feelsalike.comSign in
Onibaba poster

Movies that feel likeOnibaba (1964)

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

If you loved Onibaba, the closest films we have are Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966), Dracula (1958) and The Changeling (1980). All three share Onibaba'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 White Zombie (1932).

🍅 90% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Kaneto Shindōdreadunsettling
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:HBO Max ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Onibaba streaming? →

If Onibaba hit the spot, these will too

Kill, Baby... Kill! poster
Kill, Baby... Kill!
1966 · dir. Mario Bava
★ 6.8horrorPrime Video

The same mix in both: dread, then unease

A 20th century European village is haunted by the ghost of a murderous little girl.

Dracula poster
Dracula
1958 · dir. Terence Fisher
🍅 89%★ 7.2horror

Dread-soaked horror in both cases

After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle, the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker's fiancée. The only one who may be able to protect them is Dr. van Helsing, Harker's friend and fellow-student of vampires, who is determined to destroy Dracula, whatever the cost.

The Changeling poster
The Changeling
1980 · dir. Peter Medak
🍅 85%★ 7.1horror

Horror built on unease, twice over

After a tragic event happens, composer John Russell moves to Seattle to try to overcome it and build a new and peaceful life in a lonely big house that has been uninhabited for many years. But, soon after, the obscure history of such an old mansion and his own past begin to haunt him.

The Wicker Man poster
The Wicker Man
1973 · dir. Robin Hardy
🍅 92%★ 7.5horrorPrime Video

Dread-soaked horror, and it commits to that

Police sergeant Neil Howie is called to an island village in search of a missing girl whom the locals claim never existed. The investigation is further complicated as Howie’s religious views clash with those of the island’s residents.

The Phantom of the Opera poster
The Phantom of the Opera
1925 · dir. Rupert Julian
🍅 90%★ 7.5horror

Common ground: black and white

The difference: Made in the 1920s, in a different era of the craft

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

White Zombie poster
White Zombie
1932 · dir. Victor Halperin
🍅 77%★ 6.2horror

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

A wealthy landowner living in Haiti convinces a sorcerer to lure the woman he has fallen for away from her fiancé. The madman later betrays their agreement by keeping the woman for himself…as a zombie.

The Mummy poster
The Mummy
1932 · dir. Karl Freund
🍅 90%★ 6.9horrorPeacock

The shared currency is unease

An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when a British archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the researchers accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.

The Eye poster
The Eye
2002 · dir. Oxide Pang
🍅 63%★ 6.6horror

Both are horror through and through

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A blind concert violinist gets a cornea transplant allowing her to see again. However, she gets more than she bargained for when she realizes her new eye can see ghosts. She sets out to find the origins of the cornea and discover the fate of its former host.

The Fog poster
The Fog
1980 · dir. John Carpenter
🍅 77%★ 6.8horrorPrime VideoPeacock

Cut from the same horror cloth

Strange things begin to occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centenary. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life; Rev. Malone stumbles upon a dark secret about the town's founding; radio announcer Stevie witnesses a mystical fire; and hitchhiker Elizabeth discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Then a mysterious iridescent fog descends upon the village, and more people start to die.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 · dir. Robert Aldrich
🍅 91%★ 8horror · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: murder

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Onibaba does

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre poster
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974 · dir. Tobe Hooper
🍅 85%★ 7.4horrorNetflixPrime Video

The horror is handled with the same confidence

Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.

Kwaidan poster
Kwaidan
1965 · dir. Masaki Kobayashi
🍅 91%★ 7.9horror · fantasy · dramaMax

One thread runs through both: samurai

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than Onibaba does

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

In the mood for more dread?

all dread movies →

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