10 Dystopian Horror Movies to Watch If You Already Miss ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Does this seem like a dystopian horror movie or an average MrBeast video?
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The nightly news has always been a fertile source of inspiration for horror movies. For every terrifying scenario the news imagines, there is already a horror movie that explores what that hypothetical reality would be like. Hulu’s dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale is often brought up as an example of a horrific fictional plot that feels too similar to an actual news story.
As women lost the right to control their own body, many continue to wonder if more horrors we saw in The Handmaid’s Tale (like Americans being unable to flee their country for the safety of Canada or women losing the right to own credit cards, bank accounts and property) are on their way next. Author Margaret Atwood, who wrote the book the Hulu series is based on, only used political scenarios that had already happened in real life when writing the book, so nothing in Handmaid’s Tale can realistically be considered “far-fetched”. Now that the Handmaid’s Tale series finale has aired, here are some horror movies to watch if you are looking for something with a similar vibe:
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
On the surface, this movie is about people dealing with a zombie outbreak. The flesh-eating ghouls are scary and so the film follows characters as they run, hide or attempt to fight back. What’s relevant for Handmaid’s Tale viewers is the grim lesson from the film’s shocking twist-ending. (Spoiler alert) just when the horror seems like it is over, hero Ben is shot and killed by his rescuers, who mistake him for a ghoul. In the end, even the “good” people (the men coming to “rescue” those the zombies have terrorized) are still not trustworthy, rational human beings we can count on to save us. The ghouls and the rescuers are just two different types of horror movie monsters we have to contend with.
Threads (1984)
This is the movie to watch if you really want to scare the crap out of yourself about how bad the future could possibly get. Threads depicts a global nuclear war and its after effects through an ensemble cast of characters in Sheffield, England. Months and years after the mass casualty event, the country is still in chaos as it deal with violence, food scarcity and permanent damage to quality of life (cataracts, cancer, infertility).
Society (1989)
This is a body horror movie about the pressures of conforming to societal ideals. A teenage boy discovers that his elitists friends and family are actually members of a gruesome orgy cult. Horror fans who enjoyed The Substance (2024) are especially encouraged to check out Society.
The Host (2006)
Bong Joon Ho’s monster movie is about a river monster terrorizing people around the Han River in Seoul. The reason The Host is included in this list is the subplot where the government blames the chaos created by the river monster on a contagious virus. The virus is completely fictional, but it serves the government to distract and mislead the masses. Rather than be upset the government hasn’t done enough to protect citizens from the river monster, they will instead argue with each other about whether the river monster even exists.
The Crazies (2010)
A slightly better than the original remake of George A. Romero’s sci-fi horror movie about a small town where a contagious bioweapon turns average citizens into killers. What’s memorable about The Crazies is that it is made clear that the government is the enemy of survivors, not their rescuer. The government wants to quarantine the town and will simply write off any innocent people who this harms as collateral damage.
Would You Rather (2012)
Would You Rather is a psychological horror movie that alludes to the road influencer content is headed down. A wealthy man hosts a dinner party where poor guests endanger their lives for the chance to win money. Does this seem like a dystopian horror movie or like an average MrBeast video? In a world where the secretary of Homeland Security is considering America’s appetite for a ‘Hunger Games’-like reality show where refugees compete for American citizenship, Would You Rather is not very far-fetched.
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
This Purge movie gets into the political maneuvering behind the annual free-for-all event. Religious conservatives have created a new political party, The New Founding Fathers, that purports to do what is best for Americans. However, Election Year exposes the parties’ real motivation is just about keeping themelves in power by whatever means necessary. This includes using its followers’ religious beliefs against them.
2021’s The Forever Purge is also very relevant.
The Hunt (2020)
An action horror movie about wealthy liberals who round up a group of deplorables (conservatives) to hunt for sport. The fact that main character Crystal (Betty Gilpin) not actually the conservative “Crystal” who was supposed to be targeted is a good metaphor for the buried lede in this movie being that while the right and left are hunting each other, no one is blaming the politicians who actually got us here.
Soft & Quiet (2022)
This psychological thriller is about a kindergarten teacher who belongs to a social group of overtly white supremacist women. Handmaid’s Tale viewers will half expect Serena Joy to pop up at one of the group’s meetings. Later, a chance encounter allows the women to act out their fantasies.
Raging Grace (2023)
An undocumented immigrant struggles to provide for herself and her daughter, leading to her taking a job at an isolated mansion as a caregiver and maid for a dying man. The Handmaid’s Tale vibes in Raging Grace come from the initial position of the main characters as servants to the wealthy class. Even when their employers like them enough to take a special interest in the hired help, the female protagonists are constantly reminded of how little power they actually have.
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