Movies like The Cave (2021)
The best movies like The Cave (2021) are Crack in the World (1965), Panic in Year Zero! (1962) and The Divide (2012). If The Cave hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThreads (1984)7.6/10 from 449 votes
- NewestCold Storage (2026)Released 2026
Crack in the World (1965)
Dr. Steven Sorenson plans to tap the geothermal energy of the Earth's interior by means of a thermonuclear device detonated deep within the Earth. This experiment causes a crack to form and grow within the Earth's crust, which threatens to split the earth in two if it is not stopped in time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPanic in Year Zero! (1962)
While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Divide (2012)
Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Day After (1983)
In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCold Storage (2026)
When a mutating, highly contagious fungus escapes a sealed facility, two employees – joined by a grizzled bioterror operative – must survive the wildest night shift ever to save humanity from extinction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn the Beach (1959)
In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLifeforce (1985)
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, commencing an apocalyptic descent into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTestament (1983)
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bed Sitting Room (1969)
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHidden (2015)
A family takes refuge in a fallout shelter to avoid a dangerous outbreak.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisX: The Unknown (1956)
Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHolocaust 2000 (1977)
An executive in charge of a nuclear power plant in the Mid-East must stop his son-- who turns out to be the Anti Christ -- from blowing it up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe China Syndrome (1979)
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Descent (2005)
After a personal tragedy, Sarah joins her friends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. But when a rockfall traps them deep underground, their adventure turns into a nightmare. As they search for a way out, the group discovers they are not alone—lurking in the darkness are savage, cave-dwelling creatures. With rising tension and dwindling trust, the women must fight to survive against both the predators and each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThinner (1996)
An obese lawyer finds himself growing "Thinner" when an old Romani man places a hex on him. Now the lawyer must call upon his friends in organized crime to help him persuade the old man to lift the curse. Time is running out for the desperate lawyer as he draws closer to his own death, and grows ever thinner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cave?
The closest matches to The Cave are Crack in the World (1965), Panic in Year Zero! (1962) and The Divide (2012). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cave?
Start with Crack in the World (1965), the closest match to The Cave.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cave?
Threads (1984), rated 7.6/10 by 449 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cave?
Cold Storage (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Cave?
Yes: Crack in the World (1965), Panic in Year Zero! (1962) and The Divide (2012).
How are movies similar to The Cave chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cave, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.