Movies like War of the Worlds (2025)
The best movies like War of the Worlds (2025) are Die Alone (2024), Contagion of Fear (2023) and The Island (2005). If War of the Worlds hooked you with its science fiction and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Insider (1999)7.5/10 from 2,203 votes
- NewestOff the Grid (2025)Released 2025
Die Alone (2024)
Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Ethan, a young man with amnesia navigates the dangerous landscape in search of his lost love Emma. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Mae, a hardened and eccentric survivor. Together, Ethan and Mae face threats both human and otherwise before a fateful encounter with Kai unravels a secret that lies just beyond Ethan's fractured memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContagion of Fear (2023)
A catastrophic train derailment sends the city spiraling into chaos. But the derailment is just the beginning. A biological gas attack sees crash survivors collapsing and dying within minutes. And the sickness is rapidly spreading.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island (2005)
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The Island — reportedly the last uncontaminated location on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisContainment (2015)
Neighbors in a block wake one morning to find they have been sealed inside their apartments. Can they work together to find out why? Or will they destroy each other in their fight to escape?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisOutside the Wire (2021)
In the near future, a drone pilot is sent into a deadly militarized zone and must work with an android officer to locate a doomsday device.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWarning Sign (1985)
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnon (2018)
Set in a near-future world where there is no privacy, ignorance or anonymity, our private memories are recorded and crime almost ceases to exist. In trying to solve a series of unsolved murders, Sal Frieland stumbles onto a young woman who appears to have subverted the system and disappeared. She has no identity, no history and no record. Sal realizes it may not be the end of crime but the beginning. Known only as 'The Girl', Sal must find her before he becomes the next victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTau (2018)
Held captive in a futuristic smart house, a woman hopes to escape by befriending the A.I. program that controls the house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Den (2013)
A young woman studying the habits of webcam chat users from the apparent safety of her apartment witnesses a brutal murder online and is quickly immersed in a nightmare in which she and her loved ones are targeted for the same grisly fate as the first victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirewall (2006)
State-of-the-art security system creator Jack Stanfield has cemented his reputation as a man who's thought of everything. But when a criminal finds a way into his personal life, everything Jack holds dear is suddenly at stake.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAlone With Her (2006)
The harrowing story of a disturbed young man's attempts to win the affections of an unsuspecting young woman. When Doug first sees Amy, he instantly falls for her and begins to watch her every move, going so far as to set up spy cameras in her apartment. However, as his fascination grows into obsession he's no longer satisfied with just watching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2016)
Two high school filmmakers decide to create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEnemy of the State (1998)
When the videotape of the murder of a congressman unknowingly ends up in the hands of labor lawyer and dedicated family man Robert Clayton Dean, he is framed for the murder. With the help of the mysterious Brill, Dean attempts to throw the NSA off his trail and prove his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKandahar (2023)
After his mission is exposed, an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssassination Nation (2018)
After an anonymous hacker begins leaking the private data of thousands living in a small American town, the townspeople spiral into madness, with four high school seniors at the center of the maelstrom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Operative (2019)
A young Western woman is recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisOff the Grid (2025)
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their biggest mistake of all – they weaponize the man they are trying to catch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEye in the Sky (2016)
A UK-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing and the mission escalates from “capture” to “kill.” As American pilot Steve Watts is about to engage, a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone, triggering an international dispute reaching the highest levels of US and British government over the moral, political, and personal implications of modern warfare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCanary Black (2024)
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Insider (1999)
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpecter (2014)
The town of Midground is threatened by a tsunami caused by a massive earthquake in the North Pacific Ocean. After other unexplainable events transpire, Chase Lombardi and friends are forced to discover whether they are experiencing a natural phenomenon or something else all together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & science fiction
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
When hundreds of videotapes showing torture, murder and dismemberment are found in an abandoned house, they reveal a serial killer's decade-long reign of terror and become the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives have ever seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrybaby Bridge (2013)
Nick, Ryan, and Bill have a dream: to have their own hunting show on television. With the help of their camera man Craig and the funding of the National Gun Owners of America, they are given the chance at a trial run, a documentary about the hunting experience. But when they cross the bridge and into the woods beyond, the hunters find themselves in the midst of the legend of Elizabeth, a vengeful specter willing to do whatever it takes to be reunited with her lost child. As the documentary progresses, the strange events continue to escalate to a deadly climax. Can the hunters save themselves from becoming the hunted, or are they doomed to be become a permanent part of the legend of Crybaby Bridge?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Meadowoods (2010)
In a sleepy and uneventful small town, three college students, bored and desperate to make their mark, plot a savage and merciless murder. Electing to keep a video journal to memorialize their bizarre pact, they plot in secret, devising a homemade death chamber that will allow them to see, hear, feel, and linger over their intended victim's torment and final moments of life. Then, chosen at random, a fellow student becomes this victim when she is to receive perhaps the most brutal and horrifying of all fates. The default leader of this macabre trio directs the physical and psychological terror, even as contention and hostility within the group threatens to jeopardize their twisted plan, culminating in a violent and chilling conclusion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Sea of Trees (TBA)
Nearly two decades after the unexplained disappearance of a vlogger in England’s Epping Forest, a documentary crew ventures into the same woods to uncover the truth—only to find themselves drawn into a chilling mystery where folklore, grief, and the act of filming begin to blur the line between reality and something far more sinister.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Pimp (2010)
A week in the life of Woody; a Soho pimp, as seen through the eyes of concealed documentary cameras: A week which spirals brutally out of control.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Atrocious (2018)
After they're arrested, the horrific crimes of two serial killers are revealed via confiscated videotapes. These tapes contain brutal murders displaying pure human wickedness, the background, paraphilias and psyche of these murderers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAzem: Cin Karası (2014)
The film is based on a true story that took place in Düzce in 1954. The spell "Azem," meaning "defender," gives the film its name. The thriller was filmed in a village in Düzce, where the events took place.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Game Over (2019)
A war vet with severe PTSD is threatened by a online video gamer crew for being too good at beating them. He finds out about a personal connection to him that makes him snap.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Los visitados (2020)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like War of the Worlds?
The closest matches to War of the Worlds are Die Alone (2024), Contagion of Fear (2023) and The Island (2005). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after War of the Worlds?
Start with Die Alone (2024), the closest match to War of the Worlds.
What is the highest-rated movie like War of the Worlds?
The Insider (1999), rated 7.5/10 by 2,203 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like War of the Worlds?
Off the Grid (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like War of the Worlds?
Yes: Die Alone (2024), Contagion of Fear (2023) and The Island (2005).
How are movies similar to War of the Worlds chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside War of the Worlds, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.