Best movies like The War Game
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, controversial, mockumentary, disturbing, futuristic, non fiction, cult classic, semi documentary, thought provoking, bleak
Best tv shows and movies like The War Game (1966):
Similar in 88%
War Book (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a contemporary Commons briefing room, a government minister and several aids enact the ‘war book’ exercise: a protocol written in the 1950s which is periodically played out to test post-nuclear scenarios. Low-budget but high-concept, War Book is a terse drama of interpersonal politics with rat-a-tat-tat dialogue and sharp performances. (12 Angry Men, Sleuth and The Deal all feel like reference points.) Created by some of the UK’s most promising talents in down time between other projects, director/producer Tom Harper (Scouting Book for Boys, Woman in Black 2), screenwriter Jack Thorne (Skins, Scouting Book) and producer Lauren Dark bring together a top notch cast (including Sophie Okonedo, Ben Chaplin and Kerry Fox). Cold war anxiety is given contemporary relevance in this exploration of government arrogance and lack of accountability, and the terrifying fragility of world order when faced with the abyss of mutual destruction.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 703
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, thought provoking, bleak, suspenseful, realistic, apocalyptic, minimal cast
Similar in 85%
It Happened Here (1964)
Plot Summary:
It is the Second World War. The Nazis have invaded Britain. There is a split between the resistance and those who prefer to collaborate with the invaders for a quiet life. The protagonist, a nurse, is caught in the middle.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, War
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, dieselpunk, independent film, mockumentary, semi documentary, tense, rough, bleak, serious, captivating
Similar in 77%
Revengers Tragedy (2002)
Plot Summary:
Revengers Tragedy is a film adaptation of the 1606 play The Revenger's Tragedy It was directed by Alex Cox and adapted for the screen by Cox's fellow Liverpudlian, Frank Cottrell Boyce. The film stars Christopher Eccleston as the revenge-obsessed Vindice, with Derek Jacobi and Eddie Izzard.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 872
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, bleak, atmospheric, serious, apocalyptic, clever, futuristic, realistic, contemplative, cynical
Similar in 88%
Witnesses (2003)
Plot Summary:
Set amid the atrocities of war in the Balkans, Witnesses is retold, Rashomon-style, from various characters' viewpoints, adding new information about the complexity of war and humanity. Beginning inside a rustic house with a woman in black (Mirjana Karanovic) standing beside her husband's coffin, Witnesses interweaves the stories of a small town confronting ethnic hatred and deep moral ambiguities.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 828
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Croatia
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, serious, disturbing, realistic, non-linear
Similar in 89%
Ladybug Ladybug (1963)
Plot Summary:
Staff and students at a rural school react to a warning of an imminent nuclear attack, not knowing whether it is real or mistaken.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 930
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, apocalyptic, psychotronic, allegory, disaster movie
Similar in 85%
The Zookeeper (2001)
Plot Summary:
Jonah Ludovic (Sam Neill) is a custodian at a small municipal zoo. After a night of heavy shelling Ludovic arrives at his job to find the staff abandoning the zoo. He joins a skeleton crew that includes an elderly guard and a veterinarian (Om Puri). Their purpose: to keep the animals alive until help arrives from an international zoological mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Denmark, UK, Czech Republic, Netherlands
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, rough, suspenseful, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, biting
Similar in 82%
On the Beach (2000)
Plot Summary:
The world has finally managed to blow itself up and only Australia has been spared from nuclear destruction and a gigantic wave of radiation is floating in on the breezes. One American sub located in the Pacific has survived and is met with disdain by the Australians. The calculations of Australia's most renowned scientist says the country is doomed. However, one of his rivals says that he is wrong. He believes that a 1000 people can be relocated to the northern hemisphere, where his assumptions indicate the radiation levels may be lower. The American Captain is asked to take a mission to the north to determine which scientist is right.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 195 min
Plot tags: tense, apocalyptic, serious, suspense, exciting, gloomy, psychotronic, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
Special Bulletin (1983)
Plot Summary:
A TV reporter and cameraman are taken hostage on a tugboat while covering a workers strike. The demands of the hostage-takers are to collect all the nuclear detonators in the Charleston, SC area so they may be detonated at sea. They threaten to detonate a nuclear device of their own of their demand isnt met.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: bad ending, psychological, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 90%
Countdown to Looking Glass (1984)
Plot Summary:
A fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons from the perspective of an on-going news broadcast.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 694
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, tragic ending, mockumentary, disaster movie
Similar in 83%
The Battle of Culloden (1964)
Plot Summary:
Culloden is a 1964 docudrama written and directed by Peter Watkins for BBC TV. It portrays the 1746 Battle of Culloden that resulted in the British Army's destruction of the Scottish Jacobite uprising and, in the words of the narrator, "tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands". Described in its opening credits as "an account of one of the most mishandled and brutal battles ever fought in Britain", Culloden was hailed as a breakthrough for its cinematography as well as its use of non-professional actors and its presentation of an historical event in the style of modern TV war reporting. The film was based on John Prebble's study of the battle.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 69 min
Plot tags: philosophical, political, cerebral, rough, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, mockumentary, fake documentary
Similar in 82%
Dead Man's Letters (1986)
Plot Summary:
In a world after the nuclear apocalypse a scholar helps a small group of children and adults survive, staying with them in the basement of the former museum of history. In his mind he writes letters to his son — though it is obvious that they will never be read.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, psychedelic, depressing, spiritual, mind blowing, poetic, twisted, eighties
Similar in 86%
One Hundred Mornings (2009)
Plot Summary:
Set in a world upended by a complete breakdown of society, two couples hide out in a lakeside cabin hoping to survive this crisis.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 508
Genere: Drama
Country: Ireland
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, bleak, apocalyptic, tense, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Private (2004)
Plot Summary:
A Palestinian family is trapped inside a house commandeered by Israeli soldiers.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, tense, sincere, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 88%
Black Rain (1989)
Plot Summary:
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: depressing, political, disturbing, psychological, sincere, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
Fail Safe (2000)
Plot Summary:
Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspenseful, political, psychological, apocalyptic, realistic, political thriller, disaster movie
Similar in 79%
Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil (1985)
Plot Summary:
The two-part TV movie Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil crystallizes that evil by concentrating on two Berlin brothers. In 1931, Helmut Hoffman (Bill Nighy) a brilliant student and self-styled opportunist, joins Hitler's SS. At the same time, his younger brother Karl (John Shea), a top athlete and idealist, becomes a chauffeur for the "S.A." (storm troopers).
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 857
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 85%
The Only Way (1970)
Plot Summary:
In April 1940, the armies of Nazi Germany invaded Denmark. The Danish government promised peaceful cooperation on the condition that Denmark s Jews remain free. The Nazi s agreed. In October, 1943, the agreement was broken...This is the true and magnificent saga of Denmark s valorous actions to save Danish Jews from Nazi extermination at peril of death!.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 306
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, Denmark, Panama, UK
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: uplifting, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 85%
The Iron Triangle (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the diary of an unknown Viet Cong soldier, this film provides a sympathetic look at a Viet Cong soldier who protected a captured American soldier whom he believed did not kill him when the American had the opportunity. Written by John Sacksteder.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 532
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, independent film, bleak, captivating, cult film
Similar in 89%
84C MoPic (1989)
Plot Summary:
A cameraman embedded with a reconnaissance patrol charts their mission across territory controlled by the Vietnamese. An impressively naturalistic Vietnam film. Impressive performance by unknown actors in this low-budget Vietnam drama. The story is being told in the form of a documentary; a camera team follows an Army unit in pursuit of 'Charlie'. Filmed in Southern California. The movie's producing company itself is called '84 Charlie MoPic'.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, mockumentary, independent film, cult film
Similar in 90%
The Last Train (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Last Train is a British six-part post-apocalyptic television drama serial first broadcast on the ITV network in 1999. It has since been repeated on ITV2 in 1999/2001 and on numerous occasions on the UK Sci-Fi Channel. The serial was written by Matthew Graham and produced for ITV by Granada Television. In the United States, the Fox Network purchased the rights to produce a new version of the series soon after its original UK transmission. Retitled The Ark, the idea did not progress beyond the pilot stage. As of May 2013, the series has not been released on DVD or any other format, and has never aired in the US.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 987
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, gloomy, bleak, serious, captivating, futuristic, suspenseful, stylized, disaster movie
Similar in 86%
Ever Since the World Ended (2001)
Plot Summary:
Twelve years ago, a plague swept through, wiping out most of the population; in San Francisco, only 186 people remain. Two of them use jury-rigged batteries to power a camera and make a documentary. We see a variety of approaches to survival, from the artist and engineer who trade for their needs, to the surfers and woodsmen who fish and hunt, to the scavengers, and a communal farm. We also see how the community deals with those who threaten it, and how the youth are growing up with different values from those who knew our world.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 740
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 78 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, tense, bleak, serious, sincere, atmospheric, suspense, realistic, independent film, thought provoking
Similar in 76%
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Plot Summary:
British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: bleak, suspense, atmospheric, disturbing, futuristic, serious, suspenseful, apocalyptic, sexy, offbeat
Similar in 87%
Time of the Wolf (2003)
Plot Summary:
When Anna and her family arrive at their holiday home, they find it occupied by strangers. This confrontation is just the beginning of a painful learning process.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Austria, Germany
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, bleak, atmospheric, intense, apocalyptic, suspenseful, road movie, dark, stylized
Similar in 90%
20 Years After (2008)
Plot Summary:
In the middle of nowhere, 20 years after an apocalyptic terrorist event that obliterated the face of the world!.
IMDB Rating: 3.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, bleak, serious, suspenseful, independent film, futuristic, dystopian, disaster movie
Similar in 77%
Testament (1983)
Plot Summary:
Nuclear war in the United States is portrayed in a realistic and believable manner. The story is told through the eyes of a woman who is struggling to take care of her family. The entire movie takes place in a small suburban town outside San Francisco. After the nuclear attack, contact with the outside world is pretty much cut off.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: depressing, bleak, disturbing, emotional, tense, apocalyptic, thought provoking, serious, touching, realistic
Similar in 77%
The Day After (1983)
Plot Summary:
The film portrays a fictional nuclear war between NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact that rapidly escalates into a full scale exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, focusing on the residents of Lawrence, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as several family farms situated next to nearby nuclear missile silos.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: disturbing, futuristic, apocalyptic, harsh, serious, thought provoking, psychotronic, suspense, bleak, rough
Similar in 88%
Fail-Safe (1964)
Plot Summary:
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring. Director Sidney Lumet gives an atmospheric vision of the future with a Cold War backdrop.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: tense, political thriller, political, realistic, bleak, black and white, emotional, suspense, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1997)
Plot Summary:
In the Warsau Ghetto of 1943, one man's struggle to keep his family together leads him to the ultimate crisis of faith, and one final chance at redemption. Written by legendary 'Twilight Zone' creator, Rod Sterling.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 352
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, gloomy
Similar in 76%
Hiroshima (1995)
Plot Summary:
Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese / Canadian film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making processes that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki toward the end of World War II. Except as actors, no Americans took part in the production. The three-hour film was made for television and evidently had no theatrical release, but is available on DVD for home viewing. A combination of dramatisation, historical footage, and eyewitness interviews, the film alternates between documentary footage and the dramatic recreations. Both the dramatisations and most of the original footage are presented as sepia-toned images, serving to blur the distinction between them. The languages are English and Japanese, with subtitles, and the actors are largely Canadian and Japanese.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 968
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada, Japan
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Road (2009)
Plot Summary:
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 251000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: bleak, harsh, depressing, rough, suspense, apocalyptic, atmospheric, gloomy, psychological, sad