Best Movies like The Shining (1980)

The Haunting follows a group of people isolated within a sinister estate, echoing how The Shining traps its characters in the haunted Overlook Hotel. Both films explore psychological breakdowns in an oppressive, supernatural environment where the setting itself becomes a central agent of horror.

Dr. John Markway recruits three strangers for a sleep-disorder study at the eerie and isolated Hill House. It soon becomes clear his real interest lies in the mansion itself and its sinister history, as they are forced to confront the nature of its horror… The Haunting is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 52m runtime, released in 1963 with an average rating of 7.1 by 727 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,020,000 in the box office.

Rosemary's Baby delves into the unraveling sanity of its central character amidst supernatural influences, paralleling The Shining's focus on psychological descent within a closed domestic setting and underlying themes of paranoia and otherworldly menace invading ordinary lives.

A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family. Rosemary's Baby is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 18m runtime, released in 1968 with an average rating of 7.8 by 4,429 people. The movie made an estimated total of $33,395,426 in the box office.

Don't Look Now and The Shining both track grieving families as they are haunted by mysterious forces and their own emotional turmoil, blending psychological horror with supernatural happenings while using vulnerable family units as the narrative core.

While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife. Don't Look Now is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 50m runtime, released in 1973 with an average rating of 6.9 by 1,204 people.

The Innocents centers on a small group, including a child, experiencing frightening phenomena in an isolated, oppressive home. This mirrors The Shining’s depiction of a family confronting spectral influences and escalating madness within a solitary, haunted location.

In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed. The Innocents is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 40m runtime, released in 1961 with an average rating of 7.5 by 682 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,200,000 in the box office.

Hereditary, like The Shining, explores how supernatural forces exacerbate the breakdown of a family unit, intensifying themes of inherited trauma, madness, and family dynamics amidst an atmosphere charged with disturbing, unseen powers.

Following the death of the Leigh family matriarch, Annie and her children uncover disturbing secrets about their heritage. Their daily lives are not only impacted, but they also become entangled in a chilling fate from which they cannot escape, driving them to the brink of madness. Hereditary is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 8m runtime, released in 2018 with an average rating of 7.3 by 8,763 people. The movie made an estimated total of $87,796,204 in the box office.

In The Babadook, a mother and her child are isolated together and menaced by a malevolent presence that blurs the line between psychological crisis and haunting. Its portrait of domestic anxiety and threat recalls the family-focused terror in The Shining.

A grieving single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book manifests in their home. The Babadook is a movie from Australia in English, with a total 1h 34m runtime, released in 2014 with an average rating of 6.5 by 6,492 people. The movie made an estimated total of $10,300,000 in the box office.

Session 9 is set in an abandoned institution where characters experience mounting paranoia and the sinister influence of the setting itself, evoking The Shining’s use of a foreboding, isolated building and gradual descent into psychological horror.

Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back. Session 9 is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 40m runtime, released in 2001 with an average rating of 6.1 by 1,050 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,612,259 in the box office.

The Lodge confines its characters in a remote winter location, as in The Shining, letting their psyche unravel under growing supernatural dread. Both movies mine isolation and the erosion of trust within a family for mounting terror.

When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past. The Lodge is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 48m runtime, released in 2020 with an average rating of 6.1 by 1,441 people. The movie made an estimated total of $2,679,585 in the box office.

The Others revolves around a family in a secluded, haunted house where supernatural events intertwine with psychological unease, resonating with The Shining’s blend of familial strain, isolated setting, and persistent ghostly presences.

Grace is a woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions. The Others is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 41m runtime, released in 2001 with an average rating of 7.6 by 7,320 people. The movie made an estimated total of $210,002,906 in the box office.

Possession features a couple’s relationship unspooling into madness under enigmatic, supernatural forces, drawing parallel to the disintegration of familial bonds and escalating psychological horror present in The Shining.

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair. Possession is a movie from France in English, with a total 2h 4m runtime, released in 1981 with an average rating of 7.3 by 1,380 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,200,000 in the box office.

Jacob's Ladder explores a man's perception of reality unraveling due to trauma and disturbing visions, reflecting The Shining’s interest in psychological breakdowns and blurred boundaries between the supernatural and mental instability.

After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie, and ex-wife, Sarah, try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer's chiropractor friend, Louis, fails to reach him as he descends into madness. Jacob's Ladder is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 53m runtime, released in 1990 with an average rating of 7.4 by 1,942 people. The movie made an estimated total of $26,118,851 in the box office.

The Witch centers on a family isolated in a remote setting, beset by internal strife and supernatural forces, which mirrors The Shining’s focus on familial breakdown and otherworldly threats within a setting cut off from society.

In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways. The Witch is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 32m runtime, released in 2016 with an average rating of 7.0 by 7,770 people. The movie made an estimated total of $40,423,945 in the box office.

Repulsion portrays an individual's psychological descent behind closed doors, echoing The Shining through its intense focus on mental deterioration, subjective reality, and the claustrophobic terror of being trapped with one's own fears.

Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness. Repulsion is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 45m runtime, released in 1965 with an average rating of 7.4 by 1,119 people. The movie made an estimated total of $3,100,000 in the box office.

The Blackcoat's Daughter emphasizes isolation and supernatural intervention in the lives of young women, its oppressive atmosphere and psychological unease akin to how The Shining traps its characters with otherworldly influences.

Two young women at a prestigious prep school are assailed by an evil, invisible power when they're stranded over winter break. The Blackcoat's Daughter is a movie from Canada in English, with a total 1h 34m runtime, released in 2017 with an average rating of 5.9 by 798 people. The movie made an estimated total of $143,545 in the box office.

Saint Maud traces an individual's psychological spiral under the weight of supernatural beliefs and isolation, paralleling The Shining’s examination of personal disintegration and the dangerous interplay between reality and the supernatural in a confined setting.

Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye. Saint Maud is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 25m runtime, released in 2020 with an average rating of 6.5 by 907 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,640,866 in the box office.

Secret Window explores a writer’s psychological unraveling in isolation, reminiscent of Jack Torrance’s solitary descent in The Shining, with both films blurring the line between inner turmoil and external threats.

Mort Rainey, a writer just emerging from a painful divorce with his ex-wife, is stalked at his remote lake house by a psychotic stranger and would-be scribe who claims Rainey swiped his best story idea. But as Rainey endeavors to prove his innocence, he begins to question his own sanity. Secret Window is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 36m runtime, released in 2004 with an average rating of 6.6 by 3,982 people. The movie made an estimated total of $92,900,000 in the box office.

The Amityville Horror also centers on a family confronting supernatural terror in their home, paralleling The Shining’s dynamic of familial relationships breaking down under the influence of an ominous, haunted setting.

George Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Victorian mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses. The Amityville Horror is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 58m runtime, released in 1979 with an average rating of 6.3 by 1,063 people. The movie made an estimated total of $86,432,488 in the box office.

1408 focuses on a protagonist trapped within a supernatural hotel room as reality distorts, echoing The Shining’s use of a haunted hotel as a catalyst for psychological torment and unexplained phenomena.

A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror. 1408 is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 44m runtime, released in 2007 with an average rating of 6.7 by 4,986 people. The movie made an estimated total of $133,000,000 in the box office.

The Tenant centers on a protagonist overtaken by paranoia and fearful transformations triggered by an apartment’s oppressive environment, much like how The Shining charts descent into madness spurred by a haunted, isolated location.

A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia. The Tenant is a movie from France in English, with a total 2h 6m runtime, released in 1976 with an average rating of 7.6 by 1,248 people. The movie made an estimated total of $5,100,000 in the box office.

mother! unfolds in a single, increasingly oppressive home, where escalating tension and surreal events lead to psychological crisis—as in The Shining, the location itself becomes both battleground and tormentor.

A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. mother! is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 1m runtime, released in 2017 with an average rating of 7.0 by 7,176 people. The movie made an estimated total of $44,516,999 in the box office.

In the Mouth of Madness investigates a character’s grip on reality slipping through encounters with inexplicable occurrences, reflecting The Shining’s theme of personal unraveling in the face of supernatural manipulation.

An insurance investigator visits a small town while looking into the strange disappearance of a popular horror novelist. He soon finds that the impact of the author’s books is far more than inspirational. In the Mouth of Madness is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 35m runtime, released in 1995 with an average rating of 7.2 by 1,955 people. The movie made an estimated total of $8,946,600 in the box office.

The Changeling immerses its protagonist in a haunted house where grief and supernatural forces intertwine, mirroring The Shining’s fusion of psychological distress and ghostly influence in a brooding, isolated setting.

After a tragic event happens, composer John Russell moves to Seattle to try to overcome it and build a new and peaceful life in a lonely big house that has been uninhabited for many years. But, soon after, the obscure history of such an old mansion and his own past begin to haunt him. The Changeling is a movie from Canada in English, with a total 1h 47m runtime, released in 1980 with an average rating of 7.0 by 738 people. The movie made an estimated total of $12,000,000 in the box office.

The Devil's Backbone features a haunted institution during a time of crisis, focusing on ghostly presences and the effects of isolation—elements that connect it to The Shining’s haunted hotel and vulnerable inhabitants.

Spain, 1939. In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, the young Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucía orphanage, where he will make friends and enemies as he follows the quiet footsteps of a mysterious presence eager for revenge. The Devil's Backbone is a movie from Spain in Spanish, with a total 1h 48m runtime, released in 2001 with an average rating of 7.3 by 1,383 people. The movie made an estimated total of $6,582,065 in the box office.

It Comes at Night confines its characters to a remote house, fostering distrust and psychological strain as an unseen threat looms, much like the way isolation and fear shape the family’s ordeal in The Shining.

Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge. It Comes at Night is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 31m runtime, released in 2017 with an average rating of 5.9 by 2,660 people. The movie made an estimated total of $19,280,931 in the box office.

Dead Ringers examines identity dissolution and psychological instability, sharing The Shining’s fascination with mental breakdown and the dangers lurking when reality gives way to obsession and paranoia.

Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot is attracted to many of his patients and has affairs with them. When he inevitably loses interest, he will give the woman over to Beverly, the meeker of the two, without the woman knowing the difference. Beverly falls hard for one of the patients, Claire, but when she inadvertently deceives him, he slips into a state of madness. Dead Ringers is a movie from Canada in English, with a total 1h 55m runtime, released in 1988 with an average rating of 7.1 by 1,018 people. The movie made an estimated total of $8,038,508 in the box office.

The Night House focuses on grief and supernatural manifestations within an isolated lakeside home, echoing the Shining’s interplay of mourning, otherworldly forces, and overwhelming solitude.

Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. Soon she begins to uncover her recently deceased husband's disturbing secrets. The Night House is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 47m runtime, released in 2021 with an average rating of 6.6 by 1,365 people. The movie made an estimated total of $15,437,703 in the box office.

Candyman features supernatural horror intruding upon urban domestic life and explores how haunting legends twist reality, paralleling The Shining’s use of folklore and spectral influence to unravel its characters' sanity.

The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth. Candyman is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 40m runtime, released in 1992 with an average rating of 6.7 by 1,838 people. The movie made an estimated total of $25,792,310 in the box office.

The Dead Zone follows a protagonist with psychic abilities affected by trauma and isolation, reminiscent of how The Shining’s characters grapple with supernatural perceptions and the psychological burdens they bring.

Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact. The Dead Zone is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 43m runtime, released in 1983 with an average rating of 7.0 by 1,862 people. The movie made an estimated total of $20,766,616 in the box office.

Alone features a protagonist confronting terror in isolation, thematically connecting with The Shining’s exploration of how solitude and inescapable environments drive psychological collapse.

When Pim and Ploy, twins conjoined at the stomach, are separated, the operation leaves Pim the surviving sister, haunted by Ploy's vengeful ghost. Alone is a movie from Thailand in Thai, with a total 1h 30m runtime, released in 2007 with an average rating of 7.2 by 257 people. The movie made an estimated total of $9,559,978 in the box office.

Antichrist confines its central couple to a remote cabin, examining the psychological interplay between grief and horror in isolation, which resonates with The Shining’s focus on domestic relationships fracturing under intense pressure and supernatural unease.

A grieving couple retreats to their cabin 'Eden' in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse. Antichrist is a movie from Denmark in English, with a total 1h 44m runtime, released in 2009 with an average rating of 6.6 by 2,873 people. The movie made an estimated total of $7,413,863 in the box office.

A Tale of Two Sisters is rooted in family secrets, psychological trauma, and spectral occurrences within a domestic environment, paralleling The Shining’s blend of fractured family dynamics, personal unraveling, and haunted spaces.

Two sisters return home after a stay in a mental institution, only to face disturbing events and a strained relationship with their stepmother. As eerie occurrences unfold, dark family secrets begin to surface, blurring the line between reality and nightmare. A Tale of Two Sisters is a movie from South Korea in Korean, with a total 1h 55m runtime, released in 2003 with an average rating of 7.1 by 1,371 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,100,000 in the box office.

Burnt Offerings centralizes a family in an isolated house whose supernatural forces drive personal transformations and conflict, paralleling The Shining’s narrative of a family beset by a malignant setting and unraveling unity.

A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents. Burnt Offerings is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 56m runtime, released in 1976 with an average rating of 6.5 by 279 people. The movie made an estimated total of $1,560,000 in the box office.

The House of the Devil involves a young woman isolated in a mysterious house, encountering escalating dread and supernatural danger, reflecting themes of vulnerability and encroaching evil similar to the core of The Shining.

A young college student who’s struggling financially takes a strange babysitting job which coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger. The House of the Devil is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 35m runtime, released in 2009 with an average rating of 6.2 by 868 people.

Dreams in the Witch House unfolds within a single ominous residence where inhabitants face supernatural threats, echoing The Shining’s use of a haunted building as both setting and source of escalating horror.

A college student renting an old room in a boarding house discovers a plot by sinister, otherworldly forces to sacrifice his neighbor's infant. Dreams in the Witch House is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 55m runtime, released in 2005 with an average rating of 6.4 by 107 people.