Best movies like The Pied Piper
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A darkly brilliant stop-motion adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin about a plague of rats that punish townsfolk corrupt with greed. One of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Czechoslovakia, West Germany
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, psychedelic, gothic, dark, experimental, surreal, gothic horror, claymation, adult animation, avant garde
Best tv shows and movies like The Pied Piper (1986):
Similar in 82%
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1978)
Plot Summary:
Krabat, a beggar boy, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. With a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill while learning black magic. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use a secret spell: The Koraktor.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Family, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Country: Czechoslovakia, West Germany
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: christmas horror, fairy tale, anime, cult classic, psychotronic, dark fantasy, cult film, cult movie cast
Similar in 84%
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)
Plot Summary:
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, War
Country: Czechoslovakia
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: experimental, psychedelic, claymation, adult animation, cult classic, psychotronic, art film, avant garde, weird, cult film
Similar in 82%
H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror and Other Stories (2007)
Plot Summary:
In the bleak, disturbing and suspenseful universe of H.P. Lovecraft, endless horrors await. From ravaging cannibals to ancient rituals come to life, there's no escape for these hapless souls, whether they come across the Danwich outskirts or even the gruesome cover of the Necronomicon.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 106
Genere: Animation, Horror
Country: Japan
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: lovecraft, mystical, captivating, suspense, gothic horror, anime, entertaining
Similar in 79%
The Book of the Dead (2005)
Plot Summary:
The plot concerns a sheltered aristocratic woman in feudal Japan. Bored and unfamiliar with the world outside her estate, she passes the time copying a special Buddhist sutra sent by her father who has been absent on official business for years. While gazing out her window one late afternoon, the setting sun creates a vision of a holy figure in the distant mountains.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 259
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, emotional, suspenseful, experimental, claymation, adult animation, avant garde, anime, gloomy
Similar in 87%
Little from the Fish Shop (2015)
Plot Summary:
Deep underneath the sea surface, accompanied by a fish orchestra, the voice of the ocean is telling a story of Little -- the Sea King's daughter. They left the plundered waters of their home to live among humans. They now lead a strenuous life in a somber fish shop in the heart of the harbor district where one day, Little comes to meet a handsome, confident and somewhat fresh young man -- H.H. From this moment on, the life of Little is to take a sea change.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 107
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: Czech Republic, France, Slovakia
Duration: 72 min
Plot tags: fairy tale, sincere, captivating, anime, psychotronic, modern day adaptation, urban fantasy
Similar in 82%
Son of the White Mare (1981)
Plot Summary:
The story’s main character is Fehérlófia, who is a man with superhuman power. He is born as the third son of a horse. He listened to old tales, mostly about the Forefather and the end of his reign, caused by evil dragons.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
Country: Hungary
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, adult animation, fairy tale, experimental, surreal, claymation, stylized, cult classic, art film, 2d animation
Similar in 85%
Chronopolis (1982)
Plot Summary:
Chronopolis tells the story of a gargantuan city lurking in the sky colonized by powerful immortals who have become jaded with eternal life. Most of their time is spent monotonously constructing bizarre and unusual objects while waiting for the ultimate gift to arrive in their hands.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 551
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: France, Poland
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: experimental, retro, psychedelic, dark, claymation, adult animation, anime, avant garde, phantasmagoric
Similar in 86%
The Wolf House (2018)
Plot Summary:
María, a girl from Colonia Dignidad, in Chile —a kind of sectarian community, tyrannically mastered by the ruthless Paul Schäfer, a German madman, religious fanatic and child predator, who would end up turning the place into a torture center at the service of the military dictatorship ruled by Augusto Pinochet—, is punished for having lost three pigs, so she decides to run away and take refuge in an abandoned house hidden in the forest.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Horror
Country: Chile, Germany
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: disturbing, surreal, adult animation, psychological, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, psychological thriller, atmospheric, mind bending
Similar in 75%
Where The Dead Go to Die (2012)
Plot Summary:
A troubled group of children living on the same block are haunted by a talking dog named Labby who brings them on surreal hell-rides between different dimensions and time periods.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: disturbing, satanic, adult animation, brutal, bleak, serious, mind bending, dark, controversial, demonic
Similar in 90%
The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993)
Plot Summary:
A boy born the size of a small doll is kidnapped by a genetic lab and must find a way back to his father in this inventive adventure filmed using stop motion animation techniques.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: dark, disturbing, cult classic, surreal, claymation, adult animation, anime, tripping, fairy tale, atmospheric
Similar in 88%
Kuso (2017)
Plot Summary:
Broadcasting through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, this story is tangled up in the aftermath of Los Angeles's worst earthquake nightmare. Travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, anthology, psychological, enigmatic, captivating, satirical, semi serious, dark, mumblecore, controversial
Similar in 90%
Lunacy (2005)
Plot Summary:
Loosely based on two short stories by Edgar Allan Poe and inspired by the works of the Marquis de Sade. In 19th century France a young man is plagued by nightmares in which he is dragged off to a madhouse. On the journey back from his mother’s funeral he is invited by a Marquis he meets at lunch to spend the night in his castle. There he witnesses a blasphemous orgy and a ‘therapeutic’ funeral. He tries to flee but is taken to a lunatic asylum where the patients have complete freedom and the staff are locked up behind bars.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Horror
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, psychological, rough, suspenseful, mindfuck, dark comedy, offbeat, gothic, experimental
Similar in 75%
$9.99 (2008)
Plot Summary:
Have you ever wondered "What is the meaning of life? Why do we exist?" The answer to this vexing question is now within your reach! You'll find it in a small yet amazing booklet, which will explain, in easy to follow, simple terms your reason for being! The booklet, printed on the finest paper, contains illuminating, exquisite colour pictures, and could be yours for a mere $9.99.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Israel, Australia
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: surreal, humorous, ironic, adult animation, touching, contemplative, claymation, black comedy, cult classic, adult cartoon
Similar in 88%
One Night in City (2007)
Plot Summary:
Jan Balej's animated film Night In A City / Jedné Noci V Jednom Meste (2007) from the Czech Republic. Very little dialogue throughout, but instead a rich world of sounds and music which more than match the detailed animation and curious vignettes that create the film.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 426
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Horror
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: adult animation, enigmatic, captivating, entertaining, mysterious, satirical, suspenseful, surreal, anthology, anime
Similar in 85%
Mad God (2021)
Plot Summary:
A figure known as "The Assassin" descends from the heavens into a nightmarish pit full of monsters, titans, and cruelty.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: adult animation, disturbing, surreal, avant garde, suspense, spooky, captivating, entertaining, scary, mind bending
Similar in 88%
Surviving Life (2010)
Plot Summary:
Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life – one real, the other in his dreams. He goes to see a psychoanalyst, who tries to interpret the meaning of his dreams. Eugene finds a way of entering his dream-world at will and finds out about his childhood and what really happened to his parents.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, atmospheric, surreal, psychological, captivating, mind bending, psychedelic, dark
Similar in 88%
Idiots and Angels (2008)
Plot Summary:
Angel, a selfish rotter is hanging around in a local bar, groping the wife of the barman and dealing with weapons. One morning he wakes up finding a pair of wings growing at his back. These wings do good deeds against his nature. But suddenly he finds himself fighting those who want these wings for their own dark plans.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: surreal, adult animation, humorous, semi serious, psychedelic, cult classic, mind bending, black comedy, anime, mind blowing
Similar in 87%
The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer (2003)
Plot Summary:
For the past 40 years, Jan Svankmajer (Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative, and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation, and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty, and perversely visceral. KimStim (and Kino) is proud to to offer this collection of remarkable short works from an artist that has mesmerized audiences the world over and has inspired filmmakers from the Brothers Quay to Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 209
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: avant garde, experimental, psychological, surreal, disturbing, claymation, adult animation, anthology, odd, weird
Similar in 77%
Lesson Faust (1994)
Plot Summary:
A very free adaptation of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Goethe's 'Faust' and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. Svankmajer's Faust is a nondescript man who, after being lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Czech Republic, France, UK, Germany
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: surreal, art house, experimental, philosophical, dark, claymation, cerebral, mindfuck, atmospheric, stylized
Similar in 75%
Blood Tea and Red String (2006)
Plot Summary:
A handmade stop-motion fairy tale for adults that tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart's desire.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: surreal, atmospheric, stylized, semi serious, cult classic, adult animation, mind bending, psychedelic, dark, anime
Similar in 90%
Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Plot Summary:
A peasant woman is banished from her village and makes a deal with the devil to gain magical powers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: anime, psychedelic, hentai, adult animation, experimental, adult anime, mind bending, surreal, psychological, retro
Similar in 80%
Salad Fingers (2004)
Plot Summary:
The adventures of Salad Fingers, an unspecified mutated creature driven to madness by his loneliness.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Fantasy, Horror
Country: UK
Duration: 10 min
Plot tags: surreal, psychological, semi serious, adult animation, apocalyptic, funny, psychedelic, disturbing, anime, dark comedy
Similar in 87%
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1991)
Plot Summary:
Based on a Russian folk tale. A proclamation went out through all the land that whosoever could build a flying ship would win the hand of the Tsar's daughter. The youngest son of a simple peasant shows up to claim her, and the dumbfounded Tsar quickly has second thoughts, setting several 'impossible" tasks for 'The Fool of the World' and his remarkable friends.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: experimental, claymation, cult film
Similar in 75%
Greedy Guts (2000)
Plot Summary:
When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Czech Republic, UK, Japan
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, psychological, atmospheric, mindfuck, art house, suspenseful, humorous, dark, dark comedy
Similar in 86%
Alice (1988)
Plot Summary:
A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare- no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, UK, West Germany
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: surreal, disturbing, art house, atmospheric, experimental, absurd, mindfuck, psychological, adult animation, psychedelic
Similar in 87%
Corpse Bride (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in a 19th-century european village, this stop-motion animation feature follows the story of Victor, a young man whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious corpse bride, while his real bride Victoria waits bereft in the land of the living.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 294000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: gothic, dark fantasy, gothic horror, melancholic, captivating, romantic, dark, offbeat, visual, lyrical
Similar in 90%
Angel's Egg (1985)
Plot Summary:
A mysterious young girl wanders a desolate, otherworldly landscape, carrying a large egg.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: anime, gothic, avant garde, dark fantasy, surreal, adult animation, psychedelic, experimental, disturbing, fairy tale
Similar in 84%
The House (2022)
Plot Summary:
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: surreal, adult animation, anthology, dark comedy, suspenseful, experimental, gloomy, fairy tale, funny, suspense
Similar in 85%
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Plot Summary:
Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 368000
Genere: Animation, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 76 min
Plot tags: gothic, dark fantasy, dark, cult classic, claymation, fairy tale, atmospheric, surreal, scary, visual
Similar in 89%
Coraline (2009)
Plot Summary:
When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all her dreams coming true. When the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 257000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: gothic, surreal, dark fantasy, dark, scary, stylized, bleak, offbeat, disturbing, visually appealing