Movies Like Despondent Yearning

If you liked Despondent Yearning (1973), a horror movie directed by Donald Farmer, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Strange Darling (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also horror
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
2
Dressed to Kill (1980)
★ 6.9/10Also horror
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing…
3
Maniac (1963)
★ 6.2/10Also horror
When a stranger enters a quiet, country town and is seduced by a sensuous married woman he unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a storm of sexual guilt and murder.
4
Night of the Hunted (2023)
★ 6.1/10Also horror
When an unsuspecting woman stops at a remote gas station in the dead of night, she's made the plaything of a sociopath sniper with a secret vendetta. To survive, she must not only dodge his bullets and fight for her…
5
Bloodline Killer (2024)
★ 6/10Also horror
Moira Cole endeavors to rebuild her shattered life after her family's murder at the hands of her deranged and obsessed cousin.
6
Bone Lake (2025)
★ 5.9/10Also horror
A couple’s romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple. In this darkly hilarious and seductive horror story, a dream…
7
Play Dead (2025)
★ 6.3/10Also horror
A woman wakes up injured in a basement surrounded by corpses. To survive, she pretends to be dead while a grotesque ritual unfolds in the house above.
8
Frank and Penelope (2022)
★ 7.3/10Also horror
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is…
9
Mikey (1992)
★ 5.9/10Also horror
Mikey just needs a good stable home. He's bounced from foster home to foster home his whole life. He finally lands himself with a new loving family, but their perfect little child is not what he appears to be. His…
10
Bloodline (2019)
★ 5.9/10Also horror
Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
11
Dust Bunny (2025)
★ 6.7/10Also horror
Ten-year-old Aurora asks her hitman neighbor to kill the monster under her bed that she claims ate her family. To protect her, he must battle an onslaught of assassins while accepting that some monsters are real.
12
Play Dead (2022)
★ 6.1/10Also horror
Criminology student Chloe fakes her own death to break into a morgue, in order to retrieve a piece of evidence that ties her younger brother to a crime gone wrong. Once inside, she discovers that a sadistic coroner is…
13
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
★ 6.8/10Also horror
Convinced that his family is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hellbent on stopping his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the cursed Usher bloodline from expanding. When her nameless traveller fiancé…
14
The Strangers (2008)
★ 6.1/10Also horror
After a 4 a.m. knock at the door and haunting voices, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt’s remote getaway becomes a psychological night of terror as three masked strangers invade. Now they must go far beyond what they…
15
Whisper (2007)
★ 6.3/10Also horror
Sinister things begin happening to kidnappers who are holding a young boy for ransom in a remote cabin.
16
Eradication (2022)
★ 6.1/10Also horror
When an unknown disease wipes out most of the world’s population, a man with unique blood is isolated for study. Fearing for his wife’s safety, he breaks his quarantine – into a world overrun by monstrous Infected and…
17
Barbarian (2022)
★ 6.9/10Also horror
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…
18
Terrifier (2011)
★ 6/10Also horror
After witnessing a brutal murder on Halloween night, a young woman becomes the next target of a maniacal entity.
19
Ma (2019)
★ 5.8/10Also horror
Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting…
20
You'll Never Find Me (2024)
★ 6.1/10Also horror
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…