: Ghostly justice for war crimes, not a fight for pure survival

Accused of the genocide of Mayan people, retired general Enrique is trapped in his mansion by massive protests. Abandoned by his staff, the indignant old man and his family must face the devastating truth of his actions and the growing sense that a wrathful supernatural force is targeting them for his crimes.

Run poster
Run
2020 Β· dir. Aneesh Chaganty
πŸ… 88%β˜… 6.7thriller Β· horror Β· dramaHulu

Isolation with a guardian sharpens into a fight to simply stay alive

The difference: The danger is a parent's secret, not a force from outside the walls

Chloe, a teenager who is confined to a wheelchair, is homeschooled by her mother, Diane. Chloe soon becomes suspicious of her mother and begins to suspect that she may be harboring a dark secret.

The Shallows poster
The Shallows
2016 Β· dir. Jaume Collet-Serra
πŸ… 78%β˜… 6.3horror Β· drama Β· thrillerNetflix

One person's resourcefulness against a predator that won't stop stalking

The difference: A single shark and one afternoon, not a years-long societal collapse

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.

Speak No Evil poster
Speak No Evil
2022 Β· dir. Christian Tafdrup
πŸ… 83%β˜… 6.7horror Β· thriller Β· dramaRent or buy

Dread builds quietly until politeness can no longer mask real danger

The difference: A social visit curdling, not a monster-filled apocalypse

A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.

The Purge: Election Year poster
The Purge: Election Year
2016 Β· dir. James DeMonaco
πŸ… 55%β˜… 6action Β· horror Β· thrillerPrime VideoPeacock

A night-long dash through streets where survival means staying unseen

The difference: Man-made political chaos, not an unseeable entity stalking survivors

Two years after choosing not to kill the man who killed his son, former police sergeant Leo Barnes has become head of security for Senator Charlene Roan, the front runner in the next Presidential election due to her vow to eliminate the Purge. On the night of what should be the final Purge, a betrayal from within the government forces Barnes and Roan out onto the street where they must fight to survive the night.

Stoker poster
Stoker
2013 Β· dir. Park Chan-wook
πŸ… 70%β˜… 6.7drama Β· horror Β· thrillerMax

The same mix in both: dread, then unease

The difference: Easier on the bleakness than Bird Box

Following her father Richard's death in an unexplained road accident, reclusive teenager India Stoker withdraws further into the quiet rural life she shares with her emotionally disturbed mother Evie. But her curiosity is stirred when her mysterious uncle Charlie, who she has never met, suddenly arrives unannounced. Told that the darkly charismatic Charlie will now be staying at the house, India's initial well-founded distrust of her uncle's motivations begins to waver as she finds herself becoming ever more deeply entranced by his sinister charms.

Berberian Sound Studio poster
Berberian Sound Studio
2012 Β· dir. Peter Strickland
πŸ… 85%β˜… 6.2horror Β· drama Β· thriller

Tense and contemplative in the same breath

In the 1970s, a British sound technician is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past.

A Quiet Place poster
A Quiet Place
2018 Β· dir. John Krasinski
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.5horror Β· drama Β· science fictionParamount+

A family staying silent or sightless to survive a hunter's world

The difference: Trades blindness for silence β€” a stricter, more inventive rule set

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

Flatliners poster
Flatliners
2017 Β· dir. Niels Arden Oplev
πŸ… 4%β˜… 5.2drama Β· horror Β· thriller

Dread-soaked horror, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Five medical students, hoping to understand the mystery of what lies beyond life, embark on a dangerous experiment. When their hearts are stopped for a short period of time, they have a near-death experience…

28 Days Later poster
28 Days Later
2002 Β· dir. Danny Boyle
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.5horror Β· thriller Β· science fictionApple TV+

The same preoccupation in both: survival horror

The difference: Sits closer to science fiction than Bird Box does

Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs -- and it's absolutely impossible to contain.

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