Movies like The Abyss present smart science fiction with a great mystery, in some cases underwater and in others in the deep trenches of space. Out of all James Cameron’s films, The Abyss seems to be the one that’s forgotten more often than others. In fact, the special effects on The Abyss could be considered the precursor to what was later done on Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Released in 1989, The Abyss sees a search and rescue mission for a sunken submarine discover something unexpected.
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The movie is not only notable for its unusual story, but also for its achievements in the field of visual effects (for which it won the Academy Award). Fortunately for those who loved this underrated gem, there are other movies similar in concept or atmosphere. James Cameron went on to make some of the most groundbreaking films in history after his success with The Abyss, and many filmmakers looked to his achievement with this film to create other sci-fi masterpieces.
You are watching: 15 Best Movies Like The Abyss
15
Stargate (1994)
Scientists Open A Portal To Another World
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Stargate
PG-13
Action
Adventure
Sci-Fi
8/10
Release Date
October 28, 1994
Runtime
116 Minutes
Director
Roland Emmerich
Writers
Roland Emmerich, Dean Devlin
Sequel(s)
Stargate: Continuum
Cast
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-
Kurt Russell
-
James Spader
Franchise(s)
Stargate
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While he remains best known for his disaster movies, Roland Emmerich also directed one of the most groundbreaking science fiction movies of all time, Stargate. The film sees scientists uncover a portal to other worlds and end up heading in to find new discoveries, while accompanied by a military force led by Kurt Russell’s Jack O’Neil and a linguist played by James Spader.
The movie spawned a television series that was incredibly successful and featured spinoffs of its own. However, the movie deserves all the praise it receives for its smart story and inventive sci-fi. Much like The Abyss, this is about people going into a mysterious area (one deep underwater and the other into distant worlds) and finding alien life that they have to survive. Both movies also display groundbreaking visual effects, although Stargate didn’t reach Oscar-level success like The Abyss.
14
Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022)
James Cameron Brings Sci-Fi Back To The Water
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Avatar: The Way of Water
PG-13
Action
Adventure
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
8/10
48
8/10
Release Date
December 16, 2022
Runtime
190 Minutes
Director
James Cameron
Writers
James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Shane Salerno, Amanda Silver
Prequel(s)
Avatar
Cast
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-
Sam Worthington
-
Zoe Saldana
Sequel(s)
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Franchise(s)
Avatar
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James Cameron fell in love with the water after The Abyss. He went on to make Titanic and then worked on a documentary going as deep in the oceans as he could. He then began his journey in creating Avatar, which led to the sequel, where he took that franchise into the water with Avatar: The Way of Water. In this film, Jake and his family go into hiding with a water tribe when the humans return to hunt him down. This leads to some of Cameron’s most breathtaking underwater scenes.
Just like The Abyss, this gave Cameron a chance to shoot underwater, and that is an area he excels over all other filmmakers.
The movie was a monster success and gave James Cameron three of the highest-grossing films of all time (Titanic and the original Avatar being the other two). However, it wasn’t as critically successful as his other movies, with only four Oscar nominations and one win, although, expectedly, it was for Best Visual Effects. Just like The Abyss, this gave Cameron a chance to shoot underwater, and that is an area he excels over all other filmmakers.
13
Event Horizon (1997)
A Crew Set Out To Find A Missing Spacecraft
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Event Horizon
R
Horror
Sci-Fi
Thriller
8/10
9.4/10
Release Date
August 15, 1997
Runtime
96 minutes
Director
Paul W.S. Anderson
Writers
Philip Eisner
Cast
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-
Jason Isaacs
-
Kathleen Quinlan
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The main idea of The Abyss was that a submarine sunk and the U.S. government sent out a team of divers to find it before the Soviets beat them to it. That is similar to the storyline from Event Horizon. In this sci-fi horror movie, a rescue team is sent to find a spaceship that disappeared seven years earlier. Just like in The Abyss, the team sent in are regular crew members who have no idea what they are walking into.
There are some major differences though. The Abyss has moments of horror, but it is more of an alien contact movie and not one with murderous creatures. However, what the crew finds in Event Horizon is that the spacecraft has returned from Hell and is full of a demonic presence that wants the souls of any who enter onto the ship. This is a film that is pure horror, and for fans who are familiar with the video game projects of Paul W.S. Anderson, this is a movie that shows he is much more than a video game director.
12
Leviathan (1989)
An Underwater Facility Is Attacked By A Mutant Creature
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Leviathan
R
Adventure
Horror
Mystery
Sci-Fi
Release Date
March 17, 1989
Director
George P. Cosmatos
Cast
See All
-
Peter Weller
-
Richard Crenna
-
amanda pays
-
Daniel Stern
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There are many times when similar movies are released at the same time with similar themes. Armageddon and Deep Impact were two movies about asteroids hitting the Earth that were released around the same time. A similar thing happened in 1989. In that one year, The Abyss, DeepStar Six, and Leviathan were all released about the terrors of the deep oceans. All three movies were about humans discovering mysteries from the deep oceans, with DeepStar Six as the least beloved of the three.
Unlike The Abyss, which saw the divers come across alien life and make contact with the aliens, Leviathan went more in the direction of horror. Instead of aliens, the crew of the underwater geological facility ended up coming across a hideous mutant creature that attacks them. What really makes this movie stand out is the visual effects, just like The Abyss, but this time with practical creature design by the legendary Stan Winston.
11
Below (2002)
A Crew Of A Submarine Encounters A Ghost
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Below
R
Thriller
Horror
Mystery
Release Date
August 11, 2002
Runtime
105 minutes
Director
David Twohy
Writers
Darren Aronofsky
Producers
Andrew Rona, Bob Weinstein, Eric Watson, Harvey Weinstein
Cast
See All
-
Bruce Greenwood
Brice
-
Matthew Davis
Odell
-
Olivia Williams
Claire
-
Zach Galifianakis
Weird Wally
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David Twohy directed the highly underrated and brilliant supernatural horror movie Below. This film came two years after Twohy’s breakout movie Pitch Black and was based on a script by Darren Aronofsky. The film takes place in 1943 during World War II when a U.S. Navy submarine is patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. The sub answers a distress call and picks up three survivors, including a nurse and two wounded men. However, a series of strange events happen on the submarine after picking them up.
This is a ghost story, with the crew of the submarine haunted by the spirit and each member begins to die one by one. Much like The Abyss, this is a claustrophobic movie, with the victims aboard a submarine deep in the ocean, with no way of escaping the mounting dangers. The movie was a box office failure, but it went on to become a cult classic once it hit home video, a frightening and inventive underwater thriller.
10
Sphere (1998)
A Spacecraft Is Found On The Floor Of The Pacific Ocean
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Sphere
PG-13
Sci-Fi
Mystery
Thriller
Horror
Release Date
February 13, 1998
Director
Barry Levinson
Writers
Stephen Hauser, Paul Attanasio, Michael Crichton
Cast
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-
Dustin Hoffman
-
Sharon Stone
-
Samuel L. Jackson
-
Peter Coyote
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Though a flop with critics on release, this star-studded adaptation of Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name has developed a more appreciative following over the years thanks to its unusual story. Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson star in the movie of a spacecraft found sunk on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, believed to have been there for nearly 300 years.
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The plot is very similar to The Abyss in a lot of respects as it follows a team of scientists as they travel to the seafloor to study a mysterious craft. Down there, they begin to experience horrifically bizarre events as they attempt to wrap their heads around the power contained within the ship, and fans of The Abyss‘ more intense moments should find their attentions grabbed throughout.
9
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece
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2001: A Space Odyssey
G
Adventure
Mystery
Sci-Fi
9/10
15
8.7/10
Release Date
April 3, 1968
Runtime
149 minutes
Director
Stanley Kubrick
Writers
Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
Cast
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-
Keir Dullea
-
Gary Lockwood
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Stanley Kubrick’s seminal sci-fi classic can be considered a source of inspiration for just about every single movie set in space that was released after it if not every science-fiction film in general. This movie is one of the most cerebral of sci-fi movies, with a mission into deep space leading a man into discovering the origins of life itself.
The movie has a looser kind of narrative structure that revolves around mysterious monoliths that are unearthed by humanity in–what was back in the late ’60s–the near future, with a secretive mission venturing deep into space to find answers only for the ship’s AI to turn on the crew. Fans of the darker elements of The Abyss will not be left wanting by the terrifying HAL 9000 computer and their deadly descent into paranoia and many of the groundbreaking effects remain stunning to this day.
8
Interstellar (2014)
A Man Travels To A Black Hole To Try To Save Earth
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Interstellar
PG-13
Sci-Fi
Drama
Adventure
7/10
166
8.9/10
Release Date
November 7, 2014
Runtime
169 Minutes
Director
Christopher Nolan
Writers
Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Cast
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-
Matthew McConaughey
-
Anne Hathaway
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Christopher Nolan clearly drew from the inspiring designs of 2001: A Space Odyssey for his own space opera movie with a comparable–if more conventional–plot. It follows a team of astronauts following what seems to be an alien invitation to move humanity from the dying Earth to a new habitable galaxy. However, once the team sets off to a black hole, they realize that time goes by differently in space, and they realize they might never make it back home alive.
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Their perilous journey may take them into a lot of apocalyptically stressful situations but it never really strays into the domain of horror, echoing the more upbeat sentiments about contacting alien life shown in movies like The Abyss. Fans of James Cameron’s epic sense of scale will also appreciate the movie’s dedication to gargantuan IMAX shots.
7
Super 8 (2011)
Three Kids Try To Survive A Giant Monster
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Super 8
PG-13
Action
Adventure
Sci-Fi
Thriller
8/10
6.5/10
Release Date
June 10, 2011
Runtime
112 minutes
Director
J.J. Abrams
Writers
J.J. Abrams
Cast
See All
-
Ryan Lee
-
Elle Fanning
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J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 is an homage to classic ’80s kid-led movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies. The difference is that Super 8 focuses even more on its mystery elements while also integrating some action and horror sequences. Set in 1979 in a fictional town in Ohio, the movie follows a group of kids making their own Super 8 movie. While filming a scene on a train station, they see a train derailing and an alien escaping from it.
Based more on Steven Spielberg movies than James Cameron, it is still an inventive sci-fi romp, with the kids trying to survive this creature while discovering that things on Earth are not what they might have been led to believe. It’s a wholly different take on first contact than the one seen in The Abyss, but one built out of similar influences. It is very similar to what would happen if the Goonies found a monster instead of a treasure ship.
6
Cube (1997)
A Puzzle Box Of Death
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Cube
R
Sci-Fi
Mystery
Thriller
Drama
7.3/10
Release Date
September 11, 1998
Runtime
90 minutes
Director
Vincenzo Natali
Writers
Vincenzo Natali, Graeme Manson, André Bijelic
Cast
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-
Nicole de Boer
-
David Hewlett
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For those who enjoyed the darker, horror-like elements of The Abyss, Cube will be the perfect movie to watch next. This sci-fi story is somewhat of a predecessor to Saw, but instead of focusing on horror, it hangs more on the mystery of what’s going on and why the characters are in their predicament.
To get out, they need to get around the numerous traps located almost in every cell they get to and it’s an extremely smart use of the kind of confined metal spaces that movies like The Abyss helped popularize within the genre.
The plot sees a group of strangers waking up to discover that they’ve been trapped in a strange structure that appears to be a cube filled with cells also in the shape of cubes that are all connected to one another. To get out, they need to get around the numerous traps located almost in every cell they get to and it’s an extremely smart use of the kind of confined metal spaces that movies like The Abyss helped popularize within the genre.
5
Alien (1979)
A Haunted House Movie In Space
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Alien
R
Sci-Fi
Horror
10/10
26
9.2/10
Release Date
June 22, 1979
Runtime
117 Minutes
Director
Ridley Scott
Writers
Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Cast
See All
-
Sigourney Weaver
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Ripley
-
Tom Skerritt
Dallas
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Ridley Scott’s iconic sci-fi horror movie pioneered not only the claustrophobic environments that movies like The Abyss would end up utilizing, but the kinds of characters also. The crew of the Nostromo revolutionized how general audiences looked at sci-fi characters, no longer needing them to be coldly professional scientists and instead accepting them as relatable workers who flawed personalities like every other type of person.
As the crew tries to figure out just what they’ve brought on board when an alien organism begins killing them one by one, and how they can kill it first, the movie makes its narrow corridors feel like a real spaceship just as, a decade later, The Abyss would use similarly detailed production design to convince the audience that the main characters were really in the depths of the ocean.
4
Prometheus (2012)
Ridley Scott’s Alien Prequel
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Prometheus
R
Sci-Fi
Horror
Action
Adventure
Drama
Mystery
9/10
157
8.2/10
Release Date
June 8, 2012
Runtime
124 Minutes
Director
Ridley Scott
Writers
Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Prequel(s)
Aliens, Alien, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien Vs Predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Cast
See All
-
Charlize Theron
-
Noomi Rapace
Sequel(s)
Alien: Covenant
Franchise(s)
Alien
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Over thirty years after changing the sci-fi genre forever, director Ridley Scott returned to the universe of Alien for a different kind of horror story with some of the same elements. The crew of the Prometheus is much more scientifically-minded than the crew of the Nostromo but they still meet similarly grizzly fates.
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Fans of The Abyss will enjoy their more thoughtful approach to finding alien life as they investigate what seems to be an ancient invitation handed to humanity by aliens, even if the results of their exploration aren’t as positive, and the inspiring production design remains on point. While there are detractors of the movie, the entire idea of learning about a new species of beings, and it not always ending up in giant battles, is an interesting one, but soon the film devolves into just another Alien film.
3
Contact (1997)
A Scientist Makes Contact With Alien Life
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Contact
PG
Drama
Science Fiction
Mystery
7/10
Release Date
July 11, 1997
Runtime
150 Minutes
Director
Robert Zemeckis
Writers
Michael Goldenberg, James V. Hart
Cast
See All
-
Jodie Foster
-
Matthew McConaughey
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Starring Jodie Foster, Contact is probably one of the most similar movies to The Abyss when it comes to the overall atmosphere. It doesn’t rush its events and takes time to uncover one mystery after another while relying on its sci-fi framing heavily. Foster plays a SETI scientist who is fascinated by space and discovers evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Thanks to her discovery, she is chosen to be the one to make first contact and its reliance on genuine scientific thinking didn’t prevent it from being an emotional and engaging experience like The Abyss. While it lacks the claustrophobia and horror moments from The Abyss, it is an equal when it comes to asking the big questions and realizing that discovering alien life is not always the start of a horror story.
2
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Aliens Make Contact With Humans On Earth
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Close Encounters of The Third Kind
PG
Adventure
Documentary
Drama
Sci-Fi
Release Date
November 18, 1977
Runtime
138 minutes
Director
Steven Spielberg
Writers
Steven Spielberg, Hal Barwood, Jerry Belson, John Hill, Matthew Robbins
Cast
See All
-
Richard Dreyfuss
-
Francois Truffaut
-
Teri Garr
-
Melinda Dillon
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Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a classic that has often been compared to Spielberg’s later movie E.T. due to its topic of first contact and the director’s signature atmosphere. In this movie, a man begins to realize that aliens are coming to Earth, something he has always dreamed about, and he leaves his family to find this proof of life beyond the stars.
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The Abyss is an exciting and captivating 80s Sci-Fi film. Here’s a look at 10 things you don’t know about this movie.
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The movie does keep the aliens shrouded in a certain degree of mystery for the most part but its biggest similarity to The Abyss is its sense of wonder during the first contact. Its significance in the development of science-fiction films has typically been somewhat overshadowed by the release of Star Wars that same year, but movies like Super 8 and The Abyss certainly wouldn’t exist without it.
1
The Thing (1982)
An Alien Shapeshifter Attacks A Remote Arctic Base
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The Thing
R
Horror
Sci-Fi
Mystery
10/10
21
9/10
Release Date
June 25, 1982
Runtime
109 minutes
Director
John Carpenter
Writers
Bill Lancaster
Prequel(s)
The Thing
Cast
See All
-
T.K. Carter
-
David Clennon
Franchise(s)
The Thing
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John Carpenter’s The Thing is equal parts horror and sci-fi with the whole movie being built around a burning mystery. It’s also a feast for the eyes for fans of practical effects as the various alien creatures in the movie have some of the best designs in the genre. The story follows a group of American researchers in Antarctica who get into contact with a strange, parasitic extraterrestrial creature they call the “Thing” which imitates living organisms.
Not knowing who’s human and who’s a convincing replica waiting to eat them, tensions run incredibly high and it’s a must-see for anyone who loved the paranoid elements of The Abyss. It also has the similarity of the crew being trapped in isolation, without any way to escape, and while the latter movie didn’t need to worry that much about their survival, there are hunts that no one in The Thing got out alive.
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The Abyss
PG-13
Mystery
Thriller
Adventure
Drama
Sci-Fi
8/10
8/10
Release Date
August 9, 1989
Runtime
140 minutes
Director
James Cameron
Writers
James Cameron
Producers
Joakim Hansson
Cast
See All
-
Michael Biehn
Tage Vibenius
-
Leo Burmeister
Frigga Vibenius
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Category: Entertainment