Best movies like The X Files
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, scary, cerebral, psychological, neo noir, psychological thriller, political, apocalyptic, novela
Best tv shows and movies like The X Files (1998):
Similar in 90%
Monolith (1993)
Plot Summary:
Two cops investigating the murder of a young boy become invloved in a very secret project involving alien life. Needless to say, the authorities don't want them to stick their noses into this.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 959
Genere: Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)
Plot Summary:
Written in 1931, H.P. Lovecraft's iconic genre-bending tale of suspense and alien terrors is brought to life in the style of the classic horror films of the 1930s like Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong. Using its Mythoscope™ process — a mix of vintage and modern techniques — the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society expands on Lovecraft's original tale while still bringing you unparalleled authenticity. Horror and science fiction collide in the adventure of Albert Wilmarth, a folklore professor at Miskatonic University, as he investigates legends of strange creatures rumored to dwell in the most remote mountains of Vermont. Wilmarth’s investigation leads him to a discovery of horrors quite beyond anything he ever imagined, and ends in a desperate attempt to escape the remote New England hills with his life and sanity intact.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: lovecraft, atmospheric, scary, suspenseful, black and white, retro, suspense, creepy, serious, neo noir
Similar in 77%
The Shadow Men (1997)
Plot Summary:
Happily married couple Bob and Dez Wilson and their 12-year old son Andy are being attacked by a blinding light when driving home from a daytrip. They awaken a couple of hours later, seemingly unscathed but soon driven mad by recurring nightmares. It soon appears that they have been abducted by aliens as proved by their sons handycam that had suddenly started running right after the incident. This mysterious fact is discovered by even more mysterious Men In Black who start nagging the family up to the point of threatening to kill them. Laughed at by the police the threesome seek refuge at sf-writer Stan Mills' house and start fighting back.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 80%
The Vast of Night (2019)
Plot Summary:
At the dawn of the space-race, two radio-obsessed teens discover a strange frequency over the airwaves in what becomes the most important night of their lives and in the history of their small town.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 44000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, psychological, suspense, scary, bleak, captivating, mumblecore, horror comedy, lovecraft, mind blowing
Similar in 75%
The Phoenix Incident (2015)
Plot Summary:
A number of 'missing person' cases are reported in Phoenix, Arizona when an unexplained light appears in the sky one night in 1997.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: tense, enigmatic, mockumentary, captivating, suspense, psychotronic, fake documentary
Similar in 80%
UFO (2018)
Plot Summary:
A college student, who sees a UFO, uses his exceptional math skills to investigate the sighting with his friends while the FBI follows closely behind.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: semi documentary, exciting, thought provoking, captivating, psychological, philosophical, political, psychotronic, enigmatic, weird
Similar in 77%
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Plot Summary:
A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 106000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, political thriller, psychological, exciting, serious, suspense thriller, surprise ending, inspirational
Similar in 81%
The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)
Plot Summary:
Six years after the events of The X-Files series finale, former FBI agent Doctor Dana Scully is now a staff physician at Our Lady of Sorrows, a Catholic hospital, and treating a boy named Christian who has Sandhoff disease, a terminal brain condition. FBI agent Drummy arrives to ask Scully’s help in locating Fox Mulder, the fugitive former head of the X-Files division, and says they will call off its manhunt for him if he will help investigate the disappearances of several women, including young FBI agent Monica Banan. Mulder and Scully are called back to duty by the FBI when a former priest claims to be receiving psychic visions pertaining to a kidnapped agent.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 93000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspense, enigmatic, suspenseful, exciting, psychological thriller, apocalyptic, cult classic, scary, mind bending, serious
Similar in 75%
Dark Skies (1996)
Plot Summary:
Dark Skies is an American UFO conspiracy theory-based sci-fi television series that aired from the 1996 to 1997 season for 18 episodes, plus a two-hour pilot episode. The success of The X-Files on Fox proved there was an audience for science fiction shows, resulting in NBC commissioning this proposed competitor following a pitch from producers Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman. The series debuted September 21, 1996 on NBC, and was later rerun by the Sci-Fi Channel. Its tagline was "History as we know it is a lie.".
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: anthology, spooky, exciting, mind bending, serious, captivating, suspenseful
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Similar in 90%
Area 51 (2015)
Plot Summary:
Three young conspiracy theorists attempt to uncover the mysteries of Area 51, the government's secret location rumored to have hosted encounters with alien beings. What they find at this hidden facility exposes unimaginable secrets.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: scary, suspense, tense, talky, stylized, intense, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, mind bending
Similar in 80%
V (2009)
Plot Summary:
V is an American science fiction television series that ran for two seasons on ABC, from November 3, 2009 to March 15, 2011. A remake of the 1983 miniseries created by Kenneth Johnson, the new series chronicles the arrival on Earth of a technologically advanced alien species which ostensibly comes in peace, but actually has sinister motives. V stars Morena Baccarin, Lourdes Benedicto, Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Logan Huffman, Charles Mesure, Elizabeth Mitchell, Laura Vandervoort and Scott Wolf, and was executive produced by Scott Rosenbaum, Yves Simoneau, Scott Peters, and Jace Hall. The series was produced by The Scott Peters Company, HDFilms and Warner Bros. Television.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, apocalyptic, captivating, stylized, cliffhanger, tense, exciting, serious, atmospheric, sweet
Similar in 76%
Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
Plot Summary:
20 years after three teenagers disappeared in the wake of mysterious lights appearing above Phoenix, Arizona, unseen footage from that night has been discovered, chronicling the final hours of their fateful expedition.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, dark, scary, suspenseful, exciting, mockumentary, mumblecore, spooky, light
Similar in 77%
Chain Reaction (1996)
Plot Summary:
Two researchers in a green alternative energy project are put on the run when they are framed for murder and treason.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, suspenseful, intense, serious, realistic, entertaining, tech noir, cult classic, surprise ending
Similar in 85%
The Arrival (1996)
Plot Summary:
Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, exciting, serious, intense, futuristic, surprise ending, atmospheric, mystical, apocalyptic
Similar in 78%
Impostor (2001)
Plot Summary:
Gary Sinise plays Spencer Olham, a top-secret government weapons designer who is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, suspenseful, stylized, serious, psychological thriller, thought provoking, cyber, mindfuck, intense
Similar in 86%
Threshold (2005)
Plot Summary:
Threshold was a science fiction drama television series that first aired on CBS in September 2005. Produced by Brannon Braga, David S. Goyer and David Heyman, the series focuses on a secret government project investigating the first contact with an extraterrestrial species.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, cliffhanger, atmospheric, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
Millennium (1996)
Plot Summary:
A retired FBI serial-profiler joins the mysterious Millennium Group, a team of underground ex-law enforcement experts dedicated to fighting against the ever-growing forces of evil and darkness in the world.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, scary, serious, suspenseful, tense, detective, cliffhanger, dark, neo noir, vintage
Similar in 82%
Project Blue Book (2019)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the true top secret U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ’60s, known as “Project Blue Book.”.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, captivating, exciting, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, thought provoking, anthology, historical drama, corny
Similar in 82%
Signs (2002)
Plot Summary:
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 381000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: enigmatic, scary, twist ending, suspense, psychological, atmospheric, tense, psychological thriller, suspenseful, creepy
Similar in 88%
The Abyss (1989)
Plot Summary:
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 188000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, tense, psychological, suspense, serious, epic, futuristic, visually stunning, enigmatic
Similar in 76%
The Event (2010)
Plot Summary:
The Event is an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker, an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fiancée Leila, and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, mind bending, serious, suspenseful, non-linear, intellectual, detective, cliffhanger, atmospheric
Similar in 75%
Roswell (1999)
Plot Summary:
Bizarre things start happening in the little New Mexico town where UFOs were spotted in 1947. Cut to 1999, when a cute high-school student saves the life of a teenage waitress. Surrounded by cliques of clever, angst-filled classmates, the two form a bond that threatens the survival of a secret universe involving superhuman powers, a yen for hot sauce and an alien gene pool.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, semi serious, suspense, captivating, exciting, tense, cult classic, teen, offbeat, humorous
Similar in 84%
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Plot Summary:
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, then-Captain Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Kuwait. As Marco (now a Major) investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: political thriller, suspense, psychological, clever, political, tense, suspenseful, twist ending, intense, stylized
Similar in 89%
The Box (2009)
Plot Summary:
Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 94000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: suspense, enigmatic, psychological, mind bending, mindfuck, suspenseful, twist ending, surprise ending, bad ending, surreal
Similar in 82%
The Forgotten (2004)
Plot Summary:
Telly Paretta is a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 8-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created eight years of memories about a son she never had. But when she meets a man who has had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son's existence, and her sanity.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, mind bending, surprise ending, enigmatic, twist ending, suspenseful, suspense, psychological thriller, mindfuck, intense
Similar in 83%
Fire in the Sky (1993)
Plot Summary:
A group of men who were clearing bush for the government arrive back in town, claiming that their friend was abducted by aliens. Nobody believes them, and despite a lack of motive and no evidence of foul play, their friends' disappearance is treated as murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 28000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, scary, disturbing, psychological, cult classic, suspense, retro, psychedelic, slasher, surreal
Similar in 75%
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Plot Summary:
After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 213000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, China
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, breathtaking, captivating, cerebral, atmospheric, visually appealing, visual, futuristic, light, sentimental
Similar in 76%
Contact (1997)
Plot Summary:
Contact is a science fiction film about an encounter with alien intelligence. Based on the novel by Carl Sagan the film starred Jodie Foster as the one chosen scientist who must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 289000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: cerebral, inspirational, philosophical, futuristic, emotional, mind blowing, captivating, suspenseful, exciting, thought provoking
Similar in 84%
The X-Files (1993)
Plot Summary:
The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 243000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: captivating, atmospheric, psychological, mind bending, detective, suspense, exciting, spooky, thrilling, psychological thriller
Similar in 77%
Fringe (2008)
Plot Summary:
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, brilliant but formerly institutionalized scientist Walter Bishop and his scheming, reluctant son Peter uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realize they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 254000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 46 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, scary, surreal, detective, thrilling, exciting, dramatic, psychological thriller, inspirational