6 Disturbing but Low-Key Brilliant Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix

Here are some disturbing but low-key brilliant Netflix sci-fi films that may have flown under your radar.

Awake (2021)

The concept is so simple you have to wonder why it hasn’t been done a million times before. When humanity suddenly loses its ability to sleep, it doesn’t take long before cognitive function starts to slip into hysteria, and mankind is on the verge of collapse. Gina Rodriguez stars as Jill, a former Army medic who discovers that her daughter may be the key to humanity’s survival.

What makes it disturbing: A lack of sleep really will lead to disorientation, impaired thinking, hallucinations, and eventually death. Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes people to lose the ability to sleep. Look it up if you want to have nightmares.

What Happened to Monday (2017)

Also released under the title 7 Sisters, this dystopian drama takes place in a world where overpopulation has resulted in a global “one child per household” policy. When a woman dies giving birth to identical septuplets, their grandfather (Willem Dafoe) raises them to live in hiding by pretending to be one individual. The sisters (all played by Noomi Rapace) must proceed with caution when one of them goes missing.

What makes it disturbing: We’re all used to stories of Big Bad Governments, but it’s the lengths the sisters go to in order to keep their secret which will make you feel claustrophobic and squeamish.

Mute (2018)

A mute bartender in 2035 Berlin works in a seedy bar. When his girlfriend goes missing, his attempts to find her bring him further and further into the criminal underworld.

This is a followup to Duncan Jones’ 2009 film Moon, though you don’t need to have seen it first to enjoy this one.

What makes it disturbing: Psychedelic imagery, a hero who can never cry out for help, and Paul Rudd ’s enormous mustache.

Spiderhead (2022)

Visionary scientist Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth ) runs a penitentiary where inmates agree to a shorter sentence in exchange for being experimented on. The experiment? Mind-altering drugs are pumped into their system and adjust their mood, temperament, and behaviors at the whim of Abnesti.

In reviewing this sometimes serious, sometimes satirical film, critics were lukewarm on the script but universal in their praise of Hemsworth’s performance.

What makes it disturbing: Spiderhead’s pursuit of pill-popping perfection isn’t so far from the world we live in now.

The Titan (2018)

Sam Worthington (Avatar ) looks set to return to space at the beginning of The Titan. After all, his character Rick Janssen is selected for an elite government program which will have him leave the overcrowded earth and make a new home on a distant planet. But instead of terraforming Titan to fit humans, a scientist (played with menace by Tom Wilkinson) is helping the potential astronauts to evolve and thrive in space…

… of course, that never goes well.

What makes it disturbing: Human beings slowly (or quickly) metamorphosing is a staple of horror, and while this is more in the sci-fi realm there’s definitely some skin-shedding moments that will make you squirm.

Oxygen (2021)

When a woman wakes up in a cryogenic pod, she has no idea who she is or how she got there. Although her oxygen levels are failing, she cannot open the pod without a code. Accessing memories and the outside world through an A.I. assistant, the world of Oxygen’ reveals itself so slowly and brilliantly that we don’t want to reveal any more here.

The 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes makes this the most acclaimed film on this list, and for good reason.

What makes it disturbing: Never has claustrophobia been used to such a chilling effect.