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Dystopian Movies by Plot

Try to identify these movies based on a description of the dystopian future they present.
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Last updated: December 16, 2017
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First submittedJuly 12, 2012
Times taken46,983
Average score47.4%
Rating4.34
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Year
Hint
Movie
2199
Humans are just batteries living in a computer simulation
The Matrix
3978
Apes run the world and the Statue of Liberty has been torn down
Planet of the Apes
1984
Double plus good government controls history, language, and all other facets of society
Nineteen Eighty-Four
2054
Future crimes are predicted and prevented
Minority Report
?
Teenager tributes fight to the death to entertain the capital
The Hunger Games
near future
Ultra-violent British street youths are rehabilitated using psychological conditioning
A Clockwork Orange
2805
The world fills up with trash, so people live on a spaceship where all their needs are served by robots
WALL-E
near future
Clones are raised in isolation to provide backup organs for the wealthy
The Island
2032
Tough cop from the past is unfrozen into a society where swearing is a crime and everyone is a total wimp
Demolition Man
2505
After 500 years of evolution, everyone on Earth is incredibly stupid
Idiocracy
near future
Believe it or not, Detroit is on the edge of collapse, and needs robotic law enforcement
Robocop
2019
Replicants escape to Earth, and are hunted down in a grim, rainy Los Angeles
Blade Runner
2022
The Earth is hot and overcrowded, and people subsist on mystery green rations
Soylent Green
near future
Berserk motorcycle gangs terrorize the Australian outback
Mad Max
2000
Cross-country car racers get points for speed, and also for killing pedestrians
Death Race 2000
2027
Because of infertility, no children have been born for several years
Children of Men
2274
Everything is fun and games until you reach age 30. Then it's game over!
Logan's Run
2500
Water covers most of the world, and some people have evolved webbed feet and gills
Waterworld
?
At a choosing ceremony, teens are placed into one of five factions (except for the rebellious ones)
Divergent
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82 Comments
THobbes1651
+4
Level 53
Jul 8, 2012
The Island is actually a copy of an earlier low-budget movie called Parts: The Clonus Horror, which has the exact same plot, but also stars Dick Sergeant and Peter Graves. Fun fact!
joeythelemur
+3
Level 80
May 6, 2014
Parts is also an MST3K movie!
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Mar 22, 2015
First time I took this I only missed Divergent. Now I'm sure I'll never miss it again as I finally finished my

Highest Grossing Films by Genre quiz.

It appears there as the highest grossing Science Fiction/Dystopia film. One of the few on this list that is about a true Dystopia, in the traditional sense. And I've correctly filed Star Wars under fantasy where it belongs, too. Not science fiction. Pretty happy with how it turned out overall.

Possums
+1
Level 30
Aug 29, 2016
Star Wars isn't Sci-fi or fantasy really. I think it falls under something called Space Opera if you're being picky. I could be wrong.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 79
Jun 18, 2017
Genre is the sort of thing that is not always clearly defined. Films may exist in multiple genres, or genres may overlap, or there could be sub-genres and meta-genres, etc, depending on how you choose to classify things.

If we're using "Space Opera" as a genre, then Star Wars is the most iconic film that would be included in that genre, along with the television shows that inspired it such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. If we're using the genres of "science fiction" and "fastasy," though, with traditional definitions of each, then Star Wars is definitely fantasy. It's confusing, though, as "Space Opera" is usually described as a sub-genre of Science Fiction, though one that veers toward the fantastical. A simple definition of fantasy is a story that is not based in the real world... throw in some old desert wizards, taverns full of fantastical creatures, warriors with magic swords moving things with their minds without a plausible scientific explanation.. fantasy!

kenpo17
+1
Level 65
Jun 11, 2018
There is totally such a thing as fantasy based in the real world, or at least a version of the real world. Urban fantasy covers a lot of that. Historical fantasy is a thing too - like historical fiction but with fantasy elements such as magic and/or fantastical creatures in it.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Jun 11, 2018
Sure. But if you take out the magic and fantastical creatures then it's just historical fiction.
martay
+1
Level 69
Jun 11, 2018
But, for some reason and like no one would notice, Dick Sargent is replaced by Sergeant York about a 3/4ths of the way through the movie.
Yossarian
+5
Level 62
Jul 8, 2012
How did more people not get 1984? THE ANSWER IS IN THE CLUE!
TheCrusher
+2
Level 70
Apr 10, 2018
I'm guessing most of them thought it was only a book, not a movie.
kenpo17
+1
Level 65
Jun 11, 2018
I'd also guess that a lot of people are familiar with the title, but other than that only know it for the phrase "Big Brother is watching you." If that was the clue I bet the percentage would be higher. Even so, it's currently at 75% with only five titles scoring higher.
Carnelian
+1
Level 52
Feb 11, 2025
I knew the book was struggling with the name and then looked at the years on the side and wanted to slap myself. Duh!
latesleeper
+1
Level 51
Jul 8, 2012
Judge Dredd!
ryanmayhem
+2
Level 41
Jul 9, 2012
Fun quiz, 15/17. Demolition Man another good one that could be added
buck1017
+1
Level 78
Dec 12, 2014
LOVED Demolition Man!
ucferret
+1
Level 76
Aug 14, 2016
YES!
Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Dec 16, 2017
Added!
kevinj
+12
Level 43
Jul 9, 2012
Doesn't Never Let Me Go also have a plot involving Clones raised in isolation etc
Quizmaster
+5
Level ∞
Jul 12, 2012
It does. That will work now, thanks!
tschutzer
+3
Level 93
Jul 9, 2012
"In Time" is pretty similar to Logan's Run, I guess, minus 4 years or so.
DomsWay
+1
Level 20
Feb 11, 2025
I thought that it was In Time too.
zombieeaters
+1
Level 65
Jul 10, 2012
surprised not to see omega man on here I thought for sure with Charlton Heston for a third time or at least I legend.
What
+1
Level 26
Jul 17, 2012
Interesting quiz.. I expected "A Scanner Darkly" and "THX 1138" to be there, too, but you've got the most important. Mhm, maybe also "The Time-Machine"...
Ozchris
+1
Level 32
Dec 23, 2012
I'd have loved to have seen The Road in this quiz. It's such a brilliant film. You you aint getting more dystopian than that! Mad Max too maybe?!
YantheMan
+2
Level 66
Jun 16, 2016
The Road's more apocalyptic/postapocalyptic, I think. I don't know if there's a difference.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Jan 20, 2013
Many of these are not truly "Dystopian." A Dystopian future is one where things on the surface *seem* idyllic but there is something terribly wrong... Logan's Run is a good example. As is Minority Report. Or else it is the failed attempt to achieve utopia, as in 1984. But many of these are really just post-apocalyptic movies (Planet of the Apes, Matrix, etc.) or just straight-up sci-fi like Robocop.
Quizmaster
+3
Level ∞
Jan 21, 2013
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dystopia
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Feb 3, 2013
hm.. ok.. guess some of these kind of fit definition 2 on wikipedia, though I always heard definition 1 used, which matches what I was saying. I think def. 2 is probably just a corruption of the meaning of the word popularized by people who didn't understand definition 1. But... language is dynamic.
LadyScroop
+3
Level 68
Jul 5, 2015
There's an interesting article about the difference between an anti-utopia (which is what you're describing) and a dystopia. If I can find it, I'll post it, but the scholar dude basically says that an anti-utopia, like any anti-genre, is a parody of the genre it opposes. An anti-utopia parodies utopian ideals by considerably wonking them up. A dystopia, on the other hand, is what the Wikipedia article states--an undesirable or terrifying community. But it's with or without utopian ideals. Scholar dude also notes that a dystopia is the bad things in an author's community taken to their extreme logical end. Hence dys = bad while anti = against. An anti-utopia is always a dystopia because it includes bad, messed-up communities, but a dystopia is not always an anti-utopia. I hope that wasn't too pedantic. It was probably too pedantic.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Jun 18, 2017
but that still goes against the first (and in my opinion better) definition given on the Wikipedia page. A utopian society that has been corrupted. Usually portrayed in fiction as a place where everything seems great (or just in some ways better) at first glance, until the protagonist uncovers what's really going on.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Jun 18, 2017
So.. like... in Robocop, for example. The future society depicted in that film was *never* utopian. There was never any corruption of a utopian world. It was always just shitty.
ander217
+2
Level 74
Jun 11, 2018
The original Stepford Wives is one that's difficult to place. The male characters thought they created a utopia, while the females who still had their wits about them thought they were living in horror. It always seemed like a dystopian film to me, but it's usually filed under horror. Some might even see it as fantasy-horror if there is such a thing, and then they turned the remake into a comedy. (But I still think the 1975 version would be a good addition here.)
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Jun 13, 2018
A dystopia can also be a society that is made to be utopian for some people or from a certain point of view but can be dysfunctional or horrifying from an alternate point of view or upon a closer look, so I think the Stepford Wives fits pretty well.
lush
+1
Level 32
Jan 20, 2013
i put "never let me go" in and the "island" popped up as a correct answer. first movie i took my girlfriend to. smart move!
sadba5terd5
+5
Level 60
Jan 23, 2015
What about Brazil!!!!!!
YantheMan
+1
Level 66
Jun 16, 2016
That's not a movie but I love the concept!
samiamco
+3
Level 68
Dec 21, 2017
How was it not a movie?
Twentysix385
+1
Level 63
Mar 20, 2015
Omega Man with Charlton Heston
Tuesday8
+1
Level 76
Mar 20, 2015
THE planet of the apes doesn't work?
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Mar 20, 2015
Fixed
Djilas
+1
Level 86
Dec 16, 2017
What about just "planet of apes" please?
ander217
+1
Level 74
Mar 20, 2015
I only scored 8, but those were all the movies on the list I'd seen so at least my memory is working.
englishsystem
+2
Level 67
Mar 20, 2015
No AKIRA!??! It may be anime but DAMN - it's the tops!
cyninoregon
+1
Level 35
Mar 23, 2015
I was shocked by Mad Max missing but understand the dystopian thing....So where is The Handmaid's Tale, based on the book by Margaret Atwood? THAT is a seemingly idyllic world where women are taken into homes to serve as babymakers....something our Congressional would endorse. I never even heard of a couple of these.... It's funny there are so few things that women write or that have female leads, compared to males---even when there are very famous ones among our half of the population, lists are just 10 or 20% female authors, or lead characters in stories.... (I think it's why Hunger Games, Twilight stuff is so huge--there is a high demand for books and movies with female leads or equal participants, but so little is published lor publicized, when people find some they gobble it up, even when it's really poorly written or shallow.)
TheCrusher
+1
Level 70
Apr 10, 2018
Has The Handmaid's Tale been made into a movie? I only know the TV series...
RobNobody
+2
Level 80
Jan 21, 2019
It was, actually! A pretty terrible one in 1990.
xplosiv9
+1
Level 56
Mar 23, 2015
I'd never heard of Soylent Green before, but I got the answer nonetheless due to constant Futurama references.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 79
Mar 23, 2015
I'd never seen the movie or heard of the plot, either, but saw it referenced all the time on The Daily Show, Simpsons, Futurama etc. I was able to piece together just from those that it was about a food product that someone didn't realize was made of people.

Anyway, after seeing it referenced so many times I decided to check it out, obvious cultural cornerstone that it was. Not a bad little picture. Not great, but interesting premise. Good high-concept classic sci-fi...

PrinceEric
+1
Level 56
Mar 23, 2015
I've never seen the movie myself. It's a shame that the plot twist is literally the only thing that most people know about it!
ander217
+1
Level 74
Jun 11, 2018
I saw it in a theater when it was first released and I remember how we were all totally freaked out by the ending. (Not as much as we had been freaked out by Deliverance, though. There were some "memorable" movies made in the 1970s.)
TH0R
+4
Level 26
Aug 14, 2016
There's also Snowpiercer and the Maze Runner movies.
MrGuineapigs
+1
Level 27
Aug 14, 2016
I didn't do very well on the quiz but I love dystopian movies and have found many new movies! Thanks!
CripplingVelocity
+1
Level 57
Aug 29, 2016
God I love Idiocracy.
idontkn1
+1
Level 94
Aug 29, 2016
Unfortunate that it seems to be happening sooner than the film predicted. After looking over the comments shocked that no one has thrown out V for Vendetta.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 79
Jun 18, 2017
Oh come on... you really think that we would elect a president who had no real qualifications or good ideas but appeared on a professional wrestling program? That's just a little far-fetched...
Carry
+1
Level 63
Jun 7, 2017
I couldn't stop thinking about Repo Men once I read the word "organ".
sillie
+1
Level 75
Dec 16, 2017
There's a typo still in "pyschological". The British street gangs one.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Dec 16, 2017
Fixed
Jorissie
+1
Level 94
Jun 11, 2018
Snowpiercer is also a good one to add, just as Elysium
JWatson24
+1
Level 71
Apr 30, 2020
I agree, Snowpiercer is a good one.
EytanMelech
+1
Level 66
Jun 12, 2018
Who doesnt know idiocracy????
kenpo17
+1
Level 65
Jan 21, 2019
Maybe they didn't guess it because they thought of that as a documentary?
divantilya
+1
Level 36
Jan 21, 2019
The plot description used to describe "Logan's Run" also describes the plot of "Wild in the Streets", a '60's movie starring Christopher Jones and Shelly Winters.
kenpo17
+1
Level 65
Jan 21, 2019
No Judge Dredd?
Hdny42
+1
Level 66
Feb 11, 2025
Judge Dredd is awful. Dredd on the other hand is an under-seen classic.
onegonecat
+1
Level 72
Jan 21, 2019
I only missed Hunger Games and Divergent, which after looking them both up and finding out they're both children's books released after I was an adult, I don't feel too bad about it. Feels like an odd choice to include those anyway.
KiloNova
+2
Level 61
Oct 17, 2024
The Divergent series ain't exactly a children's book
IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 92
Jan 31, 2019
What about The Apprentice?
Cygnus2112
+1
Level 68
Jul 18, 2021
I put The Lobster for the Logan's Run clue.
MassLumpBlockClod
+1
Level 87
Jul 29, 2022
Wow, spoiler alert for Planet of the Apes. Also I believe "teenage tributes" would be a slightly better phrasing.
DarthKnight
+1
Level 92
Sep 8, 2023
You could add Maze Runner and the Lobster. As well as Footloose (the last one was a joke).
CosmicCalamity
+1
Level 74
Feb 2, 2024
What about Brave New World and Gattaca?
MaxGameAndWatch
+2
Level 49
Oct 10, 2024
The Maze Runner could be added
any0necanc00k
+1
Level 42
Jan 4, 2025
you should totally add maze runner those are like some of the best books ive ever read
Dracos03
+1
Level 74
Feb 11, 2025
I just understood a reference in Fallout New Vegas
nations12345eat
+1
Level 49
Feb 11, 2025
i was thinking "why isnt fallout here" and then i remembered it was only movies
rpm44
+2
Level 72
Feb 11, 2025
"Believe it or not, Detroit is on the edge of collapse" is probably the funniest clue ive seen on this site
nichster
+1
Level 57
Feb 11, 2025
The Time Machine is another potential one to add
stubart409
+1
Level 69
Feb 11, 2025
"After 500 years of evolution, everyone on Earth is incredibly stupid". Sounds kind of familiar...
In2restingFacts
+1
Level 27
Feb 12, 2025
LOL’d at detroit

also i guessed Mad Max and learned that it takes place in the Outback

KingLW
+1
Level 63
Feb 14, 2025
Perhaps ready player one?
Broseph
+1
Level 51
Sep 14, 2025
pls add maze runner and brave new world
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