Movies like Dead Man's Letters (1986)
The best movies like Dead Man's Letters (1986) are A Visitor to a Museum (1989), The Quiet Earth (1985) and Right at Your Door (2006). If Dead Man's Letters hooked you with its drama and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedStalker (1979)8.1/10 from 2,672 votes
- NewestSwan Song (2021)Released 2021
A Visitor to a Museum (1989)
It is the future, the world is in ruins and a large portion of the population consists of deformed mutants living in reservations. In this world a man decides to spend his vacation visiting the ruins of a museum that is now buried under the sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiet Earth (1985)
After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & 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 drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSwan Song (2021)
In the near future, Cameron Turner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Presented with an experimental solution to shield his wife and son from grief, he grapples with altering their fate in this thought-provoking exploration of love, loss, and sacrifice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAwake (2021)
After a sudden global event wipes out all electronics and takes away humankind’s ability to sleep, chaos quickly begins to consume the world. Only Jill, an ex-soldier with a troubled past, may hold the key to a cure in the form of her own daughter. The question is, can Jill safely deliver her daughter and save the world before she herself loses her mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Omega Man (1971)
Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Survivalist (2015)
In a time of starvation, a survivalist lives off a small plot of land hidden deep in forest. When two women seeking food and shelter discover his farm, he finds his existence threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThese Final Hours (2014)
With the end of the world only hours away, self-absorbed James heads to the ultimate party-to-end-all-parties. On his way there, he saves the life of a young girl named Rose who is searching desperately for her missing father. This simple act sets James on a path to redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThreads (1984)
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Handmaid's Tale (1990)
In a dystopian, polluted right-wing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zero Theorem (2013)
A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan Down (2016)
When a U.S. Marine returns home from Afghanistan, he finds that the place he once called home is no better than the battlefields he fought on overseas. Accompanied by his best friend, he searches desperately for the whereabouts of his estranged son and wife. In their search, the two intercept a man carrying vital information about his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Survivors (2014)
In the near future, society collapses and water becomes scarce. When a greedy water baron starts violently clearing out survivors, Kendal, a 17-year-old teenager, fights the baron's henchman to keep a well open.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road (2009)
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Book of Eli (2010)
A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDemolition Man (1993)
In 1996, brash L.A. detective John Spartan and maniac killer Simon Phoenix are both sentenced to decades in a cryogenic prison as punishment for a rescue mission gone wrong. When Phoenix escapes 36 years later to wreak havoc on the future, Spartan is awakened to capture his nemesis the old-fashioned way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blackout (2019)
Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small ring-like area in Eastern Europe still has electricity, and maybe even life is being reported from space. What military forces find outside the ring is shocking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwelve Monkeys (1995)
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStalker (1979)
Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn Paradise (TBA)
While fleeing from an apocalyptic mist, Ana and Adam are forced to confront an eternal dilemma: to keep running or to cherish what's left.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
Chrysalis (2014)
Joshua and Penelope are survivors of a deadly infection that laid waste to humanity 25 years ago. When they encounter fellow survivor Abira, their lives are forever changed as they fight off the remnants of the infected.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
Monsters (TBA)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & 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 drama & 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 drama & 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 drama & science fiction
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 science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape from New York (1981)
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US president crash-lands inside, war hero Snake Plissken has 24 hours to bring him back.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Formula for Water (TBA)
A post-apocalyptic story about a girl named Dana who sets on a journey to save her kidnapped father, a scientist who created a machine that could restore the drinking water reserves on the planet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dead Man's Letters?
The closest matches to Dead Man's Letters are A Visitor to a Museum (1989), The Quiet Earth (1985) and Right at Your Door (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dead Man's Letters?
Start with A Visitor to a Museum (1989), the closest match to Dead Man's Letters.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dead Man's Letters?
Stalker (1979), rated 8.1/10 by 2,672 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dead Man's Letters?
Swan Song (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Dead Man's Letters chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dead Man's Letters, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.