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Movies like The Platform, the Spanish sci-fi horror movie known as “El Hoyo”, are popular. The Platform was such a horrific yet captivating scientific fiction movie that gave us a taste for similar films. We see a genre of films where the aspect of a man running from monsters is replaced by confinement with them. There’s cannibalism, suicide, imprisonment, and other harsh depictions in these movies as people struggle to survive.
If you love The Platform, you will enjoy the exciting sci-fi movies we’ve put together for you. These movies are like The Platform in many ways. Our list includes Cube, The Divide, Snowpiercer, In the Darkness We Fell, and High Rise. Each of them reminds us of the famous Spanish horror movie in one way or the other.
In The Platform, prisoners are trapped in a multi-level prison with a shaft passing through it. Each level holds two prisoners who have to fight for food that descends down the shaft once a day. There is a depiction of sadism as the prisoners at the top starve those on lower floors, leading to chaos. The Platform is a futuristic depiction of a struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
Movies Similar to The Platform
1. Cube (1997)
If you enjoyed The Platform, you’d notice the concept of people imprisoned in a claustrophobic location is repeated in Cube. It’s just a harsher environment with the prisoners exposed to unspeakable threats.
Cube is a story of six people locked up in a cubicle maze of many rooms. There’s a doctor, a maths genius, an architect, a policeman, a disabled man, and a prison escape master. The cube-shaped rooms are filled with horrors triggered by temperature, motion, and noise. Prisoners have to survive a harrowing ordeal as they navigate the maze filled with booby-traps.
While the prisoners negotiate the maze, they are also at each other’s throats, trying to survive the harsh odds. The struggle brings out their dark side, fuelled by a need to survive the maze and each other at all costs. Meanwhile, we watch them escape horrors such as acid showers while figuring a way out through the cubes.
Cube reminds us of the multi-level prison in The Platform. It’s interesting to see if the prisoners in Cube find their way to safety. Will anyone make it out?
2. The Divide (2011)
The Divide is another one of the movies similar to The Platform. It’s a thrilling, horrific sci-fi that revolves around the lives of nuclear attack survivors.
We see how the nine strangers live in the basement of their apartment after the attack with little food. They stay locked up in the basement for days with fear and lack of supplies wearing them down.
As their supplies dwindle, tempers rise, and they start turning on each other due to the hopelessness of the situation. Things soon get violent between the strangers as their human nature comes to the fore due to isolation and hunger.
There is a surprise twist when men in white suits break into the banker. They take some of the crew away and kill others, leaving the remaining captives locked up with dead bodies. The Divide reminds us of the cannibalistic situation in the Platform when lack of food drives people mad.
3. Snowpiercer (2013)
Snowpiercer is another movie similar to The Platform based on the concept of the rich exploiting the poor. The film depicts the story of world leaders who decide to combat global warming by using a powerful coolant. Things go wrong, and the coolant turns the earth into a desolate wintry land, returning it to the Ice Age.
Luckily some humans take refuge in a train called the Ark created by Wilfred, a train enthusiast. It keeps them warm from the extreme cold outside that cannot support human life. Compartments in the train are divided between three groups of people. The wealthy are in the front carriage, the middle class in the centre, and the poor at the back.
Lack reigns in the last carriage while the rich enjoy luxury in the first compartment. The Snowpiercer is similar to The Platform, where we see the captives at the lower level suffer for lack of food.
The disparity in lifestyles triggers many revolutions, as the disadvantaged make their way to the front carriage. In the end, a girl becomes the symbol of hope for the oppressed by staging a successful rebellion. All this time, the train speeds through an icy, desolate terrain.
4. The Purge (2013)
The Purge is a thrilling horror movie that depicts a story of authorities in the US purging the population. It all begins because the jails are too congested. The government decides to allow illegal activity in the prisons for 12 hours, during which anything goes. Their aim is to cull poor people and give priority to the rich.
We also see cases of home invasion, one of which is highlighted in the movie. An innocent man and his wife are attacked by a group of creepy masked intruders for helping a purge victim. Throughout the movie, we follow the story in horror as citizens turn on each other in the streets. Scenes of social decay, deadly attacks, and chaos rule the country.
The Purge movies depict a classist, authoritarian period when people take to the streets to cause mayhem. Like The Platform, the movie shows us how the privileged and powerful can terrorise the underprivileged. We also see what happens between the elite and less fortunate when resources are scarce.
5. In Darkness We Fall (2014)
In Darkness We Fall is a Spanish movie based on confinement and the horrors of claustrophobia. A group of friends go on holiday to a tropical island and get trapped in a secret cave with countless passages. They suffer dehydration and hunger to the point of eating human flesh as they look for a way out. The lack of light also starts to mess with their minds.
Movie buffs that enjoyed The Platform will enjoy this movie for the survival scenes as people try to overcome their base natures. The desperate claustrophobic feeling we see in Darkness We Fall also reminds us of what we see in the Platform. We learn how humans can turn into beasts in a scary situation.
6. High Rise (2015)
If you enjoyed The Platform, you’d love The High Rise, a movie based on a novel of the same name. Anthony Royal, a respected architect, builds a luxury 40-story tower in London in the movie. The building becomes the setting for a class conflict between wealthy residents on the top floor and the less privileged below.
The wealthy and influential people in the high-rise building live a hedonistic life and are entirely disconnected from the real world. They stage attacks on people on the lower floor after all-night parties and interfere with their essential services. Garbage removal, water, and power supply services are stopped. The less privileged on lower floors are not happy.
Things come to a head when the building experiences a power outage. The chaos downstairs creeps up the luxury building. We are reminded of The Platform because of the Divide between the rich and poor. Will the poor get their comeuppance and even the score with the hedonistic crowd upstairs? Go watch The Platform and find out!
Last Word
These 6 Movies like The Platform expose us to the Divide between the rich and poor in society. In some instances, we are also forced to think of overcoming an oppressive situation.
Seeing the poor or disadvantaged in these movies overcome a sadistic elite is thrilling and emotionally satisfying. The times in between when everything gets gory are just a bonus for anyone who likes nail-biting movies similar to The Platform.
