Movies Like When a Stranger Calls
If you loved When a Stranger Calls's Horror and Thriller storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks
Barbarian
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.
Night of the Reaper
A college student returns home for the weekend and reluctantly takes a babysitting job after a local babysitter is brutally murdered. When the town’s sheriff receives chilling evidence that the killing wasn’t an isolated incident, a deadly night unfolds as a masked killer sets the stage for another attack.
When a Stranger Calls Back
A retired detective and a crisis-center counselor hunt a killer stalking a coed.
The Babysitter
When Cole stays up past his bedtime, he discovers that his hot babysitter is part of a Satanic cult that will stop at nothing to keep him quiet.
The Black Phone
Finney Blake, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
Fright
Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution.
Succubus
A new father going through a marital separation joins a dating app and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman... whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
More Movies Like When a Stranger Calls
Annabelle Comes Home
Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren bring the possessed doll to the locked artifacts room in their home, placing her “safely” behind sacred glass and enlisting a priest’s holy blessing. But an unholy night of horror awaits as Annabelle awakens the evil spirits in the room, who all set their sights on a new target—the Warrens' ten-year-old daughter, Judy, and her friends.
Whisper
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen
Two years after defeating a satanic cult led by his babysitter Bee, Cole's trying to forget his past and focus on surviving high school. But when old enemies unexpectedly return, Cole will once again have to outsmart the forces of evil.
Case 39
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 assumes custody of Lilith while she looks for a foster family. However, Emily soon finds that dark forces surround the seemingly innocent girl, and the more she tries to protect Lilith, the more horrors she encounters.
The Call
Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.
Unsane
A woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she is confronted by her greatest fear.
Look Away
A timid and socially alienated 17-year-old high school student's life is turned upside down when she switches places with her sinister mirror image.
You'll Never Find Me
Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality...
Vivarium
A young woman and her fiancé are in search of the perfect starter home. After following a mysterious real estate agent to a new housing development, the couple finds themselves trapped in a maze of identical houses and forced to raise an otherworldly child.
Nightman
A young pregnant woman discovers that her perfect boyfriend may be a dangerous sleepwalker when she finds out of strange disappearances and murders taking place in the region.
Evil Nanny
A couple hires a live-in nanny to watch the offspring while they work. At first, everything goes perfectly, but when an unsafe incident means the parents no longer want the nanny around, they find out this nanny is savvy at not being evicted from her live-in situation. So savvy, in fact, that she can make these parents' lives a true nightmare.
The Caller
Troubled divorcee Mary Kee is tormented by a series of sinister phone calls from a mysterious woman. When the stranger reveals she's calling from the past, Mary tries to break off contact. But the caller doesn't like being ignored, and looks for revenge in a unique and terrifying way...
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with When a Stranger Calls (1979): Horror and Thriller themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of When a Stranger Calls.
See full details for When a Stranger Calls (1979)