Movies like The Darkest Hour (2011)
The best movies like The Darkest Hour (2011) are Impostor (2001), The Car (1977) and The Blob (1988). If The Darkest Hour hooked you with its horror and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBatman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)7.7/10 from 375 votes
- NewestThe Last House (2026)Released 2026
Impostor (2001)
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Car (1977)
The Utah community of Santa Ynez is being terrorized by a mysterious black coupe that appears out of nowhere and begins running people down. After the car kills off the town sheriff, Captain Wade Parent is determined to stop the murderous driver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blob (1988)
In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoboCop (2014)
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisPaycheck (2003)
Michael Jennings is a genius who's hired – and paid handsomely – by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he's incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he's told he isn't getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn't paid – and why he's now in hot water.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeostorm (2017)
After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone along with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Host (2013)
A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race's mission of taking over the Earth, "Wanda" (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hunt for Red October (1990)
A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. Lone CIA analyst Jack Ryan has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it - because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find Ramius, too. The hunt is on!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDisclosure Day (2026)
A cybersecurity expert becomes a whistleblower after uncovering secrets about aliens, putting him on the run from a corporation. Meanwhile, a meteorologist experiencing strange phenomena joins forces with him to prove there's life beyond our understanding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoldenEye (1995)
When a powerful secret defense system is stolen, James Bond is assigned to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMass Effect: Paragon Lost (2012)
An untold chapter in the Mass Effect saga, following the early career of Alliance Marine, James Vega, as he leads a squad of elite special forces into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his troops must protect the inhabitants from an invasion of the deadly insectoid warriors determined to collect the population for unknown purposes. Soon after the attack, Vega's commanding officer falls in battle, forcing the young officer to embrace the responsibility of leadership for the colony's survival. Having idolized Earth's greatest hero and warrior, Commander Shepard (the central character in the Mass Effect video games), the young and idealistic Vega must now make life and the death decisions that will effect not only the lives of his squad, but the lives of every person in the colony - all of whom he has sworn to protect...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt to stop him ends in an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF to be implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to disavow them. No longer being aided by the government, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks around the globe, although they might still be too late to stop a disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBatman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)
After discovering he has powers, 11-year-old Jonathan Kent and assassin-turned-Boy-Wonder Damian Wayne must join forces to rescue their fathers (Superman & Batman) and save the planet from the malevolent alien force known as Starro.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSignal One (2026)
A computer scientist is invited by a tech billionaire to join his private facility on a Caribbean island to investigate extraterrestrial matter on Earth. When they make contact beyond our world, chaos erupts as we’re left to wonder: do they come in peace?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIndependence Day (1996)
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this4 Horsemen: Apocalypse (2022)
A small team of scientists must race against time to stop what seems to be a cascade of global disasters signaling the possible apocalypse and end of days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last House (2026)
A family suddenly sealed inside their home must work together to survive against dwindling resources and the ominous threat keeping them trapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & 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 thisThe Time Machine (2002)
Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th-century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvaders from Mars (1953)
A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Saint (1997)
Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien Nation (1988)
A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilization. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCritters (1986)
Carnivorous aliens arrive unannounced at a Kansas family farm; two intergalactic bounty hunters soon follow, determined to blow them off the planet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestroy All Monsters (1968)
At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
When an atomic war on Mars destroys the planet's women, it's up to Martian Princess Marcuzan and her right-hand man Dr. Nadir to travel to earth and kidnap women for new breeding stock. Landing in Puerto Rico, they shoot down a NASA space capsule manned by an android. With his electronic brain damaged, the android terrorizes the island while the Martians raid beaches and pool parties
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisALL YOU NEED IS KILL (2026)
When a massive alien flower known as "Darol" unexpectedly erupts in a deadly event, unleashing monstrous creatures that decimate the population of Japan, Rita is caught in the destruction—and killed. But then she wakes up again. And again. Caught in an endless time loop, Rita must navigate the trauma and repetition of death until she crosses paths with Keiji, a shy young man trapped in the same cycle. Together, they fight to break free from the loop and find meaning in the chaos around them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWithin (2005)
In a Asian desert, a team of explorers learn of a newly discovered cave system and set out to explore it. However as soon as they begin the descent, it becomes clear that this was a secret that should have remained below the surface.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCritters 2 (1988)
Three bounty hunters from space fly back to the town of Grovers Bend, hoping to save local residents from a new batch of Critter eggs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProof of Life (2000)
When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves, and as the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers uncover the horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Darkest Hour?
The closest matches to The Darkest Hour are Impostor (2001), The Car (1977) and The Blob (1988). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Darkest Hour?
Start with Impostor (2001), the closest match to The Darkest Hour.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Darkest Hour?
Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022), rated 7.7/10 by 375 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Darkest Hour?
The Last House (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Darkest Hour?
Yes: Impostor (2001), The Car (1977) and The Blob (1988).
How are movies similar to The Darkest Hour chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Darkest Hour, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.