Movies like Synapse
If Synapse's mix of dystopia, short film and science fiction stayed with you, start here. Each film below was picked from what Synapse's fans love most, with the reason it belongs on this list.
- 1
2048: Nowhere to Run
2017 · Directed by Luke Scott · 6 min6.8
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia, short film · Also science fiction and thriller
“2048: Nowhere to Run” takes place one year before the events of Blade Runner 2049. The short film focuses on Sapper, a man who is trying to make it through life day-by-day without turning back to his old ways.
- 2
The Terminator
1984 · Directed by James Cameron · 108 min7.7
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also thriller and science fiction
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st…
- 3
Equilibrium
2002 · Directed by Kurt Wimmer · 107 min7.1
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also science fiction and thriller
In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.
- 4
In Time
2011 · Directed by Andrew Niccol · 109 min7.0
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also thriller and science fiction
In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities.
- 5
The Assessment
2025 · Directed by Fleur Fortuné · 114 min6.9
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also science fiction and drama · From the same decade (2020s)
In a climate change-ravaged world, a utopian society optimizes life, including parenthood assessments. A successful couple faces scrutiny by an evaluator over seven days to determine their fitness for childbearing.
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A Scanner Darkly
2006 · Directed by Richard Linklater · 100 min6.8
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also science fiction and thriller
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
- 7
The Island
2005 · Directed by Michael Bay · 136 min6.7
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also thriller and science fiction
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…
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The Giver
2014 · Directed by Phillip Noyce · 97 min6.6
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also drama and science fiction
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
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The Running Man
1987 · Directed by Paul Michael Glaser · 101 min6.5
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also thriller and science fiction
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which…
- 10
Elysium
2013 · Directed by Neill Blomkamp · 109 min6.5
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also science fiction and drama
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth.
- 11
THX 1138
1971 · Directed by George Lucas · 86 min6.4
Why you'll like itShares: dystopia · Also science fiction and drama
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people.