Movies like The Devil's Backbone
If you like "The Devil's Backbone" you are looking for atmospheric, tense and gothic movies about / with ghost, spanish civil war, orphan, orphanage, suspense, child abuse and gold themes of Drama, Horror and Thriller genre shot in Spain or Mexico.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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The Devil's Backbone (2001)
68K
Original name: El espinazo del diablo
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Spain, Mexico
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
After losing his father, 10-year-old Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucia School, which shelters orphans of the Republican militia and politicians, and is taken in by the steely headmistress, Carmen, and the kindly professor, Casares. Soon after his arrival, Carlos has a run-in with the violent caretaker, Jacinto. Gradually, Carlos uncovers the secrets of the school, including the youthful ghost that wanders the grounds.
Style:
atmospheric, tense, gothic, twist ending, suspenseful, dark, scary, intense, psychological, disturbing ...
Plot:
ghost, spanish civil war, orphan, orphanage, suspense, child abuse, gold, supernatural, haunted house, revenge, children, coming of age, civil war, boarding school, afterlife, boarding school life, murder, disappearance, republican, death, fear, childhood, older woman younger man relationship, boy, disorder ...
Time:
1930s, 1940s, 20th century, 40s
Place:
spain, europe, portugal, madrid, andalusia, catalonia
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to The Devil's Backbone
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out scary, atmospheric, weird and suspenseful films with plots about supernatural, suspense, macabre, storytelling, death, blood and brutality mostly in Horror, Thriller and Drama genres. Some movies like The Devil's Backbone: The Orphanage (2007), Half Light (2006), The Awakening (2011), Let the Right One In (2008), Chronos (1992). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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158K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain, Mexico
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage, intent on reopening it. Before long, her son starts to communicate with a new invisible friend.
Style:
scary, twist ending, surprise ending, psychological, atmospheric ...
Plot:
haunted house, ghost, supernatural, fear, macabre, missing child, death, tragic event, twists and turns, afterlife, orphanage, life is a bitch ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
spain
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Germany, UK, USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Rachel Carson, a best-selling crime novelist, is devastated and filled with guilt over the accidental death of her son. Hoping that a change of scenery will help alleviate her suffering, she leaves her home in the city and moves into a vacant ...
Style:
atmospheric, psychological, suspenseful, surprise ending, intense ...
Audience:
chick flick
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, murder, lighthouse, death of child, suspense, uncover truth, mentally unstable, loss of child, woman in danger, writers, afterlife ...
Place:
london, scotland, san francisco
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
1921 England is overwhelmed by the loss and grief of World War I. Hoax exposer Florence Cathcart (Hall) visits a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost.
Style:
scary, gothic, suspenseful, twist ending, psychological ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, haunted house, fear, boarding school, afterlife, suspense, haunted by the past, supernatural horror, macabre, supernatural power, twists and turns ...
Time:
1920s, 20th century, post world war one
Place:
england, europe, london, britain
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Country: Sweden
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor ...
Style:
gothic, atmospheric, captivating, sweet, dark ...
Audience:
teens, chick flick, pre-teens, teen drama
Plot:
vampire, bullying, supernatural, loneliness, coming of age, snow, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, child vampire, friendship, murder, child, youth ...
Time:
80s, 20th century, year 1982, 18th century
Place:
sweden, europe, stockholm sweden, scandinavia, eastern europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
31K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Faced with his own mortality, an ingenious alchemist tried to perfect an invention that would provide him with the key to eternal life. It was called the Cronos device. When he died more than 400 years later, he took the secrets of this remarkable ...
Style:
gothic, surreal, scary, suspenseful, bloody ...
Plot:
immortality, supernatural, vampire, addiction, suspense, invention, aging, death, haunted by the past, eternal life, race against time, goth ...
Time:
1930s, 20th century, year 1997, year 1996, year 1937 ...
Place:
rome italy, mexico, los angeles, usa, latin america ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
29%
Also search:
Final Destination related movies
231K
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Country: Australia, Canada
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
Style:
psychological, scary, tense, suspenseful, dark ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
monster, supernatural, ghost, macabre, nightmare, fear, single mother, suspense, insanity, dysfunctional family, mental illness, isolation ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
australia, adelaide south australia
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A woman in the midst of an unpleasant divorce moves to an eerie apartment building with her young daughter. The ceiling of their apartment has a dark and active leak.
Style:
scary, atmospheric, psychological, splatter, suspenseful ...
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, haunted house, nightmare, haunted by the past, losing-it hero, family problems, custody, parents and children, single parent, macabre, isolation ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
japan, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
27%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
A recently released patient from a mental institution returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house- all of which are connected to a dark past in the family's history.
Style:
psychological, atmospheric, surreal, scary, mind bending ...
Plot:
mental illness, ghost, suicide, twists and turns, nightmare, losing-it hero, death, haunted house, tragedy, suspense, children, guilt ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
korea, asia, south korea, japan
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year old secret. When one of Edward Wanderley's twin sons dies in a bizarre accident, the group begins to see a pattern of frightening events developing.
Style:
scary, suspenseful, gothic, atmospheric, light ...
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, ghost story, haunted house, suspense, life & death, vengeance, small town, murder, death, guilt, macabre ...
Time:
1930s, 80s, 20th century
Place:
new england, usa, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
124K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. A remake of the movie “Let The Right One In” which was an adaptation of a book.
Style:
atmospheric, gothic, melancholic, biting, scary ...
Audience:
teens, teen drama
Plot:
vampire, suspense, loneliness, first love, friendship, childhood, supernatural, small town, adolescence, coming of age, mysterious character, vampire human love ...
Time:
20th century, year 1983, 80s
Place:
california, new mexico, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Also search:
Orphan similar movies
40K
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 125 min.
Story:
While doing a thesis about violence, Ángela finds a snuff video where a girl is tortured until death. Soon she discovers that the girl was a former student in her faculty...
Style:
disturbing, psychological, scary, intense, suspenseful ...
Plot:
serial killer, murder, suspense, macabre, investigation, violent, voyeurism, death, twists and turns, videotaping, loser, research ...
Time:
90s, 20th century
Place:
spain, iberian peninsula, madrid
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Chilling and eerie, this supernatural tale of good versus evil coils around twin brothers living with their grandmother in a sleepy rural area during the summer of 1935. After his grandmother encourages Niles to develop what seem to be psychic ...
Style:
disturbing, atmospheric, scary, tense, suspenseful ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
twins, suspense, evil child, twists and turns, coming of age, psychology, supernatural, macabre, murder, evil twin, child, creepy child ...
Time:
1930s, 20th century
Place:
california, new jersey, holland, usa, connecticut ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada, USA, Sweden
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The story follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who is ordered to travel to a remote village and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the client’s isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover tragic secrets, his unease ...
Style:
gothic, gothic horror, atmospheric, scary, suspenseful ...
Audience:
girls' night, teens
Plot:
ghost, haunted house, suspense, estate, isolation, supernatural, afterlife, curses spells and rituals, vengeance, tragic event, loss of son, curse ...
Time:
victorian era, 19th century, edwardian era, 1910s, 20th century
Place:
england, london, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
373K
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Spain, USA, France, Italy
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Grace is a religious 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 ...
Style:
surprise ending, twist ending, scary, atmospheric, gothic ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
ghost, haunted house, suspense, supernatural, afterlife, nightmare, twists and turns, mysterious character, spiritualism, mansion, isolation, supernatural horror ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 1945
Place:
europe, english channel, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
185K
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: Canada, Spain, Mexico
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Guillermo del Toro presents Mama, a supernatural thriller that tells the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that ...
Style:
scary, gothic, splatter, dark, frightening ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, suspense, haunted house, supernatural horror, mother daughter relationship, afterlife, children, macabre, adoption, paranormal activity, revenge ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
canada, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
26%
Also search:
Films like The Others
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A psychological thriller about an eight year old boy named Cole Sear who believes he can see into the world of the dead. A child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe comes to Cole to help him deal with his problem, learning that he really can see ghosts ...
Style:
psychological, surprise ending, twist ending, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night, date night
Plot:
ghost, twists and turns, supernatural, afterlife, suspense, psychology, death, psychiatrist, life & death, plot twist, child, boy ...
Time:
90s, future, 20th century
Place:
usa, pennsylvania, philadelphia
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
260K
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.
Style:
scary, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, rough ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, haunted house, suspense, fear, murder, supernatural horror, investigation, evil force, writer's life, paranormal activity, children ...
Time:
year 2012, year 2011, year 1966, year 1979, year 1998 ...
Place:
pennsylvania, usa, sacramento california, st. louis missouri
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
After Laura and John Baxter lose their only child in a horrible drowning, they are greeted by strange sightings of her throughout their everyday lives. When two old ladies approach them in Italy with news that their daughter may still be alive, it ...
Style:
atmospheric, twist ending, disturbing, sexy, suspenseful ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
supernatural, suspense, hallucination, drowning, serial killer, haunted by the past, twists and turns, grief, sex scene, blindness, death of daughter, marriage ...
Time:
70s, 20th century
Place:
italy, venice, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
25%
Movie in collections
14K
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Film archivist David and his wife are perfectly happy or so he believes. When a looming secret shatters their marriage at the same time as a turn-of-the-century film reel he is studying reveals their house to be the site of a 1902 multiple-murder, ...
Style:
scary, psychological, disturbing, suspenseful, atmospheric ...
Plot:
ghost, supernatural, haunted house, suspense, murder, investigation, obsession, protagonist as suspect, cheating, husband wife relationship, tragedy, depression ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
ireland
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A female psychologist wants to understand the minds of a confessed serial killer who spent the last five years in a mental hospital because of his state.
Style:
psychological, scary, suspenseful, twist ending, disturbing ...
Plot:
serial killer, mental institution, murder, psychologist, suspense, psychopath, investigation, mind game, mysterious character, haunted by the past, doctors and patients, macabre ...
Time:
90s
Place:
new zealand, oceania
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Also search:
Movies like The Sixth Sense
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
In this reimagining of the 2010 Mexican film of the same name, director Jim Mickle paints a gruesome portrait of an introverted family struggling to keep their macabre traditions alive, giving us something we can really sink our teeth into.
Style:
scary, disturbing, psychological, suspenseful, tense ...
Plot:
cannibalism, macabre, cannibal, rain, death, suspense, small town, religion, family relations, parents and children, siblings relations, missing person ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, delaware
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
31K
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: France, Romania
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
Lucas and Clementine live peacefully in their isolated country house, but one night they wake up to strange noise. They're not alone... and a group of hooded assailants begin to terrorize them throughout the night.
Style:
scary, psychological, suspenseful, tense, disturbing ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
home invasion, killer child, breaking and entering, violence, isolation, forest, couples, stranger, invasion, teenage life, suspense, evil child ...
Time:
year 2002
Place:
europe, bucharest, romania
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Mexico, Italy
Duration: 123 min.
Story:
A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the ...
Style:
surreal, disturbing, psychedelic, atmospheric, psychological ...
Plot:
surrealism, circus, serial killer, revenge, cult, psychology, art, magic realism, insanity, macabre, funeral, clown ...
Time:
80s
Place:
mexico city, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Movie in collections
272K
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness, exiled from their settlement when William defies the local church. When their newborn son vanishes and ...
Style:
atmospheric, disturbing, suspenseful, scary, dark ...
Plot:
witch, supernatural, witchcraft, religion, paranoia, isolation, wilderness, suspense, family bonds, black magic, curses spells and rituals, insanity ...
Time:
17th century, 19th century
Place:
new england, canada, new hampshire, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
111K
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
Style:
psychological, bleak, suspenseful, gothic, tense ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
antisocial behavior, mysterious character, under the surface, psychopath, parents and children, family problems, estate, family relations, lolita, masturbation, youth, serial killer ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa, connecticut, pennsylvania
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Also search:
Films like Eden Lake
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
When Claire Spencer starts hearing ghostly voices and seeing spooky images, she wonders if an otherworldly spirit is trying to contact her. All the while, her husband tries to reassure her by telling her it's all in her head. But as Claire ...
Style:
suspenseful, surprise ending, psychological, scary, twist ending ...
Plot:
ghost, haunted house, suspense, adultery, couple relations, losing-it hero, infidelity, supernatural horror, supernatural, woman in danger, haunted by the past, spiritualism ...
Time:
90s, 20th century, 2000s
Place:
vermont, usa, boston
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Israel
Duration: 110 min.
Story:
A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: The father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the boundaries of law, and the main suspect in the killings - a ...
Style:
disturbing, brutal, tense, suspenseful, dark ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
twists and turns, serial killer, vengeance, suspense, vigilantism, kidnapping, torture, murder, investigation, violence, obsession, police officer ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
israel, tel aviv, tel aviv israel, palestine
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada, Romania, USA
Duration: 83 min.
Story:
Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man.
Style:
scary, suspenseful, tense, psychological, surprise ending ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
ghost, haunted by the past, rape, curses spells and rituals, supernatural, curse, sexual abuse, death, chase, redemption, suspense, flashback ...
Time:
19th century, year 2006, 2000s, 1810s
Place:
tennessee, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
After being hypnotized by his sister in law, Tom Witzky begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around her.
Style:
psychological, atmospheric, twist ending, scary, disturbing ...
Plot:
ghost, haunted house, afterlife, supernatural, psychic, paranoia, hypnosis, murder, clairvoyance, suspense, supernatural horror, rape ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
usa, chicago illinois
⇓ similarity ⇓
24%
89K
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
In her many years as a social worker, Emily Jenkins believes she has seen it all, until she meets 10-year-old Lilith and the girl's cruel parents. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to harm the child, and so Emily ...
Style:
scary, suspenseful, psychological, gloomy, serious ...
Audience:
girls' night, teens
Plot:
supernatural, evil child, supernatural horror, social worker, mysterious character, demon, child abuse, uncover truth, twists and turns, murder, mental institution, evil force ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
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