feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like Soylent Green (1973)

If you loved Soylent Green, the closest films we have are Dark City (1998), Twelve Monkeys (1995) and Blow Out (1981). All three share Soylent Green's twisty and paranoid feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on fuboTV, MGM+ Amazon Channel and Philo and others, checked against today's data.

In the year 2022, overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion have reduced society’s leaders to finding food for the teeming masses. The answer is Soylent Green.

🍅 73% Rotten Tomatoes7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Richard Fleischercerebralgrittytwistybleakparanoid
Stream it:TCM

When is Soylent Green streaming? →

If Soylent Green hit the spot, these will too

Dark City poster
Dark City
1998 · dir. Alex Proyas
7.6mystery · science fiction

The same two preoccupations: paranoia, and dystopia

The difference: Not nearly as gritty as Soylent Green

A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun and run by beings with telekinetic powers who seek the souls of humans.

Feels alike?
Twelve Monkeys poster
Twelve Monkeys
1995 · dir. Terry Gilliam
🍅 88%8science fiction · thriller · mystery

Both built around paranoia

The difference: None of the grit that defines Soylent Green

In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.

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Blow Out poster
Blow Out
1981 · dir. Brian De Palma
🍅 88%7.4crime · mystery · thriller

The same mix in both: grit, then twists

The difference: Plays it as thriller more than Soylent Green does

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead — a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

Feels alike?
A Clockwork Orange poster
A Clockwork Orange
1971 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 86%8.2science fiction · crime

Both trade on ideas more than on being science fiction

In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?

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Chinatown poster
Chinatown
1974 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 98%8.1crime · mystery · thriller

Paranoid crime in both cases

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

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Demolition Man poster
Demolition Man
1993 · dir. Marco Brambilla
🍅 67%6.7crime · action · science fiction

Dystopia is the engine of both

The difference: A 1990s film, from a different era of filmmaking

In 1996, brash L.A. detective John Spartan and maniac killer Simon Phoenix are both sentenced to decades in a cryogenic prison as punishment for a rescue mission gone wrong. When Phoenix escapes 36 years later to wreak havoc on the future, Spartan is awakened to capture his nemesis the old-fashioned way.

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The Conversation poster
The Conversation
1974 · dir. Francis Ford Coppola
🍅 94%7.7crime · drama · mystery

Gritty mystery, and it commits to that

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

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What Happened to Monday poster
What Happened to Monday
2017 · dir. Tommy Wirkola
🍅 62%6.8science fiction · thriller · mystery

Overpopulation sits at the heart of each

In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.

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Videodrome poster
Videodrome
1983 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 83%7.2horror · science fiction · mystery

Science fiction built on bleakness, twice over

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

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Alphaville poster
Alphaville
1965 · dir. Jean-Luc Godard
🍅 92%7drama · science fiction · mystery

Mystery with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

Lemmy Caution is on a mission to eliminate Professor Von Braun, the creator of a malevolent computer that rules the city of Alphaville. Befriended by the scientist’s daughter Natasha, Lemmy must unravel the mysteries of the strictly logical Alpha 60 and teach Natasha the meaning of the word “love.”

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Allegiant poster
Allegiant
2016 · dir. Robert Schwentke
🍅 11%5.7adventure · science fiction · action

Crime with a pulse of twists, in both cases

Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.

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Chappie poster
Chappie
2015 · dir. Neill Blomkamp
🍅 32%6.8crime · action · science fiction

Science fiction built on bleakness, twice over

Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy. Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings—some good, some bad—and he will rely on his heart and soul to find his way in the world and become his own man. But there's one thing that makes Chappie different from any one else: he is a robot.

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In the mood for more cerebral?

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The best-reviewed films that share Soylent Green's defining feeling.