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Movies that feel like Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

If you loved Slaughterhouse-Five, the closest films we have are THX 1138 (1971), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) and Cloud Atlas (2012). All three share Slaughterhouse-Five's contemplative and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel and HBO Max and others, checked against today's data.

Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of the Second World War, finds himself mysteriously detached from time, so that he is able to travel, without being able to help it, from the days of his childhood to those of his peculiar life on a distant planet called Tralfamadore, passing through his bitter experience as a prisoner of war in the German city of Dresden, over which looms the inevitable shadow of an unspeakable tragedy.

πŸ… 82% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. George Roy Hillcontemplativecerebralbleak

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If Slaughterhouse-Five hit the spot, these will too

THX 1138 poster
THX 1138
1971 Β· dir. George Lucas
πŸ… 72%β˜… 6.6science fiction Β· drama

Contemplative where it counts, cerebral underneath

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. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.

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War for the Planet of the Apes poster
War for the Planet of the Apes
2017 Β· dir. Matt Reeves
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.4drama Β· science fiction Β· war

Drama with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

The difference: A 2010s film, from a different era of filmmaking

Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

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Cloud Atlas poster
Cloud Atlas
2012 Β· dir. Lana Wachowski
πŸ… 65%β˜… 7.3drama Β· science fiction

Both trade on stillness more than on being science fiction

A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. Based on the award winning novel by David Mitchell. Directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis.

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Advantageous poster
Advantageous
2015 Β· dir. Jennifer Phang
πŸ… 87%β˜… 6.1science fiction Β· drama

Cerebral war, and it commits to that

In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.

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The Quiet Earth poster
The Quiet Earth
1985 Β· dir. Geoff Murphy
πŸ… 75%β˜… 6.7drama Β· science fiction Β· thriller

Drama built on bleakness, twice over

The difference: Plays it as thriller more than Slaughterhouse-Five does

After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.

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Blade Runner poster
Blade Runner
1982 Β· dir. Ridley Scott
πŸ… 89%β˜… 8.1science fiction Β· drama Β· thriller

Contemplative science fiction in both cases

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

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Gattaca poster
Gattaca
1997 Β· dir. Andrew Niccol
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.7science fiction Β· drama

Both trade on ideas more than on being war

Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation.

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Stalker poster
Stalker
1979 Β· dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8science fiction Β· drama

The same drama instincts

The difference: Not nearly as bleak as Slaughterhouse-Five

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.

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Apocalypse Now poster
Apocalypse Now
1979 Β· dir. Francis Ford Coppola
πŸ… 91%β˜… 8.4drama Β· war

Drama built on bleakness, twice over

At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

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Full Metal Jacket poster
Full Metal Jacket
1987 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 90%β˜… 8.2drama Β· war

Cut from the same war cloth

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

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The Giver poster
The Giver
2014 Β· dir. Phillip Noyce
πŸ… 34%β˜… 6.4drama Β· science fiction

Both are science fiction through and through

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

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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Blade Runner 2049 poster
Blade Runner 2049
2017 Β· dir. Denis Villeneuve
πŸ… 88%β˜… 8science fiction Β· drama

Drama approached the same way

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Slaughterhouse-Five's defining feeling.