Movies like The Second Arrival (1998)
The best movies like The Second Arrival (1998) are Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024) and Body Snatchers (1993). If The Second Arrival 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 ratedThe Thing (1982)8.1/10 from 8,428 votes
- NewestOsiris (2025)Released 2025
Alien: Covenant (2017)
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but is actually a dark, dangerous world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien: Romulus (2024)
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBody Snatchers (1993)
When Environmental Protection Agency inspector Steve Malone travels to a remote military base in order to check for toxic materials, he brings his family along for the ride. After arriving at the base, his teenage daughter Marti befriends Jean Platt, daughter of the base's commander, General Platt. When people at the base begin acting strangely, Marti becomes convinced that they are slowly being replaced by plant-like aliens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thing (2011)
When paleontologist Kate Lloyd travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery. Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison. Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisV/H/S/Beyond (2024)
The infinite playground of forbidden worlds and dangerous lifeforms offered by the sci-fi horror genre will lead to the biggest, maddest, bloodiest V/H/S ever.
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 thisOsiris (2025)
Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
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 thisSplinter (2008)
When their plans for a nature trip go awry, Polly and boyfriend Seth decide to check into a motel. On their way, they're carjacked and kidnapped by low-rent crooks Dennis and Lacey, who take the victims and their SUV to a nearby gas station. Along the way, they encounter an increasingly terrifying horde of parasites, and if any of them intend to survive, they'll have to outsmart the deadly organisms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisPhoenix Forgotten (2017)
Twenty 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves, and as the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers uncover the horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOccupation: Rainfall (2020)
Two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth, survivors in Sydney, Australia, fight back in a desperate ground war. As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies, uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the Alien invaders hell-bent on making earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredator 2 (1990)
A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredators (2010)
A group of cold-blooded killers find themselves trapped on an alien planet to be hunted by extraterrestrial Predators.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe X-Files (1998)
Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 5th Wave (2016)
16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisOutlander (2008)
During the reign of the Vikings, a man from another world crash-lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator. The man must fuse his advanced technology with the weaponry of the vikings to fight the monster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien Nation (1988)
A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilization. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredator (1987)
A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer, plans to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when he turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisHouse of Frankenstein (1944)
Deranged scientist, Gustav Niemann, escapes from prison and overtakes the director of a traveling chamber of horrors, soon reviving the infamous Count Dracula, the frozen Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to life with the help of the hypnotist Zoltan who now controls the creature. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell that incites the monster to commit these horrific murders or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
Rescued from the guillotine by his devoted dwarf Fritz, the Baron relocates to Carlsbruck, where he continues his gruesome experiments.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Gaira, a humanoid sea beast spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster, attacks the shores of Tokyo. While the Japanese military prepares to take action, Gaira's Gargantua brother, Sanda, descends from the mountains to defend his kin. A battle between good and evil ensues, leaving brothers divided and a city in ruins.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
When an atomic war on Mars destroys the planet's women, it's up to Martian Princess Marcuzan and her right-hand man Dr. Nadir to travel to earth and kidnap women for new breeding stock. Landing in Puerto Rico, they shoot down a NASA space capsule manned by an android. With his electronic brain damaged, the android terrorizes the island while the Martians raid beaches and pool parties
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
A horrible massacre strikes up after an outcast teenage girl is taunted by a group of high school jocks, all of them unaware of her cutthroat telekinetic powers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlien³ (1992)
After escaping with Newt and Hicks from the alien planet, Ripley crash lands on Fiorina 161, a prison planet and host to a correctional facility. Unfortunately, although Newt and Hicks do not survive the crash, a more unwelcome visitor does. The prison does not allow weapons of any kind, and with aid being a long time away, the prisoners must simply survive in any way they can.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien Resurrection (1997)
Two hundred years after Lt. Ripley died, a group of scientists clone her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the new Ripley is full of surprises … as are the new aliens. Ripley must team with a band of smugglers to keep the creatures from reaching Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlither (2006)
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Second Arrival?
The closest matches to The Second Arrival are Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024) and Body Snatchers (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Second Arrival?
Start with Alien: Covenant (2017), the closest match to The Second Arrival.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Second Arrival?
The Thing (1982), rated 8.1/10 by 8,428 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Second Arrival?
Osiris (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Second Arrival?
Yes: Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024) and Body Snatchers (1993).
How are movies similar to The Second Arrival chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Second Arrival, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.