Movies like Altered States (1980)
The best movies like Altered States (1980) are The Endless (2017), Infinity Pool (2023) and The Resurrected (1991). If Altered States hooked you with its horror and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Thing (1982)8.1/10 from 8,432 votes
- NewestDouble Blind (2024)Released 2024
The Endless (2017)
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group's beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInfinity Pool (2023)
While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. A tragic accident leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you'll be executed, or, if you’re rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Resurrected (1991)
Charles Dexter Ward, a wealthy scientist, uses an ancient diary and human remains to begin a terrifying and bloody pursuit for immortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Signal (2007)
A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDark Light (2019)
A woman returns to her family home and discovers it to be inhabited by monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDouble Blind (2024)
After an experimental drug trial goes awry, the test subjects face a terrifying side effect: if you fall asleep you die. Trapped in an isolated facility, panic ensues as they try to escape and somehow stay awake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Field in England (2013)
During the Civil War in 17th-Century England, a small group of deserters flee from a raging battle through an overgrown field. They are captured by an alchemist, who forces the group to aid him in his search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field. Crossing a vast mushroom circle, which provides their first meal, the group quickly descend into a chaos of arguments, fighting and paranoia, and, as it becomes clear that the treasure might be something other than gold, they slowly become victim to the terrifying energies trapped inside the field.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnnihilation (2018)
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Beyond (1986)
The Resonator, a powerful machine that can control the sixth sense, has killed its creator and sent his associate into an insane asylum. When a psychiatrist becomes determined to continue the experiment, she unwittingly opens the door to a hostile parallel universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollow Man (2000)
Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLimitless (2011)
The life of an unsuccessful writer is transformed by a top-secret 'smart drug' that allows him to use 100% of his brain and become a perfect version of himself. His enhanced abilities soon attract shadowy forces that threaten his new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Scanner Darkly (2006)
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (2020)
After the death of his father, a brilliant college student returns to his family home where he learns that the horrors from his childhood aren't as dead and gone as he once thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hidden (1987)
When average, law-abiding citizens suddenly turn to a life of hedonistic behavior and violent crime, Detective Tom Beck is tasked with helping young FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher determine the cause.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBooks of Blood (2020)
A journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three tales tangled in space and time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thing (1982)
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEvent Horizon (1997)
In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its maiden voyage. However, it soon becomes evident that something sinister resides in its corridors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Empty Man (2020)
On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHannibal Rising (2007)
The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnforgettable (1996)
Seattle medical examiner David Krane is obsessed with solving his wife's murder. A possible solution presents itself in an experimental "memory" serum designed by a neurobiology professor, which has the ability to transfer memories from one person to another, but with potentially fatal consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMeet the Robinsons (2007)
Lewis, a brilliant young inventor, is keen on creating a time machine to find his mother, who abandoned him in an orphanage. Things take a turn when he meets Wilbur Robinson and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Psycho (2000)
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLes Femmes (2022)
A young woman guides a man through a mysterious forest. In his eyes, everything seems normal, until he comes across two women waiting for him in a macabre ritual.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Drifter (2022)
An astronaut is detached from his space station, taken into an infinite drift throughout the universe. Freed from time and space, DRIFTER is confronted with the void. He takes a dive into the unknown, in search of the ultimate freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Cycle (2022)
Composer Herman completely goes into writing his work "Cycle", losing absolutely all connection with the outside world. One evening, he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he begins to understand that his composition begins to come to life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Hard 2 (1990)
One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRope (1948)
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Altered States?
The closest matches to Altered States are The Endless (2017), Infinity Pool (2023) and The Resurrected (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Altered States?
Start with The Endless (2017), the closest match to Altered States.
What is the highest-rated movie like Altered States?
The Thing (1982), rated 8.1/10 by 8,432 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Altered States?
Double Blind (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Altered States?
Yes: The Endless (2017), Infinity Pool (2023) and The Resurrected (1991).
How are movies similar to Altered States chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Altered States, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.