Movies like The Real 'X-Files'? (2015)
The best movies like The Real 'X-Files'? (2015) are Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers (2018), Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (2020) and The Age of Disclosure (2025). If The Real 'X-Files'? hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Secret (2006)6.6/10 from 401 votes
- NewestA Toxic Love Story (2026)Released 2026
Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers (2018)
Area 51, flying saucers from another world - and the program to create a fierce technology. Bob Lazar remains the singular most famous and controversial name in the world of UFOs. The reason you know about Area 51 is because Lazar came forward and told you about it. His disclosures have turned his life upside-down and he has tried to stay out of the spotlight. For this reason, he has never let any filmmaker into the private world of his daily life - that is - until now. Corbell’s film explores Lazar’s claims through the lens of thirty years - providing rare and never before revealed footage - guaranteed to alter the landscape of the debate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClose Encounters of the Fifth Kind (2020)
Dr. Steven Greer’s previous works, SIRIUS and UNACKNOWLEDGED, broke crowdfunding records and ignited a grassroots movement. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIFTH KIND features groundbreaking video and photographic evidence and supporting interviews from prominent figures such as Adam Curry of Princeton’s PEAR Lab; legendary civil rights attorney Daniel Sheehan, and Dr. Russell Targ, who headed the CIA’s top secret remote viewing program. Their message: For thousands of people, contact has begun. This is their story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Disclosure (2025)
Director Dan Farah got 34 senior members of the U.S. Government, military, and intelligence community to come on camera. He says they reveal an 80 year cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war amongst major nations to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin. The film explores the profound impact the situation has on the future of humanity, while providing a look behind-the-scenes with those at the forefront of the bi-partisan disclosure effort.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnacknowledged (2017)
Dr. Steven Greer presents brand new top-secret evidence supporting extraterrestrial contact, including witness testimony, classified documents, and UFO footage, while also exploring the consequences of ruthlessly enforcing such secrecy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret (2006)
Interviews with leading authors, philosophers and scientists, with an in-depth discussion of the Law of Attraction. The audience is shown how they can learn and use 'The Secret' in their everyday lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020)
After 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown is sentenced to life in prison, questions about her past, physiology and the law itself call her guilt into question.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Phenomenon (2020)
This documentary examines unidentified aerial phenomenon. With testimony from high-ranking government officials and NASA Astronauts, Senator Harry Reid says it "makes the incredible credible."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThere's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011)
Filmmaker Liz Garbus investigates the mysterious tragedy of Diane Schuler in an effort to understand what went wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove Majestic (2018)
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome See Me in the Good Light (2025)
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisS4: The Bob Lazar Story (2026)
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTrainwreck: Balloon Boy (2025)
A homemade flying saucer lifts off, and a 6-year-old boy might be inside. National panic ensues — but what truly happened? This documentary investigates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist (2026)
A father-to-be tries to figure out what is happening with all this AI insanity, and explores the most powerful technology humanity has ever created... and what's at stake if we get it wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeart of a Dog (2015)
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyeur (2017)
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
SnoozefestMovies like thisSherman's March (1986)
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Candy: I Like Me (2025)
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarmontown (2014)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hidden Hand: Alien Contact and the Government Cover-up (2013)
The Hidden Hand is a controversial Award-winning documentary that explores the possibility of an extraterrestrial presence here on Earth. The film takes a keen look at a spectrum of topics like alien abduction, human/alien hybridization, the military's reverse-engineering of alien technology and the government cover-up of anything related to extraterrestrials. Is preoccupation with E.T.'s a form of cultural madness, or is something really going on? How would E.T. contact change the religious and political institutions of our society? The Hidden Hand is full of riveting interviews with experts and experiencers alike: Whitley Strieber, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, the 6th astronaut on the moon, Paul Hellyer, a former Canadian Defence Minister, Richard Dolan, Jim Marrs, Linda Moulton Howe, Col. John Alexander, Lyn Buchanan, Clifford Stone, Nassim Haramein, David Icke, Dr. Roger Leir, Graham Hancock and Paola Harris, among others. The shadowy world of UFOs is suddenly brought to light.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Koho – Future from Forssa (2022)
A documentary about Kari Aro, the distinctive manager of Koho -hockey-stick factory, whose visions were to change the world. Story about the fairy-tale -like success, the destructive power of money and Aro's faith in goodness of people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Saucers, Spooks and Kooks (2026)
Saucers Spooks and Kooks explores how disinformation helped fuel the UFO myth and how that fog continues to cloud what we think we know about UFOs to this day. Tropes like the "Greys," underground bases, and crashed saucers live on today.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Alien Awakening: The UFO Reality Unveiled (TBA)
A shocking series of bombshell revelations about UFOs have taken the topic out of the fringe and into the mainstream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Heaven's Gate: The Untold Story (1999)
Documentary chronicling the history of the Heaven's Gate cult, including actual home video footage and interviews with surviving members.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
World War A: Aliens Invade Earth (2016)
Leading scientists and researchers weigh in on the scenarios that might unfold if aliens find us and decide to visit Earth. Should we even be searching for extraterrestrial life? What are the risks of reaching out, and what are the risks if the Earth is "found" by aliens?.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Silent Revolution of Truth (2007)
The award-winning film documents the amazing, true-life adventures of Billy Meier, the only proven UFO contactee.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Doty (2024)
Richard Doty is a former Air Force Intelligence operative whose job at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico involved creating and disseminating disinformation about the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft to UFO researchers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kirtland AFB was home to a wide range of highly classified technology experiments involving lasers, stealth aircraft, and nuclear weapons. Strange phenomena in the skies above the base piqued the interest of amateur and professional UFO investigators. Doty’s job was to recruit UFO researchers to be informants to the Air Force about goings-on in the UFO community and to spread military disinformation about UFOs among their peers. To accomplish this, Doty supplied fake documents to UFO investigators purporting to tell the “truth” about government involvement with extraterrestrials.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
On the Trail of UFOs: Dark Sky (2021)
Cryptid documentarian Seth Breedlove and paranormal researcher Shannon LeGro continue their search for the truth behind the enigma of unidentified flying objects
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
A Prison on Earth (2016)
A documentary purporting to expose the interdimensional alien beings who have enslaved humanity for centuries.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Real 'X-Files'??
The closest matches to The Real 'X-Files'? are Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers (2018), Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (2020) and The Age of Disclosure (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Real 'X-Files'??
Start with Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers (2018), the closest match to The Real 'X-Files'?.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Real 'X-Files'??
The Secret (2006), rated 6.6/10 by 401 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Real 'X-Files'??
A Toxic Love Story (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Real 'X-Files'??
Yes: Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers (2018), Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind (2020) and The Age of Disclosure (2025).
How are movies similar to The Real 'X-Files'? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Real 'X-Files'?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.