I imagine that there might be some people out there curious if they can find other movies like The Platform on Netflix (one of the best streaming services to subscribe to today). The Spanish-language sci-fi drama's new sequel, The Platform 2, is killing it on the streaming service, which is not much of a surprise, since the original – set in a vertically stacked prison that feeds its inhabitants once a day from a platform descending from the top level – was quite a hit in 2020.
If the Platform ending left you wanting more from its bleak world (let alone with a few head-scratching questions), I might be able to point you in the right direction of where to watch other films that remind me of one of the best thrillers on Netflix. These are a few essentials that fans of The Platform (and The Platform 2) might enjoy taking a bite out of.
Snowpiercer (2014)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton
What it’s about: A fight over social oppression breaks out on a self-sustaining bullet train housing the last of the human race.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: The prison setting of The Platform serves as a metaphor for classist oppression, similar to the socioeconomic commentary in the dystopian movie favorite, Snowpiercer, which sees the poor residents of the caboose fight their way to the top car.
How to watch Snowpiercer
High-Rise (2015)
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons
What it’s about: In 1975, a young doctor moves into a London apartment complex with an extremely rigid social hierarchy that soon begins to fall out of control.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: Based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, High-Rise is another surreal, claustrophobic satire of dog-eat-dog economics set in, instead of a prison like in The Platform, a place the characters call home.
How to watch High-Rise
Dark City (1998)
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland
What it’s about: After waking up in a strange, dismal world with no memory of who he is, a man struggles to clear his name in a murder case.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: Also considered a movie like The Matrix despite pre-dating it by a year, Dark City is another economically satirical sci-fi thriller that, instead of a prison like in The Platform, imagines an entire metropolis under the control of mysterious forces.
How to watch Dark City
Circle (2015)
Director: Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione
Starring: Allegra Masters, Aimee McKay
What it’s about: After inexplicably waking up in a dark, mysterious chamber, fifty random people are tasked with choosing the one among them who deserves to live.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: Like The Platform, Circle (also available with a Netflix subscription) is a claustrophobic, socially conscious, sci-fi thriller about a group of trapped strangers fighting for survival, but with a stronger emphasis on themes of mob mentality.
How to watch Circle
Cube (1997)
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint
What it’s about: After waking up in a mysterious, high-tech maze where one wrong turn leads to death, six strangers must work together to find a safe way out.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: Lighter on social commentary than The Platform but equally heavy in claustrophobic thrills, Cube is a great, underrated '90s movie set entirely in a bizarre, minimalist, and dangerous, prison-like environment.
How to watch Cube
The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Starring: Billy Crudup, Michael Angarano
What it’s about: Twenty-four male, college-age volunteers are randomly assigned to pose as prison guards or incarcerated individuals for a psychological study that leads to shocking findings in 1971.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: One could also interpret The Platform as a dark experiment in human behavior, which was exactly the purpose of the infamous, eponymous true event that inspired The Stanford Prison Experiment.
How to watch The Stanford Prison Experiment
- Stream The Stanford Prison Experiment on Paramount+ with Showtime add-on
- Stream The Stanford Prison Experiment on AMC+
- Rent or buy The Stanford Prison Experiment on Amazon
- Buy The Stanford Prison Experiment on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Belko Experiment (2016)
Director: Greg McLean
Starring: John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn
What it’s about: Trapped in their corporate office, a group of co-workers are forced to fight to the death.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: From the mind of writer James Gunn, The Belko Experiment is a fictional and much more uproariously violent study in human behavior, set in a locked-down office building.
How to watch The Belko Experiment
- Stream The Belko Experiment on Paramount+
- Stream The Belko Experiment on Tubi
- Rent or buy The Belko Experiment on Amazon
- Buy The Belko Experiment on Blu-ray on Amazon
Saw (2004)
Director: James Wan
Starring: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell
What it’s about: Two men wake up chained up in a dirty bathroom and are each given instructions to kill the other if they want to survive.
Why it is a movie worth checking out if you are a fan of The Platform: The Pit (the nickname for the prison from The Platform) also serves as a test of endurance and the will to live, much like the deadly scenarios orchestrated by Jigsaw in the Saw movies.
How to watch Saw
You can dive even deeper into the world of The Platform by exploring the same themes and tones with these movies.
