50 Movies Like Life (2017) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View Life details →Daniel Espinosa's 2017 science-fiction horror strands the six-member crew of the International Space Station with a Mars sample that may be the first proof of extraterrestrial life. It proves far more intelligent, and far more dangerous, than anyone anticipated. The film runs on claustrophobia and dread, using the cramped station and the indifferent void outside to steadily narrow the crew's options. Viewers who enjoy tense, contained creature thrillers with a hard-science sheen will feel right at home. It leans on mounting dread rather than surprise, so those seeking cheerful space adventure should look elsewhere. Best suited to fans of grim survival stories and cold, unforgiving outer space.
If you loved Life (2017) by Daniel Espinosa, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are The Cloverfield Paradox, Vivarium, Prometheus. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to Life
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with Life in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
The Cloverfield Paradox
2018 · Julius Onah
Orbiting above a planet on the brink of war, scientists test a device to solve an energy crisis and end up face-to-face with a dark alternate reality.
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Vivarium
2019 · Lorcan Finnegan
A young woman and her fiancé are in search of the perfect starter home. After following a mysterious real estate agent to a new housing development, the couple finds themselves trapped in a maze of id
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Prometheus
2012 · Ridley Scott
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Event Horizon
1997 · Paul W. S. Anderson
In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its maiden voyage. However, it soon becomes evident t
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
The Thing
2011 · Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
When paleontologist Kate Lloyd travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery. Their elation quickl
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979 · Robert Wise
When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.
In common: Mystery · Science Fiction
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968 · Stanley Kubrick
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
In common: Mystery · Science Fiction
Splice
2010 · Vincenzo Natali
Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named "
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
1408
2007 · Mikael Håfström
A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Oddity
2024 · Damian McCarthy
After the brutal murder of her twin sister, Darcy goes after those responsible by using haunted items as her tools for revenge.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Jigsaw
2017 · Michael Spierig
Law enforcement finds itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that's only just begun.
In common: Horror · Mystery
The Ritual
2017 · David Bruckner
A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Dawn of the Dead
1978 · George A. Romero
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shop
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Spiral: From the Book of Saw
2021 · Darren Lynn Bousman
Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran, brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the c
In common: Horror · Mystery
Alien: Romulus
2024 · Fede Álvarez
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Brightburn
2019 · David Yarovesky
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
2016 · André Øvredal
Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key
In common: Horror · Mystery
Barbarian
2022 · Zach Cregger
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better jud
In common: Horror · Mystery
The Ring
2002 · Gore Verbinski
Journalist Rachel Keller investigates a strange videotape that may be behind the untimely deaths of four teenagers. There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watch
In common: Horror · Mystery
It Follows
2015 · David Robert Mitchell
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Saw X
2023 · Kevin Greutert
Between the events of 'Saw' and 'Saw II', a sick and desperate John Kramer travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer, only to discover
In common: Horror · Mystery
Last Shift
2014 · Anthony DiBlasi
Rookie police officer Jessica Loren has been assigned the last shift at a closing police station and must wait for a hazmat crew to collect biomedical evidence. Ordered not to leave the station under
In common: Horror · Mystery
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
2019 · André Øvredal
Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, Halloween night, 1968. After playing a joke on a school bully, Stella and her friends decide to sneak into a supposedly haunted house that once belonged to the powerful Bell
In common: Horror · Mystery
Dawn of the Dead
2004 · Zack Snyder
A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Invasion
2007 · Oliver Hirschbiegel
Washington, D.C. psychologist Carol Bennell and her colleague Dr. Ben Driscoll are the only two people on Earth who are aware of an epidemic running rampant through the city. They discover an alien vi
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Lifeforce
1985 · Tobe Hooper
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, commencing an apocalyptic descent into chaos.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Alien: Covenant
2017 · Ridley Scott
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but is actually a dark, dangerous world.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Don't Worry Darling
2022 · Olivia Wilde
Alice and Jack are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. But when crac
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Jason X
2001 · James Isaac
In the year 2455, Old Earth is now a contaminated planet abandoned for centuries -- a brown world of violent storms, toxic landmasses and poisonous seas. Yet humans have returned to the deadly place t
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Alien
1979 · Ridley Scott
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Thing
1982 · John Carpenter
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
In common: Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction
Pandorum
2009 · Christian Alvart
Two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone – and the realit
In common: Horror · Mystery
Alien³
1992 · David Fincher
After escaping with Newt and Hicks from the alien planet, Ripley crash lands on Fiorina 161, a prison planet and host to a correctional facility. Unfortunately, although Newt and Hicks do not survive
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Jacob's Ladder
1990 · Adrian Lyne
After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around hi
In common: Horror · Mystery
Session 9
2001 · Brad Anderson
Tensions rise within an asbestos cleaning crew as they work in an abandoned mental hospital with a horrific past that seems to be coming back.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Suspiria
2018 · Luca Guadagnino
A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the night
In common: Horror · Mystery
A Quiet Place
2018 · John Krasinski
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Midsommar
2019 · Ari Aster
Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where t
In common: Horror · Mystery
The Host
2006 · Bong Joon Ho
A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Innocents
1961 · Jack Clayton
In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
In common: Horror · Mystery
Night of the Living Dead
1968 · George A. Romero
A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Godzilla
1954 · Ishirō Honda
Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form o
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975 · Jim Sharman
After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2026 · Nia DaCosta
Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship - with consequences that could change the world as they know it - and Spike's encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can't escape.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
28 Years Later
2025 · Danny Boyle
Twenty-eight years after the Rage virus outbreak, a heavily-defended island survives connected to the mainland by a single causeway. When one of the group leaves the island into the dark heart of the
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Hereditary
2018 · Ari Aster
Following the death of the Leigh family matriarch, Annie and her children uncover disturbing secrets about their heritage. Their daily lives are not only impacted, but they also become entangled in a
In common: Horror · Mystery
Meg 2: The Trench
2023 · Ben Wheatley
An exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean of a daring research team spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes batt
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
The Long Walk
2025 · Francis Lawrence
In a dystopian 1970s America, fifty teenage boys take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Saw
2004 · James Wan
Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind kno
In common: Horror · Mystery
The Meg
2018 · Jon Turteltaub
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
In common: Horror · Science Fiction
Popular series
Breaking Bad
2008 · Michelle MacLaren
Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
2023 · Kazutaka Yamanaka
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s m
Avatar: The Last Airbender
2005 · Michael Dante DiMartino
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
