Movies like Monsters of California (2023)
The best movies like Monsters of California (2023) are Ick (2025), Paul (2011) and Freaks of Nature (2015). If Monsters of California hooked you with its science fiction and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInterstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)7.8/10 from 548 votes
- NewestTropical SOV: Bizarre Sci-fi Samba (2026)Released 2026
Ick (2025)
Science teacher Hank’s life changes when he reconnects with his first love and suspects that a new student may be his daughter—all while facing an alien threat in their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaul (2011)
For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFreaks of Nature (2015)
In the town of Dillford, humans, vampires and zombies were all living in peace - until the alien apocalypse arrived. Now three teenagers-one human, one vampire, and one zombie-have to team up to figure out how to get rid of the visitors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAsylum: Twisted Horror and Fantasy Tales (2020)
Brandon prepares to give his last stand-up comedy show. As his stories and jokes pass, the public begins to cheer up. But at that precise moment Brandon will realize that these stories have a strong relationship with his past. More than he imagines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisPsycho Goreman (2020)
Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord. Using a magical amulet, they force the monster to obey their childish whims, and accidentally attract a rogues’ gallery of intergalactic assassins to small-town suburbia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarella (1968)
In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdult Swim Yule Log (2022)
Get in the holiday spirit with this cozy, crackling fire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInfestation (2009)
After being stung by a giant insect, Cooper learns that these bugs are attacking the whole city. He joins forces with the survivors, in order to find a way to counter-attack.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisCritters Attack! (2020)
Mysterious alien Critters have crash-landed in a small college town, devouring every living thing they encounter. Drea and the kids she's babysitting must try desperately to save themselves from the ravenous, rolling beasts. Will Drea discover her inner badass, and will it be enough to stop the Critter onslaught?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisAfterburn (2025)
Set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The story revolves around a group of treasure hunters who extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSlash/Back (2022)
In a remote Arctic community, a group of Inuit girls fight off an alien invasion, all while trying to make it to the coolest party in town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster Hunters (2020)
When an alien prison ship crash lands and unleashes creature after creature in the California desert, they make quick work of the army that tries to stop them. Now, the only hope of stopping the aliens rests with a secret branch of the government specializing in alien weaponry. But with the team untested in actual combat, the battle for Earth will be brutal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRelax, I'm from the Future (2023)
Casper is a time traveller who arrives in the 2020s in an attempt to prevent a major future catastrophe. He meets Holly, a queer black woman he befriends and draws into his plan by giving her his knowledge of the future so that she can make quick money. However, they unwittingly alter the future themselves with their actions, until Doris, another time traveller, arrives to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisPhoenix Forgotten (2017)
Twenty years after three teenagers disappeared in the wake of mysterious lights appearing above Phoenix, Arizona, unseen footage from that night has been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Return (2020)
After the death of his father, a brilliant college student returns to his family home where he learns that the horrors from his childhood aren't as dead and gone as he once thought.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOsiris (2025)
Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caller (1987)
One night, an unusual stranger in need asks a woman living alone in a house in the woods if he can use her phone. It soon becomes clear that they're playing a strange mind game and that there's something very wrong about the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisDark Light (2019)
A woman returns to her family home and discovers it to be inhabited by monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Signal (2007)
A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisMuppets from Space (1999)
When Gonzo's breakfast cereal tells him that he's the descendant of aliens from another planet, his attempts at extraterrestrial communication get him kidnapped by a secret government agency, prompting the Muppets to spring into action to rescue their friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRavenous (1999)
After arriving at his new, remote Army outpost, Capt. John Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTropical SOV: Bizarre Sci-fi Samba (2026)
Once again, 23 Brazilian filmmakers come together for the second Tropical SOV anthology, now exploring sci-fi in humorous stories involving aliens and their space invasions, mad scientists, time travel, dystopias, and a myriad of end-of-the-world scenarios.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
My Dinner with Chuck (2019)
Mallory, is sitting alone at a table in a fancy restaurant, waiting for her date to arrive. Ben, finally shows up rudely talking on his phone and Mallory begins to wish she stayed home. Ben is rude and arrogant and talks down to Mallory, just as the date couldn't get worse Lacey and Darlene show up, Lacey an old friend of Ben's. The night takes a turn when the King Crab that was ordered for her begins to talk to her, his name is Chuck and after living on this planet for thousands of years he sees his life is about to end so he proposes an offer to Mallory. If Mallory allows Chuck to use her body as a new host he will promise her a new life, a better life. She agrees and a whole new journey begins.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & comedy
Beer Money (2001)
Three guys find a space alien in the woods and attempt to sell it to a tabloid TV show, with disastrous results.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & comedy
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities and renamed The Crescendolls, the group quickly becomes a huge success playing soulless corporate pop. At a concert, Shep manages to free all the musicians except Stella, and the band sets out to rediscover who they really are — and to rescue Stella.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRafadan Tayfa: Galaktik Tayfa (2023)
Akin is one of the brightest members of the astronomy club. Having discovered a spaceship that has settled into our orbit, Akın sits on the agenda of the world with this discovery. Hayri also contributed to the discovery, and this allowed him to gain a little fame. An alien, the real owner of the ship, who saw Hayri's photos in the newspapers and caught his attention, decides to find him in order to get him to help him. The alien, who sets out to find his fateful friend, is unaware that he is after a group of people whose intentions are not good at all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
Very Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind (1978)
Three nerdy students who have the hots for their sexy astronomy teacher hit upon the idea of pretending to be outer-space aliens, in the hopes of tricking her into going to bed with them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & comedy
Beyond the Sky (2018)
A documentary filmmaker travels to a UFO convention in New Mexico where he meets a local artist with a dark secret. As they follow a trail of clues they discover disturbing sightings and question all they believe when they become immersed in the enigmatic culture of the Pueblo Indians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisInvasion of the Bee Girls (1973)
A powerful cosmic force is turning Earth women into queen bees who kill men by wearing them out sexually.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Monsters of California?
The closest matches to Monsters of California are Ick (2025), Paul (2011) and Freaks of Nature (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Monsters of California?
Start with Ick (2025), the closest match to Monsters of California.
What is the highest-rated movie like Monsters of California?
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003), rated 7.8/10 by 548 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Monsters of California?
Tropical SOV: Bizarre Sci-fi Samba (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Monsters of California?
Yes: Ick (2025), Paul (2011) and Freaks of Nature (2015).
How are movies similar to Monsters of California chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Monsters of California, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.