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Movies like Paperhouse

Key Features:
Dream world, Surrealism, Escapism, Illness, Loneliness, Psychological horror, Family conflict, Imagination, Fear, Isolation, Coming of age, Nightmare
Tone:
serious, suspense-driven, restrained
Target Audience:
Psychological thriller fans, Horror enthusiasts, Art house viewers, Fantasy lovers
Emotional Arc:
Boredom → Fear → Acceptance

Paperhouse

1988-09-10
Paperhouse Poster - Find Similar Movies

A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.

Genres
Drama, Fantasy
Cast
Charlotte Burke, Elliott Spiers, Glenne Headly, Gemma Jones, Ben Cross, Jane Bertish, Sarah Newbold, Steven O, Samantha Cahill, Gary Bleasdale
Crew
Matthew Jacobs, Bernard Rose
Rating
6.5(153 votes)
PaperhousePaperhouse
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Paper Man
Paper Man(2009)
6.31

A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.



Horse Girl
5.649

A socially awkward woman with a fondness for arts and crafts, horses, and supernatural crime shows finds her increasingly lucid dreams trickling into her waking life.



Nightmare
Nightmare(1964)
6.8

A young student is haunted by recurring dreams of her mother murdering her father, but her nightmare is just beginning as she tries to prove to her loved ones that she is not insane.



Paper Towns
6.2

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Quentin arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Quentin soon learns that there are clues, and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Quentin gets, the less he sees of the girl he thought he knew.



Tideland
Tideland(2005)
6.509

Because of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.



Deadline
Deadline(2009)
5

A screenwriter travels to an abandoned house to finish a script on time, but a series of strange events lead her to a psychological breakdown.



Stickman
Stickman(2017)
5.754

The thing that waits under your bed, hides in the closet, stalks your dreams… is waiting for you. At least Emma Wright knew that at the age of 7 when she was wrongly accused of murdering her sister. Emma knew it was the Stickman. After years of isolation she finally has her demons under control and is released.



The Nightmare
6.37

After a massive party one evening, 17-year-old Tina begins experiencing nightmares in which she is haunted by an unusual creature.



Hide and Seek
4.704

Four fragile young people flee London to start an unconventional utopia, creating a world of fantasy that overwhelms them.



Girl Asleep
6.033

The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can't bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with her only friend Elliott, until her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday party and she's flung into a parallel place; a world that's weirdly erotic, a little bit violent and thoroughly ludicrous - only there can she find herself.



Horsehead
Horsehead(2014)
5.2

Since her childhood, Jessica has been haunted by recurrent nightmares whose meaning escapes her. This peculiarity has led her to study the psychophysiology of dreams and to follow a therapy with Sean, her mentor and boyfriend, to try and understand the origin of her nightmares. Following the death of her maternal grandmother she hardly knew, Jessica reluctantly returns to the family home. Jessica then begins to wander in a nightmarish world inhabited by twisted versions of her family members. She gradually improves her skills as a lucid dreamer and investigates to solve the mystery that gnaws her and haunts the family home...



Madhouse
Madhouse(2004)
5.7

A young psychiatric intern unearths secrets about the mental health facility in which he works.



MirrorMask
6.4

In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.



Family Life
7.2

A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.



Clownhouse
6.099

Three teenage brothers are terrorized by a trio of escaped mental patients disguised as clowns.



Sketch
Sketch(2025)
7.151

When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.



Vesper
Vesper(2022)
6.323

After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.



Ink
Ink(2009)
6.349

Invisible forces exert power over us in our sleep. A mercenary named Ink, on a literal nightmare mission, captures the spirit of 8-year-old Emma in the dream world. To save her, the dream-givers marshal all their resources, focusing on saving the soul of Emma's tragically broken father.



Anguish
Anguish(2015)
4.679

A new girl in a quiet town, Tess tries to manage her psychosis while adjusting to her new life with her mom. After stumbling upon the shrine of Lucy, a hit and run victim, Tess finds herself overwhelmed by hallucinations of the dead girl and starts to question her sanity again. When the spirit possesses Tess’s mind and soul, mother and daughter are at a loss for where to turn next for salvation: religion or medicine? Both institutions have failed them to date but faith leads them to the house of Sarah, Lucy’s mother, who has been despondent since the accident. All together with time working against them, Sarah is desperate to believe that Lucy is still alive in Tess but neither parent wants to give up on their daughter. Now that she understands what is happening to her, ultimately Tess must decide whether she wants to keep fighting or succumb to her affliction.



Danika
Danika(2006)
5.071

Traumatized since childhood by her brother's accidental death, Danika Merrick hallucinates a bank robbery and quits her job. Despite support from her three children and loving husband, Danika continues to experience unnerving visions. She seeks help from therapist Evelyn Harris but pervasive reports of violent incidents involving children make Danika fear for her own family, and she grows increasingly paranoid, worrying she may be going insane.



The House
The House(2022)
7

Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.



Persona
Persona(1966)
8.1

A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.



Stutterer
Stutterer(2015)
7.4

A lonely typographer with a cruel speech impediment but an eloquent inner voice must face his greatest fear.



Cracks
Cracks(2009)
6.6

Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.



Stopmotion
6.182

Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.



Amer
Amer(2009)
6.207

Ana is confronted with body and desire at three key moments of her life. As a young girl, she brings her dead grandpa back to life. In her puberty, she discovers the power of decay and sexuality. Finally, she wrestles with loss and loneliness when she returns to her parental home, now derelict.



Dream House
6.2

Publisher Will Atenton quits a lucrative job in New York to relocate his wife, Libby, and their daughters to a quaint town in New England. However, as they settle into their home the Atentons discover that a woman and her children were murdered there, and the surviving husband is the town's prime suspect. With help from a neighbor who was close to the murdered family, Will pieces together a horrifying chain of events.



Eternal Beauty
6.2

When Jane is rejected by life, she spirals into a chaotic, schizophrenic world where love and normality collide with humorous consequences.



Daydream Nation
5.747

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.



Paper Planes
5.992

Dylan discovers he has a talent for making paper planes. He has a chance to compete in a world championship, but he'll have to face bullies and self-doubt to do so.



Alice
Alice(1988)
7.4

A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland".



Hide and Seek
6.3

David Callaway tries to piece together his life in the wake of his wife's suicide and has been left to raise his nine-year-old daughter, Emily on his own. David is at first amused to discover that Emily has created an imaginary friend named 'Charlie', but it isn't long before 'Charlie' develops a sinister and violent side, and as David struggles with his daughter's growing emotional problems, he comes to the frightening realisation that 'Charlie' isn't just a figment of Emily's imagination.



The Imaginary
7.8

Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger go on thrilling make-believe adventures. But when Rudger finds himself alone, he faces a mysterious threat.



Sleeping Beauty
5.4

A haunting erotic fairytale about Lucy, a young University student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire.



Patema Inverted
7.37

A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.



Appendage
Appendage(2023)
5.581

After hitting a breaking point, Hannah's inner thoughts physicalize into a monstrous creature that threatens to upend her life.



MadS
MadS(2024)
6.721

A teenager stops off to see his dealer to test a new drug before heading off for a night of partying. On the way home, he picks up an injured woman, and the night takes a surreal turn.



The Night House
6.587

Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. Soon she begins to uncover her recently deceased husband's disturbing secrets.



Blue My Mind
6.7

15-year-old Mia faces an overwhelming transformation which puts her entire existence into question. Her body is changing radically, and despite desperate attempts to halt the process, Mia is soon forced to accept that nature is far more powerful than she is.



Bird
Bird(2024)
7.237

12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.



Ana and Bruno
7.6

Ana, a nine year old girl, arrives with her mother to an isolated beach with the intention to rest and to know the sea. There, she discovers that they are under a terrible threat, therefore she is obligated to look for help with her father in order to save her mother.



Glass House: The Good Mother

One year after losing their son David, Eve Goode and her husband Raymond Goode adopt the orphan Ethan Snow (and his teenager sister Abby Snow and bring them to their mansion nearby a lake. Abby faces difficulties of adaptation in her new home, and she confronts Eve, who proves to be deranged and unstable. When Ethan gets sick, Abby tries to contact their friend, detective Ben Koch, and she realizes that her brother and she are trapped in the house.



The Door
The Door(2009)
6.2

A successful artist loses control of his life after his young daughter's death. A chance for a new start appears, but all is not what it seems.



David and Lisa
7.2

Teenager David Clemens develops a hysterical fear that he will die if he comes into physical contact with another person. Perturbed, David's overbearing mother places him in a home for mentally disturbed young people, but David remains withdrawn from the other patients and his psychiatrist. Over time, however, David grows interested in 15-year-old Lisa, who suffers from multiple personalities – one who can only speak in rhyme, and the other, a mute.



Scarygirl
Scarygirl(2023)
6.813

As her world is shrouded in darkness, a young girl must overcome her fears and travel to a mysterious city of light, save her father from a dangerous scientist and prevent the destruction of her planet.



Welcome to the Dollhouse

An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with inattentive parents and bullies at school.



Return
Return(2015)
6.6

A tale of terror. Cathy Reed has been institutionalized most of her life because of Schizophrenia, as a child her parents thought she was possessed by demons and had her exercised by priests. Medical science saw different. Now decades later Cathy is freed, relocated to her own flat and given a chance to be independent. Once alone things are not what they all seem and when her nightmares turn real she questions her state of mind before she is left to face her demons.



Alice in Wonderland

On a golden afternoon, wildly curious young Alice tumbles into the burrow and enters the merry, madcap world of Wonderland full of whimsical escapades.



The Butterfly Room
5.722

A reclusive and butterfly-obsessed elderly lady suffering from bipolar disorder develops a disturbing relationship with a mysterious but seemingly innocent youngster.



Scissors
Scissors(1991)
4.975

A woman trying to recover from a sexual attack is locked in a posh apartment with a corpse of the very man she's been dreaming would murder her. She tries to hang on to reality when objects around her seem to come to life.



Isabelle
Isabelle(2019)
5.134

A young couple's dream of starting a family shatters as they descend into the depths of paranoia and must struggle to survive an evil presence that wants nothing more than their very own lives.



Dreambuilders
7.5

Minna, a young girl, misuses her newfound ability to create and control other people’s dreams to teach her bothersome stepsister a lesson. When her stepsister can no longer wake up, Minna has to enter the dream world to save her.



Phoebe in Wonderland
7.198

The fantastical tale of a little girl who won't - or can't - follow the rules. Confounded by her clashes with the rule-obsessed world around her, Phoebe seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher, even as her brilliant but anguished mother looks to Phoebe herself for inspiration.



Cobweb
Cobweb(2023)
6.452

Eight year old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping from inside his bedroom wall—one that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trustworthiness.



Oracle
Oracle(2023)
6.328

A young woman accepts a job on a property with a traumatic history. Upon her arrival, she soon realizes that the nightmares of her childhood are connected to the evil in the house.



The Awakening
6.382

In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.



Fear of Rain
6.9

A teenage girl living with schizophrenia begins to suspect her neighbor has kidnapped a child. Her parents try desperately to help her live a normal life, without exposing their own tragic secrets, and the only person who believes her is Caleb – a boy she isn’t even sure exists.



Separation
5.692

A young girl finds solace in her artist father and the ghost of her dead mother.



Dorothy Mills
6.02

When a gloomy, God-fearing island community is rocked by the assault of an infant, a psychiatrist is called in to examine Dorothy Mills, the teenager accused of the crime. Despite the villagers' hostility to her inquiry, she soon comes to suspect that Dorothy suffers from multiple personality disorder...



Intruders
Intruders(2011)
5.5

Though no one can see him, Hollow Face lurks in the corners, desperately desiring love but only knowing how to spread fear and hate. He creeps into the life of John Farrow after Farrow’s beloved 13-year-old daughter Mia is assaulted in their home. The line between the real and the imaginary blurs as fissures start to open within the family unit. It seems that no security measure can keep Hollow Face out.



They
They(2002)
5

A psychology student who experienced night terrors as a child must face the chilling realization that her nightmares were not all in her head.



We're All Going to the World's Fair

Reality and fantasy begin to blur when a teenager, alone in her attic bedroom, immerses herself in a role-playing horror game online.



Treehouse
Treehouse(2015)
4.484

A teenage boy discovers the perpetrators of several brutal kidnappings in his home town.



Dark Corners
4.983

A troubled young woman wakes up one day as a different person - someone who is stalked by creatures.



In Your Dreams
7.08

Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.



Black Moon
6

There is a global civil war between men and women. A teenage girl tries to escape this reality and arrives at a hidden place where a strange unicorn lives with a family: sister, brother, many children and an old, bedridden woman who stays in contact with the world through her radio.



The Scribbler
5.1

Suki is a young woman confronting her destructive mental illness using "The Siamese Burn," an experimental machine designed to eliminate multiple personalities. The closer Suki comes to being "cured," she's haunted by a thought... what if the last unwanted identity turns out to be her?



Fear
Fear(1996)
6.511

Nicole Walker always dreamed of being swept away by someone special — someone strong, sexy and sensitive who would care for her more than anything else in the world. David is all that and more: a modern-day knight who charms and seduces her, body and soul. But her perfect boyfriend is not all he seems to be. His sweet facade masks a savage, dark side that will soon transform Nicole's dream into a nightmare.



The Girl in the Book

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.



Before I Wake
6.494

An orphaned child's dreams—and nightmares—manifest physically as he sleeps.



Embers
Embers(2015)
5.643

After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. Five interwoven stories each explore a different facet of life without memory in a future that has no past.



Amanda
Amanda(2022)
6.43

Amanda, 24, lives mostly isolated and has never had any friends, even if it's the thing she wants the most. Amanda chooses her new mission as to convince her childhood friend to believe that they are still best friends.



Braid
Braid(2019)
5.7

Two drug dealers on the lam seek refuge inside their mentally unstable friend’s mansion. But in order to stay, they have to participate in her elaborate, and increasingly dangerous, game of permanent make-believe.



Martyrs Lane
6.1

Leah, 10, has terrible nightmares. Her mother seems distant somehow, lost in her thoughts. A small, nightly visitor brings Leah comfort, but soon Leah will realize that her little visitor offers knowledge that might be very, very dangerous.



Madhouse
Madhouse(1974)
6.226

A horror movie star returns to his famous role after spending years in a mental institution, but the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.



The Fair Haired Child
5.833

A creepy couple kidnaps a teenage outcast and locks her in their basement with their seemingly kindhearted adolescent son - who harbors a terrifying secret involving the forces of evil.



Demonic
Demonic(2021)
4.8

A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed.



Containment
5.972

Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?



A Monster Calls
7.3

12-year-old Conor encounters an ancient tree monster who proceeds to help him cope with his mother's terminal illness and being bullied in school.



Marrowbone
7.3

A young man and his three younger siblings are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live.



Spider
Spider(2002)
6.646

A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.



Alice in Terrorland
5.887

A recently bereaved teenage girl goes to live with her aunt in a secluded woodland house, unaware that sinister forces lurk within.



Nell
Nell(1994)
6.554

In a remote woodland cabin, a small town doctor discovers Nell — a beautiful young hermit woman with many secrets.



The Chalk Line
6.405

After a couple finds a traumatized child of unknown origins, wife Paula must decipher the girl's strange behaviors to unlock her identity and dark past.



Re-cycle
Re-cycle(2006)
6.463

Ting-yin, a young novelist, is struggling to come up with a followup to her best-selling trilogy of romance novels. After drafting her first chapter, she stops and deletes the file from her computer. She then starts seeing strange, unexplainable things and finds that she is experiencing the supernatural events that she described in her novel-to-be.



Seance
Seance(2021)
5.6

At an elite boarding school for girls, six friends jokingly engage in a late night ritual, calling forth the spirit of a dead former student who reportedly haunts their halls. Before morning, one of the girls is dead, leaving the others wondering what they may have awakened.



Through a Glass Darkly

Karin hopes to recover from her recent stay at a mental hospital by spending the summer at her family's cottage on a tiny island. Her husband, Martin, cares for her but is frustrated by her physical withdrawal. Her younger brother, Minus, is confused by Karin's vulnerability and his own budding sexuality. Their father, David, cannot overcome his haughty remoteness. Beset by visions, Karin descends further into madness.



Acid
Acid(2023)
5.719

During a heat wave, strange clouds start pouring down acid rain, wreaking devastation and panic throughout France. In a world teetering on the edge, a girl and her divorced parents must join forces to confront and try to escape this climate catastrophe.



Nightbooks
6.11

Alex, a boy obsessed with scary stories, is trapped by a witch in her modern, magical New York City apartment. His original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping him safe as he desperately tries to find a way out of this twisted place.



In the House
7.2

A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.



Animas
Animas(2018)
4.962

Abraham and his female friend Álex have a close relationship; they share both secrets and fears. When Abraham starts going out with Anchi, he begins to distance himself from Álex, who gradually dives into a living hell where she encounters strange apparitions, nightmarish visions and extreme situations.



Relic
Relic(2020)
6.092

When elderly mother Edna inexplicably vanishes, her daughter rushes to the family's decaying home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence.



Z
Z(2019)
6.6

A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.



Romance
Romance(1999)
5.451

Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.



Words on Bathroom Walls

Diagnosed with a mental illness halfway through his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.



The Attic
The Attic(2006)
3.824

Emma has a strong aversion towards her family’s new house, especially the attic. After moving in, she becomes miserable and reclusive. The rest of her family also seems unhappy and unsettled. The situation escalates one day when Emma is in the attic alone. All of a sudden someone who looks exactly like Emma attacks her viciously.



Repulsion
Repulsion(1965)
7.4

Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.



Skinamarink
5.404

Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.



Marshmallow
6

At a secluded summer camp, timid and introverted 12-year-old Morgan is thrust into a waking nightmare when a once-fabled campfire tale becomes real. As a mysterious figure descends upon the camp, Morgan and his newfound friends must embark on a treacherous journey and uncover a sinister reality buried beneath the surface.

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