The Best Dystopia Movies and TV Shows on The Criterion Channel
Finding a good Dystopia movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best Dystopia movies and TV shows of all time streaming on The Criterion Channel.
1. Night of the Living Dead
97%
What it's about: A group of people try to survive an attack of bloodthirsty zombies while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse. Although not the first zombie film, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is the progenitor of the contemporary "zombie apocalypse" horror film, and it greatly influenced the modern pop-culture zombie archetype.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix, SnagFilms, Tubi TV & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz, ConTV & 4 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz, Epix & Syfy) & rent or buy from $2.00 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).
2. Stalker
100%What it's about: Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
3. Wings of Desire
98%What it's about: Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds -- with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk -- that it might be possible for him to take human form.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).
4. Time Bandits
89%What it's about: Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).
5. Fantastic Planet
90%What it's about: The story of the “Oms”, human-like creatures kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue giants called “Draags.” The story takes place on the Draags’ planet Ygam, where we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood. He manages to escape enslavement from a Draag learning device used to educate the savage Oms — and begins to organise an Om revolt.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Mubi & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).
6. Weekend
96%What it's about: A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
7. Lord of the Flies
91%What it's about: Amidst a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of schoolboys crash lands on a deserted island. With no adult survivors, the boys are forced to fend for themselves. At first they cooperate, but when the they split into two separate camps -- one led by the pragmatic Ralph and the other by militaristic Jack -- their society falls into disarray, leading to a disturbing examination of human nature and a chilling conclusion.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).
8. Things to Come
93%What it's about: The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, ConTV & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).
9. Jubilee
100%What it's about: Queen Elizabeth I visits late twentieth-century Britain to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).
10. The Bed Sitting Room
62%What it's about: In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Vudu).