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The room is still. A floorboard pops, soft as a knuckle cracking, and the silence that follows presses against the ears. That tension, ordinary space made threatening is what The Conjuring gave audiences in 2013. James Wan’s story of the Perron family and the Warrens struck a nerve in the United States. It wasn’t flashy horror. It was cold rooms, locked closets, and claps in the dark.
Since then, people have gone looking for scary movies similar to The Conjuring. Not cheap jump-scare copycats, but films that carry the same uneasy pulse.
The best supernatural horror films work by twisting the everyday into something menacing. A hallway, a lullaby, even the face of a child can turn unsettling when framed in the right way. A few films manage to capture that exact weight.
Why Do Fans Love The Conjuring?
Part of the film’s power lies in its restraint. Instead of overloading the screen with effects, it leaned on sound. The ticking of clocks. Doors groaning shut. A game of hide-and-clap that suddenly stopped being playful. Audiences didn’t just watch the scares; they waited for them, hearts catching in their throats.
This is real footage from the actual Smurl Family Case. Tickets are on sale now for The Conjuring: Last Rites – Only in Theaters and IMAX September 5. https://t.co/OjnTNnJcef pic.twitter.com/fwR7h4qi1O
— The Conjuring (@TheConjuring) August 20, 2025
Another reason is its focus on people who felt real. The Warrens weren’t superheroes; the family wasn’t disposable. Parents tried to shield children from something they couldn’t even see. That made the fear sharper. Watching strangers get chased is one thing. Watching a family unravel in their own home is far more suffocating.
Top 5 Movies Similar to The Conjuring
Dozens of horror films attempt the haunted-house formula. Only a few manage to hold the same grip. These are the ones that echo The Conjuring without feeling like pale imitations.
1. Insidious (2010)
James Wan tested his ideas earlier with Insidious. This time it was a child slipping into a coma, his spirit drifting into another realm. Parents left behind in the house hear whispers through baby monitors, footsteps in empty rooms. A red-faced figure lingers in corners, waiting. The soundtrack grates on nerves with shrill strings that sound like fingernails dragged across glass. For anyone searching movies like The Conjuring, this is a natural stop. It carries the same fingerprints of dread.
2.Sinister (2012)
Sinister doesn’t open with a haunted farmhouse. Instead, a writer finds reels of film showing families murdered in their homes. The grainy footage plays quietly, the only sound a whirring projector.
Behind the images is Bughuul, a figure who seems stitched into the films themselves. The horror here is patient, cruel even, taking its time before twisting the knife. Many critics still rank it among the best supernatural horror films of the 2010s, and for good reason. It lingers in the mind longer than most.
3.The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Some films terrify with shadows; others terrify by asking questions no courtroom can answer. The Exorcism of Emily Rose switches between possession sequences and legal arguments, leaving audiences caught between faith and doubt.
The exorcism scenes are harsh: bodies contorted, voices deepened beyond recognition, rooms suddenly freezing. It doesn’t let the viewer rest in either camp, science or belief. For fans of The Conjuring, this film scratches at the same religious nerves, but with a legal backdrop that makes it hit differently.
4.The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
A morgue. A father and son. A body that refuses to tell its story. That’s the stage for The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Each incision reveals something stranger: lungs blackened though she never smoked, bones shattered with no outer bruise. Radios flicker, bulbs hum, the air feels colder.
The woman on the table never moves, yet she dominates every frame. It’s claustrophobic horror at its finest, and for anyone looking for scary movies similar to The Conjuring, this one earns a spot on the shortlist.
5.Terrified (2018)
Then there’s Terrified, an Argentinian film that made its way quietly into horror circles in the US. No polished edges here, just raw shocks. A man hears voices under his bed. A neighbor watches shadows crawl across his wall. A corpse refuses to stay still at the dinner table.
The unpredictability makes it nasty in the best way. It’s proof that international horror doesn’t need Hollywood gloss to shake audiences. Fans often put it in the same conversation with The Conjuring because it delivers those sudden jolts that stay in your bones.
Other Noteworthy Picks
Beyond the five, there’s a stack of films that share DNA with The Conjuring. They may not all be direct matches, but they each carry the same atmosphere of fear building in quiet spaces.
- Oculus (2013): A cursed mirror and siblings trying to destroy it before it consumes them.
- Verónica (2017): Based on a Spanish police case involving a Ouija board gone wrong.
- The Witch (2015): Colonial New England, paranoia in the woods, and whispers of a presence watching.
- The Night House (2020): A widow piecing together the unsettling secrets her husband left behind.
Each one proves that horror doesn’t have to scream to be frightening. Sometimes silence, or a mirror in the corner of a room, is enough.
Where to Watch These Movies?
For audiences in the US, most of these titles float across popular streaming services. Amazon Prime and Hulu often keep Insidious and Sinister on rotation. The Autopsy of Jane Doe has shown up on Netflix and Shudder.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose usually sits in digital rental libraries, while Terrified is tucked into Shudder’s catalog. Availability shifts, so it’s worth checking the horror sections regularly.
A well-planned night could start with The Conjuring and roll straight into these five. The scares stack differently—possession, cursed tapes, morgue mysteries, neighborhood hauntings. Together, they show why movies like The Conjuring remain in such high demand. Horror fans aren’t chasing cheap shocks. They’re chasing that quiet knock in the hallway, the one that makes the skin crawl before anything even happens.
