Movies like The New Barbarians (1983)
The best movies like The New Barbarians (1983) are Slash/Back (2022), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Spectral (2016). If The New Barbarians hooked you with its science fiction and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMaze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)6.7/10 from 11,353 votes
- NewestAfterburn (2025)Released 2025
Slash/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 & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
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 thisDeath Race: Inferno (2013)
Carl Lucas / Frankenstein has won four of his races and needs to win one more to win his freedom. Before his final race, Lucas and his team, car and all, are transferred to another prison where they will compete in a Death Race in the desert. Also, at the same time, Ceaser runs into a marketer who wants to franchise the Death Race program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Kovak Box (2006)
David Norton is used to being in control. As a best-selling author, he decides the fate of his characters, their lives and their deaths. But what happens when his fictional world becomes all too real?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAfterburn (2025)
Set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The story revolves around a group of treasure hunters who extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & 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 action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisHounds of War (2024)
After a mission goes wrong, only one of a group of mercenaries is left alive to avenge his fallen brothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & 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 thisRight at Your Door (2006)
A dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles, jamming freeways and spreading a toxic cloud.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies 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 & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Grounds (2025)
Desperate to find refuge for her children, Chloe Marvino runs away from her Mafia tied husband, and finds shelter in a cabin with a recluse drifter named Jake. But as her husband's henchmen draw closer to her, it turns out that Jake is the biggest enemy of them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & 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 thisCode 8 Part II (2024)
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonsters of Man (2020)
A robotics company vying to win a lucrative military contract team up with a corrupt CIA agent to conduct an illegal live field test. They deploy four weaponized prototype robots into a suspected drug manufacturing camp in the Golden Triangle, assuming they'd be killing drug runners that no one would miss. Six doctors on a humanitarian mission witness the brutal slaughter and become prime targets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
After being punished for retreat from combat, Ranger David Martel is given command of the Liandra, a haunted 20-year old Minbari fighting ship. He's escorting ambassadors to a secret archaeological site, the oldest city on record and a clue to a dangerous ancient race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
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 science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTurbo Kid (2015)
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an orphaned teen must battle a ruthless warlord to save the girl of his dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 355 (2022)
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOzark Savage (1999)
Hired by an evil ruler to find a mystical coin that would give him power over all of Hong Kong, mercenary Lens Ozark tracks down the object only to be double-crossed and murdered by his boss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Terminator Salvation (2009)
All grown up in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor must lead the resistance of humans against the increasingly dominating militaristic robots. But when Marcus Wright appears, his existence confuses the mission as Connor tries to determine whether Wright has come from the future or the past -- and whether he's friend or foe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBroken Darkness (2021)
The exciting story of Sam, a broken man who after the world ends from a massive Meteor shower and the death of his son, is forced to survive underground. He and his trusted friend Troy along with a young female Rose, are thrust on a journey that takes them into the darkest parts of the underground world where they find themselves on the run with a crew of rag tag yet heavily armed rangers. Hunted down by mutated creatures, bandits and cannibals alike, their undeniable defiance to return home is challenged, and an honest story emerges to reveal the heart of friendship in the face of death. Broken Darkness is a tale of selflessness, friendship and courage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Battlefield Earth (2000)
In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlos, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the powerful Terl, the Psychlos are stripping Earth clean of its natural resources, using the broken remnants of humanity as slaves. What is left of the human race has descended into a near primitive state. After being captured, it is up to Tyler to save mankind.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Blood of Heroes (1989)
Set in a futuristic world where the only sport that has survived in a wasted society is the brutal game known as jugging. Sallow, the leader of a rag-tag team, has played in the main Leagues before, but was cast out because of indiscretions with a lady. Now joined by a talented newcomer, Kidda, an ambitious young peasant girl, he and his team find they have one last chance for glory.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisHell Comes to Frogtown (1988)
'Hell' is the name of the hero of the story. He's a prisoner of the women who now run the USA after a nuclear/biological war. Results of the war are that mutants have evolved, and the human race is in danger of extinction due to infertility. Hell is given the task of helping in the rescue of a group of fertile women from the harem of the mutant leader (resembling a frog). Hell cannot escape since he has a bomb attached to his private parts which will detonate if he strays more than a few hundred yards from his guard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDuvec (2011)
Since the catastrophe, the world has been contaminated, society has been ruthless and hunger has been torturous. How far would you go to get a can of food? Steal? Secure. Use violence? Its possible. Murder? For a canned food? But what if your daughter otherwise starves? Boundaries are constantly being redefined. Who is on the good side or what one can subsequently agree with one's conscience is as unpredictable as the intentions of a stranger in an unknown gang hideout.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & thriller
Osa (1986)
In a future society where water is a precious resource, a savage gang murders a young girl's family. She is taken in by a man named Trooper, who teaches her how to fight, kill and survive. When she gets old enough to fend for herself, she sets out in search of the gang that killed her family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic America, 18-year old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, are scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War IV, where survivors must battle for food and shelter in the desert-like wasteland. Vic and Blood eke out a meager existence, foraging for food and fighting gangs of cutthroats.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
Ralph Burton is a miner who is trapped for several days as a result of a cave-in. When he finally manages to dig himself out, he realizes that all of mankind seems to have been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. He travels to New York City only to find it deserted. Making a life for himself there, he is flabbergasted to eventually find Sarah Crandall, who also managed to survive. Together, they form a close friendship until the arrival of Benson Thacker who has managed to pilot his small boat into the city's harbor. At this point, tensions rise between the three, particularly between Thacker, who is white, and Burton, who is black.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The New Barbarians?
The closest matches to The New Barbarians are Slash/Back (2022), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and Spectral (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The New Barbarians?
Start with Slash/Back (2022), the closest match to The New Barbarians.
What is the highest-rated movie like The New Barbarians?
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), rated 6.7/10 by 11,353 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The New Barbarians?
Afterburn (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like The New Barbarians?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to The New Barbarians chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The New Barbarians, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.