Movies like Synchronous (2016)
The best movies like Synchronous (2016) are Awareness (2023), Anon (2018) and The Discovery (2017). If Synchronous hooked you with its science fiction and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGaslight (1944)7.5/10 from 611 votes
- NewestA New Beginning (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishAwareness (2023)Also in Spanish
Awareness (2023)
Ian is a teenager who lives with his father on the outskirts by running small scams using Ian's ability to generate visual illusions upon unsuspecting victims. When one of his cons goes awry, his abilities publicly spiral out of control and Ian becomes the target of two rival organizations, each seeking to exploit his powers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnon (2018)
Set in a near-future world where there is no privacy, ignorance or anonymity, our private memories are recorded and crime almost ceases to exist. In trying to solve a series of unsolved murders, Sal Frieland stumbles onto a young woman who appears to have subverted the system and disappeared. She has no identity, no history and no record. Sal realizes it may not be the end of crime but the beginning. Known only as 'The Girl', Sal must find her before he becomes the next victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Discovery (2017)
In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to decide what it all means. Among them is Dr. Harbor's son Will, who has arrived at his father's isolated compound with a mysterious young woman named Isla. There, they discover the strange acolytes who help Dr. Harbor with his experiments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContainment (2015)
Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Mandela Effect (2019)
A man becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParallel (2024)
Grief-stricken after the loss of her child, Vanessa takes refuge at a lake house only to be met with an aberration of herself from a parallel universe and realizes the multiverse gates hold the key to releasing her grief or trapping her forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStay (2005)
Psychiatrist Sam Foster has a new patient, Henry Letham, who claims to be suicidal. In trying to diagnose him, Sam visits Henry's prior therapist and also finds Henry's mother -- even though Henry has said that he murdered both of his parents. As reality starts to contradict fact, Sam spirals into an unstable mental state. Then he finds a clue as to how and when Henry may try to kill himself, and races to try to stop him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMultiverse (2021)
Four brilliant university students are forced to confront themselves in terrifying ways when their Quantum Physics experiment leads to an entangled parallel existence that leaves them questioning who they are and what is real.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
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 science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRedux Redux (2025)
In an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death, Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, killing her daughter’s murderer again and again. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity begins to slip away—until the cycle is disrupted when she rescues Mia, a sharp-witted teenager already marked by the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProdigy (2017)
Jimmy is a committed child psychologist who uses his own playbook, but when he is brought in to work with Ellie, he is completely unprepared for his subject—a 9-year-old psychopathic genius with nothing to lose. As he begins to understand the extent of her capabilities and the fate that has been planned for her, he struggles to overcome her defenses before it is too late for them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Infernal Machine (2022)
Reclusive and controversial author Bruce Cogburn is drawn out of hiding by an obsessive fan, forcing the novelist to confront a past that he thought he could escape, and to account for events set in motion by his bestseller decades earlier. Cogburn's search for who is behind the manipulation and mental torment he encounters leads to an emotional roller-coaster ride full of fear and danger, where things are not always as clear as they seem to be, and where past deeds can have dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStowaway (2021)
A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace/Time (2025)
After a fatal test shuts down their project, a disgraced team of scientists enters the criminal underworld to rebuild a forbidden space-bending engine that could rescue humanity or annihilate it entirely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCoherence (2014)
Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Incident (2014)
Two parallel stories about people trapped in illogical endless spaces: two brothers and a detective locked on an infinite staircase, and a family locked on an infinite road... for over 35 years.
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 thisKM 31: Kilometer 31 (2006)
While driving through the kilometer 31 of a lonely road, Agata Hameran hits a boy. She leaves her car to help the victim and another car runs over her and she falls in a deep coma. Her twin sister Catalina telepathically feels the pain of Agata and hears her whispering for help. Together with her boyfriend Nuno and Agata's mate Omar, they return to the km 31 of the road, and find out that the place is surrounded by supernatural accidents caused by the ghost of a mother that lost her boy many years ago. Further, Catalina discloses that the spirit of Agata is trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArtificial Justice (2024)
In the near future, the Government aims to replace judges with Artificial Intelligence software, pledging to effectively automate and depoliticize the justice system. Carmen Costa, a distinguished judge, has been invited to assess this new procedure. However, when the software’s creator is found dead, she realizes her life is in danger and that she will have to fight the powerful interests that are at play in the highest echelons of the State.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Watch (2017)
Fernando, a lonely and tormented man, gets a job as a night watchman in a warehouse close to being demolished. The building is huge, with several floors and wings interconnected by a confusing network of corridors and stairs. One night, Fernando hears strange noises and finds a gate open that should be closed. From that moment on, nothing will be the same.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
The Man in the Trunk (2019)
On an otherwise quiet night there is a startling knock at the door. Andrew Tucker answers the door to find an old friend whom he hasn't seen in years. The disheveled and absent friend comes to him with one request: "I need you to come with me but, I can't tell you where we're going." Andrew takes a chance but learns that every answer brings more questions. Nothing good ever comes knocking after midnight and Andrew's nightmare asks how far you would go to help a friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Re-cycle (2006)
Ting-yin, a young novelist, is struggling to come up with a followup to her best-selling trilogy of romance novels. After drafting her first chapter, she stops and deletes the file from her computer. She then starts seeing strange, unexplainable things and finds that she is experiencing the supernatural events that she described in her novel-to-be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGaslight (1944)
A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome Back Home (2018)
Having a car accident at night, a man comes to a strange house nearby to ask for help. What he sees in the house makes him more confused and worried.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Asphyxia (TBA)
At an isolated writers' retreat, a troubled novelist is drawn into a seductive and dangerous game of desire, where the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
The Blue Elephant (2014)
After a five-year hiatus, psychiatrist Yehia returns to work at Abbasiya Hospital. He’s assigned to evaluate a patient who turns out to be his old friend. As events unfold, Yehia uncovers dark secrets that challenge his understanding of reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA New Beginning (2026)
A reserved artist’s carefully crafted life begins to crack when a persistent neighbor grows dangerously curious.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Disorder (2025)
After getting in debt with Russian gangsters, Nick is given one final chance to redeem himself: find a mysterious woman being protected by the Korean mafia. But finding her may cost him more than he ever imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Pathology (2008)
Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like Synchronous and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Synchronous?
The closest matches to Synchronous are Awareness (2023), Anon (2018) and The Discovery (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Synchronous?
Start with Awareness (2023), the closest match to Synchronous.
What is the highest-rated movie like Synchronous?
Gaslight (1944), rated 7.5/10 by 611 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Synchronous?
A New Beginning (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Synchronous?
Yes: Awareness (2023), The Incident (2014) and KM 31: Kilometer 31 (2006).
How are movies similar to Synchronous chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Synchronous, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.