20 best movies like The Shortcut (2009)

After learning of an urban legend in which a demented serial killer named SMILEY can be summoned through the Internet, mentally fragile Ashley must decide whether she is losing her mind or becoming Smiley's next victim.

Bullying students are becoming deathly ill after screaming the name of a legendary ghost. What's to blame? An exotic illness? An illicit drug? Or is it the supernatural? The clues are few and time is running out for the students of Rogers High School. The only hope is the Veritas Project, a highly trained investigative team working undercover to expose the truth. Lives hang in the balance as they scramble to unravel the mystery and protect the student body from their own hatred and fear.

Locked in a school closet during Halloween 1962, young Frank witnesses the ghost of a young girl and the man who murdered her years ago. Shortly afterward he finds himself stalked by the killer and is soon drawn to an old house where a mysterious Lady In White lives. As he discovers the secret of the woman he soon finds that the killer may be someone close to him.

While on a GPS treasure hunt in the Palatinate forest four teenagers come across an old US military radio tower station. Back in the days of the Cold War it was part of a secret military program that produced horrific side effects, but has long since abandoned. Until now, when the station is mysteriously powered up again.

Mary Murdock, a college student, thinks she's hit and killed a cat with her car driving home drunk from a party. She is horrified beyond words when she gets home and discovers a man's nearly dead body impaled on the bumper of her Jeep. Terrified and irrational, Mary is faced with a series of decisions that determine her fate.

Eight unsuspecting high school seniors at a posh boarding school, who delight themselves on playing games of lies, come face-to-face with terror and learn that nobody believes a liar - even when they're telling the truth.

20 years after three teenagers disappeared in the wake of mysterious lights appearing above Phoenix, Arizona, unseen footage from that night has been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition.

A crew of coal miners becomes trapped 600 feet below ground after a disastrous collapse. As the air grows more toxic and time runs out, they slowly descend into madness and begin to turn on one another. Inspired by true events.

A police officer and a psychologist investigate the deaths of five people who were killed while trying to summon ghosts.

Siskiyou County, California has the most reported Bigfoot sightings in the world. In August of 2009, a documentary filmmaker went to investigate these alleged sightings.

A newlywed couple finds their lake-country honeymoon descend into chaos after Paul finds his wife wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night.

Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man.

Set in the late 1980s, school is out for the summer, and a sun-drenched season of firsts beckons the counselors at Camp Clearwater, a seemingly idyllic Midwestern summer camp, including first loves, first kisses – and first kills. Clearwater’s dark, ancient mythology awakens, and what was supposed to be a summer of fun soon turns into one of unforgettable scares and evil at every turn.

Thirty years ago, in the sleepy community of Waterbury, a killer known as “The Executioner” murdered Sarah Bennett's parents. Now Sarah and her husband Dylan have returned to town, only to find herself the centerpiece in a series of horrifying murders centered around the seven deadly sins.

A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest.

Every 40 seconds a person goes missing. In northern Idaho, a group of teenage girls attended a summer camp to help them connect with nature without technology. They were told it would be a summer of change. As the girls' houseboat is suddenly stranded in the middle of the river an odd couple comes to their aid. What was suppose to be an act of kindness turns deadly as the girls find themselves on the run, being pursued through the forest by a brutal and determined killer.

Eight college friends head to a "Haunted Rental" in a remote town for Halloween weekend. There, they play the game rumored to have caused the deaths of seven teenagers decades earlier, Truth or Dare. What starts out as vodka induced fun, quickly turns serious when the dares become sickeningly dangerous and the truths threaten to tear the group apart. When players attempt to refuse the increasingly challenging tasks, they're met with deadly consequences, quickly discovering: you must do the dare, or the dare does you. As the death toll mounts, the remaining players must race against the clock to outrun, outsmart and outlast the simple game of Truth or Dare.

Fresh out of rehab, a young woman moves back in with her parents and sister, and soon becomes involved in a mystery that has left people in her town paralyzed.

When an inexperienced park ranger finds a dead body under mysterious circumstances on a remote mountain trail, she must guard it overnight until authorities can arrive, forcing her to confront some of her deepest, darkest fears.

Michael is committed to getting his best friend Chris to sober up and get his life back on track. With the best of intentions, Michael implements a plan to convince Chris to go to rehab before his drug addiction leads to an early death. But what begins as an attempt to save his friend's life quickly takes an unexpected turn as the two friends confront personal demons, the consequences of past actions, and forces beyond their control.

Four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Another great force they must contend with is the jealousy and suspicion that threatens to tear them apart.

A young camgirl discovers that she’s inexplicably been replaced on her site with an exact replica of herself.

Set in 1965 New England, a troubled girl encounters mysterious happenings in the woods surrounding an isolated girls school that she was sent to by her estranged parents.

A dark comedy about four self-absorbed twenty-somethings who become entangled in an ominous mystery when a former college acquaintance suddenly disappears.

A Boston police detective investigates a series of gruesome decapitations of various college coeds commited by a helmeted, black-leather clad serial killer which leads him to suspect a well known anthropology professor as well as his female live-in assistant.

When Grace is accused of playing a role in a deadly accident, her best friend reaches out from beyond the grave to unveil the truth behind what happened.

A masked maniac terrorizes the same small community where a murderer known as the Phantom Killer struck decades earlier.

Three young conspiracy theorists attempt to uncover the mysteries of Area 51, the government's secret location rumored to have hosted encounters with alien beings. What they find at this hidden facility exposes unimaginable secrets.

Five students on spring break meet at a secluded island cabin for a weekend getaway. Stranded on the island they become the prey of a mysterious killer who seems bent on revenge for something the friends have done.

A Group of teenagers test the legend of an immortal witch and get more than they bargained for. It's almost Halloween and six young people, spooked but not undaunted by the folklore surrounding an old haunted house, make their way to the abode of the legendary Wicked, perhaps hoping to provoke the malevolent witch, but clearly not prepared for what they've certainly unleashed.

Fifteen years after conjuring an imaginary phantom known as Mercy Black, a repentant woman returns to her hometown to live with her sister and young nephew. But as Mercy continues to haunt her and the death count rises, she must face her deepest terror and discover the truth of her past before Mercy Black claims her nephew. Daniella Pineda, Austin Amelio, Elle LaMont, Miles Emmons, Lee Eddy, and Janeane Garofalo star in this terrifying story of regret, redemption, and the dark side of belief.

In this cunning mystery-horror hybrid, college student Ben inherits a curious old mechanical box that churns out voodoo dolls. When a shadowy figure starts using the box to murder Ben's friends, Ben must find the killer.

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

When some very creepy things start happening around school, the kids at Herrington High make a chilling discovery that confirms their worst suspicions: their teachers really are from another planet! As mind-controlling parasites rapidly begin spreading from the faculty to the students' bodies, it's ultimately up to the few who are left – an unlikely collection of loners, leaders, nerds and jocks – to save the world from alien domination.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British business men by an Egyptian cult, they move to stop it.

17-year old Eli moves with his family to the isolated farm of reclusive Waylon, a man whose dark past threatens to overtake him. Eli’s family works to restore the desolate fields, while he becomes fascinated with the forests. While on the farm, Eli meets the mysterious Amanda when she gives him an apple. The next day she extracts a promise from him to avoid the deep woods. Reeling from a violent encounter with his father, one night he breaks this promise and finds her body hanging from a tree.

A group of young backpackers' vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.

Valerie is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry another man – who is wealthy. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter plan to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by a werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon, to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them.

When young Poindexter "Fool" Williams breaks into the creepy, immense old home of his family's greedy and uncaring landlords, he uncovers a disturbing scenario underneath the stairs.

An anorexic young woman escapes from a psychiatric clinic and meets a young man who wants to help. She is caught and returned to her parents, who are soon beheaded by a garrotting stranger making the rounds about town, apparently striking only when it rains. The orphaned young woman and her new lover launch their own investigation and are endangered when a link is discovered with the victims and a particular operation performed years before.

Five friends are stalked and murdered by a masked assailant while preparing for Valentine's Day.

Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able help him is his attacker.

When the citizens of a small evangelical town systematically begin committing suicide, a young girl struggling to reconcile her Christian upbringing with her desire to experience the outside world finds her faith put to the ultimate test.

The pit has spoken. Dawai, the potter of a backwoods community, has crafted a face on a ceramic jug of the person that the pit wants sacrificed. Ada, pregnant with her brother’s child, has seen her face on the jug and hides it in the woods, determined to save the life of her unborn. If she does not sacrifice herself however, the creature from the pit will kill everyone in the village until she does.

Inspired by actual events, a group of 12 year old girls face a night of horror when the compulsive addiction of an online social media game turns a moment of cyber bullying into a night of insanity.

Trying to find inspiration for his next horror novel, Blake retreats to the Appalachian Mountains with his mistress, Angelica. Upon arrival they learn about the case of several missing boys in the area. When Angelica follows a lead to one of the missing boys and disappears, Blake becomes a prime suspect.

High school loner Bird Fitcher has no idea what dark secrets are tied to the mysterious Polaroid vintage camera she stumbles upon, but it doesn't take long to discover that those who have their picture taken meet a tragic end. Bird and her friends must survive one more night as they race to solve the mystery of the haunted Polaroid before it kills them all.

A young couple ventures into the woods to capture footage of the elusive Bigfoot.

Ten years after the events of the original movie, Victor Crowley is mistakenly resurrected and proceeds to kill once more.