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Movies that feel like Altered States (1980)

If you loved Altered States, the closest films we have are Seconds (1966), The Mist (2007) and The Invisible Man (2020). All three share Altered States's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV and Amazon Prime Video with Ads and others, checked against today's data.

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.

πŸ… 87% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Ken Russelldreadunsettlingcerebraltensedreamlike

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If Altered States hit the spot, these will too

Seconds poster
Seconds
1966 Β· dir. John Frankenheimer
πŸ… 79%β˜… 7.6science fiction Β· thriller Β· horror

Both land dread and unease at once

The difference: Missing the dream logic of Altered States

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.

Feels alike?
The Mist poster
The Mist
2007 Β· dir. Frank Darabont
πŸ… 74%β˜… 7.1horror Β· science fiction Β· thriller

The same mix in both: ideas, then tension

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 2000s show

After a violent storm, a dense cloud of mist envelops a small Maine town, trapping David Drayton and his five-year-old son in a local grocery store with other local residents. They soon discover that the mist conceals deadly horrors that threaten their lives, and worse, their sanity.

Feels alike?
The Invisible Man poster
The Invisible Man
2020 Β· dir. Leigh Whannell
β˜… 7.1thriller Β· science fiction Β· horror

Dread-soaked horror in both cases

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

Feels alike?
Night of the Living Dead poster
Night of the Living Dead
1968 Β· dir. George A. Romero
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7.8horror Β· thriller Β· science fiction

Science fiction with a pulse of unease, in both cases

A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.

Feels alike?
Signs poster
Signs
2002 Β· dir. M. Night Shyamalan
πŸ… 76%β˜… 6.8thriller Β· science fiction Β· horror

Cerebral thriller, and it commits to that

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

Feels alike?
28 Days Later poster
28 Days Later
2002 Β· dir. Danny Boyle
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.5horror Β· thriller Β· science fiction

Horror built on tension, twice over

Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs -- and it's absolutely impossible to contain.

Feels alike?
28 Weeks Later poster
28 Weeks Later
2007 Β· dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
πŸ… 73%β˜… 6.8horror Β· thriller Β· science fiction

Both trade on dread more than on being science fiction

Twenty-eight weeks after the spread of a deadly rage virus, the inhabitants of the British Isles have lost their battle against the onslaught, as the virus has killed everyone there. Six months later, a group of Americans dare to set foot on the Isles, convinced the danger has passed. But it soon becomes all too clear that the scourge continues to live, waiting to pounce on its next victims.

Feels alike?
Her Private Hell poster
Her Private Hell
2026 Β· dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
β˜… 3.8science fiction Β· horror Β· thriller

Dreamlike thriller in both cases

When a mysterious mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis, unleashing a deadly and elusive entity, a troubled young woman searches for her father. Her quest collides with an American GI on a harrowing odyssey to rescue his daughter from Hell.

Feels alike?
The Shining poster
The Shining
1980 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 84%β˜… 8.4horror Β· thriller

Dreamlike horror, and it commits to that

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

Feels alike?
The Purge poster
The Purge
2013 Β· dir. James DeMonaco
πŸ… 41%β˜… 5.8science fiction Β· horror Β· thriller

Science fiction with a pulse of unease, in both cases

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Given the country's overcrowded prisons, the U.S. government begins to allow 12-hour periods of time in which all illegal activity is legal. During one of these free-for-alls, a family must protect themselves from a home invasion.

Feels alike?
Nope poster
Nope
2022 Β· dir. Jordan Peele
πŸ… 83%β˜… 6.8horror Β· science fiction Β· thriller

Thriller with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

Residents in a lonely gulch of inland California bear witness to an uncanny, chilling discovery.

Feels alike?
The Endless poster
The Endless
2017 Β· dir. Aaron Moorhead
πŸ… 91%β˜… 6.5science fiction Β· horror Β· thriller

A streak of tension through both

Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group's beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more dread?

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The best-reviewed films that share Altered States's defining feeling.