Movies Like The China Syndrome
If you liked The China Syndrome (1979), a drama and thriller movie directed by James Bridges, 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
Testament (1983)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaIt's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in…
- 2
Super 8 (2011)
★ 6.8/10Also thrillerIn late 1970s Ohio, a group of friends filming a homemade zombie movie witness a devastating train derailment. Soon after, their quiet town is gripped by unexplained disappearances, strange phenomena, and a growing…
- 3
The House on Carroll Street (1988)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and thrillerA reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house…
- 4
Dark Waters (2019)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and thrillerA tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. In the process, he risks everything — his future, his family, and his own…
- 5
Volcano (1997)
★ 6/10Also drama and thrillerAn earthquake shatters a peaceful Los Angeles morning and opens a fissure deep into the earth, causing lava to start bubbling up. As a volcano begins forming in the La Brea Tar Pits, the director of the city's…
- 6
Fair Game (2010)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and thrillerA devoted wife and mother leads a secret life as a CIA agent until her husband’s article exposes a scandal, putting her identity and loved ones at risk. As her world crumbles, she must navigate the fallout of her…
- 7
Five (1951)
★ 6.6/10Also dramaThe film's storyline involves five survivors, one woman and four men, of an atomic bomb disaster. The five come together at a remote, isolated hillside house, where they try to figure out how to survive.
- 8
Hereafter (2010)
★ 6.1/10Also dramaThree people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
- 9
Mercy (2026)
★ 7.1/10Also thrillerIn the near future, a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has ninety minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced AI Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.
- 10
The Conversation (1974)
★ 7.5/10Also dramaA paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
- 11
On the Beach (2000)
★ 6.2/10Also dramaThe 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…
- 12
The Vast of Night (2019)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and thrillerAt 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.
- 13
Duel (1971)
★ 7.4/10Also thrillerTraveling businessman David Mann angers the driver of a rusty tanker while crossing the California desert. A simple trip turns deadly, as Mann struggles to stay on the road while the tanker plays cat and mouse with his…
- 14
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
★ 7.2/10Also thrillerEthan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's…
- 15
The Social Reckoning (2026)
★ 7/10Also drama and thrillerFrances Haugen, a young Facebook engineer, enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter, to go on a dangerous journey that ends up blowing the whistle on the social network's most guarded secrets.
- 16
The 33 (2015)
★ 6.4/10Also dramaBased on the true story of the collapse of a mine in San Jose, Chile—that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.
- 17
Shattered Glass (2003)
★ 7/10Also dramaStephen Glass is a staff writer for the respected current events and policy magazine The New Republic and a freelance feature writer for publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper's and George. By the mid-90s, Glass'…
- 18
Ace in the Hole (1951)
★ 7.8/10Also dramaAn arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.
- 19
Kept Woman (2015)
★ 6.5/10Also thrillerJessica and her fiancé Evan have just moved from the city into their dream home on a quiet suburban street. Soon after, Jessica catches her seemingly friendly new neighbor, Simon, in a strange lie and can't let her…
- 20
Deepwater Horizon (2016)
★ 6.9/10Also dramaA story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.