Best movies like Jacob's Ladder
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn't what he believes it to be when he's attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: surreal, twist ending, psychological, disturbing, scary, bleak, surprise ending, atmospheric, psychedelic, psychological thriller
Best tv shows and movies like Jacob's Ladder (1990):
Similar in 79%
The Lighthouse (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 245000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspense, minimal cast, psychological, mysterious, lovecraft, gothic horror, disturbing, psychological thriller, black and white, gothic
Similar in 78%
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Plot Summary:
Mary Henry ends up the sole survivor of a fatal car accident through mysterious circumstances. Trying to put the incident behind her, she moves to Utah and takes a job as a church organist. But her fresh start is interrupted by visions of a fiendish man. As the visions begin to occur more frequently, Mary finds herself drawn to the deserted carnival on the outskirts of town. The strangely alluring carnival may hold the secret to her tragic past.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: scary, atmospheric, cult classic, gothic, surreal, independent film, black and white, dark, twist ending, psychological
Similar in 90%
Blue Velvet (1986)
Plot Summary:
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of criminals who have kidnapped her child.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 212000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: neo noir, surreal, dark, detective, cerebral, disturbing, postmodern, controversial, erotic, atmospheric
Similar in 76%
Don't Look Now (1973)
Plot Summary:
After Laura and John Baxter lose their only child in a horrible drowning, they are greeted by strange sightings of her throughout their everyday lives. When two old ladies approach them in Italy with news that their daughter may still be alive, it seems too good to be true. Perhaps it is.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, twist ending, disturbing, atmospheric, sexy, suspenseful, psychological, surreal, erotic, gothic
Similar in 84%
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
Plot Summary:
With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose...literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane's mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb's End.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 78000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, atmospheric, gothic, neo noir, suspense, lovecraft, scary, suspenseful, dark
Similar in 82%
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Plot Summary:
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, dark, atmospheric, psychedelic, mind bending, avant garde, cerebral, scary, art house
Similar in 78%
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Plot Summary:
An artist in crisis is haunted by nightmares from the past in Ingmar Bergman's only horror film, which takes place on a windy island. During "the hour of the wolf" - between midnight and dawn - he tells his wife about his most painful memories.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: Sweden
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, gothic, bleak, disturbing, art house, black and white, creepy, tense, dark
Similar in 84%
Hereditary (2018)
Plot Summary:
After their reclusive grandmother passes away, the Graham family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 364000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: psychological horror, disturbing, psychological, suspense, bleak, spooky, atmospheric, satanic, mind bending, dark
Similar in 84%
Eraserhead (1977)
Plot Summary:
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 125000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: surreal, avant garde, art house, psychological, disturbing, psychedelic, experimental, atmospheric, black and white, dark
Similar in 87%
Mother! (2017)
Plot Summary:
A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 244000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, suspense, mysterious, surreal, mindfuck, art house, scary, controversial, twisted
Similar in 78%
Antichrist (2009)
Plot Summary:
A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 134000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Poland
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, scary, atmospheric, psychological thriller, bleak, art house, minimal cast, sexy, dark
Similar in 75%
Possession (1981)
Plot Summary:
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, psychological, disturbing, mind bending, art house, scary, creepy, grindhouse, controversial
Similar in 78%
Lost Highway (1997)
Plot Summary:
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgangers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: surreal, neo noir, mind bending, atmospheric, confusing, disturbing, psychedelic, cerebral, gothic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Spider (2002)
Plot Summary:
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, disturbing, bleak, twist ending, suspenseful, offbeat, non-linear, mindfuck, mind bending
Similar in 89%
Stir of Echoes (1999)
Plot Summary:
After being hypnotized by his sister in law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, twist ending, suspense, atmospheric, scary, disturbing, sexy, dark, psychological thriller, surprise ending
Similar in 82%
The Shining (1980)
Plot Summary:
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, scary, atmospheric, psychological thriller, intense, disturbing, psychedelic, psychological horror, demonic
Similar in 79%
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Plot Summary:
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 377000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, art house, neo noir, atmospheric, mind bending, disturbing, cerebral, surprise ending, enigmatic
Similar in 85%
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Plot Summary:
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: philosophical, psychological, depressing, surreal, mindfuck, confusing, art house, absurd, mind bending, cult classic
Similar in 75%
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Plot Summary:
At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 698000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, War
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, atmospheric, disturbing, surreal, visual, visually stunning, tense, allegory, visually appealing
Similar in 75%
Black Swan (2010)
Plot Summary:
A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 808000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, cerebral, atmospheric, surreal, sexy, twist ending, psychological thriller, mind bending, visually appealing
Similar in 88%
Donnie Darko (2001)
Plot Summary:
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 837000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, atmospheric, mind bending, philosophical, cult classic, clever, psychological thriller, cerebral, independent film
Similar in 81%
Enemy (2013)
Plot Summary:
A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 209000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, Spain, France
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, non-linear, twist ending, mind bending, atmospheric, mindfuck, suspense, disturbing, tense
Similar in 90%
Memento (2000)
Plot Summary:
Suffering short-term memory loss after a head injury, Leonard Shelby embarks on a grim quest to find the lowlife who murdered his wife in this gritty, complex thriller that packs more knots than a hangman's noose. To carry out his plan, Shelby snaps Polaroids of people and places, jotting down contextual notes on the backs of photos to aid in his search and jog his memory. He even tattoos his own body in a desperate bid to remember.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 13000000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspense, neo noir, psychological thriller, non-linear, confusing, tense, philosophical
Similar in 85%
The Machinist (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 410000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France, UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: psychological, twist ending, surprise ending, depressing, mind bending, surreal, bleak, neo noir, enigmatic, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Plot Summary:
A psychological thriller about an eight year old boy named Cole Sear who believes he can see into the world of the dead. A child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe comes to Cole to help him deal with his problem, learning that he really can see ghosts of dead people.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, psychological thriller, mind bending, touching, tense
Similar in 85%
Pi (1998)
Plot Summary:
The debut film from Darren Aronofsky in which a mathematical genius Maximilian Cohen discovers a link in the connection between numbers and reality and thus believes he can predict the future.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 185000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, cerebral, black and white, mind bending, independent film, atmospheric, psychedelic, philosophical, dark
Similar in 89%
Gothika (2003)
Plot Summary:
After a car crash, a criminal psychologist (Halle Berry) comes to, only to find that she's a patient in the same mental institution that currently employs her. It seems she's been accused of murdering her husband -- but she has no memory of committing the crime. As she tries to regain her memory and convince her co-workers of her innocence, a vengeful spirit uses her as an earthly pawn, which further convinces everyone of her guilt.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 118000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, France, Canada, Spain
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, suspenseful, gothic, surprise ending, psychological thriller, atmospheric, suspense, dark, twist ending
Similar in 82%
Stay (2005)
Plot Summary:
Psychiatrist Sam Foster has a new patient, Henry Letham, who claims to be suicidal. In trying to diagnose him, Sam visits Henry's prior therapist and also finds Henry's mother -- even though Henry has said that he murdered both of his parents. As reality starts to contradict fact, Sam spirals into an unstable mental state. Then he finds a clue as to how and when Henry may try to kill himself, and races to try to stop him.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 85000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, confusing, gloomy, mindfuck, suspense, mind blowing, mind bending
Similar in 76%
Fight Club (1999)
Plot Summary:
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 23000000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, psychological, twist ending, cerebral, thought provoking, philosophical, surreal, stylized, mind bending, atmospheric
Similar in 85%
Shutter Island (2010)
Plot Summary:
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his troubling visions and also by a mysterious doctor.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 14000000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspense, confusing, dark, atmospheric, suspenseful, cerebral, neo noir