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When Evil Lurks poster

Movies that feel likeWhen Evil Lurks (2023)

When brothers Pedro and Jimi discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby farmhouse, they attempt to evict the victim from their land. Failing to adhere to the proper rites of exorcism, their reckless actions inadvertently trigger an epidemic of possessions across their rural community.

If you loved When Evil Lurks, the closest films we have are Evil Dead Rise (2023), Heretic (2024) and Creep (2014). All three share When Evil Lurks' dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Pool (2018).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Demián Rugnadreadunsettlingtense
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If When Evil Lurks hit the spot, these will too

Evil Dead Rise poster
Evil Dead Rise
2023 · dir. Lee Cronin
🍅 85%★ 6.5horror · thrillerMax

Common ground in both: gore and demon

A reunion between two estranged sisters gets cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.

Heretic poster
Heretic
2024 · dir. Scott Beck
🍅 89%★ 7thriller · horrorMaxHulu

The same mix in both: dread, then unease

Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

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

Both lean on tension more than on horror

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

Dread-soaked thriller in both cases

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.

Drag Me to Hell poster
Drag Me to Hell
2009 · dir. Sam Raimi
🍅 92%★ 6.6horror · thrillerParamount+Peacock

Common ground: evil

After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend is skeptical. Her only hope seems to lie in a psychic who claims he can help her lift the curse and keep her soul from being dragged straight to hell.

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

Horror built on unease, twice over

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.

Insidious: Out of the Further poster
Insidious: Out of the Further
2026 · dir. Jacob Chase
🍅 57%★ 6.2horror · thrillerRent or buy

One thread runs through both: demon

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.

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

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

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

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

Horror with a pulse of dread, in both cases

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.

[REC]⁴ Apocalypse poster
[REC]⁴ Apocalypse
2014 · dir. Jaume Balagueró
🍅 65%★ 5.3thriller · horror

Unsettling thriller, and it commits to that

Ángela Vidal, the young television reporter who entered the building with the firemen, manages to make it out alive. But what the soldiers don't know is that she carries the seed of the strange infection. She is to be taken to a provisional quarantine facility, a high-security installation where she will have to stay in isolation for several days. An old oil tanker, miles off shore and surrounded by water on all sides, has been especially equipped for the quarantine.

Don't Breathe 2 poster
Don't Breathe 2
2021 · dir. Rodo Sayagues
★ 6thriller · horrorHulu

Both run tense where it counts

The Blind Man has been hiding out for several years in an isolated cabin and has taken in and raised a young girl orphaned from a devastating house fire. Their quiet life together is shattered when a group of criminals kidnap the girl, forcing the Blind Man to leave his safe haven to save her.

Speak No Evil poster
Speak No Evil
2022 · dir. Christian Tafdrup
🍅 83%★ 6.7horror · thriller · dramaRent or buy

Horror of the same temperament

The difference: Sits closer to drama than When Evil Lurks does

A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.

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The best-reviewed films that share When Evil Lurks’ defining feeling.