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The Exorcist poster

Movies that feel likeThe Exorcist (1973)

When a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.

If you loved The Exorcist, the closest films we have are Poltergeist (1982), The Evil Dead (1983) and The Wicker Man (1973). All three share The Exorcist'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 Onibaba (1964).

🍅 78% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. William Friedkindreadunsettling
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If The Exorcist hit the spot, these will too

Poltergeist poster
Poltergeist
1982 · dir. Tobe Hooper
🍅 89%★ 7.3horrorMax

A family home invaded, and parents fighting to reclaim a daughter

The difference: Spielbergian thrill-ride energy — spectacle over sacrilege

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.

The Evil Dead poster
The Evil Dead
1983 · dir. Sam Raimi
🍅 85%★ 7.3horror

An unleashed demonic force possessing the innocent one by one

The difference: Low-budget splatter delirium — shock and gore over solemn dread

In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.

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

Faith itself under siege in a slow, sickening investigation

The difference: Sunlit folk horror — no demon, just belief turned against a man

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.

Onibaba poster
Onibaba
1964 · dir. Kaneto Shindō
🍅 90%★ 7.8horrorMax

A demon mask, human sin and terror rising out of desperation

The difference: A stark Japanese fable — its horror is human, not satanic

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.

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

The same 1970s documentary-raw terror with no safety net

The difference: Human monsters, not demons — squalid heat, zero theology

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.

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

One thread runs through both: halloween

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

The same preoccupation in both: halloween

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.

Suspiria poster
Suspiria
1977 · dir. Dario Argento
🍅 94%★ 7.3horror

An innocent walking into an institution rotten with evil

The difference: Lurid color and dream logic — style delivers the fear, not faith

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

The Nun poster
The Nun
2018 · dir. Corin Hardy
🍅 24%★ 5.4horrorMax

Priests confronting demonic evil through Catholic ritual and doubt

The difference: Jump-scare gothic franchise fare — dread without the gravity

A priest with a dark past and a novice nearing her final vows are sent by the Vatican to Romania to investigate a nun's death and face a demonic force.

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

Dread-soaked where it counts, unsettling underneath

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.

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

Dread-soaked horror, and it commits to that

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

Child's Play poster
Child's Play
1988 · dir. Tom Holland
🍅 65%★ 6.7horrorPrime Video

Horror with a pulse of unease, in both cases

After being shot in a toy store, a serial killer transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll. A mother then gifts it to her six-year-old son Andy, which unleashes terror upon the city.

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