Best movies like The Serpent and the Rainbow
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: scary, surreal, suspense, creepy, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, sensual, psychological, splatter
Best tv shows and movies like The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988):
Similar in 88%
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Plot Summary:
The powers of good are pitted against the forces of evil as the Duc de Richelieu wrestles with the charming but deadly Satanist, Mocata, for the soul of his friend. Mocata has the knowledge and the power to summon the forces of darkness and, as the Duc de Richelieu and his friends remain within the protected pentacle, they are subjected to ever-increasing horror until thundering hooves herald the arrival of the Angel of Death.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: scary, gothic, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, dark, atmospheric, satanic, grindhouse, creepy
Similar in 90%
The Lords of Salem (2012)
Plot Summary:
The City of Salem, Massachusetts is visited by a coven of ancient witches.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: scary, psychological, surreal, satanic, atmospheric, disturbing, splatter, art house, bleak, grindhouse
Similar in 88%
A Dark Song (2016)
Plot Summary:
A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, disturbing, suspenseful, spooky, psychological thriller, art house, religious horror, scary, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
Begotten (1989)
Plot Summary:
Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: surreal, avant garde, disturbing, experimental, atmospheric, independent film, controversial, black and white, postmodern, mindfuck
Similar in 78%
Prince of Darkness (1987)
Plot Summary:
A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspense, scary, dark, suspenseful, stylized, slasher, atmospheric, disturbing, satanic, lovecraft
Similar in 90%
Scream Blacula Scream (1973)
Plot Summary:
After a dying Voodoo queen chooses an adopted apprentice as her successor, her true heir is outraged. Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Blacula the vampire off of a dealer, and uses voodoo to bring the vampire back to do his bidding. In turn, Blacula turns him into a vampire and makes him his slave. Meanwhile, a police officer with a large collection of African antiques and an interest in the occult investigates the murders caused by Blacula and his vampire horde.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: gothic, bloody, slasher, creepy, cult classic, scary, horror comedy, cult horror, independent film, rough
Similar in 82%
Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977)
Plot Summary:
From the moment she arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tans Academy, American ballet-dancer Suzy Bannion senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Horror
Country: Italy
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: scary, gothic, satanic, suspense, surreal, slasher, atmospheric, suspenseful, dark, cerebral
Similar in 78%
Pet Sematary (1989)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Louis Creed's family moves into the country house of their dreams and discover a pet cemetery at the back of their property. The cursed burial ground deep in the woods brings the dead back to life -- with "minor" problems. At first, only the family's cat makes the return trip, but an accident forces a heartbroken father to contemplate the unthinkable.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 113000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, tense, disturbing, frightening, suspenseful, atmospheric, creepy, bloody, psychological
Similar in 82%
The Sentinel (1977)
Plot Summary:
A commitment-shy New York fashion model moves into an old brownstone apartment, meets her weird neighbours and discovers she’s sitting on the gateway to Hell.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: scary, gothic, suspense, psychological, suspenseful, creepy, satanic, slasher, surreal, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Flesh for the Beast (2003)
Plot Summary:
Six parapsychologists investigate a reputed haunted mansion and are set upon by three flesh-eating succubus ladies under the control of the sinister warlock owner bent on finding a mysterious amulet to give himself more power.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, slasher, suspense, anthology, disgusting, independent film, scary
Similar in 75%
Sleepwalkers (1992)
Plot Summary:
A mother-and-son team of strange supernatural creatures come to town to seek out a virgin to feed on.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, slasher, sexy, rough, serious, suspenseful, splatter, creepy, cult classic
Similar in 89%
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Plot Summary:
It's been many years since Freddy Krueger's first victim, Nancy, came face-to-face with Freddy and his sadistic, evil ways. Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams. Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 89000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: scary, slasher, surreal, bloody, suspense, splatter, psychological, grindhouse, suspenseful, classic horror
Similar in 88%
Thinner (1996)
Plot Summary:
A fat Lawyer finds himself growing "Thinner" when an old gypsy man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the gypsy to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, scary, tense, psychological, bad ending, splatter, cult classic, slasher, serious
Similar in 76%
Creepshow 2 (1987)
Plot Summary:
EC Comics-inspired weirdness returns with three tales. In the first, a wooden statue of a Native American comes to life...to exact vengeance on the murderer of his elderly owners. In the second, four teens are stranded on a raft on a lake with a blob that is hungry. And in the third, a hit and run woman is terrorized by the hitchhiker she accidentally killed...or did she really kill him?.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: anthology, scary, slasher, black comedy, suspense, splatter, horror comedy, cult classic, cult horror, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
The Mortuary Collection (2019)
Plot Summary:
In the phantasmagorical town of Raven's End, a misguided young girl takes refuge in a decrepit old mortuary. The eccentric undertaker chronicles the strange history of the town through a series of twisted tales, each more terrifying than the last, but the young girl's world is unhinged when she discovers that the final story... is her own.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: anthology, surprise ending, enigmatic, stylized, dark, slasher, scary, spooky, suspense, psychological
Similar in 84%
The Gate (1987)
Plot Summary:
Three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: Canada
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: scary, slasher, satanic, suspense, splatter, teen, lovecraft, classic horror, spooky, independent film
Similar in 84%
The Exorcist (1973)
Plot Summary:
12-year-old Regan MacNeil begins to adapt an explicit new personality as strange events befall the local area of Georgetown. Her mother becomes torn between science and superstition in a desperate bid to save her daughter, and ultimately turns to her last hope: Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest who is struggling with his own faith.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 446000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, suspenseful, satanic, psychological, demonic, frightening, atmospheric, disturbing, creepy
Similar in 81%
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Plot Summary:
A young woman has visions that suggest the eruption of the living dead into the world through a portal, spurred on by the suicide of a priest.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Horror
Country: Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: scary, grindhouse, disturbing, atmospheric, suspenseful, bloody, splatter, gothic, rough, creepy
Similar in 84%
Pumpkinhead (1988)
Plot Summary:
A man conjures up a gigantic vengeance demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy the teenagers who accidentally killed his son.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: scary, slasher, suspense, atmospheric, disturbing, gothic, melancholic, intense, rough, serious
Similar in 84%
Nightbreed (1990)
Plot Summary:
A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of monsters are hiding from humanity.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Action, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK, Canada, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: scary, dark fantasy, gothic, slasher, suspenseful, grindhouse, cult classic, splatter, creepy, suspense
Similar in 87%
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 89%
The Witch (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness, exiled from their settlement when William defies the local church. When their newborn son vanishes and crops mysteriously fail, the family turns on one another.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 291000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, dark, suspenseful, scary, gothic, psychological, suspense, satanic, enigmatic
Similar in 80%
Night of the Demons (1988)
Plot Summary:
While conducting a seance during a Halloween party, high-school seniors unlock the demon that remains locked in the crematorium.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, gothic, suspenseful, grindhouse, sexy, demonic, splatter, creepy, psychological, psychotronic
Similar in 90%
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of Angela Carter's fairy tales. Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which innocent maidens are tempted by wolves who are hairy on the inside. As Rosaleen grows into womanhood, will the wolves come for her too?.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: gothic, fairy tale, sexy, surreal, atmospheric, dark fantasy, scary, dark, cult classic, disturbing
Similar in 83%
The Beyond (1981)
Plot Summary:
A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural 'accidents', she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Horror
Country: Italy
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: gothic, scary, grindhouse, slasher, surreal, disturbing, bleak, bloody, gothic horror, atmospheric
Similar in 78%
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Plot Summary:
Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger (Robert Englund), who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen (Johnny Depp), must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 258000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, suspense, suspenseful, demonic, disturbing, bloody, creepy, dark, spooky
Similar in 76%
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
Plot Summary:
Arthur and his two children, Kathy and Bobby, inherit his Uncle Cyrus's estate: a glass house that serves as a prison to 12 ghosts. When the family, accompanied by Bobby's Nanny and an attorney, enter the house they find themselves trapped inside an evil machine "designed by the devil and powered by the dead" to open the Eye of Hell. Aided by Dennis, a ghost hunter, and his rival Kalina, a ghost rights activist out to set the ghosts free, the group must do what they can to get out of the house alive.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 93000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: scary, creepy, splatter, suspense, gothic, suspenseful, stylized, tense, classic horror, thrilling
Similar in 88%
Wishmaster (1997)
Plot Summary:
The Djinn having been released from his ancient prison seeks to capture the soul of the woman who discovered him, thereby opening a portal and freeing his fellow Djinn to take over the earth.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, slasher, suspenseful, suspense, creepy, cult classic, rough, retro, surreal, psychological
Similar in 80%
Creepshow (1982)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by the E.C. comics of the 1950s, George A. Romero and Stephen King bring five tales of terror to the screen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: anthology, dark comedy, suspenseful, grindhouse, scary, bloody, suspense, splatter, cult classic, horror comedy
Similar in 87%
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Plot Summary:
New York detective Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths in which the victims are found beheaded. But the locals believe the culprit to be none other than the ghost of the legendary Headless Horseman.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 379000
Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
Country: USA, Germany, UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: gothic, dark, scary, dark fantasy, atmospheric, gothic horror, fairy tale, suspenseful, surreal, captivating