Squid Game: 10 Netflix shows and movies to watch after

Squid Sport, the Korean survival drama collection from writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk, has dominated the Netflix prime 10 for weeks. However with solely 9 episodes in its first season, there’s a newfound demand for reveals and flicks much like Squid Sport, to assist fill the void. Don’t sweat it — we’ve acquired you coated.

Squid Sport has incessantly been in comparison with such movies as 2000’s Battle Royale and Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning 2019 thriller Parasite. However we’ve plumbed the depths of our queues and collections to pick out the very best motion pictures and TV reveals which are a bit extra off the overwhelmed path. From dystopian dramas to tense sci-fi anime, Korean horror thrillers and supernatural “demise recreation” spectacles, listed here are 10 of the very best motion pictures and TV reveals to look at when you look ahead to the following season of Squid Sport.

3%

Photograph: Netflix

The premise of this Brazilian dystopian thriller collection resembles that of Squid Sport, with its give attention to a determined inhabitants placing themselves in mortal hazard for the possibility at a greater life. Set in an indeterminate future, the world is split into two castes: the so-called 3%, who dwell in utopian consolation and affluence on a secluded island separated from the mainland, and everybody else, who dwell in squalor and destitution within the cities outlying the shore. Each citizen of the “Inland” is offered one alternative to turn into one of many 3% — a rigorous and painstaking choice generally known as “The Course of.” Whereas the trials in 3% are much less grisly and terrifying than in Squid Sport, these aptitude exams encourage an increasing number of violence, within the latter episodes of the primary season, because the candidates try and survive. There’s a resistance group generally known as “The Trigger” that’s making an attempt to take the society of the three% down from the within via infiltrating the Course of, in addition to a homicide thriller on the coronary heart of the supposed good society. Barring these variations, 3% may simply be what you’re in search of if you happen to’re aching for a extra sci-fi inflected tackle Squid Sport’s extra modern depiction of the wrestle between the haves and have-nots.

3% is on the market to stream on Netflix.

Alice in Borderland

Picture: Haro Aso/ Shogakukan / ROBOT

Alice in Borderland was one of many first suggestions talked about by followers of Squid Sport, within the wake of the present’s meteoric rise. It’s not shocking, on condition that they’re each obtainable to stream on Netflix. Launched late final 12 months, Alice in Borderland follows the story of Ryōhei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki), a 24-year-old slacker with a knack for video video games and puzzles, and his greatest mates Chōta (Yûki Morinaga) and Daikichi (Keita Machida). The three are mysteriously transported to a seemingly deserted model of Tokyo, and compelled to compete in a lethal collection of video games with a purpose to survive. If any of the contributors try to flee the boundaries of the play space whereas the sport is in-progress, they’re swiftly executed with a shot via the pinnacle by a mysterious laser from the sky. Ryōhei joins forces with Yuzuha (Tao Tsuchiya), a hobbyist mountain climber and survivalist — they courageous the trials of this unusual world with a purpose to determine what introduced them there, within the hopes of returning dwelling alive. The present has a really comparable bent to Squid Sport with its emphasis on surreal challenges, violent penalties, and heartbreaking performances.

Alice in Borderland is on the market to stream on Netflix.

As The Gods Will

Picture: Funimation Leisure

For those who’re in search of a wild survival thriller to match the eeriness of Squid Sport’s pastel-colored demise video games, 2014’s As The Gods Will is a selection advice. Based mostly on the primary arc of the manga collection (written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Akeji Fujimura), Takashi Miike’s As The Gods Will follows the story of excessive schooler Shun Takahata, an underachieving scholar who expresses boredom with the tedium of his on a regular basis life. He needs for one thing attention-grabbing to occur to him — shortly after, he and his classmates are held hostage by a sentient Daruma doll and compelled to play Daruma-san ga Koronda, also called Pink Mild, Inexperienced Mild. If any of the scholars fails the sport, their heads will explode in a bathe of bloodied orbs. As The Gods Will is extra explicitly supernatural than Squid Sport. Shun and his classmates are pitted in opposition to one another in a collection of more and more weird situations, resembling making an attempt to throw a bell right into a hoop connected to the collar of an enormous cat making an attempt to devour them, or being killed by lasers shot by floating picket dolls. It’s a gory, weird, and completely entertaining “demise recreation” drama that jumps from one grisly and inexplicable state of affairs to the following.

As The Gods Will is on the market to hire on Vudu.

Darwin’s Sport

Picture: Nexus

At first look, Darwin’s Sport seems similar to Alice in Borderland, albeit with a number of essential exceptions. Based mostly on the manga collection of the identical identify, the anime facilities on Kaname Sudou, a 17-year-old excessive schooler who accepts an invite from a good friend to play a mysterious cellular recreation referred to as Darwin’s Sport. He quickly finds himself embroiled in a brutal life-or-death battle with a homicidal “participant” in a panda go well with, one who possesses their very own distinctive supernatural potential generally known as a “Sigil.” When one in all his mates, a fellow participant, is killed whereas defending him from his attacker, Kaname swears to search out the creators of Darwin’s Sport and take his revenge on them. A lot of the “video games” in Darwin’s Sport take the type of super-powered anime battles between each people and teams of gamers, with no exterior challenges resembling these in Squid Sport. It’s a good watch if you happen to’re itching for some extra motion within the vein of Squid Sport, although with far much less emphasis on technique, talent, or any critique of the perniciously predatory nature of capitalism.

Darwin’s Sport is on the market to stream on Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Funimation.

Demise Parade

Photograph: Madhouse

Whereas the vast majority of the movies, TV reveals, and anime featured on this checklist, to this point, have centered round video games of life-or-death and fortune, Demise Parade is an anime centered on a bunch of characters combating for the destiny of their very souls. The collection follows Decim, a mysterious bartender on the fifteenth flooring of an impossibly giant tower, who oversees the “Demise Video games.” This contest of randomly chosen video games, like darts or pool, is performed from the afterlife: Not too long ago deceased souls compete for the possibility to both be reincarnated on Earth or banished to a void of non-existence. The animation is stellar, with an eccentric solid of immortal characters, every with their very own method to arbitrating the Demise Video games. For those who’re in search of a heady, philosophical, and completely entertaining survival drama that performs out like a mixture between Noticed and The Seventh Seal, Demise Parade is an absolute must-watch.

Demise Parade is on the market to stream on Hulu.

Escape Room

Photograph: David Bloom/Sony Footage

Adam Robitel’s 2019 psychological horror movie Escape Room is the proper advice for audiences enthralled by the trial-by-fire determination making and life-threatening stakes of the video games featured in Squid Sport. The movie facilities on a bunch of six strangers — a university scholar, a grocery retailer employee, a inventory dealer, an Iraq Warfare veteran, and an escape room fanatic — who every obtained a puzzle field containing an invite to a brand-new immersive escape room expertise. It’s solely after they arrive that the group realizes the escape room is lethal — and that every of them share one thing horrible in widespread. Escape Room is Noticed by means of Vincenzo Natali’s Dice, an exciting horror expertise and narrative puzzle-box of intrigue and suspense.

Escape Room is on the market to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu.

I Noticed The Satan

Picture: Magnet Releasing

The revelation on the finish of the eighth episode of Squid Sport — the mysterious “Entrance Man” behind the twisted competitors was none apart from Detective Hwang Jun-ho’s lengthy misplaced brother In-ho, performed by Lee Byung-hun — was a terrific shock for followers of Korean cinema and tv. The actor and singer is probably greatest know within the West for his roles in motion pictures resembling G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Pink 2, and 2016’s The Magnificent Seven. He’s additionally well-known for his work in Korean movies like Park Chan-wook’s Joint Safety Space and Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, the Unhealthy, the Bizarre. The 2010 revenge horror-thriller, I Noticed The Satan, might be the closest of Lee’s previous performances to that of his position in Squid Sport. Within the movie, Lee stars as a undercover agent who embarks on an unrelenting manhunt to search out, torture, and homicide the serial killer liable for the demise of his fianceé. The wonderful movie thoughtfully asks how a lot one is prepared to turn into a monster with a purpose to convey one other monster to justice. A brutal cat-and-mouse recreation with bracing gore and violence, I Noticed The Satan is an ideal advice for followers of Squid Sport.

I Noticed The Satan is on the market to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu.

Kaiji (Anime, Crunchyroll)

Picture: Madhouse

Based mostly on Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s manga collection of the identical identify, each Kaiji: Final Survivor and Kaiji: Towards All Guidelines inform the story of Kaiji Itou, a jobless loiterer who turns into liable for a 3 million yen mortgage left to him by a former good friend who mysteriously disappeared. With none means to repay the debt, Kaiji is obtainable a shady deal to take part in an unlawful playing event aboard a luxurious cruise ship to win again the cash. It’s solely after Kaiji agrees to play and boards the ship that he realizes the dire mortal circumstances he’s inadvertently gotten into. Kaiji is perhaps the closest present on this checklist to Squid Sport when it comes to their respective premises, with a bunch of down-and-out debtors being pressured to stake their very lives in contests of likelihood, dishonest, and psychological manipulation with a purpose to pay again their money owed.

Kaiji is on the market to stream on Crunchyroll.

Nerve (2016)

Picture: Lionsgate

The 2016 techno-thriller Nerve has just one “recreation” in play: a web-based mediated collection of “Reality-or-Dare” challenges that develop exceedingly extra harmful as gamers progress. The movie follows Venus “Vee” Delmonico (Emma Roberts), a timid highschool senior who downloads the net actuality recreation “Nerve” on the insistence of her mates. Taking up quite a few dares across the metropolis, Vee meets Ian (Dave Franco), a fellow participant who acts as her accomplice all through a number of rounds of the sport. Because the night time progresses, the duties that Nerve asks of Vee and Ian turn into more and more violent and questionable because the pair try to flee the sport and free the remainder of the gamers. In reality, Nerve feels extra like a neon-saturated tackle David Fincher’s The Sport than a detailed parallel to Squid Sport, however even with that stated, it’s nonetheless a enjoyable and thrilling watch.

Nerve is on the market to hire on Amazon and Apple.

Would You Relatively

Picture: IFC Midnight

If there’s one brutal takeaway from watching Squid Sport, it’s that exorbitant wealth — or the promise of gaining exorbitant wealth — can have a very horrifying impact on an individual’s ethical compass. Additionally, wealthy folks suck. David Man Levy’s 2012 horror thriller Would You Relatively facilities on the machinations of Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs), a very cutthroat “philanthropist” who invitations seven strangers to a dinner held at his manor to compete in recreation of “Would You Relatively,” with a promise to offer the winner with no matter they want. The challenges vary from purely merciless, resembling providing a recovering alcoholic $10,000 to drink a glass of wine, to homicidal, such daring one of many gamers to slit their eye open Un Chien Andalou-style with a purpose to advance. It’s terrifying, not solely watching Lambrick relish in his “leisure,” but in addition seeing what the gamers are prepared to do to themselves and one another with a purpose to win an opportunity at a greater life.

Would You Relatively is on the market to hire on Amazon and Apple.