Best movies like Repulsion
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In Roman Polanski's first English-language film, beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, black and white, cerebral, atmospheric, psychological, scary, suspense, art house, psychological thriller
Best tv shows and movies like Repulsion (1965):
Similar in 82%
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Plot Summary:
Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, gothic, psychological, psychological horror, scary, black and white, atmospheric, suspenseful, black comedy, suspense
Similar in 85%
The Broken (2008)
Plot Summary:
The life of a successful radiologist spirals out of control when she sees the spitting image of herself driving down a London street. While attempting to uncover who the imposter could be, she stumbles into a terrifying mystery that her family and closest friends are somehow involved in, leaving her with no one to trust.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: psychological, mind bending, surreal, scary, psychological thriller, suspenseful, tense, atmospheric, serious, heartbreaking
Similar in 75%
Funny Games (1997)
Plot Summary:
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 82000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: disturbing, bleak, suspense, psychological, scary, psychological thriller, tense, atmospheric, suspenseful, bloody
Similar in 83%
Persona (1966)
Plot Summary:
A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer. Alma eventually confesses her secrets to a seemingly sympathetic Elisabeth and finds that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth's persona.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 128000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, minimal cast, psychological, surreal, sexual, art house, black and white, philosophical, disturbing, cerebral
Similar in 77%
The Tenant (1976)
Plot Summary:
A quiet and inconspicuous man (Trelkovsky) rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant committed suicide, and begins to suspect his landlord and neighbors are trying to subtly change him into the last tenant so that he too will kill himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: psychological, black comedy, surreal, atmospheric, offbeat, disturbing, suspense, psychological thriller, scary, mind bending
Similar in 81%
Take Shelter (2011)
Plot Summary:
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 106000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, ambiguous ending, suspense, psychological thriller, atmospheric, dark, disturbing, stylized, independent film
Similar in 75%
Fear (1983)
Plot Summary:
A killer is released from prison and breaks into a remote home to kill a woman, her handicapped son and her pretty daughter.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: disturbing, atmospheric, psychological, controversial, slasher, psychological thriller, scary, bleak, depressing, surreal
Similar in 84%
Bug (2006)
Plot Summary:
A lonely waitress with a tragic past, Agnes rooms in a run-down motel, living in fear of her abusive, recently paroled ex-husband. But when Agnes begins a tentative romance with Peter, an eccentric, nervous drifter, she starts to feel hopeful again - until the first bugs arrive.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, mind bending, suspenseful, suspense, scary, creepy, psychological thriller, cerebral, cult classic
Similar in 87%
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 78%
Saint Maud (2019)
Plot Summary:
Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: scary, disturbing, suspense, psychological, bleak, psychological thriller, atmospheric, slasher, art house, tense
Similar in 76%
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 84%
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 77%
The Cell (2000)
Plot Summary:
A psychotherapist journeys inside a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 108000
Genere: Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, scary, psychedelic, mind bending, psychological thriller, suspense, atmospheric, cerebral, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Santa Sangre (1989)
Plot Summary:
A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood"), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico, Italy
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, dark, atmospheric, psychological, art house, mindfuck, creepy, cult classic
Similar in 80%
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 80%
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 89%
Audition (1999)
Plot Summary:
Seven years after the death of his wife, company executive Aoyama is invited to sit in on auditions for an actress. Leafing through the resumés in advance, his eye is caught by Yamazaki Asami, a striking young woman with ballet training.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 88000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Country: Japan, South Korea
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: psychological thriller, scary, disturbing, tense, dark, bloody, surreal, controversial, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 76%
Dead Ringers (1988)
Plot Summary:
Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affairs with them. When he inevitably loses interest, he will give the woman over to Beverly, the meeker of the two, without the woman knowing the difference. Beverly falls hard for one of the patients, Claire, but when she inadvertently deceives him, he slips into a state of madness.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, atmospheric, disturbing, dark, psychological thriller, suspenseful, surreal, sexy, art house
Similar in 77%
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Plot Summary:
A young couple moves into an infamous New York apartment building to start a family. Things become frightening as Rosemary begins to suspect her unborn baby isn't safe around their strange neighbors.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 231000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, surreal, suspenseful, gothic, cult classic, psychological horror, disturbing, scary, suspense
Similar in 79%
The Ordeal (2004)
Plot Summary:
A few days before Christmas, traveling entertainer Marc Stevens is stuck at nightfall in a remote wood in the swampy Hautes Fagnes region of Liège, his van conked out. An odd chap who's looking for a lost dog leads Marc to a shuttered inn.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, psychological, christmas horror, atmospheric, rough, serious, slasher, suspenseful, psychological thriller
Similar in 84%
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 86%
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 88%
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 86%
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Plot Summary:
A recently released patient from a mental institution returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house- all of which are connected to a dark past in the family's history.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 67000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, surreal, scary, atmospheric, twist ending, mind bending, suspenseful, suspense, dark, surprise ending
Similar in 81%
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 77%
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 82%
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 90%
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
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
Similar in 76%
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 75%
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