Movies like dark souls are hard to come by. Dark Souls is one of the best-selling action role-playing games developed by FromSoftware in 2011. It quickly gained a massive fan base because of its intense combat, immersive storytelling, atmospheric environments, and massive open world.
A common misinterpretation is Dark Souls was inspired by classic horror movies like The Evil Dead, which it wasn’t, but this doesn’t stop the long-time horror fanatics from enjoying such a gem for what it is: a role-playing action game.
Disregarding the misguided judgment of the game, there is no denying its beauty with its detailed environments and characters that feel real in their own messed-up ways.
Some of the best movies out there are set in the dystopian future, where humans get locked into dark, cold rooms and forced to play a video game for their very lives. If you’re looking to get your fix of the Souls series on the big screen, watch these best movies like Dark Souls.
9 Best Movies Like Dark Souls
The Signal
Release Date: 22 January 2007
Director: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry
Cast: Anessa Ramsey, Justin Welborn, AJ Bowen, Scott Poythress, Sahr Ngaujah, Cheri Christian, Chad McKnight, Matthew Stanton, Suehyla El-Attar
IMDB Rating: 6.0
Movie Plot: The first and most exciting movie, like Dark Souls, The Signal (2008), is a Sci-fi thriller about three college students, Jonah, Nic, and Haley, who try to track down a hacker named Nomad. Nomad has been hacking into the mainframes of university computer networks.
Using an infrared camera, they discover Nomad is not a human hacker but a supernatural entity with plans to invade the world through computers. They find themselves stuck in a vast barren desert.
The movie has excellent cinematography, special effects, and an exciting plot. The Signal has all the elements of a movie like Dark Souls with its dark atmosphere and gripping conflict scenes.
Blue Ruin
Release Date: 17 May 2013
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Macon Blair, Amy Hargreaves, David W. Thompson, Devin Ratray, Sandy Barnett, Kevin Kolack, Brent Werzner, Eve Plumb, Stacy Rock, Sidné Anderson, Bonnie Johnson
IMDB Rating: 7.1
Movie Plot: Blue Ruin (2013) is a slow-burn American thriller about a vagrant who seeks revenge on the person responsible for his parents’ death. The movie has Dark Souls written all over it with its excellent pacing, dark environment, and brutal scenes.
The movie follows Dwight Evans as he seeks revenge on Wade Cleland for butchering his parents. To get to Wade, he has to go through Cleland’s family.
The movie has a few scenes that feel a little too slow, but overall, it is fun. Blue Ruin features an anti-hero who walks the earth achieving his purpose by any dark means necessary.
The Night Eats the World
Release Date: 13 January 2018
Director: Dominique Rocher
Cast: Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Sigrid Bouaziz, David Kammenos
IMDB Rating: 6.0
Movie Plot: The Night Eats the World is a French post-apocalyptic horror movie about residents of Paris who turn into zombies.
The Night Eats the World is about one man who struggles to survive as zombies eat Paris. Like Dark Souls, the protagonist has few health points and must fight his way through the city before it’s too late. The story is as intense as Dark Souls. It has excellent cinematography and a great soundtrack. The movie has a great soundtrack and some of the most petrifying scenes on this list – so you might want to have the lights on for that one.
Haunted
Release Date: 21 October 2013
Director: Steven M. Smith
Cast: Jon-Paul Gates, Vivien Creegor, Freddie Fuller, Gemma Gurvitz, Natalie Gurvitz, Jeremy Hill, Laura Penneycard, Briony Rawle, Ray Richardson, Samantha Scott, Steven M. Smith
IMDB Rating: 2.9
Movie Plot: Haunted is a 2013 American-found footage supernatural horror movie about six contestants of a reality show who become the target of an evil spirit after getting stuck in an old abandoned building. It is scripted and presented in the style of the paranormal TV show, Most Haunted.
The contestants of the show start experiencing strange paranormal events. The environment is dark and scary, with some upsetting scenes.
Haunted has some jump scares, but it’s not as fast-paced as Dark Souls or any of the movies like it on this list. Haunted, for its part, has an exciting plot with supernatural manifestations and detailed graphics.
M U S T R E A D
Diary of the Dead
Release Date: 8 September 2007
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol, Scott Wentworth, Philip Riccio, George Buza, Tatiana Maslany, R. D. Reid, Tino Monte, Megan Park, Martin Roach, Alan van Sprang, Matt Birman, Laura De Carteret, Janet Lo, Todd Schroeder, Alexandria DeFabiis, Nick Alachiotis, George A. Romero, Boyd Banks, Chris Violette
IMDB Rating: 5.6
Movie Plot: Diary of the Dead is an American horror movie about students who find themselves under threat by zombie-like creatures after they go on a trip.
The movie is based on film footage shot during a zombie outbreak. The students find themselves fighting for survival as the zombies are approaching closer each day.
Diary of the Dead is an action-packed movie with dark scenes that put you on edge. There are moments where you think they might make it out alive, but there’s always something waiting to surprise you.
Salvage
Release Date: 2006
Director: Jeff Crook, Josh Crook
Cast: Lauren Currie Lewis, Cody Darbe, Chris Ferry, Maureen Olander, John P. Miller, Jessica DeLong, Sam Dahler, John Briley, Joseph M. Colombo
IMDB Rating: 5.4
Movie Plot: Salvage is an American horror movie about a young girl Claire Parker who works at a local convenience store. She is brutally killed at the movie’s start, but later we know that it was just a dream. What follows after that is a series of bad dreams about death and torture.
The plot is suspenseful enough to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The movie features some fascinating scenes that are sure to send shivers down your spine. It has excellent cinematography having all the elements of a movie like Dark Souls: excellent character development, intense atmosphere, and suspenseful scenes.
Salvage is not as scary, but it’s an excellent movie to watch nonetheless.
Unrest
Release Date: 2006
Director: Jason Todd Ipson
Cast: Corri English, Marisa Petroro, Ben Livingston, Abner Genece, Derrick O’Connor, Scot Davis, Joshua Alba, Jay Jablonski, Reb Fleming, Anna Johnson, J.C. Cunningham, Terence Goodman, Rhett Willman
IMDB Rating: 5.0
Movie Plot: Unrest is a horror movie centered around a cadaver named Norma. The cadaver wakes up in the morgue and starts killing people in the hospital. It is a movie about investigating the story of the spirit that is haunting the hospital building and in a vain attempt to lay her to rest.
Unrest is a horror movie that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat until the end. It has an engaging plot and dark scenes. It has everything needed for a horror flick: spirits, dark scenes, jump scares, gore, and suspenseful moments that make you want to hide under the covers.
Unrest is gory but not over-the-top, which makes it all the scarier. The storyline is gripping and has some jump scares that will make your heart skip a beat.
Doctor Sleep
Release Date: 21 October 2019
Director: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClarnon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood, Jocelin Donahue, Cliff Curtis, Robert Longstreet, Carel Struycken, Alex Essoe, Zackary Momoh, Jacob Tremblay, Henry Thomas
IMDB Rating: 7.3
Movie Plot: Doctor Sleep is a movie by Mike Flanagan based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel. This movie is also a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s (The Shining 1980). Doctor Sleep revolves around Dan, struggling with alcoholism and his childhood trauma from his family’s 1980 ordeal at the Overlook Hotel. After fighting his lonely battle with depression, he later moves to a town where he meets a small girl named Abra, who is as powerful as him.
They soon get noticed by an evil cult that feeds on influential people with the shine. All of this leads to Dan’s past; as he tries to protect the little girl, he must confront his past.
Doctor Sleep is a horror/ thriller with lots of suspense. Additionally, it is not only an ordinary horror suspense movie. It’s got a lot of chills in it!
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
Release Date: 23 August 2019
Director: André Øvredal
Cast: Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Lorraine Toussaint, Ajanae Stephenson, Kathleen Pollard, Deborah Pollitt, Victoria Fodor, Marie Ward, Mark Steger, Javier Botet, Troy James, Kyle Labine, David Tompa, Karen Glave, Stephanie Belding, Hume Baugh, Jane Moffat, Will Carr, Amanda Smith, Brandon Knox, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Anna Fraser, Alex Spencer, Matt Smith, Colton Gobbo
IMDB Rating: 6.2
Movie Plot: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is another excellent movie by Andre Ovredal. It is based on one of the famous book series, where a bunch of maverick teenagers explore a haunted house where they find a book belonging to a witch Sarah who lived a miserable life. Later that book begins to write stories in blood, foretelling each of their deaths.
That’s when the story takes a turn, and things get real as everything written in the book starts coming true.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a perfect gateway horror film to fire up youthful imaginations. It is a good and entertaining movie which delivers a few chills for the audience and keeps them on edge.
Conclusion
Any fan of Dark Souls will take a kick out of our shortlisted movies. If you’re in the mood for a good scare, then be sure to check out our review of some of the best horror movies like Dark Souls. These spine-chilling films are sure to send a shiver down your spine and keep you up at Night. So curl up on the couch with a blanket, some popcorn, and prepare to be scared.
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