20 Great Dystopian Films That Are Worth Your Time 

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20 Great Dystopian Films That Are Worth Your Time

14 October 2014 | Features, Film Lists | by Emilio Santoni

Let’s start by quickly defining what a dystopian film constitutes. The term dystopia is the antonym of utopia. Whereas utopia refers to an imagined place or state where everything is perfect, dystopia refers to a state or place where everything has gone to hell. Per their very definition, films dealing with dystopian themes are therefore at the very least speculative and almost always to some extend part of the science fiction genre. The films often deal with totalitarian societies or ones that have degraded environmentally or socially.

Dystopian movies seem to be one of the current fads in film, or at least when it comes to the teenage market. The Hunger Games proved to be a great financial success and in its wake films like Divergent and more recently The Maze Runner have managed to do great business as well. None of those movies will be found on this list though. In fact, instead of being great examples of dystopian films, they might be proof that we are indeed living in a dystopian society ourselves.

On this list, you’ll find twenty of the greatest dystopian films to have ever hit the screen. As per usual, it isn’t a be-all and end-all summary of the best dystopian films ever and the list could easily have been expanded to thirty titles but I decided to stick to twenty in an attempt to keep the selected entries of the highest calibre.

Some of the films which did not end up making the cut but were considered are Escape From New York, Robocop, Strange Days, Alphaville, Silent Running and Code 46. Anyone with a serious passion for the genre should make sure to also watch these titles as well as plenty of others. That being said, the twenty titles listed here are all fantastic examples of the best the genre has got to offer.

Let’s start with perhaps the most famous title associated with dystopian totalitarian fiction, 1984. Based on the infamous novel of the same name by George Orwell, which gave birth to the term “Big Brother”, this second adaptation for the screen, which release year clearly coincided with the year of its title (the first adaptation was produced in 1956), is directed by Michael Radford and stars John Hurt and Richard Burton, in his final screen appearance.

The film is set in London in 1984, which is the capital of the territory of Airstrip One (formerly Britain), which in itself is part of the larger totalitarian state of Oceania. Winston Smith (Hurt) is a bureaucrat working for the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to constantly rewrite history according to the Party and its omnipresent leader Big Brother. Whilst free thought is forbidden and everybody is under constant surveillance, Winston keeps a diary of his private thoughts.

Worse still is the fact that he meets Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), another worker within the Ministry of Truth, and that the two start a relationship, something which is also strictly forbidden by the Party. The relationship lasts for a few months but comes to a sudden end when they are caught by the Thought Police and Winston is taken into the Ministry of Love for interrogation and rehabilitation by his former friend O’Brien (Burton) who takes him to the feared Room 101, where people are tortured by being confronted by their worst secret fears.

Staying pretty much faithful to its source material, 1984 is a very bleak and grim affair. The future is made to look especially drab, washed-out and grey, perfectly conveying the lack of humanity as well as the omnipresence of the Party. So much so, that this adaptation actually suffers a bit from its all-encompassing grim mood, making it not the easiest film to sit through.

John Hurt is fantastic as Winston Smith, whose face perfectly conveys his long mental tortured existence and Burton also does an admirable job as the face of the Party, putting in a truly frightening performance. Hurt won a Best Actor award at the Fantasporto Film Festival whilst both actors walked away with the same prize at the Valladolid Festival.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Koushun Takami, Battle Royale is a Japanese futuristic action comedy with a healthy dose of black humour, set in a society gone mad.

As the economy has worsened and more people have lost their jobs, Japan is on the verge of chaos, especially as the country’s youth has responded by becoming more rebellious and delinquent. The government has therefore taken drastic measures and created the Millennial Reform School Act, a nationally televised game in which random high school classes are selected in their entirety and sent to a remote island to hunt each other down until only one remains standing.

The film focuses on the class of Kitano (Beat Takeshi), a twisted school teacher whose class has been selected, and Shuya Nanahara, one of the students in his class, whose father has committed suicide.

If you’re not into violent films, you might want to skip this one. Basically the Japanese exploitation version The Hunger Games (although Battle Royale came out a decade earlier), the kids here are fitted with explosive collars which decapitate them if they leave the designated playing area and an on-screen counter which keeps track of how many of the students are still alive.

But if this sounds like it might be your cup of tea, then chances are you are going to love this one with the added bonus that the film is also remarkably funny. A dark, disturbing and unique film, Battle Royale is part exploitation, part satire and 100% twisted.

18. City of Lost Children (Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro, 1995)

The second feature directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, after their debut breakthrough Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children is a dark science fiction/fantasy film starring Ron Perlman.

Krank (Daniel Emilfork) is a mad scientist who lives on an ocean rig and cannot dream. He has however devised a machine that can steal the dreams of others and in order to so, he kidnaps children from a nearby port town. But when he takes a little boy named Denree (Joseph Lucien), he hasn’t counted on his older brother, the giant One (Perlman) to come looking for him.

When One arrives at the the rig he teams up with a little orphaned girl named Miette (Judith Vittet), who is part of a guild of thieves which is completely made up of orphans. As they make their way towards Krank’s lair, they encounter a pair of Siamese twins, a talking brain in a fish bowl and a bunch of clones, all played by Jeunet regular, Dominique Pinon.

With their second feature, Jeunet and Caro created a visually distinct and inventive dystopian fantasy world with elements of steampunk (before the term was widely used and popular), freak-shows and dark fairy tales. The films production design, costumes, cinematography and boundless imagination are indeed its strongest points whilst their storytelling was critiqued by many a film critic at the time of the film’s release. The fact that Ron Perlman, who did not speak French, learned all his lines phonetically, probably didn’t add to his performance either.

The film did however almost immediately gain a cult following, which has only grown over the years due to its truly unique look and feel. The City of Lost Children was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes and also received four nominations at the César Awards in France for Best Music, Cinematography, Costume Design and Production Design, only winning the last one.

Loosely based upon the novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, Soylent Green is a 1973 science fiction film set in a dystopian future directed by Richard Fleischer.

The year is 2022 and the world is suffering from overpopulation and horrible ecological conditions due to the greenhouse effect. Food is in very short supply and most nutrition is supplied by the Soylent Corporation who have just introduced their latest food source: “Soylent Green”. In this landscape, detective Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) is assigned to investigate the murder of a wealthy industrialist who turns out to have been on the board of the Soylent Corporation.

Together with his friend and house mate “Sol” Roth (Edward G. Robinson), he starts unravelling the case but the Governor orders the case closed when too much of an underlying conspiracy is being unearthed. Nonetheless Thorn keeps investigating and his friend Roth makes a shocking discovery about the true nature of Soylent Green.

Whilst the visuals of Soylent Green have not withstood the test of time very well, the story itself still packs a punch and is a prime example of the many 1970’s science fiction films to contain strong social commentary.

The film also marked the last role for screen legend Edward G. Robinson, who died 12 days after shooting was completed, and his euthanasia scene in the movie is even more moving as a result. Whilst Soylent Green is a bit of an uneven film, it is an absolute must-see for science fiction lovers, especially if you like your science fiction laced with powerful social themes.

Based on the novel of the same name by Franz Kafka, The Trial was adapted for the screen and directed by Orson Welles, in what is arguably the best cinematic adaptation of one of the author’s works.

Joseph K (Anthony Perkins) is woken one morning by some men, who refuse to identify themselves, and put under open arrest for a crime which goes unmentioned for the entire duration of the film. From there on in Josef K tries to seek explanations and justice in a seemingly endless and completely illogical bureaucracy.

During his travels and search for answers, he converses with his neighbour (Jeanne Moreau), a lawyer (Orson Welles), the lawyer’s mistress (Romy Schneider) and the wife of a courtroom guard (Elsa Martinelli) but all is to no avail as this whole world seems to be set up to drive one to the edge of insanity. Ultimately, Josef K is sentenced to death, without him ever knowing what it is he has actually been accused of.

Labyrinthian, maddeningly frustrating, psychologically brutal and truly Kafkaesque, The Trial’s strong points can also easily be seen as its weak points. A frustrating film to sit through, which can leave one wondering what the hell one just witnessed, this sort of seems to be the point as the viewer experiences the same frustration and despair as Josef K does.

Stunningly shot in black and white, the film’s sets and cinematography do a great job conveying its themes and Anthony Perkins is perfect as the man who doesn’t get anywhere no matter how hard he tries. Whilst the film was largely dismissed by critics at the time of its release, it did win the Critics Award for Best Film by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film later gained tremendously in status for some although others will still tell you its a style over substance head-scratcher. And whilst that may be correct, I think that’s sort of the point.

Inspired by one of the greatest short films ever made, La Jetée by Chris Marker (which did not make this list as it was recently included in my Post-Apocalyptic one), 12 Monkeys is directed by Terry Gilliam and stars Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt. The film is part of Gilliam’s dystopian trilogy, preceded by Brazil (also mentioned on this list) and recently concluded with The Zero Theorem.

The central premise of 12 Monkeys is time travel. In a future society a plague has wiped out most of the earth’s population and those who are still alive are forced to live in underground caves as the air outside is poisonous. In this world, James Cole (Willis) is a convicted criminal, who gets the chance to be pardoned if he agrees to undertake a dangerous mission by travelling back in time to obtain a sample of the virus and find out more about a terrorist organisation called The Army of the 12 Monkeys, which was involved with the outbreak of the virus.

He is first mistakenly sent back to 1990, where he ends up in a psychiatric ward and meets Dr. Railly (Stowe) and the crazy son of a virologist named Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt). After being brought back to 2035, he is sent off again, first arriving in WWI, before finally reaching 1996, the year he was always intended to end up and where he will have find out if Goines and his organisation are behind the outbreak of the virus.

Giving Terry Gilliam the greatest commercial success of his career, 12 Monkeys is an intricately scripted time-travel flick, taking place in various times and dealing with dreams, madness and a world which has gone to pieces. Gilliam manages to get some excellent performances from his cast, with Willis putting in one of his career’s highlights and Pitt arguably proving for the first time that he was far more than just a pretty face (along with Seven, which was released the same year).

Whilst falling short when compared to its brilliant source material, 12 Monkeys is a zany and fun sci-fi flick that seems to be bursting at the seams but ultimately still manages to keep things together. The film received two Academy Award nominations, including one for Brad Pitt as Best Supporting Actor. And whilst he did not win it, he managed to take home the same prize in the same category at the Golden Globes that year.

Hmm, I wonder if THX1138 inspired the Manhunters design.

Fahrenheit 451 in that list as I thought the film was weak. Especially as it felt awkward and the visual effects were poor as it’s Francois Truffaut’s worst film.

I wouldn’t put it on the list either (especially over some great films he’s listed both here and in the honourable mentions) but I still feel as though its a good film in its own right.

Maybe not one of Truffaut’s best, but unlikely one of his worst. Maybe more middle-of-the-road.

That being said it was almost ruined for me thanks to to Year 11 Extension English, and the subsequent over saturation of the genre I was exposed to. This was on top of having to treat a passion like schoolwork (plus listening to all those comrades ‘enlightened’ by 1984 -_-). Once that was all over though, it was no issue slipping back into a steady adoration of one of my very favourite genres.

I actually prefer it to the book, which I actually hate, to a degree. I’ve personally never considered it anything more than anti-communist (or whatever have you) propaganda: a book with its message first, and its story second. I am a firm believer in the fact that any individual who reads it without knowing of how ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ it is to love and adore the book would not love it, or at not as much as they claim to. It is the biggest literary I’ve ever encountered, and one of the biggest bandwagons period. Something like Fahrenheit 451 I consider way, way more effective due to pulling off a great story whilst ingraining a thought-provoking solid message within. The film puts much more emphasis on the piece as a narrative, and is very well made to boot, with incredibly good acting.

Good to see Soylent Green here. The twist/quote is more iconic than the film itself, but the film is still very much worth the watch.

The Trial dystopian? Interesting, but not at all wrong. I’ve always considered Kafka to be separate from dystopia, but understand fully why you would. He did have a strong influence on the genre, especially in Brazil.

Still need to see Minority Report :/ Need to get on to that one!

The Fahrenheit film is good, but I personally feel you’ve placed it too high. It isn’t a great movie as such, like some of the films its overtaken.

Never cared for Dark City much myself :/

Completely worthy and understandable top three, and overall, a really good list, and one that I’ll certainly read again in future (if indeed I don’t get frightened enough of these films to cease thought of the future!).

An excellent list, although “Minority Report” and “The Matrix” are too action-oriented to be dystopian; any social commentary is accidental. A better choice would be the rather crap “V for Vendetta”.

Any list I made would have to include “Alphaville”, “The Omega Man” (1971), “A Boy and His Dog”, “The Man Who Fell to Earth”, “The Quiet Earth”, “Idaho Transfer”, “Phase IV”, “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”, and “Gamera: Revenge of Iris”.

The Matrix has more social commentary than any movie on that list and it’s not even close. Morpheus is the king of exposing society for what it is. His quotes are far more relevant than anything found in the other films. It’s very unfortunate that you allowed the action to distract you from all the gems that Morpheus dropped.

Clearly, you didn’t get A Clockwork Orange if you think The Matrix has more social comment to it than it. I agree with much of what you say, but The Matrix doesn’t have more relevant things to say than Clockwork. That’s just plain ignorance…

Or maybe I thought the “social commentary” in The Matrix to be facile and largely ripped off far superior sources.

I don’t suppose you’ve read the source material of minority report. Because it may not show it in the movie perse, but the original story was pretty on point

You may be right about it being ripped from superior sources, but it does exist there. It’s something for the kids you know? I mean, when I watched it as a kid I wasn’t ready to read Baudrillard let me tell you. I mean I’m still not lol I struggle with understanding what he is talking about half the time. But it did kind of set up the way for me to thinking about philosophical literature and philosophy and a lot of different philosophical problems brought up with that movie (of which there are many).

You know you need that entertaining introduction. People will see that and some will be inspired to go and look up the more difficult and complex works that inspired it. Or at least familiarize themselves with it on wikipedia or something, which, I think is still valuable. At least they know about it and acknowledge it. It’s better than if it had stayed in obscurity (which let’s face it, a lot of that stuff would if it wasn’t for the popular culture that sometimes mines it for its creative output).

First you say “any social commentary is accidental”, and now you’re saying it has some but it’s ripped from other sources you think are superior.

I lol’d at how little you know about what you’re talking about.

Great list, agree with all the choices and happy to say I’ve seen most of them with one or two left to see!

I’m a huge fan of Philip K. Dick, and for that reason, I hate-hate-hate the movie adaptation of “The Minority Report”. The movie completely undercuts the entire point of the short story. It’s completely dumbed down; it merely has the pretense of being smart. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who has not yet read the story, and would encourage anyone to do so. (Try searching for “Witwer remained silent”.)

I can’t believe Equalibrium didn’t make the list!! One of the best dystopian movies ever made!!!

Great list! One fix though, “Akira” is a film of 1988 (not 1998)

Great list. City of Lost Children is one of the most visually stunning movies ever. Twelve Monkeys and Brazil are amazing. And of course, the best, Blade Runner.

“one the greatest films directed by Ridley Scott, who never again returned to such heights.”

I’d have to disagree here. You can have your opinion about Ridley Scott’s best films, but you do a disservice to films like Thelma and Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Blackhawk Down (2001), Matchstick Men (2003), and American Gangster (2007) when you (essentially) say that Ridley Scott peaked with Blade Runner (1982). The man has had a pretty illustrious career.

He did peak with Blade Runner. Some of the other films you mentioned are pretty darn good (American Gangster in particular), but none of them qualify as masterpieces. Blade Runner does.

How could you say not a word about the great music by Vangelis in Blade Runner??????

In ‘Blade Runner’ a Golden Age is happening in outer space, while Earth is only a discarded husk of galactic expansion. As dazzling as the movie is the truly amazing things are only suggested by street advertisements and statements made by some of the characters. The terrestrial setting isn’t meant to represent the state of society in the future. It’s just where the story takes place.

Good list, although I’d swap the watered down version of Minority Report for Equilibrium. Not half as well known, but equally as good if not better. Better in my opinion for the lack of Cruise.

Brazil should be much higher, and A Clockwork Orange should be #1, perhaps #2 if you really insist on making Blade Runner #1.

The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the Margaret Atwood novel, easily earns a spot on this list, whereas some of the listed movies — Blade Runner and Minority Report, for example — present worlds that aren’t truly that much different than our own. Unless you define our present existence as a dystopia, such movies cannot honestly be described as dystopian.

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I’ll never got why people see Blade Runner and The Matrix as philosophical pieces… Both are plenty of action-movies clichés. (sorry my poor English)

When those films were made there were no such clichés. They defined them as such (on a mainstream level, anyway).

eyes wide shut and american psycho – dystopian how?

and mulholland drive… not dystopian. maybe Terminator 2 instead

great list but where the hell is Logan’s Run? its a great, fun, sexy film with social commentary great art direction and might be one of the coolest Dystopian films of the 70s!

Soylent Green might be a faulty movie but definitely one of the scariest futures because of it’s realism. We are TOO many and population keeps growing, money is badly distributed and food is getting worse and worse to feed us all. That seems to me like a very dystopian future very possible to happen.

I think Predestination is a good movie. Maybe not for the list but it’s great.

Nice list and good ranking. Robocop and Dawn of the Dead are missing. Plus Equilibrium, Escape from New York, Daywatch, and Daybreakers are all worthy of this list.

“Blood Camp Thatcher”, “Themroc” and “La decima vittima(The 10th Victim)” belong on this list IMHO

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This should say “the Wachowski siblings” as we all know now that one of them is a woman. It doesn’t matter that the Matrix was made before she came out as trans.

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