Movies Like The Babadook for grief-soaked horror that blurs memory and reality
Psychological ghost stories where grief warps memory, space, and trust in what you're seeing.
Psychological ghost stories where grief warps memory, space, and trust in what you're seeing.
Best first watch
Relic (2020)
95% fit89 min · IMDb 6.0 · RT 92%
Like The Babadook, Relic traps a parent, a child, and a failing home inside the same emotional pressure cooker. Natalie Erika James keeps the camera close to Kay, Sam, and Edna, turning dementia, resentment, and inherited grief into shifting hallways, rotten walls, and spaces that stop making sense. The fear lands quietly, then leaves the same sick feeling that loss has changed the house forever.
Watch if
You want another mother-child horror story that cuts close to home.
Skip if
You need emotional distance from dementia and family decline.
For you if
- You want horror that builds through grief, confusion, and mounting dread.
- You enjoy stories where rooms, hallways, and familiar spaces start feeling wrong.
- You need a slow pace with emotional stakes and images that linger.
Not for you if
- You want jump scares or action-heavy horror right away.
- You prefer clear answers and firm rules for what is happening.
- You need a lighter mood or a reassuring ending.
How The Babadook (2014) alternatives compare
Pick Relic if you want the closest cousin to The Babadook, with family grief and a house that seems to rot from the inside. Choose Under the Shadow for a tighter late-night watch with outside danger pressing on the haunting. His House hits hardest if you want sharper scares. The Orphanage gives you the clearest ghost-story path. A Tale of Two Sisters suits viewers who enjoy puzzle-box storytelling.
How blurry is reality?
Very blurry
How much does family grief drive it?
Family wound first
How intense is it?
Quiet but crushing
How easy is this late at night?
Lean and direct
How blurry is reality?
Mostly grounded
How much does family grief drive it?
Mother and daughter strain
How intense is it?
Steady pressure
How easy is this late at night?
Quickest pull
How blurry is reality?
Sharp then slippery
How much does family grief drive it?
Marriage under grief
How intense is it?
Hard jolts
How easy is this late at night?
Short and punchy
How blurry is reality?
Clear mystery trail
How much does family grief drive it?
Mother and child ache
How intense is it?
Sad and scary
How easy is this late at night?
Longer mystery
How blurry is reality?
Dream logic maze
How much does family grief drive it?
Sibling war zone
How intense is it?
Cold and spiky
How easy is this late at night?
Needs full focus
Not sure what to watch?
Date night
It gives you a shared mystery to unpack, with emotion carrying the scares instead of nonstop shock.
Quick watch
At 84 minutes, it gets to the dread fast and stays tightly locked on one apartment.
Friend group
It has the biggest jolt moments here, plus enough story turns to spark post-movie debate.
Find your pick
Do you want the horror closely tied to war, exile, or life under social upheaval?
Moments you loved
Best movies like The Babadook (2014)
1. Relic (2020)
89 min · IMDb 6.0 · RT 92%
Like The Babadook, Relic traps a parent, a child, and a failing home inside the same emotional pressure cooker. Natalie Erika James keeps the camera close to Kay, Sam, and Edna, turning dementia, resentment, and inherited grief into shifting hallways, rotten walls, and spaces that stop making sense. The fear lands quietly, then leaves the same sick feeling that loss has changed the house forever.
Watch if
You want another mother-child horror story that cuts close to home.
Skip if
You need emotional distance from dementia and family decline.
Where to watch
2. Under the Shadow (2016)
84 min · IMDb 6.8 · RT 99%
The Babadook used bedtime dread and a strained mother-son bond to make one home feel unsafe. Under the Shadow puts that same pressure inside a Tehran apartment block during air raids, with Shideh trying to protect Dorsa while doubting her own senses. Babak Anvari builds fear through missing objects, cramped rooms, and constant outside threat, so grief and panic keep bending the space around them.
Watch if
You like domestic horror tightened by political fear and maternal panic.
Skip if
You want grief horror without wartime stress in every scene.
Where to watch
3. His House (2020)
93 min · IMDb 6.4 · RT 100%
His House hits the same nerve as The Babadook, where mourning becomes a shape in the walls and guilt keeps poisoning daily life. Remi Weekes pushes farther into displacement and marriage strain, using a bare government flat, sudden apparitions, and the split between Bol and Rial to make every room feel accusatory. The scares come harder here, but the ache underneath is still about loss that refuses to stay buried.
Watch if
You want sharper jolts with grief and survivor guilt underneath.
Skip if
You prefer quiet dread over abrupt scares and harsher imagery.
Where to watch
4. The Orphanage (2007)
105 min · IMDb 7.4 · RT 87%
If The Babadook worked for you as a parent-driven ghost story, The Orphanage offers the same ache of a caregiver losing her grip on what her child is seeing. J. A. Bayona lets Laura's search unfold patiently through games, séances, and half-seen children, turning a familiar house into a map of memory and denial. The structure is cleaner and more classical, but the emotional damage cuts just as deep.
Watch if
You want a sorrowful ghost mystery with a strong maternal lead.
Skip if
You dislike child peril and long stretches of emotional suspense.
Where to watch
5. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
115 min · IMDb 7.1 · RT 86%
This is the most reality-bending pick here. Like The Babadook, it roots horror in a damaged family unit and a home poisoned by grief, but Kim Jee-woon turns every room, meal, and argument into something slippery and dreamlike. The bond between Su-mi and Su-yeon, plus the fight with their stepmother, keeps the pain intimate even as the story grows harder to trust.
Watch if
You enjoy piecing together fractured memory and family resentment.
Skip if
You want clear rules and a straightforward haunting.
Beyond movies
TV shows and books that scratch the same itch
The Haunting of Hill House
This is spooky slow-burn horror built around a family cracked open by loss, guilt, and memories that keep changing shape. Like The Babadook, it ties fear to grief and parent-child damage, and it lets dread build through the house itself, where rooms, shadows, and old wounds blur together.
Netflix
Marianne
This series leans into creeping dread, unreliable perception, and a haunting that feels tangled up with trauma and the stories people tell themselves to survive. It fits the hub through its patient escalation and eerie payoffs, and it matches The Babadook's feeling of a mind under siege by something that may be both personal and supernatural.
Netflix
Servant
Servant turns grief into a claustrophobic ghost story, with a home that feels poisoned by denial, ritual, and broken trust. It shares The Babadook's focus on a parent unraveling under loss, and its slow pacing keeps the fear rooted in what characters refuse to face.
Apple TV+
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
This is a grief-soaked ghost story where memory invades the present and a house becomes a place of punishment and return. It fits spooky slow-burn horror through its steady sense of dread, and it shares The Babadook's idea that mourning can distort love, identity, and what feels real.
Available at major bookstores
Common questions about movies like The Babadook (2014)
What is the best movie like The Babadook (2014)?
Based on our analysis, Relic (2020) is the closest match with a 95% fit score. See the full breakdown above for why it earned the top spot.
Which one works best with a partner who likes drama more than horror?
Start with The Orphanage or Relic. Both lean hard on family relationships and loss, so the scares always have a clear emotional anchor. His House hits faster, and A Tale of Two Sisters asks more patience and concentration.
Which one should I avoid if grief or mental decline hits too close to home?
Relic is the toughest on that front because Edna's decline drives the whole movie, and the horror keeps circling family care and helplessness. His House also carries child loss and survivor guilt. Under the Shadow adds war danger around a child, which can make it feel even more stressful.
What should I watch if I want the least crushing ending tonight?
His House probably lands with the most release, even though the road there is rough. Bol and Rial are pushed to face what happened instead of staying trapped in denial, so the final stretch feels steadier than Relic or The Orphanage.
Which is the quickest late-night pick, and which needs my full attention?
Under the Shadow is the quickest at 84 minutes, and it hooks you almost immediately. Relic is also lean and easy to track when you are tired. A Tale of Two Sisters needs the most focus because its point of view keeps shifting and small details matter.
Which one feels most like a ghost story, and which leans hardest into mind games?
The Orphanage has the clearest ghost-story shape, with clues, hidden history, and a mother's search driving the plot. A Tale of Two Sisters is the mind-game pick, where rooms, family scenes, and even basic conversations feel unstable. Relic sits in the middle, using a house movie frame for something more personal and bodily.
Which should I start with if I want the closest follow-up to The Babadook?
Start with Relic. It keeps the focus on a woman, a child, and a house where grief seems to stain every surface, and Natalie Erika James builds dread through domestic routines before pushing the space into nightmare. If you want a slightly faster pulse after that, go to Under the Shadow.
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