12 Movies Like Hereditary You Need to Watch
Craving eerie family horror and tense thrillers? Explore 12 chilling picks with dread, mystery, and crime for your next unsettling watch.
If you’re searching for movies like Hereditary, you probably want more than a few jump scares—you want dread that lingers, family secrets, and a story that keeps twisting after the credits roll. This list brings together unsettling horror, tense mystery, and crime-tinged thrillers, including Hereditary (2018), The Clovehitch Killer (2018), Our House (2018), and Eerie (2018). You’ll also find darker genre picks such as The Rake (2018), Jackals (2017), Insidious: The Last Key (2018), and Cut Off (2018), all chosen for their eerie atmosphere and psychological pressure. Whether you like slow-burn drama or something more aggressive and shocking, these titles cover a wide range of moods while staying firmly in disturbing territory. Each one is a solid next watch if you want creepy stories that stick with you.
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01
The Rake
horror · mystery · thriller
Ben and Ashley come together 20 years after the murder of their parents to determine the cause of their parents' death. Ashley is troubled by the idea that the thing that took her parents' lives may not be finished with her family.
Directed by Tony WashCast Rachel Melvin, Shenae Grimes-Beech, Joey Bicicchi, Stephen Brodie, Joe NunezAmazon Prime Video -
02
The Clovehitch Killer
crime · drama · horror · mystery · thriller
A picture-perfect family is torn apart after Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession. He begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world may be responsible for the murder of 13 women ten years prior.
Directed by Duncan SkilesCast Dylan McDermott, Charlie Plummer, Samantha Mathis, Madisen Beaty, Brenna ShermanAMC+ -
03
Our House
drama · horror · mystery · sci-fi · thriller
Ethan is suffering enormous guilt after his parents are killed in a car accident. He quits a promising future at MIT and work on a revolutionary experiment in order to care for his younger siblings.
Directed by Anthony Scott BurnsCast John Ralston, Thomas Mann, Percy Hynes White, Lucius Hoyos, Allison HossackAMC+ -
04
Eerie
horror · mystery · thriller
The unexpected and gruesome death of a student threatens the existence of an old Catholic school for girls. Pat Consolacion, the school guidance counselor, involves herself with the students in the hopes of helping them cope, and at the same time uncover the mysteries of the student’s death. Most students suspect of the strict and borderline abusive Mother Alice, who also threatened Pat’s tenure in the school because of her continuous meddling with the case. But Pat’s unusual talents lead her to knowing Eri, a former student who's been watching the whole school for years. Piece by piece, Pat uncovers the secret of the school and the monster that it nurtured for the past century.
Directed by Mikhail RedCast Bea Alonzo, Charo Santos-Concio, Jake Cuenca, Maxene Magalona, Gillian VicencioNetflix -
05
Jackals
drama · horror · mystery · thriller
Set in the 1980s, an estranged family hires a cult deprogrammer to take back their teenage son from a murderous cult, but find themselves under siege when the cultists surround their cabin, demanding the boy back.
Directed by Kevin GreutertCast Deborah Kara Unger, Ben Sullivan, Chelsea Ricketts, Nick Roux, Johnathon SchaechAmazon Prime Video -
06
Insidious: The Last Key
horror · mystery · thriller
Parapsychologist Elise Rainier and her team travel to Five Keys, NM, to investigate a man’s claim of a haunting. Terror soon strikes when Rainier realizes that the house he lives in was her family’s old home.
Directed by Adam RobitelCast Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Kirk Acevedo, Kit GoldsmithMax -
07
Cut Off
action · crime · horror · mystery · thriller
A coroner finds a capsule in the head of a heavily mutilated corpse, containing a phone number and single word: the name of his daughter.
Directed by Christian AlvartCast Moritz Bleibtreu, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Lars Eidinger, Fahri Yardim, Enno HesseFreevee -
08
Bird Box
horror · mystery · sci-fi
Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
Directed by Susanne BierCast Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jacki WeaverNetflix -
09
The Dead Center
horror · mystery · thriller
When a mysterious "John Doe" wakes up in a morgue and wanders into a psychiatric ward, a devoted doctor and curious medical examiner must slowly uncover dark and sinister secrets about the man that reveal a more horrifying truth than they could have ever imagined.
Directed by Billy SeneseCast Shane Carruth, Poorna Jagannathan, Jeremy Childs, Bill Feehely, Andy McPheeAmazon Prime Video -
10
The Wasteland
drama · horror · mystery
Lucía and her son live isolated from society in a flat place where there’s practically no life. The small family unit formed by mother and son hardly ever receives visitors, and their goal is to lead a quiet existence. At first they succeed, but the appearance of a mysterious, violent creature that starts stalking their small house will put the relationship that unites them to the test.
Directed by David CasademuntCast Inma Cuesta, Roberto Álamo, Alejandra Howard, Asier Flores, Víctor BenjumeaNetflix -
11
The Surrender
drama · horror · thriller
A fraught mother-daughter relationship is put to a terrifying test when the family patriarch dies, and the grieving mother hires a mysterious stranger to bring her husband back from the dead.
Directed by Julia MaxCast Colby Minifie, Kate Burton, Chelsea Alden, Vaughn Armstrong, Riley Rose CritchlowAMC+ -
12
Homebound
drama · horror · mystery
A young woman arrives at the home of her new husband's estranged family to find the children behaving in increasingly unnerving ways.
Directed by Sebastian GodwinCast Aisling Loftus, Tom Goodman-Hill, Raffiella Chapman, Lukas Rolfe, Hattie GotobedAMC+
Wrapping Up
These picks give you a strong starting point if you want more unnerving family drama, psychological tension, or horror with a sinister edge. From The Clovehitch Killer to Our House and Eerie, the mix here offers plenty of reasons to keep watching after one unsettling film ends. Bookmark this page and come back whenever you’re in the mood for something darker, since it’s updated regularly with fresh recommendations. With so many different tones across the list, it’s easy to find a next watch that matches the kind of fear you’re after.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes these movies similar to Hereditary?
These picks were matched by tone, themes, and story style using a similarity model trained on plot synopses, genres, and cast — not just shared genre tags — so the connection runs deeper than a simple category match.
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Last updated: September 9, 2026