Best movies like American Poltergeist
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A group of friends move into a vacation home with a sinister past in Fall River, Massachusetts. Suspicious of the home's owner, Taryn feels a strong connection to the house and finds herself at the center of one of the most deadly poltergeists in American history.
IMDB Rating: 2.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: scary, suspenseful, psychotronic, bleak, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like American Poltergeist (2015):
Similar in 86%
Haunted (2017)
Plot Summary:
An aspiring writer pays a visit to his sister to look after her house while she is out of town, but what he finds there is more terrifying than any of the stories he writes.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 589
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
The Devil Within (2016)
Plot Summary:
In November 2012 Rachel Kusza and her team of film makers travelled to Transylvania to document the Baciu forest. A forest with a dark history of strange occurrences, ghost sightings and countless cases of missing people. The film crew were never heard from again. After searching for the film crew for two years Howard Redman, Rachels teacher, found the crews camera buried in the snow.
IMDB Rating: 3.1
IMDB Votes: 773
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 80%
House of Purgatory (2016)
Plot Summary:
Four teenagers go looking for a legendary haunted house that gives you money back for every floor you can complete. Once finding it, they realize the house is much more terrifying than a normal Halloween attraction - the house knows each of their secrets and one by one uses them against the teens.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 731
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: scary, psychotronic, bleak, suspense, disturbing, teen horror, slasher
Similar in 88%
A Haunting in Cawdor (2015)
Plot Summary:
In this tense tale of psychological terror, Vivian Miller (Young) is a young twenties woman who’s serving out her jail sentence at a work release program in the Midwest. Her 90 days of probation takes her to The Cawdor Theater, a dilapidated summer stock theater run by Lawrence O’Neil (Elwes). Lawrence, a failed Broadway director, is now reduced to staging amateur productions with young parolees and raging over the mistakes from his past. Vivian’s arrival in Cawdor starts a terrifying series of events that brings Lawrence’s secret past to the present. After Vivian views an old taped stage production of Macbeth, a force of evil is unleashed which soon turns its sights on her. With the help of Roddy (Welch), a local outcast, Vivian sets about trying to discover who the supernatural killer on the tape is before she becomes the next victim.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 85%
Infernum (2019)
Plot Summary:
Ancient literature has referred to the sound of hell as "the wailing and gnashing of teeth." Many people believe that may be the explanation behind a paranormal phenomenon that has been heard around the world. Camille Williams (Suziey Block) believes this haunting sound is responsible for the disappearance of her parents when she was a young girl. Now a grown woman, Camille sets out with her friend James (Clinton Roper Elledge) to hopefully find some answers.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 478
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, psychological, bleak, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Dark Image (2017)
Plot Summary:
A girl is possessed and kills her own twin sister.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 150
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 80%
Palace of the Damned (2013)
Plot Summary:
Following in the footsteps of her late fiancée, who drowned under mysterious circumstances, Rebecca (played by Katie Savoy) and her film crew are in China making a documentary about the Chinese Ghost Festival. There, she learns of a story about a concubine Chan Ju Chi who is violently murdered and thrown into a well by the head concubine Ping Wei (Played by JuJu Chan) within the secret grounds of a palace. Legend has it that the Chan Ju Chi has risen to become a "jiangshi", killing innocent people in the hope of taking over their bodies. Things take a turn when a worker is attacked in a decrepit well within an old palace. Rebecca tries to piece together the mystery behind the legend as one by one the people she knows are gruesomely murdered.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, China
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Shutter (2017)
Plot Summary:
A supernatural stalker pursues a super model to steal her soul with his demonic camera.
IMDB Rating: 3.0
IMDB Votes: 173
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, unusual plot structure, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 85%
The Invited (2010)
Plot Summary:
A young married couple who are pregnant with their first child moves into their turn-of-the-century home where they discover that a great evil has resided there for nearly a century, unleashed by a previous occupant.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 335
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic, psychological thriller
Similar in 88%
Demon Inside (2013)
Plot Summary:
Marta used to be a recognized and successful psychic, but after a dramatic experience, she loses faith in her gift and develops agoraphobia. She couldn't see the devilish side of her rapper, Mario, and now, Marta is afraid that Mario will stalk her again. As soon as she released from the asylum, she moves to Monica's uncle apartment. There, she feels safe. But soon, she has trouble with her crazy neighbors. And if this wasn't enough, a spectrum starts to haunt her, making her life impossible. Marta will have to fight against all these difficulties and manage to get her gift back before Mario finds her.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 732
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 82%
Out of the Shadows (2017)
Plot Summary:
A newly married detective and his pregnant wife move into their dream home unaware of its dark history. When his wife claims their baby is being tormented by a supernatural force and seeks the help of a renegade demonologist, he must investigate the past to save his family.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 893
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Australia, UK, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 86%
The House That Never Dies II (2017)
Plot Summary:
A cultural relic restorer discovers the skeletons of babies while working in an old mansion. The bloody events of the past drags everyone working on the project into a dark abyss.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 119
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: China
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 82%
I Know You're in There (2016)
Plot Summary:
When his mother commits suicide, Tom Redding discovers he has a long lost sister that cannot move or talk. Together they travel to their dead mother's isolated home, where Tom hopes to document her illness, only to be driven to the brink of madness by a supernatural evil.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 910
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 77%
The Whooper Returns (2021)
Plot Summary:
After inheriting their family home, four estranged siblings find themselves in the grip of demonic possession. When an eccentric stranger arrives, claiming the house was left to her, they start experiencing strange, inexplicable manifestations, which has malevolent effects on everyone in the house.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 114
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspense
Similar in 78%
Along Came the Devil 2 (2019)
Plot Summary:
After receiving an unsettling voicemail, Jordan (Wiggins) returns home, looking for answers, only to find her estranged father and even more questions. A demonic force has attached itself to the town and no one is safe. The only one who seems to know anything is the small town's Reverend.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 691
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 85%
Hellcome Home (2019)
Plot Summary:
A family moves into an old house, unaware of its diabolic, bloody history. The film features two separate stories from different time periods: the Villareal family from the present time, and the Domingo family who lived in the same house back in the 90s.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: Philippines
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 77%
House at the End of the Drive (2014)
Plot Summary:
When David King purchases a house in the hills far above the angst of Los Angeles, he gets much more than he bargained for when strange and unexplainable occurrences in and around the house begin to take control of his daily life.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 397
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: scary, tense, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 79%
Encounter (2016)
Plot Summary:
A newlywed couple Ted and Lauren rent an old farm house to do a thesis on orbs and set up cameras, Strange ghostly noises and haunting occur at night. Ted sees video of Lauren, possessed and wandering the fields at night. When their roommate kills himself they decide to do a séance to see what is haunting the house. Little do they know what they hear and fear is nothing they can pray away.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
Alone (2013)
Plot Summary:
Jonathan MacKinlay is a man trapped inside his home by his own mind. Suffering from agoraphobia, caused by a car accident that took his wife's life; his existence has been reduced to a monotonous repetition of identical days. As his dread and self-loathing escalate, an onslaught of gruesome visions and twisted, waking nightmares begins to gnaw away at his last shred of sanity. Are these ghastly visions imaginary, private demons...or is he being victimized by a very real entity of infinite terror and unspeakable evil?.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 248
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 76%
Bloody Ballet (2018)
Plot Summary:
When beautiful ballerina dancer Adriana Mena lands the lead role in the upcoming Nutcracker performance, she's forced to face her demons as jealousy and tension begin to provoke the supernatural.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 277
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic, slasher
Similar in 78%
Ghost Note (2017)
Plot Summary:
An immortal blues musician terrorizes childhood sweethearts reunited over the Thanksgiving holiday.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 969
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: scary, psychotronic, bleak, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 83%
GH5 (2017)
Plot Summary:
After the sudden loss of his fiancee Emma, Matt becomes obsessed with finding life after death. For seven years, Matt and his younger brother Michael visited over one hundred Ghost House cases in the U.S.- every one of them turning into a disappointment. Beginning to give up hope, Matt tracks down the only paranormal investigator in history to document the highest level of paranormal activity you can encounter, a GH5. Eager to visit the GH5, Matt runs into a situation when his other brother CJ returns home from active duty. After distancing themselves over the years, CJ tries to strengthen their relationship by joining the investigation. It soon becomes clear that the paranormal is real and CJ's opportunity to reconcile his relationship with his brothers has turned into a night of deceit, loss and survival.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 27
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, tense, suspense, suspenseful, bleak, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 80%
Fun Size Horror: Volume Two (2015)
Plot Summary:
A collection of gut-twisting and nerve-shredding tales, all Frankstein’d together to form a feature-length monster of the best and bloodiest in short-film horror.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 194
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: anthology, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 77%
The Inherited (2015)
Plot Summary:
Eve has married the man of her dreams but when they return to live in the house willed to him by his first wife who died under horrific circumstances, it becomes a waking nightmare as Eve falls into a spiral of suspicion and madness.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 371
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, psychotronic
Similar in 81%
The Terrible Two (2018)
Plot Summary:
Albert and Rose Poe bought their dream house seven years ago in Greenfield, NC. They had no idea of the unspeakable horrors that took place in the house before they moved in. If they had known, then their children, Addi and Jade would still be alive. Instead the Poes now find themselves imprisoned in the house they thought was their safe place, and battling their two daughters for survival.
IMDB Rating: 2.3
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 87%
A House Is Not a Home (2015)
Plot Summary:
Ben (Webb) and Linda Williams move the family into a dream home in a last ditch effort to save their troubled marriage. Despite their good intentions, they cannot shake the feeling that they are being watched by something. Their unimaginable fears are realized when things inside the house take a supernatural and sinister turn. Ben and his family flee for their lives, but it is too late. The house isn't finished with them, trapping the family in its labyrinth. The Williams must come together as never before to fight for their family, their lives and to escape.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 151
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: scary, psychotronic, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Dead Story (2017)
Plot Summary:
When a young couple – Anne and Harold – moves into a new home without knowing it was a site of horrific murders, Anne's loneliness and strange behavior makes their relationship complicated, especially after Anne meets 'Mary', a dark presence from which she can't escape.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 86%
The Amityville Harvest (2020)
Plot Summary:
While staying at an aging manor to research its liquor-smuggling history, Christina and her documentary video team interview their spooky host Vincent—but no one can capture his image or voice on video. After shocking dreams and bloody encounters, the crew members fall under Victor’s hypnotic spell.
IMDB Rating: 2.5
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 79%
Night at the Eagle Inn (2021)
Plot Summary:
Fraternal twins spend a hellish night at the remote inn their father disappeared from the night they were born.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 604
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychotronic, slasher
Similar in 75%
Murder In The Woods (2021)
Plot Summary:
Soon after arriving to a mysterious cabin in the woods, a group of teens discover the dark secret it holds, which forces them to fight for their lives.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 375
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: slasher, scary, bleak, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, slasher horror, teen horror