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Silent Night, Deadly Night poster

Movies that feel likeSilent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

After a man dressed as Santa Claus brutally murders Billy Chapman's parents, little Billy then endures the cruelty of a sadistic nun at his orphanage. Years later, when adult Billy has to fill in for an absent in-store Santa, his childhood trauma brings him to the breaking point.

If you loved Silent Night, Deadly Night, the closest films we have are Nightwatch (1994), Thesis (1996) and Lake Mungo (2009). All three share Silent Night, Deadly Night's tense and dread feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Black Cat (1934).

🍅 55% Rotten Tomatoes★ 5.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Charles E. Sellier Jr.tensedreadunsettling
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · MUBI

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If Silent Night, Deadly Night hit the spot, these will too

Nightwatch poster
Nightwatch
1994 · dir. Ole Bornedal
🍅 63%★ 7.1horror · thriller

Tense where it counts, dread-soaked underneath

Martin, a law student, takes up a job as a nightwatchman at a mortuary to fund his studies. But the mortuary harbours a dark secret, and he has to find the truth before he is implicated in a serial murder case.

Thesis poster
Thesis
1996 · dir. Alejandro Amenábar
🍅 86%★ 7.4horror · thriller

Common ground in both: murder and serial killer

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

While working on a thesis about audiovisual violence, film student Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that she was a former student in her university, and that the authors of the video are not very far either.

Lake Mungo poster
Lake Mungo
2009 · dir. Joel Anderson
🍅 92%★ 6.2horror · thriller

Thriller built on unease, twice over

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns at a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice's secret past emerges.

The Pool poster
The Pool
2018 · dir. Ping Lumpraploeng
🍅 96%★ 5.2thriller · horror

Tense horror, and it commits to that

Left alone to clean up a 6-meter-deep deserted pool, Day falls asleep on an inflatable raft. When he wakes, the water level has sunk so low that he can't climb out on his own. Stuck in the pool, Day screams for help, but the only thing that hears him is a creature from a nearby crocodile farm.

Creep poster
Creep
2014 · dir. Patrick Brice
🍅 91%★ 6.3horror · thrillerNetflixPrime Video

The same preoccupation in both: murder

Looking for work, Aaron comes across a cryptic online ad: "$1,000 for the day. Filming service. Discretion is appreciated." Low on cash and full of naiveté, he decides to go for it. He drives to a cabin in a remote mountain town where he meets Josef, his cinematic subject for the day. Josef is sincere and the project seems heartfelt, so Aaron begins to film. But as the day goes on, it becomes clear that Josef is not who he says, and his intentions are not at all pure.

The Black Cat poster
The Black Cat
1934 · dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
🍅 89%★ 6.9horror · thriller

Thriller with a pulse of dread, in both cases

After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr. Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.

What We Become poster
What We Become
2015 · dir. Bo Mikkelsen
★ 5.5horror · thriller

Both lean on unease more than on horror

A family of four is quarantined in their home as a virulent strand of the flu spreads into town and they are forced to the extreme to escape alive.

Jaws 2 poster
Jaws 2
1978 · dir. Jeannot Szwarc
🍅 56%★ 5.8horror · thrillerNetflixStarz

Tense thriller in both cases

Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.

Death Whisperer poster
Death Whisperer
2023 · dir. Taweewat Wantha
★ 5.9horror · thrillerNetflix

Both lean on dread more than on horror

When a remote village is plagued by a deadly curse, one brother must fight to save his family from a terrifying supernatural threat.

Ring poster
Ring
1998 · dir. Hideo Nakata
🍅 98%★ 7.2horror · thriller

Both sit in the same unsettling register

A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.

Berberian Sound Studio poster
Berberian Sound Studio
2012 · dir. Peter Strickland
🍅 85%★ 6.2horror · drama · thriller

The same thriller instincts

The difference: Leans further into drama

In the 1970s, a British sound technician is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? poster
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 · dir. Robert Aldrich
🍅 91%★ 8horror · thriller

The horror is handled with the same confidence

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

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The best-reviewed films that share Silent Night, Deadly Night’s defining feeling.