Movies like Dark Star (1974)
The best movies like Dark Star (1974) are Sleeper (1973), The Bed Sitting Room (1969) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). If Dark Star hooked you with its comedy and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Adam Project (2022)7.0/10 from 5,262 votes
- NewestNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026)Released 2026
Sleeper (1973)
Miles Monroe, a clarinet-playing health food store proprietor, is revived out of cryostasis 200 years into a future world in order to help rebels fight an oppressive government regime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bed Sitting Room (1969)
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adam Project (2022)
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFamily Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (2007)
With the Griffins stuck at home during a blackout, Peter tells the story of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)
In the not-too-distant future, the evil Dr. Forrester forces a temp named Mike into a series of experiments, where he's forced to watch cheesy movies so the mad scientist can monitor his mind. However, as Mike can't control where the movies begin or end, he'll try to keep his sanity with the help of his robot friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbsolutely Anything (2015)
Eccentric aliens give a man the power to do anything he wants to determine if Earth is worth saving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)
Trying to rescue her home planet from destruction, a gorgeous extraterrestrial named Celeste arrives on Earth and begins her scientific research. She woos quirky scientist Dr. Steve Mills, a widower with a young daughter. Before long, Celeste finds herself in love with Steve and her new life on Earth, where she experiences true intimacy for the first time. But when she loses sight of her mission, she begins to question where she belongs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026)
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGeostorm (2017)
After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone along with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Creator (2023)
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAutomata (2014)
Jacq Vaucan, an insurance agent of ROC robotics corporation, routinely investigates the case of manipulating a robot. What he discovers will have profound consequences for the future of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are special operatives charged with keeping order throughout the human territories. On assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two undertake a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where species from across the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence, and cultures. At the center of Alpha is a mysterious dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerminator Genisys (2015)
The year is 2029. John Connor, leader of the resistance continues the war against the machines. At the Los Angeles offensive, John's fears of the unknown future begin to emerge when TECOM spies reveal a new plot by SkyNet that will attack him from both fronts; past and future, and will ultimately change warfare forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSurrogates (2009)
Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Mother (2019)
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot "Mother", designed to repopulate the earth following an extinction event. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOblivion (2013)
Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaos Walking (2021)
Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Electric State (2025)
An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEating 38 Cheeseburgers (2024)
A twenty-first century ouroboros. It’s burgers all the way down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Carmen's caught in a virtual reality game designed by the Kids' new nemesis, the Toymaker. It's up to Juni to save his sister, and ultimately the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMAN VS PHONE (2024)
MAN VS PHONE is an award winning feature film about a frustrated, isolated, and unemployed artist/activist/office assistant who becomes increasingly reliant on his cell phone. However, when it uses smart locks and blackmail to trap him inside his small garage apartment, he must figure out how to escape by outsmarting his smart phone... WINNER, Best Writer, Feature Film at the 2024 North Idaho Film Festival (noidff.com). Now streaming on YouTube and Vimeo: youtube.com/@alexanderbergermovies and vimeo.com/alexanderbergermovies
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
Critters 4 (1992)
A super strain of genetically engineered mutants are designed to take over the universe, hungry to conquer the galaxy, with an appetite for mankind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisTeenage Caveman (2002)
In a post-apocalyptic future mankind is lives in a prehistoric manner. After killing his father for sexually assaulting his girlfriend, the son of a tribal leader runs away with a group of his teenage friends. They are taken in by Neil and Judith who introduce them to the vices outlawed by their tribes namely sex and drugs. Neil and Judith, however, are genetically altered indestructible mutants who have their own plans for the future of the human race.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDetention 101 (2023)
Four adults are detained in their apartments with only each other and a computer for online company. They each come from a different class with differing views but they all have one defining purpose to understand why they are really being held hostage in their own homes. The AI refuses to reveal the reason.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & comedy
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
Monty Python perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl, including several from pre-Python days.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhoever You Are, Honey (TBA)
On the Santa Cruz waterfront lives a young woman and her elderly roommate, an oddball pair who are the last vestiges of a town taken over by the tech elite. But when a new couple moves in next door, the young woman’s once secluded existence is irrevocably disrupted, and she is forced to face the fact that on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, nothing is off-limits, and what was once considered dystopia is now a reality in her own backyard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Cashback (2007)
After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFortress (1992)
In the future, the inmates of a private underground prison are computer-controlled with cameras, dream readers, and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife Karen are locked inside "The Fortress" but are determined to escape before the birth of their baby.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dark Star?
The closest matches to Dark Star are Sleeper (1973), The Bed Sitting Room (1969) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dark Star?
Start with Sleeper (1973), the closest match to Dark Star.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dark Star?
The Adam Project (2022), rated 7.0/10 by 5,262 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dark Star?
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Dark Star?
Yes: Sleeper (1973), The Bed Sitting Room (1969) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).
How are movies similar to Dark Star chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dark Star, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.