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Movies that feel like Nightwatch (1994)

If you loved Nightwatch, the closest films we have are Thesis (1996), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) and What We Become (2015). All three share Nightwatch's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 11 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

Martin, a law student, takes up a job as a nightwatchman at a mortuary to fund his studies. But the mortuary harbours a dark secret, and he has to find the truth before he is implicated in a serial murder case.

πŸ… 63% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.2 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Ole Bornedaldreadunsettlingtense
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If Nightwatch hit the spot, these will too

Thesis poster
Thesis
1996 Β· dir. Alejandro AmenΓ‘bar
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.4horror Β· thriller

Both land dread and unease at once

While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.

Feels alike?
Silent Night, Deadly Night poster
Silent Night, Deadly Night
1984 Β· dir. Charles E. Sellier Jr.
πŸ… 55%β˜… 5.8thriller Β· horror

Horror built on tension, twice over

After a man dressed as Santa Claus brutally murders Billy Chapman's parents, little Billy then endures the cruelty of a sadistic nun at his orphanage. Years later, when adult Billy has to fill in for an absent in-store Santa, his childhood trauma brings him to the breaking point.

Feels alike?
What We Become poster
What We Become
2015 Β· dir. Bo Mikkelsen
β˜… 5.5horror Β· thriller

Dread-soaked thriller in both cases

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 2010s show

A family of four is quarantined in their home as a virulent strand of the flu spreads into town and they are forced to the extreme to escape alive.

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Ring poster
Ring
1998 Β· dir. Hideo Nakata
πŸ… 98%β˜… 7.2horror Β· thriller

Unsettling horror, and it commits to that

The difference: Reviewed even better

A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.

Feels alike?
Lake Mungo poster
Lake Mungo
2009 Β· dir. Joel Anderson
πŸ… 92%β˜… 6.2horror Β· thriller

Thriller with a pulse of tension, in both cases

After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns at a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice's secret past emerges.

Feels alike?
Julia's Eyes poster
Julia's Eyes
2010 Β· dir. Guillem Morales
πŸ… 90%β˜… 6.7horror Β· thriller

Both lean on dread more than on horror

Julia, a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease, finds her blind sister Sara hung in a basement. Despite all signs pointing to suicide, Julia decides to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case.

Feels alike?
Death Whisperer poster
Death Whisperer
2023 Β· dir. Taweewat Wantha
β˜… 5.8horror Β· thriller

Thriller built on unease, twice over

When a remote village is plagued by a deadly curse, one brother must fight to save his family from a terrifying supernatural threat.

Feels alike?
The Pool poster
The Pool
2018 Β· dir. Ping Lumpraploeng
πŸ… 96%β˜… 5.3thriller Β· horror

Both sit in the same tense register

Left alone to clean up a 6-meter-deep deserted pool, Day falls asleep on an inflatable raft. When he wakes, the water level has sunk so low that he can't climb out on his own. Stuck in the pool, Day screams for help, but the only thing that hears him is a creature from a nearby crocodile farm.

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

The horror is handled with the same confidence

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Nightwatch does

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.

Feels alike?
The Black Cat poster
The Black Cat
1934 Β· dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
πŸ… 89%β˜… 6.9horror Β· thriller

The same thriller instincts

After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.

Feels alike?
The Innkeepers poster
The Innkeepers
2012 Β· dir. Ti West
πŸ… 81%β˜… 5.5horror Β· thriller

Both are horror through and through

During the final days at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, two employees determined to reveal the hotel's haunted past begin to experience disturbing events as old guests check in for a stay.

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

Cut from the same thriller cloth

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.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more dread?

all dread movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Nightwatch’s defining feeling.