Movies like Sham Nation (1987)
The best movies like Sham Nation (1987) are The Return (2020), Blood and Snow (2023) and Zygote (2017). If Sham Nation hooked you with its science fiction and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAkira (1988)7.9/10 from 5,115 votes
- NewestBerlin Loop (2025)Released 2025
- In JapaneseVexille (2007)Also in Japanese
The 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 thisBlood and Snow (2023)
When researchers rescue a fellow scientist who survived a meteorite strike in the Arctic, they discover she may not be who they think she is. Is she some-how changed?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZygote (2017)
The two remaining crew members of a mining operation in the Arctic Circle fight to survive against an alien creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExtinction (2015)
And suddenly, overnight, the world came to a halt. Two men, two survivors, one kid, and hatred that separates them. A place forgotten by everyone, including the creatures that inhabit the Earth... until now.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster Hunters (2020)
When an alien prison ship crash lands and unleashes creature after creature in the California desert, they make quick work of the army that tries to stop them. Now, the only hope of stopping the aliens rests with a secret branch of the government specializing in alien weaponry. But with the team untested in actual combat, the battle for Earth will be brutal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYear 10 (2024)
After the fall of civilization, the few survivors have been driven to cannibalism. A young man must confront a violent tribe that has murdered his father and stolen the medicine that keeps his girlfriend alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMargaux (2022)
As a group of seniors celebrate their final college days at a smart house, the house's highly advanced AI system, Margaux, begins to take on a deadly presence of her own. A carefree weekend of partying turns into a dystopian nightmare as they realize Margaux's plans to eliminate her tenants one way or another. Time begins to run out as the group desperately tries to survive and outsmart the smart home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSlash/Back (2022)
In a remote Arctic community, a group of Inuit girls fight off an alien invasion, all while trying to make it to the coolest party in town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
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 thisDie Alone (2024)
Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Ethan, a young man with amnesia navigates the dangerous landscape in search of his lost love Emma. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Mae, a hardened and eccentric survivor. Together, Ethan and Mae face threats both human and otherwise before a fateful encounter with Kai unravels a secret that lies just beyond Ethan's fractured memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDaylight's End (2016)
Years after a mysterious plague has devastated the planet and turned most of humanity into blood-hungry creatures, a rogue drifter on a vengeful hunt stumbles across a band of survivors in an abandoned police station and reluctantly agrees to try to help them defend themselves and escape to the sanctuary they so desperately need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisVexille (2007)
2067: Isolation: Japan seals herself off from the eyes of the world in the face of unilateral international policy setting strict limits on the use of robotic technology. The island nation exists only behind a veil of seclusion. No soul shall enter. No soul shall leave. 2077: Revelation: The veil is breached. Japan is infiltrated by agents of the organization S.W.O.R.D., a fighting force operating outside of the protection of the United States and her allies. Their mission: Determine if the Japanese are developing banned robotic bio-technology, forbidden due to its threat to humankind. In the battle between machine and man, humanity stands to suffer most.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAppleseed Alpha (2014)
The Third World War (2099–2126) devastated part of the Earth. Former nations are reforming while new powers emerge, and groups of humans struggle to survive in ruined cities. The story follows Deunan Knute and her partner Briareos as they search for the legendary city of Olympus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGhost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)
When a ghost-infecting virus known as Fire-Starter begins spreading through the system resulting in the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her elite team of special operatives are called in to track down its source.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTimescape (1992)
Before they can complete renovations on their new country inn, a widowed father and his young daughter are visited by a strange group of tourists. He soon makes a chilling discovery: they are disaster junkies from the future who visit the past to witness history's greatest catastrophes—and his small town is their next stop.
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 thisAkira (1988)
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 thisGhost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War (2021)
In the year 2045, after an economic disaster known as the Synchronized Global Default, rapid developments in AI propelled the world to enter a state of "Sustainable War". However, the public is not aware of the threat that AI has towards the human race. A compilation film with newly added footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAppleseed (2004)
In a utopian society created at the end of World War III, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSequoia (2024)
In a seemingly idyllic suburban neighborhood where 1950s-inspired AI maids maintain perfect homes, one diligent maid gains sentience and embarks on a dangerous quest for truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
IDENTITEAZE (2024)
Two strangers wake up in a mysterious white room with no way out or memory of their past. The two must unravel their identity while navigating a corporate metaverse that controls virtually every aspect of its employees’ online reality. A story about finding yourself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
PERFECT MUTILATION (TBA)
When the frontman of a metal band takes an unfamiliar drug sold to him in exchange for the lives of his bandmates, he must fight off a drug-induced psychosis as well as the horrific thought of this deranged deal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
The Oval Portrait (1934)
An artist is so consumed with painting a portrait of the women he loves that he doesn't notice she is dying until it's too late. Shot as a silent film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Meurtre du tableau (2025)
An artist, surrounded by the mess in her studio, struggles with frustration as she tries to find inspiration for her new painting.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
Berlin Loop (2025)
Fatma becomes entangled with Berlin’s bike-theft mafia. Her meteoric rise to becoming the gang’s chief lock-picker brings initial success but quickly devolves into a perilous trap controlled by the gang’s ruthless leader. Fatma’s only escape lies in a mysterious portal she discovers in an abandoned countryside house, which sends her back in time to the pivotal moment before her first theft. Caught in an unrelenting time loop, Fatma refines her strategies, inspired by the Art of War, to dismantle the gang and reclaim her freedom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 3: Ghost Tears (2014)
Posing as lovers on vacation, Motoko and Batou work to try to stop a terrorist organization whose symbol is the Scrasath. Meanwhile, Togusa investigates a murder of a man who possessed a prosthetic leg manufactured by the Mermaid's Leg corporation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMinority Report (2002)
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwelve Monkeys (1995)
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI'm Ready (2023)
Eummo a young woman struggles against her insecurities minutes before going out on a date. In a constant battle between her and her insecurities, one will prevail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sham Nation?
The closest matches to Sham Nation are The Return (2020), Blood and Snow (2023) and Zygote (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sham Nation?
Start with The Return (2020), the closest match to Sham Nation.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sham Nation?
Akira (1988), rated 7.9/10 by 5,115 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sham Nation?
Berlin Loop (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Sham Nation?
Yes: Vexille (2007), Appleseed Alpha (2014) and Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015).
How are movies similar to Sham Nation chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sham Nation, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.