The much-anticipated second season ofSquid Gameis underway, and viewers are anxious to find out what deadly games Seong Gi-hun and his fellow contestants will face this time. The genre of dystopian survivor thriller might have been a niche when the first season of the blockbuster show was launched in 2021, but others have appeared since then to experiment with this unique and often unsettling aesthetic.
The show has some distinctive features such asthe game show premise, the futuristic setting, reality TV background, and often a lot of gore. For those viewers who love all of the above and want more of the same, several networks have caught on to the trend and produced shows that are similar to the bizarre and terrifying world ofSquid Game.
Making a show like “Bum Fight” used to be a joke, but in a world that’s being crushed under the weight of late-stage capitalism, it makes too much sense. Famous YouTube personality Mr. Beast is either a hero or a villain depending on who you ask, and this endeavour has attracted the expected amount of controversy. The players have complained about mistreatment on set including accounts of assault and exploitation, maybe even risk to life and limb, maybe making thistoo much likeSquid Game.
It’s a game show, with an impressive pot of prize money available at the end, but of course, there are a few wacky details. There are 1000 participants worldwide, making it the biggest game show in history, and they face a series of challenges to narrow down the contestants.
Put together a coming-of-age story with a story of apocalyptic horror, and the result is the zombie dramaAll of Us Are Dead.This is also a Korean production, which takes place in present-day Hyosan. It’s a fictional city with a posh high school that happens to have a completely inept science teacher who accidently creates and unleashes the Jonas Virus, graduating his character from incompetent teacher to the main villain.
The story begins with students turning into zombies under mysterious circumstances, so most of the initial drama is about where the virus came from. The series is a live-actionadaptation of the manhwaof the same name by Joo Dong-geun, and can be found under the English titleSchool Attack.
5Alice In Borderland
Trapped In An Abandoned Tokyo
Alice In Borderlandwas a successful anime before it was adapted as a live-action show, and both are based on the original manga of the same name by Haro Aso.It follows the same premiseof a group of people trapped in a post-apocalyptic version of Tokyo, now abandoned but used as a “game arena” for the contestants who have to solve puzzles, answer questions, survive, and escape.
This game arena is known as Borderland, which gives the series its name, and players are faced with games that include trivia and playing cards as they explore. The original manga and anime follow the same basic plot. Much likeSquid Game,it’s about survival more than horror, but there’s plenty of both for viewers to enjoy.
43%
The Reward Is The Offshore
3%is a Brazilian show that deserves more recognition, and not just because it’s the first show in Portuguese that Netflix has ever produced. This dystopian horror thriller combines elements of game shows, survival, and class warfare similar to the Hunger Games, with its recruitment of impoverished young people as contestants with the promise of a better life as the prize.
The story begins in a place called The Inland, and when the residents of this crime-ridden, dirty, and poor region are 20 years old, they can compete in The Process. If they succeed, and only 3% pass all the challenges and survive to do so, they are allowed access to the affluent Offshore society.
The Purgeis already one of the more popular options for viewers who enjoy dystopian or apocalyptic visions of the future, and it blew the genre wide openwith the original moviewhich was released in 2013. This is good old-fashioned American action horror as opposed to dark fantasy or occult, which might be refreshing for those who prefer the evil of humans as opposed to the supernatural.
The realism of the show is that much more terrifying, and it’s tied into the characters, plots, and locations of the movies. Set in the near future, specifically in 2027, the simple but devastating plot is based on a dystopian version of the United States, ruled by a totalitarian government, that allows anyone to commit any crime without repercussions in a certain 12-hour period. Humans take justice into their own hands, and some survive and others don’t.
The big difference betweenPhysical: 100andSquid Gameis the former is actually a real game show instead of a drama about one, and most of it is in good fun as opposed to life-threatening drama. This is more American Gladiators thanSquid Game, along with a healthy dose of fanservice.
The basic premise is the same, along with the tough competition that starts with a large group of contestants who are eliminated in rigorous and often dangerous physical challenges. The stated goal of the show is to challenge people in top physical shape, and the winner receives a prize of 300 million Won, the equivalent of $240,000 US.
Following the same occult horror traditionas shows likeDeath Note, Hellboundis about the horrors of religious fanaticism made real. This chilling vision of society on the verge of collapse takes place in present-day Seoul and also mixes crime drama and family hardship into the plot.
Part of the first few episodes are about the police and a group of students, often at odds but sometimes working together, to try and understand the grisly murders and ghostly sightings that keep appearing throughout the city. While the police are focused on tracking down a physical suspect, the student group turns closer to religious fervor and maintains the the incidents of spiritual violence are the result of humans defying God’s decree.
