Movies like Encounter (2018)
The best movies like Encounter (2018) are I'll Follow You Down (2013), After We Leave (2019) and The Fare (2018). If Encounter hooked you with its science fiction and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedProximity (2020)6.8/10 from 443 votes
- NewestStar People (2025)Released 2025
I'll Follow You Down (2013)
After the disappearance of a young scientist on a business trip, his son and wife struggle to cope, only to make a bizarre discovery years later – one that may bring him home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfter We Leave (2019)
A sci-fi drama about a man struggling to find his wife, who he abandoned six years ago, before their visa to emmigrate to an off-world colony expires.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
The Fare (2018)
Harris and Penny, a cab driver and his fare, engage in flirtatious banter during their brief ride on a desolate road…until Penny abruptly vanishes from the back seat, leaving Harris mystified.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this41 (2012)
A young man discovers a hole in the floor of a local motel that leads to yesterday.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisProximity (2020)
A young NASA JPL scientist is abducted by extraterrestrials but when no one believes his story he becomes obsessed with finding proof which leads him on a journey of discovery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Boy (2019)
The world at an end, a dying mother sends her young son on a quest to find the place that grants wishes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisUltrasound (2022)
After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives plus those of several random strangers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlien Code (2017)
After deciphering a message found in a satellite, genius cryptographer Alex Jacobs finds himself being stalked by government agents and otherworldly beings.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisQuanta (2020)
A physicist's life-long work comes to fruition when he is reluctantly partnered with a gifted young assistant. Ego divides them when they receive an unknown signal from space.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
The Signal (2014)
On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness – only to find himself in a waking nightmare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtraterrestrial (2014)
Five friends set out to a cabin in the woods for a fun weekend getaway that is, until extraterrestrial visitors turn it into a fight for their lives. The group is pulled from their reverie when a flickering object crashes deep in the woods. As they investigate, the friends stumble across an alien spacecraft, and its inhabitants have not arrived in peace.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisOccupation (2018)
Town residents must band together after a devastating alien invasion. As they struggle to survive, they realize they must stay one step ahead of their attackers and work together for a chance to strike back.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSound of My Voice (2011)
A journalist and his girlfriend get pulled in while they investigate a cult whose leader claims to be from the future.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fourth Kind (2009)
Since the 1960s, a disproportionate number of the population in and around Nome, Alaska, have gone missing. Despite FBI investigations, the disappearances remain a mystery. Dr. Abigail Tyler, a psychologist, may be on the verge of blowing the unsolved cases wide open when, during the course of treating her patients, she finds evidence of alien abductions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBokeh (2017)
On a romantic getaway to Iceland, a young American couple wake up one morning to discover every person on Earth has disappeared. Their struggle to survive and to reconcile the mysterious event lead them to reconsider everything they know about themselves and the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Vast of Night (2019)
At the dawn of the space-race, two radio-obsessed teens discover a strange frequency over the airwaves in what becomes the most important night of their lives and in the history of their small town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonathan (2018)
Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMonsters (2010)
Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiet Hour (2016)
In a remote part of rural, post-apocalyptic England, now occupied by unseen alien invaders, a feisty teenage girl sets out on a desperate attempt to fight back a group of bandits and defend her parents' farm, their remaining livestock, and the solar panels that keep them safe from extraterrestrials. If she doesn't succeed, she will lose her only source of food and shelter; if she resists, she and her helpless blind sibling will be killed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisImitation Girl (2017)
A mysterious young woman materializes in the middle of the southwestern desert, where each step teaches her about her new world and her new body. As she assumes her new life, she discovers she has a twin with whom she shares more than just an outward appearance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
The Recall (2017)
When five friends vacation at a remote lake house, they expect nothing less then a good time, unaware that Earth is under attack by an alien invasion and mass-abductions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Man on Earth (2014)
The Last Man On Earth is about two teenagers exploring the nature and rejection of first love, when a cataclysmic event leaves them inexplicably stranded and alone. If they can each find a way to understand one another, then they might just have a chance at survival.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
Star People (2025)
A photographer receives a tip that could finally shed some light on her childhood UFO sighting. But a deadly heat wave and unexpected guests threaten to derail her obsessive search for answers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
Starfish (2019)
Humanity is about to come to an end due to a mysterious signal; trapped at the home of a dead friend, Aubrey tries to turn things around after finding a mysterious cassette tape.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMan Vs. (2015)
As host of his own hit TV series, 'MAN VS', Doug Woods is forced to fend for himself for five days in remote locations with no crew, food, or water, only the cameras he carries on his back to film his experiences. Doug's in the remote woods for a routine episode, until he's awoken by an earth-shaking crash. Things get weirder as it becomes clear Doug isn't alone. Someone or something is watching him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThey Remain (2018)
Two scientists investigate the root of environmental changes and strange animal behavior at a remote site where a cult committed atrocities. The isolated location, the unraveling of their relationship, and the biome itself begin to lead them down a path of doom where primeval forces threaten to consume them. An adaptation of Laird Barron's short story "–30–".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
The Answer (2015)
When mailman Bridd Takes his sexy date Charlotte home, they find their boss on the floor with a mail opener stuck in his chest. The assailants are also after Bridd and he has to use all his talents to foil an extra-terrestrial complot.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction
The Corridor (2012)
Friends on a weekend excursion take a path into a forest that leads to death and destruction.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisRebirth (2016)
A man's life is turned inside out after a visit from his college friend leads him into the unexpected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Unthinkable (2018)
Sweden faces a mysterious attack while Alex tries to reunite with his youth love, Anna.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both science fiction & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Encounter?
The closest matches to Encounter are I'll Follow You Down (2013), After We Leave (2019) and The Fare (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Encounter?
People who watched Encounter most often go on to I'll Follow You Down (2013), After We Leave (2019) and The Fare (2018).
What is the highest-rated movie like Encounter?
Proximity (2020), rated 6.8/10 by 443 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Encounter?
Star People (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Encounter?
Yes: I'll Follow You Down (2013), After We Leave (2019) and The Fare (2018).
How are movies similar to Encounter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Encounter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.