15 great movies about parallel worlds that will entertain or scare

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Fairy tales, meeting cartoons with people and even moving from cinema to reality.

15. The last movie hero

• USA, 1993.
• Science fiction, action, comedy.
• Duration: 130 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

Young Danny Madigan's dream comes true: he enters the world of his favorite action movies and meets his idol Jack Slater. However, he is not at all happy - for him constant pursuits and shootings have become gloomy everyday life. But still, the heroes have to unite, because a dangerous criminal breaks out of the cinema into the real world.

A hilarious film with action star Arnold Schwarzenegger sarcastic about the genre that made the actor famous, and allows you to think about what the world of dashing action movies would look like in reality.

And stereotypes are also played out in the film: in the world of cinema, all girls are beautiful, phone numbers begin with 555, and in The Terminator, Sylvester Stallone played the main role. Bonus - numerous cameo stars. For example, Sharon Stone in the outfit from "Basic Instinct" and Robert Patrick as a cyborg from "Terminator 2".

14. Alice in Wonderland

• USA, 2010.
• Fantasy, fairy tale, adventure.
• Duration: 108 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

Alice Kingsley is about to get married of convenience. But right on the eve of the wedding, she meets the White Rabbit and again finds herself in Wonderland, which she had already visited as a child. Now she has to lead the fight against the Red Queen.

Lewis Carroll's legendary book has been screened numerous times. But famed director Tim Burton decided to dramatically change the plot of the original, making the story more mature and less linear. But he kept the main thing: a crazy fairy-tale world, completely unlike ours.

Six years later, a sequel appeared - "Alice Through the Looking Glass", but another director was already working on it, and nothing remained at all from the original book in the plot.

13. Space Jam

• USA, 1996.
• Comedy.
• Duration: 87 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

The cartoon characters from Looney Tunes are attacked by evil aliens. Bugs Bunny, Duffy Duck and their friends offer villains to solve everything in a basketball game. But the aliens steal the talents of famous basketball players, turning into professionals. And now the cartoons have the only hope to beat them - the legendary Michael Jordan, who decided to leave the big sport.

Animated characters and real actors were combined on the screen several times, for example, in the famous film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". But in "Space Jam" the authors decided to separate the world of cartoons from the familiar to us in order to add humor.

The movie actually originated from a Michael Jordan & Bugs Bunny commercial for a sneaker in which Jordan played basketball with Bugs Bunny. The audience really liked her, and then they decided to create a whole picture.

12. Silent Hill

• Canada, France, Japan, USA, 2006.
• Horror, detective, adventure.
• Duration: 125 minutes
• IMDb: 6, 5.

Girl Sharon suffers from bouts of sleepwalking and raves at night the city of Silent Hill. Her mother decides to figure out the problem and goes with her daughter to this mysterious place. However, the fog-covered Silent Hill turns out to be filled with monsters.

The film is based on the series of computer games of the same name in the horror genre. Moreover, some characters came to the adaptation from the second part, such as Pyramid Head.

The reasons for the appearance of the creepy world of Silent Hill is a spoiler, it is better to learn about this from the film. But it is not hard to guess that the heroes fall out of ordinary human reality.

11. Frame

• USA, 2014.
• Science fiction, thriller, drama.
• Duration: 128 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

The lives of Alex and Sam are practically opposite. The first is a criminal working for a large cartel. The second is an ambulance worker who does her best to help patients. They even live in parallel worlds. But in a strange way, the heroes begin to see each other on TV, and soon their fates are intertwined.

This film is the original work of director Jaymin Winans. He himself wrote the script, staged the picture, edited and even wrote the music, which plays an important role in the plot.

10. Caution, doors are closing

• UK, USA, 1997.
• Drama, melodrama, fantasy.
• Duration: 99 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

Helen Qilué, who has just been fired from her job, is going down the subway and getting on the train. At this moment, two realities are born: in one, the girl manages to slip through the closing doors, in the other, she remains on the platform. This little thing changes her whole future life.

The two stories are shown in parallel in the film. And in order to more clearly divide the action, the heroine is given different hairstyles, so you can immediately determine in which of the worlds certain events take place.

The film was loved not only for its touching dramatic plot, but also for its magnificent soundtrack. The film featured Dido's song Thank You, part of which was later used by rapper Eminem on Stan. And the Aqua group even released a video for their song Turn Back Time with footage from this film.

9. Possible worlds

• Canada, 2000.
• Science fiction, drama, detective.
• Duration: 93 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 8.

The police discover the body of the murdered Joseph Barber, from which someone pulled the brain. During the investigation, detectives come to consult a neuroscientist who uncovers unexpected facts. Meanwhile, Barber himself finds himself in different worlds. He himself does not change, but the woman Joyce he meets is different all the time.

This film originated from the production of the same name by the mathematician and philosopher John Myton. Keeping the spirit of the original, the picture looks more like a philosophical parable than a fantasy.

Separately, it is worth noting the excellent work of Tilda Swinton, who played Joyce. Within the framework of one story, she managed to show four completely different images.

8. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

• USA, UK, 2005.
• Fantasy, adventure.
• Duration: 143 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

Four children who have arrived at the house of an old friend of their family find a magic wardrobe through which they enter the magical land of Narnia. Power in the fairy-tale world was seized by an evil sorceress. Now the young heroes must help the true king regain legitimate power.

The film is based on the first part of a series of books by Clive Staples Lewis. Later, two sequels were released, which completed the story of the rescue of Narnia.

Now the streaming service Netflix has bought the rights to the film adaptation. Probably, the audience will have a relaunch of the story.

7. Another Earth

• USA, 2011.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 0.

Rhoda's student becomes the culprit in a car accident in which the wife and daughter of the composer John Burroughs are killed. Four years later, she is released from prison and meets the widower, although he does not know her true identity. Meanwhile, astronomers are finding a planet in the solar system that is completely identical to the Earth. And there, some events in the lives of the heroes took place in a completely different way.

In the author's work of Mike Cahill, who later directed I Am the Beginning, another world exists in the same reality - it is simply a second Earth. But it is interesting to think that the very contact between the two planets already influences the development of history on each of them.

6. Stargate

• USA, France, 1994.
• Science fiction, action, adventure.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

In the middle of the 20th century, an archaeologist discovers a mysterious structure in Egypt. Years later, his daughter and young specialist Jackson learn that this is a portal to other worlds. Jackson and a team of military are sent through the stargate towards the unknown.

Roland Emmerich's film kicked off a huge franchise. Later, two full-length sequels were released, as well as four series expanding the universe. The best of these is considered to be "Stargate: SG-1".

5. During a thunderstorm

• Spain, 2018.
• Thriller, drama, fantasy.
• Duration: 128 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

Nurse Vera, who has just moved into a new house with her husband David and daughter, discovers that she can communicate via TV with a boy who died 25 years ago. She saves a child from death, but after that she finds herself in a world where she has no family.

The Spanish painting refers to the idea of the “butterfly effect,” where one act changes the lives of many people. And by the end, the concept of a time loop is already affected.

4. Communication

• USA, UK, 2012.
• Science fiction, horror, thriller.
• Duration: 89 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

Eight friends gather for dinner at the house. Just on this night, a comet flies very close to Earth, which causes interference in mobile communications and a power outage. But it soon turns out that her influence is even stronger: friends find exactly the same house and their counterparts from a parallel world.

Director James Ward Birkit decided to make a fantastic film with a minimum investment. Therefore, most of the action takes place in the same house or near it, and the actors often improvise. The entire filming process took only five days.

At the same time, the picture, originally called "Coherence", perfectly reveals the theme of the collision of parallel worlds and how unprepared people try to understand their logic.

3. Mister Nobody

• Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, 2009.
• Drama, fantasy.
• Duration: 138 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

In the future, all people have learned to maintain eternal youth. Now the immortals are watching a reality show with the world's only old man named Nemo. He tells the journalist stories from his past, but many facts of his biography contradict each other.

The painting with Jared Leto perhaps best captures the idea of variability in worlds. Each decision of the protagonist creates a new universe. You can even see a world where it does not exist at all. And it is worth very carefully following the plot in order to understand what choice leads Nemo to different turns in life.

2. Star Trek

• USA, Germany, 2009.
• Science fiction, action, adventure.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Romulan Nero, able to travel in time, captures the planet Vulcan. To save its inhabitants, and at the same time the whole world, it is up to the undisciplined cadet of the Starfleet Academy James Kirk and the Vulcan Spock.

Everyone has probably heard of the famous Star Trek franchise. It started back in 1966 and continues to this day, expanding to dozens of films and TV series. But in 2009, contrary to the expectations of fans, in the next film, director J. J. Abrams decided not to show the backstory of the first series. The picture takes place in an alternate universe. And for fans, the film has a slight overlap with the original Star Trek world.

1. Pan's Labyrinth

• Mexico, Spain, 2006.
• Adventure drama, fantasy, horror.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

10-year-old dreamer Ophelia moves with her mother to her stepfather, the cruel captain Vidal, who is fighting the partisans. Soon, the girl meets a mysterious Faun, who reveals a secret to her. In fact, Ophelia is a princess of the underworld who has lost her memory. To return home, she must complete three tasks before midnight.

Guillermo del Toro shot a fabulous and at the same time eerie story that will scare even adults. The wizarding world here side by side with the brutal reality of the times of the struggle against the dictatorship of Franco. This contrast makes the impression of the painting even stronger.