Movies like Virtual Lies (2021)
The best movies like Virtual Lies (2021) are Frequencies (2013), Zoe (2018) and Endless Journey of Love (2025). If Virtual Lies hooked you with its science fiction and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDoctor Who: The Runaway Bride (2006)7.8/10 from 255 votes
- NewestEphemera (2026)Released 2026
- In ChineseEndless Journey of Love (2025)Also in Chinese
Frequencies (2013)
The story of the forbidden relationship between a 'low born' boy and a 'high born' girl in an alternate reality where every person's relationships and life worth are determined by their innate 'frequencies'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZoe (2018)
Two colleagues at a revolutionary research lab design technology to improve and perfect romantic relationships. As their work progresses, their discoveries become more profound.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisEndless Journey of Love (2025)
In 1930s China, village girl Qian Xiao gains the power to control time, making her a target of powerful forces. As she uncovers the metropolis's hidden secrets, she faces peril and the cost of her gift.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thiseXistenZ (1999)
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWifelike (2022)
A grieving detective in the near-future hunts down criminals who trade artificial humans on the black market. In the fight to end AI exploitation, an underground resistance attempts to infiltrate him by sabotaging the programming of the artificial human assigned as his companion to behave like his late wife. She begins to question her reality as memories of a past life begin to surface in a world where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrainstorm (1983)
Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: The Runaway Bride (2006)
A young bride in the midst of her wedding finds herself mysteriously transported to the TARDIS. The Doctor must discover what her connection is with the Empress of the Racnoss's plan to destroy the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Plagued by strange memories, Neo's life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself back inside the Matrix.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOtherLife (2017)
Ren Amari is the driven inventor of a revolutionary new drug. OtherLife expands the brain's sense of time and creates virtual reality directly in the user's mind. With OtherLife, mere seconds in real life feel like hours or days of exciting adventures. As Ren and her colleagues race around the clock to launch OtherLife, the government muscles in to use the drugs as a radical solution to prison overcrowding. They will create virtual cells where criminals serve long sentences in just minutes of real time. When Ren resists, she finds herself an unwilling guinea pig trapped in a prison cell in her mind. She must escape before she descends into madness, and then regain control of OtherLife before others suffer the same fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Signal (2014)
On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness – only to find himself in a waking nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
After being punished for retreat from combat, Ranger David Martel is given command of the Liandra, a haunted 20-year old Minbari fighting ship. He's escorting ambassadors to a secret archaeological site, the oldest city on record and a clue to a dangerous ancient race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReady Player One (2018)
When the creator of a popular video game system dies, a virtual contest is created to compete for his fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpectral (2016)
A special-ops team is dispatched to fight supernatural beings that have taken over a European city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace/Time (2025)
After a fatal test shuts down their project, a disgraced team of scientists enters the criminal underworld to rebuild a forbidden space-bending engine that could rescue humanity or annihilate it entirely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode 8 Part II (2024)
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Queen (2002)
Since a bitter winter storm stole the life of Gerda's mother, she and her father have sadly continued to run the remote hotel they call home. Lonely and isolated, Gerda's only joy is Kai, the handsome bellboy. A mysterious guest with an icy stare arrives at the hotel one night, wrapped in fur and diamonds. By daybreak, the "Snow Queen" has vanished with Kai! Gerda embarks on a journey of morphing seasons, fantastical creatures, and long-frozen mysteries in a desperate quest to find her stolen love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like this57 Seconds (2023)
When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGemini Man (2019)
Henry Brogan is an elite 51-year-old assassin who's ready to call it quits after completing his 72nd job. His plans get turned upside down when he becomes the target of a mysterious operative who can seemingly predict his every move. To his horror, Brogan soon learns that the man who's trying to kill him is a younger, faster, cloned version of himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVR: Real life (2025)
In a society divided between the luxury of those in “Volnix” and the squalor of the “free zone,” VR. Real Life explores the limits of the body, of poverty, and of freedom. Andrei and Alexa find in virtual reality the only horizon where love and freedom can exist. When betrayal shatters this illusion, the two are left trapped between worlds: the harsh reality and the impossible dream of a life without borders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & romance
Terra (2022)
Terra tells the story of a separated couple when the man is sent on a space mission in the Skyline. After three months without communication and without her return, the woman - pregnant - faces uncertainty and loss. Unexpectedly, he receives a message from the man from the mission, assuring that he is still alive. In the outcome, the narrative takes a revealing turn: someone opens his eyes in front of a graphical interface, insinuating that everything seen has been a simulation that restarts from scratch. An intimate science fiction story that explores memory, waiting and the fragility of reality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & romance
Goldmine (2026)
Singer Lorelai's father suffers a heart attack and is placed on VR life support. She enters his virtual reality to revive him through shared memories, but becomes trapped in an Old Western VR world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The Cave (2024)
Gus spends every waking hour in Virtual Reality, ignoring the Gigworkers who tend to his physiological needs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Ephemera (2026)
In a strange future, a national security agent with pyrotechnic abilities is horribly burned in battle and develops a fear of fire. She returns to action but cannot shake her fear. She undergoes experimental procedures to gain new powers and sets out to get revenge on those who destroyed her life. This film is reminiscent of such science fiction classics as Blade Runner and Ready Player One.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Sparks 2048 (2024)
College student MERİÇ sees his crush SUDE in anxiety. They must complete a questionnaire to learn their grades for this semester. This questionnaire is a VR game designed for students to have fun while completing their questions. The game shapes itself depending on the player and their individual experience. When MERİÇ enters the game, he meets with his fun guide 1STQUESTION (A robot that helps him complete his questionnaire). Throughout his journey, we meet with several characters in the game that we also see in real-life sequences. SPARKS PIRATE and her APPRENTICE are the villains who try to capture 1STQUESTION and make MERİÇ trapped in the game. He must complete all questions, fight for what he loves the most, and fulfill his destiny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
FaceTape (2026)
A junkie decides to come clean from abusing an analog VR drug called FaceTape only to find his life outside of his addiction is far from stable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
THE QUEST: Everest VR (2024)
'THE QUEST: Everest VR' is a one-of-a-kind "real-life" Virtual Reality documentary to climb and reveal the most legendary mountain on earth, Mt. Everest, in stunning 360 degree video! It is the only real-life Virtual Reality experience that puts you directly in the boots with filmmaker and explorer, Alex Harz, on an epic 52 day quest to the Top of the World (29,032 feet / 8849 meters), and the closest thing to climbing Everest without all the rigorous training, planning and high risk needed to physically step foot on the mountain! 'THE QUEST: Everest VR' can be experienced worldwide in Virtual Reality headsets, and on computers, phones, tablets, etc...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
VR (2024)
David receives his new VR glasses and one morning, while his girlfriend goes shopping, he tries them out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Virtual Lies?
The closest matches to Virtual Lies are Frequencies (2013), Zoe (2018) and Endless Journey of Love (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Virtual Lies?
Start with Frequencies (2013), the closest match to Virtual Lies.
What is the highest-rated movie like Virtual Lies?
Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride (2006), rated 7.8/10 by 255 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Virtual Lies?
Ephemera (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Virtual Lies?
Yes: Endless Journey of Love (2025).
How are movies similar to Virtual Lies chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Virtual Lies, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.