25 Dystopian Movies for When You Want to Be *Checks Notes* Even More Scared of the World?
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Halloween has come and gone, but we’re still scared. Whether your greatest fear is a totalitarian regime, complete corporate control, or destructive social divisions — we’re living it baby. Okay, we’ll pull it back. We’re not living in total dystopian times, but remember when book burning (or banning) was a fictional concept? Us too.
The concept of a dystopia is a pillar of thought and art in modern culture, with various kid-friendly dystopias entering our collective mindscapes via middle school English lessons. Our technology is faster and more innovative than ever before, and with the onset of AI, the more fearful among us are on dystopia-watch as we speak. The greatest weapon against power and control – which, spoiler alert, are always at play in dystopia land – is education. So prepare for battle and add these 25 movies to your watchlist.
1984
The film adaptation of George Orwell’s famed 1949 novel of the same name (and current favorite reading material of America’s right wing), 1984 follows a lowly citizen living under a totalitarian regime called Oceania. The novel was first adapted for the screen in 1956, but this version is the official 1984 version of 1984. This version is considered to be the best screen adaptation of the story, remaining pretty faithful to the source material. Stream it. Big Brother is watching.
A Clockwork Orange
One of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest works, A Clockwork Orange presents a dystopia that feeds on violence, delinquency, sexual depravity, youth gang culture, and more fun stuff. The film follows a gang of thugs led by a delinquent rapist named Alex, played famously by Malcom McDowell, taking the audience along their brutal crime spree, which ultimately lands them in an experimental rehab. Upon its initial release, A Clockwork Orange was banned in multiple countries and pulled from theaters due to its extremely violent nature, but in the years between 1971 and 2023, the world has come back around.
Blade Runner
Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi epic stars Harrison Ford as a police officer fighting to control a futuristic Los Angeles (2019, lol) wherein synthetic bots are taking over human life. Blade Runner is one of those movies that feels like a time capsule, mostly because their idea of a terrifying dystopian future is LA in 2019. Highly predictive and truly accurate.
Blade Runner 2049
Taking place 30 years after the first film, Blade Runner 2049 stars our greatest working actor, Ryan Gosling, as a traitor bot (read: cop) who is responsible for hunting down fellow rogue bots, supporting a dystopia in which these bots are forced into slavery. In its year, the film won two Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. The story hasn’t ended here — Amazon Studios is currently working on a series called Blade Runner 2099.
Cloud Atlas
This movie is a lot, and we’re not talking about the runtime (three hours). Cloud Atlas stars Tom Hanks and Halle Berry as six different characters, respectively, existing across six different space-time continuums, respectively. Upon its release, the movie was highly divisive, with some calling it one of the best sci-fi’s they’d ever seen, and some saying it was among the worst movies they’ve ever seen, period. Clear your schedule and decide for yourself.
Divergent
No one does a dystopia quite like the author of a young-adult sci-fi series. The entire Divergent series is great — Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. Based on the ever-popular 2011 book series, the films star Shailene Woodley as a young woman living in a post-apocalyptic dystopia which factions citizens into virtue-based regions – the selfless, the honest, the peaceful, the intellectual, and the brave. Take a guess which faction our protagonist fits into.
Fahrenheit 451
This HBO adaptation of the only book you remember from middle school stars Michael B. Jordan as a fireman in a dystopian future who is responsible for burning books. Remember when we said some dystopias are closer than other dystopias? This is the one we were referring to.
Gattaca
Maya Hawke happened here. Starring her parents Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, Gattaca depicts a eugenics-driven dystopia in which pregnancies are meticulously maneuvered to produce genetically perfect children, carrying on the best traits of their parents. Hawke plays a non-maneuvered man, discriminated against for the circumstances of his own conception which keep him from achieving his dreams of space travel. We are so serious.
Ghost in the Shell
This 2017 film is a live-action adaptation of the uber-popular 1995 anime film of the same name. Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett Johansson as a robot soldier living in a futuristic society shared by humans and robots alike.
The Giver
Another dystopian novel from your youth adapted for the screen, The Giver depicts a society which, in an effort to recover from ruin, has chemically suppressed all emotion and memory. The dystopia is held together by one person: the Receiver of Memory, who holds the entire community’s memories and sees the world in color (literally).
High-Rise
High-Rise is the dystopian future Airbnb wants to see (jk jk). Starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, and Sienna Miller, the movie follows the residents of a luxury high-rise in 1975 London who, due to the extravagant amenities offered by the building, become increasingly detached from the outside world. Next time you need to emotionally justify your less than ideal lodgings, cite High-Rise.
The Hunger Games
Another book-turned-film series from the Dystopian Hall of Fame, The Hunger Games films are unmatched. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth, the films (and their source material) depict the post-war country of Panem and their televised Hunger Games, an annual fight-to-the-death competition between teen tributes from across the country’s 12 districts.
Idiocracy
This sci-fi comedy follows a man who wakes from a hibernation experiment 500 years in the future and finds himself in a society run by corporations, which sounds a lot like current day. The humans he encounters are dumber than ever, not required to be intelligent or in shape to survive.
Interstellar
A classic dead Earth dystopian film, Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut in search of a new home planet for humankind. That’s a pretty simple explainer for a movie of this magnitude, marked by the Christopher Nolan stamp of authenticity — a highly confusing series of events, shifting timelines, and a big fat runtime.
Isle of Dogs
This Wes Anderson stop-motion film is one of the more unique dystopian films, and probably the least frightening of every film on this list. Isle of Dogs depicts a fictional Japanese city where all dogs have been banished in an effort to curb a canine pandemic, following a young boy who journeys to find his beloved pup on Trash Island.
The Lobster
Starring Colin Farrell and Rachael Weisz, this Yorgos Lanthimos black comedy depicts a futuristic program in which single people are forced to find a partner in 45 days, and if they fail, be turned into an animal of their choosing. The film snagged a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the 89th Academy Awards and is at once the smartest and slowest dystopian drama on this list.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Fury Road is the fourth film in the Mad Max franchise, but it is arguably the best. Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, the film takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with a dwindling amount of water and gasoline. Most of the film is a road race between the good guys and the bad guys. It’s not the most intellectual dystopian film, but it's a lot of fun.
The Matrix
We beg you, don’t let the incels claim this movie. The Matrix stars Keanu Reeves as a computer programmer who discovers the truth of his dystopia, wherein the human experience is locked into a simulated reality. Among other things, this movie gave us the term “red pill,” which has ultimately become a linguistic weapon of the most evil among us. Carry on.
Minority Report
This 2002 sci-fi stars Tom Cruise as a police chief in a far off future leading a special crime fighting department called Precrime, which stops criminals before they offend using psychics. A classic Cruise flick, Minority Report features chase elements and heavy action, following his character as he himself is accused of a future crime.
Never Let Me Go
A true hidden gem, Never Let Me Go stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield as three boarding school students raised in a dystopian society that uses human cloning to create organ donors, who will be killed rather young after their donation. The screenplay, an adaptation of the novel of the same name, comes from Alex Garland, the man behind Ex Machina, Men, and Annihilation.
Planet of the Apes
The film that started a franchise, Planet of the Apes is a 1968 sci-fi that follows a crew of astronauts who find themselves on a strange planet run by apes with human level intelligence.
Snowpiercer
From Bong Joon-ho, the master behind Parasite, this 2013 sci-fi is set in 2031 in a dystopian Earth whose attempts to halt climate change resulted in the creation of a new ice age. The survivors spend their lives on a train that circles the globe, and that train (much like Earth), is separated by class. Snowpiercer stars Chris Evans as the leader of a lower-class group of passengers who mount an uprising against the ritzy passengers.
Okja
Another great work from Bong Joon-ho, Okja stars Paul Dano, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Steven Yeun and follows a young girl whose pet (a genetically modified pig of massive proportions) is taken by the U.S. meat industry to feed our greedy meat-loving republic. The creation of the “superpigs” began as an environmentalist solution to overconsumption, but created or born, animals are animals and that is the point of Okja (we think).
The Truman Show
This 1998 satire stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, a man who unknowingly lives his life televised, unaware that he is the star of his own reality show. Dystopian and genreless, The Truman Show brooches conversations about privacy, voyeurism, and of course, reality television culture. Given the changes we’ve seen from 1998 to today, it’s no wonder that The Truman Show is considered a highly prophetic film.
WALL-E
Dystopia (Disney’s Version). WALL-E is the cutest, most devastating look at the future, following an abandoned, trash-collecting robot left on the inhabitable, deserted planet Earth in the year 2805. Classic Pixar, sneaking real world terror into adorable animation, WALL-E invites young audiences to consider such issues as consumerism, environmental impact, and obesity, amongst others.
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