Movies like The X Species (2018)
The best movies like The X Species (2018) are Circle (2015), The Arrival (1996) and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009). If The X Species hooked you with its mystery and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDoctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009)7.5/10 from 229 votes
- NewestCreature of the Pines (2026)Released 2026
Circle (2015)
In a massive, mysterious chamber, fifty strangers awaken to find themselves trapped with no memory of how they got there. Organized in an inward-facing circle and unable to move, they quickly learn that every two minutes, one of them must die…executed by a strange device in the center of the room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Arrival (1996)
Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009)
A meeting in a London bus with jewel thief Lady Christina takes a turn for the worse for the Doctor when the bus takes a detour to a desert-like planet, where the deadly Swarm awaits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead of Night (1977)
This anthology tells three stories: a man buys a car that takes him back and forth through time; a tale of vampires; and a distraught mother asks for her drowned son to come back to life and gets more than she bargained for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien Abduction (2014)
A vacationing family encounters an alien threat in this pulse-pounding thriller based on the real-life Brown Mountain Lights phenomenon in North Carolina.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisX: The Unknown (1956)
Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Andromeda Strain (1971)
When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scrambles to a secure laboratory and tries first to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Time Shifters (1999)
Tom Merrick gets caught up in a time-traveling conspiracy and must set the timeline right before it is irrevocably altered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisQuicksand (2023)
A married couple on the brink of divorce becomes trapped in quicksand while hiking through a Colombian rainforest. It’s a struggle for survival as they battle the elements of the jungle and must work together in order to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lady Vanishes (2013)
Young socialite Iris Carr befriends an older woman while traveling solo by train. When Iris wakes from a nap, the woman is gone and other passengers claim she never existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Night Stalker (1972)
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXeno (2025)
A teenage girl develops an otherworldly bond with an alien after it crash-lands in the desert. As government agents close in, she must protect her new friend, while uncovering a secret that could change the fate of both their worlds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Blueprint for Murder (1953)
Whitney Cameron is in a quandary: he's attracted to his beautiful sister-in-law, Lynn, but also harbors serious suspicions about her. Her husband, Cameron's brother, died under mysterious circumstances, and now that the death of her stepchild, Polly, has been attributed to poisoning, he suspects that Lynn is after his late brother's estate, and killing everyone in her way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dark Mirror (1946)
A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCapricorn One (1977)
In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost World (1925)
The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Planet X (1951)
While watching for a planet that may collide with earth, scientists stationed in Scotland are approached by a visitor from outer space.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLady in the Lake (1946)
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive.com (TBA)
Late at night two girls discover a voyeuristic website with horrifying consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & thriller
Run (2012)
Ma Nan and Xiaoyu are a couple who have been in love for many years. Ma Nan bought a property in the suburbs, just in time for Xiaoyu's birthday. So he called his colleagues and friends and the party was held in a cheerful atmosphere. Next door to Ma Nan's house lived a couple who often quarreled. The unusually loud noise aroused the curiosity of party-goers. They went next door together to find out, but unexpectedly found a terrifying and bloody murder scene. The apartment, which was originally sparsely populated, seems to have turned into a huge haunted house. Flickering lights, shrill screams, and maddened murders. A plague-like virus spreads freely in the apartment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Creature of the Pines (2026)
Creature of the Pines is a found footage horror movie set in the legendary New Jersey Pine Barrens, one of the most mysterious and unsettling stretches of wilderness in America. Locals have whispered about strange sightings and disappearances for generations, but few people are willing to talk about what they’ve seen, and even fewer dare to go looking.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Jurassic Park III (2001)
In need of funds for research, Dr. Alan Grant accepts a large sum of money to accompany Paul and Amanda Kirby on an aerial tour of the infamous Isla Sorna. It isn't long before all hell breaks loose and the stranded wayfarers must fight for survival as a host of new -- and even more deadly -- dinosaurs try to make snacks of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurder Death Koreatown (2020)
The bizarre found footage from an investigation into a true crime murder. An unemployed man’s curiosity about his neighbor’s murder warps into a conspiratorial obsession.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
30 Days of Night (2007)
This is the story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town's husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMimic (1997)
A disease carried by common cockroaches is killing Manhattan children. In an effort to stop the epidemic an entomologist, Susan Tyler, creates a mutant breed of insect that secretes a fluid to kill the roaches. This mutant breed was engineered to die after one generation, but three years later Susan finds out that the species has survived and evolved into a large, gruesome monster that can mimic human form.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeer Camp '86 (2024)
In the fall of 1986, six knuckleheads from Detroit travel north to partake in the annual tradition of deer hunting. But something horrific has been awakened and the hunters become the hunted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Cut/Print (2012)
A group of ambitious filmmakers set out to create the world's first reality horror movie. What ensues is a hellish game of cat and mouse as a cryptic filmmaker, known only as The Maestro, comes out from hiding in search of his "perfect shot."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
The Kaos Brief (2017)
Hacked footage reveals mysterious events surrounding the abduction of four teenagers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The X Species?
The closest matches to The X Species are Circle (2015), The Arrival (1996) and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The X Species?
Start with Circle (2015), the closest match to The X Species.
What is the highest-rated movie like The X Species?
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009), rated 7.5/10 by 229 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The X Species?
Creature of the Pines (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The X Species?
Yes: Circle (2015), The Arrival (1996) and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009).
How are movies similar to The X Species chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The X Species, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.