8 Best Horror & Thriller Movies Similar to 'Backrooms', Ranked by IMDb
Hostile spaces, a distorted reality, labyrinths with no exit, and the feeling that the world around us no longer follows its usual rules.
Backrooms has become one of the most unusual horror phenomena in recent years. With its endless yellow corridors, humming fluorescent lights, and sense of unease emanating from liminal spaces, the movie reimagines the fear of a place that, by definition, should be bustling but is eerily empty.
If you've seen Backrooms and crave more of its mix of claustrophobia, surrealism, and mounting paranoia, this list is for you.
8. 'I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House', 2016
IMDb Score: 4.6/10
Lily gets a job as a caregiver for Iris, an elderly writer. Since Iris is practically immobile, Lily is left to her own devices in her large house.
From their first meeting, Iris stubbornly calls Lily "Polly," the name of the main character in a horror novel Iris once wrote. Despite her hatred of being scared, Lily decides to read the novel after learning this.
7. 'Beyond the Black Rainbow', 2010
IMDb Score: 5.9/10
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In a secret laboratory, a therapist named Barry visits the imprisoned Elena every day for examination. He unsuccessfully tries to understand her strange psychic abilities and forces her to participate in strange experiments once again.
Barry believes that he is the chosen one and that he can only prove it with Elena's abilities. Feeling as if she has spent her entire life in captivity, Elena prepares to escape.
Beyond the Black Rainbow captivates viewers with its audiovisual shocks. It is a movie with precise spatial geometry, decisive minimalism, and a rare sense of style.
6. 'Vivarium', 2019
IMDb Score: 5.9/10
Primary school teacher Gemma and handyman Tom decide to move in together. They visit a real estate agency, where they meet a strange employee. The agent took them to a newly built residential complex in the suburbs and showed them house number nine. Then, he disappeared.
Initially, the couple tries to escape but soon realizes with horror that they are trapped in this eerily sterile maze of identical buildings, and all roads lead to house number nine.
Desperate, they set fire to the house. But the next day, they find it brand new, along with a box containing a baby and a note that says, "Raise the child and be released."
5. 'The Signal', 2014
IMDb Score: 6.0/10
Three student hackers suddenly start receiving strange messages from someone called NOMAD. They soon discover that they are not dealing with a human, but rather with signals from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
After a series of unexplained events, the friends escape a dangerous trap but immediately become targets of the men in black, who believe the hackers may pose a threat to humanity if they make contact.
4. 'The Endless', 2017
IMDb Score: 6.5/10
The plot centers on brothers Aaron and Justin, who ran away from a strange cult as children. Nine years have passed, and they have long since moved on. One day, however, they receive a terrifying video message from cult members threatening them and demanding their immediate return.
Despite his brother's pleas, Justin agrees to return to his "family." Upon arriving at the cult, Aaron and Justin witness mysterious events that convince them of the cult's legitimacy.
The brothers realize that no one sent them the tape and that something is clearly wrong with this place. They realize that the otherworldly presence that the cult members believe in actually exists.
3. 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things', 2020
IMDb Score: 6.5/10
A young woman has a strange feeling. She has known her boyfriend, Jake, for either seven weeks or much longer. Suddenly, their first trip to visit his parents fills her with nostalgia.
However, she doesn't really want to go because she's thinking about ending things with Jake. On the way, the couple discusses poetry and classic musicals, but their conversation is interrupted by constant phone calls, which the woman ignores.
Their meeting with Jake's parents seems to be going smoothly. However, in Jake's room, the woman notices something strange: a childhood photograph of her.
2. '1408', 2007
IMDb Score: 6.8/10
Renowned horror author Mike Enslin is writing another book about unusual phenomena and poltergeists in hotels.
A nonbeliever in the afterlife, Enslin decides to check into the infamous Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. The room has been empty for years and is rumored to be haunted.
Despite the hotel manager's warning, Enslin persists, unaware of the nightmare awaiting him the following night.
1. 'Cube', 1997
IMDb Score: 7.1/10
A group of unconnected people suddenly find themselves in a strange cubic room. Each face of the room has a hatch that leads to an identical room.
The only differences between the rooms are their colors and the presence of deadly traps. Together, they try to find a way out of this gigantic structure.
The most important coordinate of Cube is its timeless, existential dimension. It is an extremely cold and measured film in which the director's world-building takes precedence over artistic expression.
