7 Best Horror Movies If You Like The Exorcist

7 Best Horror Movies If You Like The Exorcist

If The Exorcist is the kind of horror movie that actually gets under your skin, you probably aren't looking for a film that is scary only because something suddenly jumps out of the screen.

What makes The Exorcist so disturbing is the way it slowly builds its horror. It takes something completely familiar — a family, a child, a home, doctors, priests, and religion — and turns all of it into something terrifying. Instead of immediately showing you everything, the movie makes you watch as a normal situation gradually becomes impossible to explain.

The supernatural elements are also treated seriously. There is very little feeling that the characters are simply playing around with ghosts or demons. For the people in the story, what is happening is real, frightening, and potentially deadly.

That is why finding another horror movie with exactly the same feeling can be difficult.

But there are plenty of movies that explore similar ideas, including demonic possession, exorcisms, religious horror, supernatural mysteries, and families trying to understand something that seems completely beyond their control.

So if The Exorcist is one of your favorite horror movies, here are seven films you should add to your watchlist.

1. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

If what you loved most about The Exorcist was the combination of supernatural horror and religious themes, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is probably one of the first movies you should watch.

The story follows Emily Rose, a young woman whose death becomes the center of a legal case after a priest performs an exorcism on her. Instead of telling the story entirely through a traditional horror format, the movie moves between the courtroom and the events that happened before Emily's death.

And that's what makes it interesting.

The movie constantly makes you question what you're actually watching.

Was Emily really possessed? Was there a medical explanation for what happened to her? Did the priest make the right decision by attempting an exorcism? Or was something genuinely supernatural involved?

The story doesn't simply give you an easy answer and move on.

Like The Exorcist, it uses religion as an important part of the story, but it also introduces questions about science, medicine, faith, and personal belief.

The courtroom setting also gives the movie a different kind of tension. You aren't just watching someone try to survive a demon. You're watching people argue over whether the supernatural event even happened in the first place.

If you enjoy horror movies that leave you thinking about the story after the credits, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a strong choice.

2. The Conjuring (2013)

If you want something that feels like a modern supernatural horror movie while still carrying some of the atmosphere of classic possession films, The Conjuring is an obvious pick.

The movie follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they investigate a family experiencing increasingly disturbing events after moving into a new home.

At first, the strange occurrences seem relatively small. But as the family continues to experience terrifying events, the situation becomes much more serious.

One of the things The Conjuring does particularly well is build suspense before showing you exactly what is happening.

You might hear something in another room. You might see something in the background. A character might notice something that the audience doesn't fully understand yet.

That creates the feeling that danger could be anywhere.

The movie also becomes increasingly connected to religious ideas as the story progresses. Eventually, the investigation leads toward a situation involving possession and an exorcism.

Compared with The Exorcist, The Conjuring is more modern and uses more jump scares, but the two movies share an important idea: the horror comes from something invading a place that should feel safe.

A family home becomes a place of fear, and the people inside it don't know how to make the problem stop.

If you want a movie that combines supernatural investigation, family drama, possession, and a creepy atmosphere, this is one to watch.

3. The Omen (1976)

If you enjoy classic horror and haven't watched The Omen, this is one of the movies you should put near the top of your list.

Released in 1976, The Omen tells the story of a young boy named Damien and his parents, who gradually begin to suspect that their son is connected to something much darker than they could have imagined.

But the movie doesn't immediately explain everything.

Instead, strange and disturbing events begin happening around the family. As the story develops, Damien's identity and the meaning behind those events become increasingly important.

Like The Exorcist, the movie uses religious themes to make ordinary family life feel frightening.

There isn't a demon jumping out every few minutes. A lot of the tension comes from the idea that something evil may be hiding underneath an otherwise normal situation.

That slow realization is what makes the movie so effective.

The fact that The Omen is from the 1970s also gives it a very different atmosphere from modern horror movies. The pacing is slower, the filmmaking is more restrained, and the movie allows uncomfortable moments to sit with you instead of immediately moving to the next scare.

If you like horror that relies on atmosphere, mystery, and the fear of something evil existing in the real world, The Omen is still worth watching.

4. The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

This movie takes the possession story and gives it a completely different setup.

The Taking of Deborah Logan follows a documentary crew that is filming Deborah, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

At first, the filmmakers believe they're documenting the progression of her illness.

But as filming continues, Deborah begins behaving in increasingly strange and disturbing ways.

And this is where the movie becomes genuinely uncomfortable.

The audience is initially given a possible explanation for what they're seeing. Maybe it's the disease. Maybe it's confusion. Maybe it's the result of Deborah's declining condition.

But eventually, some of the events become much harder to explain.

The movie slowly introduces the possibility that something supernatural could be involved.

That uncertainty is one of its biggest strengths.

Rather than immediately telling you, "This person is possessed," the movie makes you question what you're seeing along with the characters.

That makes the eventual revelations feel much more disturbing.

The documentary-style presentation also makes everything feel more personal and immediate. You're watching footage that is supposedly being recorded by ordinary people who don't fully understand what they've discovered.

If you liked the way The Exorcist slowly revealed that something was seriously wrong with Regan, The Taking of Deborah Logan offers a similar feeling of discovering that the situation is much darker than it first appeared.

5. The Last Exorcism (2010)

Don't let the title make you think this is simply another priest-versus-demon movie.

The Last Exorcism approaches possession from a very different perspective.

The story follows Reverend Cotton Marcus, a preacher who performs exorcisms but has become skeptical about whether the people he encounters are actually possessed.

He believes that many supposed possessions can have other explanations, and he has developed methods for making people believe an exorcism has worked.

Eventually, Cotton agrees to perform one final exorcism for a young girl named Nell.

He expects the situation to have a rational explanation.

But the more time he spends with Nell and her family, the more complicated everything becomes.

The movie uses a found-footage style, which makes the story feel less like a traditional Hollywood horror movie and more like someone documenting something that is going terribly wrong.

That approach also makes the question of possession even more interesting.

If you enjoyed the uncertainty surrounding the supernatural events in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, you'll probably appreciate what this movie is trying to do.

It doesn't simply ask, "Can a demon possess someone?"

It also asks whether people can convince themselves that something supernatural is happening — and what happens when the explanation isn't as simple as they thought.

For fans of possession horror who want something a little different from the usual formula, The Last Exorcism is worth adding to the list.

6. Hereditary (2018)

If the part of The Exorcist that stayed with you was the psychological horror and the way supernatural events affected an entire family, Hereditary is a movie you shouldn't miss.

The story follows the Graham family after the death of their grandmother.

At first, the movie is heavily focused on grief and family relationships. But as the story continues, strange events begin happening, and the family starts uncovering disturbing information about their past.

What makes Hereditary so effective is how slowly it reveals what is really going on.

The movie doesn't rush to explain the supernatural elements.

Instead, it allows the family relationships to become increasingly uncomfortable while the audience gradually realizes that something much bigger may be happening.

The horror also feels deeply personal.

The characters aren't simply fighting a monster. They're dealing with grief, family secrets, guilt, and events that they don't fully understand.

That makes the supernatural horror feel connected to the emotional story rather than simply being added on top of it.

Hereditary is also much more psychological than many traditional possession movies. Some scenes are disturbing because of what happens, while others are disturbing simply because of the atmosphere and the feeling that something terrible is coming.

If you prefer horror that builds slowly and stays in your head after you've finished watching, this is one of the strongest choices on the list.

Just don't expect it to feel exactly like The Exorcist. It takes some of the same ideas about family, supernatural evil, and helplessness and pushes them in a much darker direction.

7. The Exorcist III (1990)

And if you're a fan of The Exorcist, there is one movie you obviously shouldn't overlook: The Exorcist III.

A lot of horror fans approach sequels expecting them to simply repeat what made the original successful.

But The Exorcist III takes a different approach.

Instead of trying to recreate the original movie scene by scene, it focuses heavily on mystery, investigation, and psychological horror.

The story follows Detective William Kinderman as he investigates a series of murders that appear to have connections to an earlier case.

As his investigation continues, he discovers information that brings him back toward events connected to The Exorcist.

The movie has more of a detective-thriller feeling than the original. You're spending a lot of time trying to understand who is responsible for the murders and what connection the events have to the past.

But underneath that mystery is the same kind of religious and supernatural horror that made the original so memorable.

It also has a much darker and more unsettling atmosphere than you might expect from a sequel.

So if you've seen The Exorcist but somehow skipped the third movie, give it a chance.

It doesn't simply try to be another version of the original. Instead, it takes the world of The Exorcist and approaches it through a mystery story.

Which One Should You Watch First?

If you want classic religious horror, start with The Omen.

If you want modern supernatural horror with an exorcism, try The Conjuring.

If you're interested in faith, possession, and the question of whether supernatural events are real, watch The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

If you want something more psychological and disturbing, go with Hereditary.

For a found-footage possession story, try The Taking of Deborah Logan or The Last Exorcism.

And if you want to stay inside The Exorcist universe, don't skip The Exorcist III.

Why The Exorcist Is Still So Hard to Replace

There are plenty of horror movies about demons and possession, but The Exorcist remains difficult to recreate because its horror is built around more than just the supernatural.

At the center of the story is a mother watching her daughter change into someone she no longer recognizes. She tries doctors, tests, and every explanation available to her before the situation eventually takes her somewhere she never expected to go.

That makes the horror feel personal.

The movie also creates fear by putting something impossible into an ordinary environment. A bedroom becomes terrifying. A family home becomes a place where nobody feels safe. Something that should be familiar suddenly becomes completely unpredictable.

Many of the movies on this list use a similar approach, even when their stories are very different.

Some focus on religion. Others focus on family, grief, mystery, or the question of whether there is a rational explanation for what is happening. But they all understand that supernatural horror becomes much more effective when the characters feel like they have something real to lose.

And that's probably the biggest reason The Exorcist continues to influence horror movies decades after its release.

It's not simply about watching someone get possessed.

It's about watching people realize that the rules they normally depend on may no longer apply.

So if you're looking for your next horror movie after The Exorcist, these seven give you plenty of different ways to experience that same combination of demons, possession, religion, mystery, family drama, and psychological terror. Some will give you more jump scares, while others will take their time and slowly get inside your head.

Either way, if the thing you love about The Exorcist is that uncomfortable feeling that something is deeply wrong and nobody knows how to stop it, these movies are a good place to continue.