Movies like The Rig (2010)
The best movies like The Rig (2010) are Leviathan (1989), Megalodon (2018) and Deep Rising (1998). If The Rig hooked you with its action and horror, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Abyss (1989)7.4/10 from 3,664 votes
- NewestKraken (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: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMegalodon (2018)
A military vessel on the search for an unidentified submersible finds themselves face to face with a giant shark, forced to use only what they have on board to defend themselves from the monstrous beast.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeep Rising (1998)
A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who have taken over the ship first.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Relic (1997)
A homicide detective teams up with an evolutionary biologist to hunt a giant creature that is killing people in a Chicago museum.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderwater (2020)
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKraken (2026)
A marine biologist is doing research on a fish farm when she encounters several strange occurrences. Along with the brutal deaths of two teenagers, all signs point to the deep fjord; can there be more to the depths than the eye can see?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeepStar Six (1989)
The crew of an experimental underwater nuclear base are forced to struggle for their lives when their explorations disturb a creature who threatens to destroy their base.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisVirus (1999)
When the crew of an American tugboat boards an abandoned Russian research vessel, the alien life form aboard regards them as a virus which must be destroyed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisInfini (2015)
A search and rescue team are transported through deep space to a distant mining colony to save the sole survivor of a biological outbreak. During their mission, they find a lethal weapon which is set to arrive on Earth within the hour.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeep Blue Sea (1999)
Researchers on the undersea lab Aquatica have genetically altered the brains of captive sharks to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease. But there's an unexpected side effect: the sharks got smarter, faster, and more dangerous. After a big storm damages their remote research facility, they must fight for their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like this65 (2023)
65 million years ago, the only 2 survivors of a spaceship from Somaris that crash-landed on Earth, must fend off dinosaurs to reach the escape vessel in time before an imminent asteroid strike threatens to destroy the planet.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMeg 2: The Trench (2023)
An exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean of a daring research team spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mist (2007)
After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Meg (2018)
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & 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: Fans watch both · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPandorum (2009)
Two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone – and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cave (2005)
After a group of biologists discovers a huge network of unexplored caves in Romania and, believing it to be an undisturbed eco-system that has produced a new species, they hire the best American team of underwater cave explorers in the world. While exploring deeper into the underwater caves, a rockslide blocks their exit, and they soon discover a larger carnivorous creature has added them to its food chain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisHarbinger Down (2015)
A group of grad students have booked passage on the fishing trawler Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on a pod of Orcas in the Bering Sea. When the ship's crew dredges up a recently thawed piece of old Soviet space wreckage, things get downright deadly. It seems that the Russians experimented with tardigrades, tiny resilient animals able to withstand the extremes of space radiation. The creatures survived, but not without mutation. Now the crew is exposed to aggressively mutating organisms. And after being locked in ice for 3 decades, the creatures aren't about to give up the warmth of human companionship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Abyss (1989)
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBelow (2002)
In the dark silence of the sea during World War II, the submarine USS Tiger Shark prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission. But for the shell-shocked crew, trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, this is about to become a journey into the sensory delusions, mental deceptions and runaway fears that lurk just below the surface of the ocean.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Fans watch both · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuperdeep (2020)
In 1984, a Russian research team goes below the surface to find out what secret the world's deepest borehole is hiding. On their expedition, something unexpectedly gruesome awaits the researchers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath Machine (1995)
Chaank Armaments is experimenting with the ultimate fighting machine which is part human - part machine. So far, the Hardman project has been unreliable and has killed a number of innocent people. The genius behind this project is Jack who lives in a world of models, toys and magazines. When he is fired by Cale for killing a few corporate officers, he unleashes the ultimate killing machine called the 'Warbeast' against Cale and those who would help her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPhantasm II (1988)
Mike, after his release from a psychiatric hospital, teams up with his old pal Reggie to hunt down the Tall Man, who is at it again. A mysterious, beautiful girl has also become part of Mike's dreams, and they must find her before the Tall Man does.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisSouthbound (2015)
On a desolate stretch of desert highway, weary travelers — two men on the run from their past, a band on their way to the next gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation — are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales of terror and remorse on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad Max 2 (1981)
Max Rockatansky returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus, a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Rig?
The closest matches to The Rig are Leviathan (1989), Megalodon (2018) and Deep Rising (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Rig?
People who watched The Rig most often go on to Leviathan (1989), Megalodon (2018) and Deep Rising (1998).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Rig?
The Abyss (1989), rated 7.4/10 by 3,664 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Rig?
Kraken (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Rig?
Yes: Leviathan (1989), Megalodon (2018) and Deep Rising (1998).
How are movies similar to The Rig chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Rig, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.