Movies like The Abyss (1989)
The best movies like The Abyss (1989) are Leviathan (1989), Serenity (2005) and Sphere (1998). If The Abyss hooked you with its adventure and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSerenity (2005)7.4/10 from 4,055 votes
- NewestRage of Stars (2026)Released 2026
Leviathan (1989)
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSerenity (2005)
A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSphere (1998)
A spacecraft is discovered at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, presumed to be at least 300 years old and of alien origin. A crack team of scientists and experts is assembled and taken to the ocean floor to investigate. However, the ship is not as it seems and when a giant perfect sphere is discovered in the cargo bay, things begin to fall apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRage of Stars (2026)
A story about a woman from the International Special Forces Unit, who has a premonition about the impending end of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Water (2026)
A group of international passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai is forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. The terrified group is forced to work together and overcome their differences if they hope to escape their sinking plane and the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlligator (1980)
A baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives by eating discarded lab animals that have been injected with growth hormones. The now gigantic animal escapes the city sewers and goes on a rampage, pursued by a cop and a big-game hunter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
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 & thriller
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 thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSea Fever (2020)
The crew of a West of Ireland trawler—marooned at sea—struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
Mulder and Scully are called back to duty by the FBI when a former priest claims to be receiving psychic visions pertaining to a kidnapped agent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisExtinction (2018)
A chief mechanic at a factory, haunted by apocalyptic nightmares, becomes a hero when Earth is invaded by a mysterious army bent on destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Sea (2014)
A rogue submarine captain pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control on-board their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWarning Sign (1985)
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blob (1988)
In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunshine (2007)
Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPitch Black (2000)
When their ship crash-lands on a remote planet, the marooned passengers soon learn that escaped convict Riddick isn't the only thing they have to fear. Deadly creatures lurk in the shadows, waiting to attack in the dark, and the planet is rapidly plunging into the utter blackness of a total eclipse. With the body count rising, the doomed survivors are forced to turn to Riddick with his eerie eyes to guide them through the darkness to safety. With time running out, there's only one rule: Stay in the light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpectral (2016)
A special-ops team is dispatched to fight supernatural beings that have taken over a European city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImpostor (2001)
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssault on a Queen (1966)
A group of adventurers refloat a WWII German submarine and prepare to use it to pull a very large heist; The Queen Mary which they plan to rob on the high seas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & thriller
Black Water Gold (1970)
A scuba team, a marine archaeologist and a Mexican historian join forces to reach the wreck of an historic Spanish galleon before a well-armed commercial expedition does.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & thriller
The Mysterians (1957)
In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flying Saucer (1950)
The CIA sends playboy Mike Trent to Alaska with agent Vee Langley, posing as his "nurse," to investigate flying saucer sightings. At first, installed in a hunting lodge, the two play in the wilderness. But then they sight a saucer. Investigating, our heroes clash with an inept gang of Soviet spies, also after the saucer secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & science fiction
Mars Attacks! (1996)
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl hijo del hombre perseguido por un O.V.N.I. (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The X from Outer Space (1967)
The spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan to make a landing on the planet Mars and investigate reports of UFOs in the area. As they near the red planet, they encounter a mysterious UFO that coats the ship's hull with unusual spores. Taking one of the specimens back to earth, it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisH.M.S. Defiant (1962)
Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTales That Witness Madness (1973)
Enigmatic asylum owner Dr Tremayne houses four very special cases. Visited by his colleague Nicholas, Tremayne explains his amazing and controversial theories as to why each patient went mad, be they a ritualistic 'luau', a time-travelling bicycle, a toy tiger, and a tree stump.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisLady in Cement (1968)
While diving for sunken treasure, street-smart gumshoe Tony Rome finds the body of a gorgeous blonde, her feet stuck in a block of cement. Soon after, tough guy Waldo Gronski hires him to find a missing woman named Sandra Lomax, and Rome wonders if there's a connection. He sets about trying to locate the woman, and in no time finds himself mixed up with a beautiful party girl and a slippery racketeer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Abyss?
The closest matches to The Abyss are Leviathan (1989), Serenity (2005) and Sphere (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Abyss?
Start with Leviathan (1989), the closest match to The Abyss.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Abyss?
Serenity (2005), rated 7.4/10 by 4,055 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Abyss?
Rage of Stars (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Abyss?
Yes: Leviathan (1989), Serenity (2005) and Sphere (1998).
How are movies similar to The Abyss chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Abyss, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.