Movies Like Hi 8

If you liked Hi 8 (2011), a movie directed by Yukiyasu Shimada, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
★ 8/10
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
2
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
★ 6/10
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.
3
Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
★ 6.4/10
Twenty 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…
4
Cosmos (2019)
★ 6/10
Three astronomers accidentally intercept what they believe to be a signal from a distant alien civilization, but the truth is even more incredible than any of them could have imagined.
5
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
★ 6.5/10
When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.
6
Inuyashiki (2018)
★ 7.7/10
A middle-aged office worker encounters aliens and is gifted with alien technology and limitless powers.
7
Swan Song (2021)
★ 7.1/10
In the near future, Cameron Turner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Presented with an experimental solution to shield his wife and son from grief, he grapples with altering their fate in this thought-provoking…
8
Videodrome (1983)
★ 7.2/10
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…
9
Bugonia (2025)
★ 7.3/10
Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
10
The Faculty (1998)
★ 6.6/10
When creepy things start happening at Herrington High, the students begin to suspect that their faculty is being controlled by body-snatching aliens.
11
Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County (1998)
★ 7.5/10
After a mysterious blackout, a son goes out to investigate and captures footage of actual aliens. When the aliens follow he and his brothers back to their home all hell breaks lose.
12
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)
★ 8.3/10
SEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is forced to decide…
13
The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)
★ 6/10
An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans…
14
Space Battleship Yamato (2010)
★ 6.4/10
In 2199, five years after the Gamilons began an invasion of Earth, the planet has been ravaged by the aliens' bombs. The remnants of humanity have fled underground to escape the irradiated surface. One day, former…
15
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
★ 7.9/10
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The…
16
Love & Pop (1998)
★ 7.7/10
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an…
17
District 9 (2009)
★ 7.5/10
Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth. Not to conquer or give aid, but to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by…
18
Osiris (2025)
★ 6.1/10
Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.
19
Alien: Covenant (2017)
★ 6.2/10
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but is actually a dark, dangerous world.
20
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
★ 6.6/10
Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian.