Existential horror movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant existential horror movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out existential horror, dark, psychological, disturbing, suspense and independent film films and TV shows about / with obsession, death, murder, violence, loneliness, psychology, psychological drama, storytelling, macabre and guilt plots mostly in Drama, Thriller and Mystery genres shot in USA, France, UK and other countries.
78
TOP 10 movies tagged as existential horror: The Platform (2019), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Memory Run (1995), Delirium (2013), Nyctophobia (2024), The Watcher Self (2016), Project Grey (2007), Rise of the Zombie (2013), Insomnia (2021), Lesson of a Dead Language (1979).
Best films
New films
List of existential horror movies
320K
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Two people per level. An unknown number of levels. A platform with food for all of them. Are you one of those who think too much when they are up? Or of those who have no guts when they are down? If you discover it too late, you will not live out of ...
Style:
suspense, disturbing, suspenseful, psychological thriller, mind bending ...
Plot:
survival, struggle for survival, confined, food shortage, cannibalism, social injustice, prison, social differences, isolation, rivalry, danger, survival horror ...
Time:
future, 2010s
Place:
iberian peninsula
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Style:
psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, atmospheric ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
addiction, drug abuse, heroin, drug addiction, insanity, drug, junkie, loneliness, mental illness, depression, dream, subculture ...
Time:
year 2000, future, y2k, 20th century, 90s ...
Place:
britain, america, new york, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
The year is 2015, and big brother is everywhere. The search for immortality is over. Science has finally achieved the impossible, undermining the most basic aspect of life: that Mind, Body, and Soul must be one, Those who benefit from this new ...
Style:
futuristic, grim, existential horror, psychological thriller, tense ...
Plot:
immortality, cyberpunk, dystopia, apocalypse, social inequality, surveillance, identity crisis, government conspiracy, ethical dilemma, identity theft, violence, underground movement ...
Time:
2010s, near future, future, year 2015
Is relevant?
114
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Ukraine, Czech Republic
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
An ordinary funeral procession moves along its path from church to cemetery. Observing, you slip from reality into a place where time has lost its linearity, looping through the odd images thrown off by a distorted reality. Images of non-existence, ...
Style:
art house, psychedelic, non-linear, neo noir, surreal ...
Plot:
surrealism, murder, insanity, hanging, psychotic, identity crisis, mental illness, family drama, claustrophobia, metaphysics, obsession, isolation ...
Place:
ukraine
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
As Liz struggles with nyctophobia (fear of the dark), a form of anxiety disorder that causes sleeping issues, she desperately tries to fall asleep by entering her “inner world” where she can access her happy childhood memories. However, she ...
Style:
psychological thriller, psychological horror, mind bending, disturbing, surreal ...
Plot:
nightmare, dreamscape, lucid dream, subconscious, macabre, sleep disorder, trauma, isolation, rehearsal, mental illness, female protagonist, slow burn ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
The Watcher Self is an unsettling psychosexual chiller written and directed by Matt Cruse about one woman's descent into hell. Cora (Karen French) begins her day facing the consequences of a nightmare. Struggling to maintain a normal routine, ...
Style:
psychological thriller, psychological horror, ambiguous ending, disturbing, intense ...
Plot:
female protagonist, paranoia, driven mad, mental breakdown, claustrophobia, character study, isolation, slow burn, identity crisis, obsession, sexual tension, experimental narrative ...
Place:
london
Is relevant?
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
It's fear that they seek! Dr. Schroder listens to her criminally insane patient as he recounts the story of the murder of his four friends. Chip implants, government mind control, Russian military, and Alien visitors form the puzzle pieces of ...
Style:
tense, suspenseful, psychological thriller, dark, dread ...
Plot:
alien invasion, alien, mind control, fear, conspiracy, investigation, paranoia, paranormal, insanity, doctor patient relationship, psychiatry, government agency ...
Time:
2000s
Place:
siberia
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Neil Parker is a passionate wildlife photographer who pays more attention to his wildlife than his human life. as a result his relationships with the real world suffer. When his girlfriend walks out on him he resigns himself to isolation and nature. ...
Style:
bleak, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, rough ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
zombie, monster, zombie attack, zombie apocalypse, breakup, photographer, transformation, marital argument, social change, danger, life is a bitch, relationship problems ...
Is relevant?
220
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Russia
Duration: 55 min.
TV show
Story:
43-year old Yuri is a successful psychiatrist and hypnotist. A raving and committed non-believer, he is capable of rationalizing anything…except for his own nightmares. In his dreams, he sees his ex-wife who, many years ago, committed suicide, ...
Style:
psychological thriller, atmospheric, dark, realistic, suspenseful ...
Plot:
psychiatrist, male protagonist, nightmare, character study, male female relationship, relationships, couple relations, psychology, mental disorder, psychiatric patient, hypnosis, tragic past ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
An officer stationed in a remote Galician outpost at the end of the First World War is dying of consumption. Suffering from feverish dreams and hallucinations, he begins to collect religious art and attends seances.
Style:
historical drama, melancholic, atmospheric, period piece, art house ...
Plot:
tuberculosis, hallucination, isolation, loneliness, existential crisis, small town, obsession, spiritualism, haunting, occult, mysticism, decadence ...
Time:
1910s, 1940s
Place:
poland, galicia
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Drama, Horror
Country: Poland
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
Fleeing from despair after losing those dearest to him, the hero hides in a safe land of memories, where time stands still and all those dear to him are alive.
Style:
adult animation, psychological, suspense, dark, melancholic ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
memories, nostalgia, loss, grief, memory, bereavement, escape from reality, loss of family member, introspection, tragic event, self discovery, desperation ...
Place:
eastern europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
After failing to fulfill his wife's dying wish, a series of unexplainable, horrific events leads a man to believe she's returned to get revenge on him and his pregnant mistress.
Style:
psychological thriller, psychological horror, supernatural thriller, creepy, suspense ...
Plot:
revenge, infidelity, paranormal activity, haunting, family tragedy, nightmare, pregnancy, male protagonist, obsession, slow burn, isolation, claustrophobia ...
Is relevant?
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116
Genre: Animation, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min.
TV show
Story:
It is the 2030s. The Boy Detectives Club gathers under Kogorō Akechi, the mysterious detective. The group solves cases great and small using their unique skills. One day, a member of the club, Kensuke Hanazaki, meets the boy Yoshio Kobayashi. ...
Style:
anime, psychological, detective, captivating, suspense ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
crime solving, immortality, amateur detective, uncover truth, private detective, organized crime, detective agency, private investigation, good versus evil, sleuth, investigation, wanting to die ...
Time:
future, 2030s, 21st century
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: China, France, USA
Duration: 160 min.
Story:
In a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, one creature remains entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. This monster, adrift in reverie, clings to visions no one else can see — until a woman appears. Gifted with the rare ...
Style:
psychological, existential, philosophical, mind bending, surreal ...
Plot:
dreamscape, androids, identity crisis, alienation, resurrection, female protagonist, haunting, loneliness, metaphysics, dystopia, slow burn, intimate ...
Time:
year 1999
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
After a mysterious leader imposes his law in a brutal system of vertical cells, a new arrival battles against a dubious food distribution method.
Style:
existential horror, dark
Plot:
prison, cannibalism, suicide, prison violence, food, starvation, social injustice, solidarity, moral dilemma, violence, hunger, hallucination ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 29 min.
TV show
Story:
Heavenly Host Elementary School is a legendary elementary school for ghost stories due to its mysterious past. It was torn down following the murders and disappearances of several of its staff and students and now another school called Kisaragi ...
Style:
anime, dark, scary, disturbing, sadistic ...
Audience:
teens, pre-teens
Plot:
ghost, dark past, brutality, death, supernatural, survival, murder, curse, demon, danger, corpse, youth ...
Place:
japan, asia
Is relevant?
104K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 167 min.
Story:
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out ...
Style:
art house, atmospheric, cerebral, enigmatic, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
outer space, scientist, metaphysics, space travel, space and aliens, space station, dream, trapped in space, astronaut, loneliness, science, philosophy ...
Time:
distant future, 70s, future, year 1972
Place:
soviet union, ussr, russia, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 130 min.
Story:
A group of men hire some prostitutes and go to a villa in the countryside. There, they engage in group sex and resolve to eat themselves to death.
Style:
erotic, satirical, controversial, disturbing, black comedy ...
Plot:
decadence, food, suicide, sex, lust, cooking, sexual promiscuity, wealth, group of friends, dark humor, gluttony, satire ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, year 1973
Place:
france, europe, paris france, turkey
Is relevant?
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Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph ...
Style:
emotional, touching, psychological, sad, poignant ...
Audience:
family outing, teens
Plot:
disability, hospital, dignity, freak, melancholy, disfigurement, social misfits, cruelty, isolation, hopes, biopic, humanism ...
Time:
19th century, victorian era, ancient times, 20th century, turn of the century ...
Place:
england, london, britain, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no ...
Style:
touching, depressing, anime, sad, heartbreaking ...
Audience:
kids, adult
Plot:
world war two, hunger, orphan, war, homelessness, survival, siblings relations, children, desperation, death of child, boy, anti war ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 1988, year 1945, post world war two
Place:
japan, east asia, asia, tokyo
Is relevant?
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min.
Story:
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
Style:
touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking ...
Audience:
date night, chick flick, adult
Plot:
holocaust, world war two, genocide, nazi, wartime, war, concentration camp, storytelling, holocaust survivor, anti semitism, nazism, against humanity ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, 90s, ancient times, year 1943 ...
Place:
poland, germany, iran, persia, europe ...
Is relevant?
169K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story:
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgangers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.
Style:
surreal, neo noir, mind bending, atmospheric, confusing ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
surrealism, murder, insanity, doppelganger, nightmare, sex scene, time loop, parallel universe, graphic violence, transformation, hallucination, promiscuous woman ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, year 1997, near future
Place:
los angeles, persia, north america
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Austria
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
Style:
disturbing, suspense, psychological, psychological thriller, bleak ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
psychopath, serial killer, bad guy wins, home invasion, torture, sadism, torment, family in danger, husband wife relationship, evil wins, violence, holiday horror ...
Time:
20th century, 90s, near future, year 1997
Place:
austria, germany, europe
Is relevant?
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Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 147 min.
Story:
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
Style:
surreal, psychological, neo noir, art house, disturbing ...
Audience:
date night, adult
Plot:
surrealism, twists and turns, amnesia, lesbian, obsession, dream, alternate reality, parallel universe, hollywood, filmmaking, lesbian sex, nightmare ...
Time:
2000s, year 2001, 20th century, future, 21st century
Place:
los angeles, persia, usa, california, mulholland drive
Is relevant?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Musical
Country: Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, USA, UK, France, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma ...
Style:
disturbing, bleak, depressing, touching, emotional ...
Plot:
death sentence, factory worker, destiny, blindness, life is a bitch, tragedy, dancing, immigrant, secret, murder, hanging, tragic hero ...
Time:
90s, year 2000, 20th century, year 1964, 2000s
Place:
nebraska, usa, washington d.c., washington state
Is relevant?
905K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Style:
psychological, surreal, mind bending, atmospheric, philosophical ...
Audience:
teens, date night, adult, teen drama
Plot:
mental illness, imaginary friend, schizophrenia, psychology, time travel, insanity, parallel universe, suburbs, surrealism, time loop, trippy, schizophrenic ...
Time:
80s, year 2001, 2000s, future, 20th century ...
Place:
los angeles, america, usa, virginia, harvard university
Is relevant?
1.0M
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music, War
Country: France, Poland, Germany, UK, USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story:
The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he ...
Style:
emotional, sad, harsh, reflective, bleak ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
holocaust, world war two, survival, genocide, nazi, classical music, wartime, war, nazism, anti semitism, hunger, nazi occupation ...
Time:
1940s, 20th century, year 1939, 1930s, year 2002 ...
Place:
poland, germany, europe, eastern europe, central europe ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 114 min.
Story:
Four women are given into the custody of the Magdalene sisterhood asylum to correct their sinful behavior: Crispina and Rose have given birth to a premarital child, Margaret got raped by her cousin and the orphan Bernadette had been repeatedly ...
Style:
bleak, harsh, brutal, controversial, depressing ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night
Plot:
nun, convent, catholic church, life is a bitch, corporal punishment, evil nun, human spirit, punishment, religion, catholic orphanage, sexual harassment, violence against women ...
Time:
60s, 20th century, year 1964, year 2002
Place:
ireland, dublin ireland, europe, latin america
Is relevant?
121K
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min.
Story:
Friends and fledgling entrepreneurs invent a device in their garage which reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it, but they discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilities - ones that could enable them to do and to have ...
Style:
philosophical, independent film, mind bending, confusing, surreal ...
Plot:
time travel, time machine, time loop, science, changing the future, parallel universe, changing the past or future, inventor, invention, time, time traveler, experiment gone awry ...
Time:
future, year 2004, distant future, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
texas
Is relevant?
633K
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Caleb, a 26 year old coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds ...
Style:
psychological, futuristic, twist ending, philosophical, mind bending ...
Audience:
girls' night, adult
Plot:
artificial intelligence, robot, androids, technology, existentialism, cyborgs, cyberpunk, isolation, manipulation, androids and robots, female robot, consciousness ...
Time:
future, near future, 2010s, year 2015, year 2014 ...
Place:
england
Is relevant?
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