Have you seen Netflix’s smash hit Squid Game? The South Korean show has attracted a huge global audience and has risen to number one on the streaming platform in just a few days. So you are in good company. But when you’re done with that, a lot of people are probably wondering what to watch after Squid Game. So what are some movies or shows like Squid Game?
Squid Game follows a group of participants who compete in a series of games for a huge cash prize. There is a catch, however. If you lose any of the games, you will die. It’s brutal, bloody, and a lot of twisted fun.
Read: Will there be a second season of Squid Game?
But the death game genre is nothing new. If you loved Squid Game, there are a lot to consider that can cause a similar itch. There are the bigger titles like the Saw and Hunger Games franchises, but there are plenty of other titles from around the world as well.
So read on for our breakdown of movies and shows like Squid Game.
Watch Squid Game on Netflix
The best movies and series like Squid Game
Intact (2001)
2001 Spanish movie Intacto isn’t exactly a death game movie, but it’s set in the ballpark where high-stakes players compete in increasingly dangerous competitions. But everything takes place in a world of magical realism. The film treats happiness as a commodity that can be passed on from person to person. A seedy casino owner collects luck from others, identifies people with a surplus, and sends his henchman to steal it for him.
See also: Where can I see the other Squid Game Creator films
When the two men argue, the casino owner steals his henchman’s luck. Obsessed with beating his old mentor, the latter is looking for more luck to beat him on a game he never lost: Russian roulette. Intacto is a clever and engaging take on the concept of competition and gambling. It, ahem, raises the stakes and it’s a pleasure to watch
- Rent or Buy Intacto on VOD.
Alice in the Frontier (2020)
Netflix seems to be sensing a pattern and is investing in death game shows like Squid Game in general. Prior to Squid Game, the streamer had some success with another such series from Asia, the Japanese science fiction thriller Alice in Borderland.
In Alice in Borderland, a group of characters find themselves in a seemingly abandoned version of Tokyo. There they play a number of games. Every player has a visa and if they make it through a game they will get an extension of their visa. As soon as their visa expires, they die. Based on the manga of the same name by Haro Aso, Alice in Borderland was already such a hit that Netflix ordered a second season.
- Watch Alice in Borderland on Netflix.
The Game (1997)
Successful investment banker Nicholas Van Orton seems to have it all. But when his estranged brother rolls into town, his perfect life is put to the test. Nicholas’ brother gives him a voucher for a strange gift: a game hosted by a mysterious company. After a lengthy and irritating screening process, Nicholas’ application is denied. But soon he is convinced that the company is playing with him and putting him in danger. Is this all part of the game or is something scary going on?
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Director David Fincher creates a learned and clever thriller that will leave you puzzled until the very last scene. Although the Game wasn’t a huge commercial hit after its release, it was received very well by critics and has since received a prestigious Criterion Collection release.
- Rent or buy The Game on VOD.
Darwin’s Game (2020)
There are tons of Death Game anime out there. You could easily write a list of shows like Squid Game and narrow them down to anime. We left it with two anime titles to cover more basics, but don’t let that stop you from looking for more.
Popular options include Darwin’s Game, in which a high school student plays a mobile game without realizing that the game will be fatal. When he finds out what’s going on, he works with other players to track down and kill the GM.
13 Tzameti (2005)
A gritty and somber, realistic version of Death Games, 13 Tzameti was a festival hit when it premiered in 2005. Sébastien, a young Georgian immigrant living in France, is scratching his way to support his family. When a man he works for dies, Sébastien impersonates him to take a job he heard about the man’s widow. Surprisingly, the task is to simply participate in an underground Russian roulette game, with each round becoming more and more dangerous. But there is a huge cash prize that could lift Sébastien out of poverty.
Director Géla Babluani remapped 13 Tzameti in 2010 as an English-language American film called 13, but that version lacked much of the dark, enigmatic appeal of the original.
- 13 Tzameti is currently not streaming anywhere.
Battle Royale (2000)
Battle Royale, probably one of the better known death game films, is based on a hit manga and has spawned a successful sequel. Rumors of a Hollywood adaptation of the Japanese film have been circulating for over a decade, though that project never came to fruition – unless you accept claims that The Hunger Games is an American knockoff, but that’s a bit far-reaching.
Battle Royale sees a group of school children making a detour on an excursion. Government forces knock them down and take them to an island to take part in a survival game. The Battle Royale is a strategy to curb juvenile delinquency in a Japan of the near future and lets students compete against each other. Armed with maps and weapons (and with exploding collars that explode when out of bounds), the kids have three days to fight to the death. Only a student can win and thus survive. The film is incredibly brutal and an experience in a class of its own.
3% (2016-2020)
Another international Netflix original that appeared out of nowhere (Netflix’s marketing strategy really is a mystery), 3% is a Brazilian death game show like Squid Game on a few key points. It shows a game of death that is supposed to take advantage of poverty and despair. It was also the streamer’s first original Portuguese-language series.
In a dystopian future, citizens of an impoverished society are given a chance to improve their lives. Once a year, 20-year-olds have the chance to take part in a challenge for access to the “offshore”, an Edenic community where people can live comfortably and safely, away from the masses fighting inland. Only 3% of participants make progress, and many who fail face death. The process sounds simple, but the system is corrupted. Participants must navigate a political maze as they fight for their lives.
Like the Will of the Gods (2014)
Because God’s Will goes so well with Squid Game, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has actually been accused of plagiarism and rip-offs. (Hwang Dong-hyuk has denied the influence, stating that he wrote Squid Game years before As the Gods Will was released.)
In Takashi Miike’s supernatural horror manga adaptation, school children across Japan find themselves playing familiar games in which the losers are killed. In the course of the game series, children from different areas compete against each other on a cruel search to find God and the meaning of life through competition and death.
- Buy Like the Will of the Gods on Vudu.
The Running Man (1987)
A chunky action classic, The Running Man is pure 80s, Schwarzenneger porridge, and I mean that really, really well. The Stephen King adaptation envisions a future where death games will be an incredibly popular form of entertainment. A government-run game show, The Running Man, is designed to calm and entertain the population. On the reality TV show, convicted criminals evade “stalkers” who try to kill them on live television. If the “runners” survive, they will earn their freedom and an official pardon.
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If that’s not dystopian enough, the show is also a way to break free of political liabilities. When a police helicopter pilot is charged with a state sponsored massacre, he is thrown into the game to tie open ends. But with a large platform and a direct line to the whole country, he has the chance to earn his freedom and dismiss everything.
Death Parade (2015)
Death Parade is one of the many anime death game shows like Squid game that you can watch. Instead of players struggling to survive, they’ll be dead when the games begin.
In the afterlife, a group of bartenders act as porters for lost souls. When someone dies, they are sent to one of several bars where they play games to decide whether to be reborn or banished to the void forever.
Escape Room (2019)
The Hunger Games proved that a death game film can be made with a PG-13 rating. But Escape Room goes a step further and makes a death game film that deserves its PG-13 rating while staying firmly in the horror genre at the same time. I’m a sucker for horror suitable for younger viewers so I might be biased, but Escape Room pulls it off.
See also: The best horror movies on Hulu
Six strangers receive mysterious boxes in the mail. The boxes are puzzles. After solving the problem, recipients will find an invitation to take part in an escape room challenge with a chance of $ 10,000. Like the Squid Game contestants, they don’t know that failure could mean their death. With solid performances and a fun premise, Escape Room is a solid choice if you’re still buzzing about Squid Game.
- Rent or buy Escape Room on VOD.
Cube (1997)
And last but not least: Cube. Cube is a cult Canadian classic, and no list of death games is complete without it. Not only has it spawned a sequel, prequel, and TV series, but Cube also launched the career of Vincenzo Natali, who worked on Hannibal, Orphan Black, The Strain, Wayward Pines, Westworld, American Gods, The Stand, and. worked more.
The film sees a group of strangers waking up in a mysterious cube-shaped room. The group can move to neighboring cubes, but everyone is equipped with traps. Together they try to escape this Kafkaesque situation and find out why they are here in the first place. While Cube is nowhere near as gory as Saw or its sequels, it is an obvious precursor to that franchise.