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The Incredible Shrinking Man poster

Movies that feel likeThe Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.

If you loved The Incredible Shrinking Man, the closest films we have are Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Eraserhead (1977) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). All three share The Incredible Shrinking Man's cerebral and dread feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Island of Lost Souls (1932).

🍅 83% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jack Arnoldcerebralepicdreadunsettlingdreamlike
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Peacock Premium

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If The Incredible Shrinking Man hit the spot, these will too

Creature from the Black Lagoon poster
Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954 · dir. Jack Arnold
🍅 81%★ 6.9adventure · horror · science fictionPrime VideoPeacock

Both are Jack Arnold's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Lighter on dream logic

When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.

Eraserhead poster
Eraserhead
1977 · dir. David Lynch
🍅 87%★ 7.2horror · science fictionMax

The same two preoccupations: surrealism, and black and white

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1970s show

First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

Son of Frankenstein poster
Son of Frankenstein
1939 · dir. Rowland V. Lee
🍅 95%★ 7.1horror · science fiction

One thread runs through both: black and white

One of the sons of late Dr. Henry Frankenstein finds his father's ghoulish creation in a coma and revives him, only to find out the monster is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.

The Thing from Another World poster
The Thing from Another World
1951 · dir. Christian Nyby
🍅 87%★ 7drama · horror · science fiction

The same mix in both: ideas, then dread

The difference: Played as drama first

Scientists and US Air Force officials fend off a blood-thirsty alien organism while investigating at a remote arctic outpost.

The Fly poster
The Fly
1958 · dir. Kurt Neumann
🍅 95%★ 7.1science fiction · horror · dramaPrime Video

Science fiction with a pulse of unease, in both cases

Industrialist François Delambre is called late at night by his sister-in-law, Helene, who tells him that she has just killed her husband. Reluctant at first, she eventually explains to the police that he invented a matter transportation apparatus and, while experimenting on himself, a fly entered the chamber.

Altered States poster
Altered States
1980 · dir. Ken Russell
🍅 85%★ 6.9horror · science fiction · thriller

Dreamlike horror, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 1980s, in a different era of the craft

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.

Island of Lost Souls poster
Island of Lost Souls
1932 · dir. Erle C. Kenton
🍅 88%★ 7.3science fiction · horror

Adventure built on ideas, twice over

An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.

Plan 9 from Outer Space poster
Plan 9 from Outer Space
1957 · dir. Edward D. Wood Jr.
🍅 66%★ 3.9science fiction · horror

Both lean on dread more than on science fiction

In California, an old man grieves the loss of his wife, and dies the day after she is buried. However, the space soldier Eros and his mate Tanna use an electric device to resurrect them both, alongside the strong Inspector Clay, who was murdered by the alien-controlled dead couple. When the populations of Hollywood and Washington D.C. see flying saucers on the sky, a colonel, a police lieutenant, a commercial pilot, his wife, and a policeman try to stop the aliens.

Phase IV poster
Phase IV
1974 · dir. Saul Bass
🍅 50%★ 6.4horror · science fiction

Unsettling horror in both cases

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.

King Kong poster
King Kong
1933 · dir. Merian C. Cooper
🍅 97%★ 7.9adventure · fantasy · horror

Epic adventure in both cases

Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow and his first mate Jack Driscoll, they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to be displayed on Broadway as King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.

The Invisible Man poster
The Invisible Man
1933 · dir. James Whale
🍅 95%★ 7.6horror · science fictionPrime VideoPeacock

Science fiction built on ideas, twice over

After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.

Seconds poster
Seconds
1966 · dir. John Frankenheimer
🍅 79%★ 7.6science fiction · thriller · horror

Horror with a pulse of dread, in both cases

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Incredible Shrinking Man’s defining feeling.