Movies Like The Chain Reaction (1980)

The Chain Reaction is a 1980 action, science fiction, thriller film from Ian Barry with a MovieMagicScore of 5.5/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Flu and Cloverfield.

Action Science Fiction Thriller

The Flu

2013

A case of the flu quickly morphs into a pandemic. As the death toll mounts and the living panic, the government plans extreme measures to contain it.

7.5

MagicScore

Cloverfield

2008

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

6.7

MagicScore

The Day After

1983

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.

6.8

MagicScore

Resident Evil

2002

When a virus leaks from a top-secret facility, turning all resident researchers into ravenous zombies and their lab animals into mutated hounds from hell, the government sends in an elite military task force to contain the outbreak.

6.6

MagicScore

Fukushima 50

2020

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent total destruction after the region is devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

6.5

MagicScore

The China Syndrome

1979

While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.

7.2

MagicScore

Geostorm

2017

After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone along with it.

6.1

MagicScore

The Tunnel

2011

In 2007, in the midst of the drought and water shortages, the NSW State government has unveiled plans to tap into and recycle millions of litres of water trapped in a network of abandoned train tunnels just beneath the heart of Sydney. However the government suddenly goes cold on the plan and it is not made public why. There is talk of homeless people who use the tunnel as shelter going missing, even though the government states that there are no homeless people in there. This, and the silence from the officials and ministers, leads a journalist, Natasha to begin an investigation into a government cover-up. She and her crew Pete (Producer), Steve (Cameraman) and Tangles (Sound Technichian) decide to investigate the story in the tunnel.

5.8

MagicScore

Ezra

2017

An urban couple Ranjan Mathew and Priya have just moved to Kochi when powers of the supernatural start to take over their lives. How they tide over the forces forms the story.

6.0

MagicScore

#10

C.H.U.D.

1984

A rash of bizarre murders in New York City seems to point to a group of grotesquely deformed vagrants living in the sewers. A courageous policeman, a photojournalist and his girlfriend, and a nutty bum, who seems to know a lot about the creatures, band together to try and determine what the creatures are and how to stop them.

5.7

MagicScore

#11

The Horror of Party Beach

1964

Radioactive waste dumped off the coastline creates mutant monsters. The beasts attack slumber parties, beaches, tourists, and terrorize a waterfront community as a scientist, his daughter, her boyfriend and the local police try to find a way to stop them.

4.3

MagicScore

#12

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1982

The starship Enterprise and its crew is pulled back into action when old nemesis, Khan, steals a top secret device called Project Genesis.

7.4

MagicScore

#13

Doomsday

2008

The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the virus resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

5.9

MagicScore

#14

Day of the Dead

2008

When a small Colorado town is overrun by the flesh hungry dead, a small group of survivors try to escape in a last ditch effort to stay alive.

5.2

MagicScore

#15

Kate

2021

A ruthless criminal operative has less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her enemies and in the process forms an unexpected bond with the daughter of one of her past victims.

6.6

MagicScore

#16

The Incredible Hulk

1977

An accidental overdose of gamma radiation causes a mutation in scientist David Banner's DNA: now whenever he becomes angry, he metamorphoses into a seven-foot-tall, 330-pound, mindless muscular green creature.

6.4

MagicScore

#17

Fantastic Four

2005

During a space voyage, four scientists are altered by cosmic rays: Reed Richards gains the ability to stretch his body; Sue Storm can become invisible; Johnny Storm controls fire; and Ben Grimm is turned into a super-strong … thing. Together, these "Fantastic Four" must now thwart the evil plans of Dr. Doom and save the world from certain destruction.

5.8

MagicScore

#18

Z for Zachariah

2015

In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.

5.7

MagicScore

#19

Contagion

2011

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.

6.6

MagicScore

#20

The Noah's Ark Principle

1984

The year is 1997, and World Peace seems to have come, with most classic weapons of mass destruction having been abandoned. However, orbiting the Earth there is the European/American space station FLORIDA ARKLAB, capable of controlling the weather at any location on the planet underneath. A civil project by nature, it might be abused as an offensive weapon, since it could deliver devastation to any potential adversary simply by creating natural disasters such as storms and floods. No wonder the space station soon becomes the central point in rising political tensions between East and West, next stop World War 3 (as indicated by the tagline "The end of our future has already begun"). We follow the main protagonist Billy Hayes, an astronaut aboard the station, as he wades through a plot of secrecy and sabotage trying to tell friend from foe in the process.

4.8

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Chain Reaction?

The top films similar to The Chain Reaction by MovieMagicScore are The Flu (7.5), Cloverfield (6.7), The Day After (6.8). Each shares action/science fiction/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Chain Reaction worth watching?

The Chain Reaction holds a MovieMagicScore of 5.5/10 from 53 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is The Chain Reaction?

The Chain Reaction (1980) is a action, science fiction, thriller film directed by Ian Barry, starring Steve Bisley, Arna-Maria Winchester, Ross Thompson.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Chain Reaction?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more action recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like The Flu Movies like Cloverfield Movies like The Day After Movies like Resident Evil Movies like Fukushima 50 Movies like The China Syndrome

About movies like The Chain Reaction

This ranked list pairs The Chain Reaction (1980), a action and science fiction and thriller film from Ian Barry, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Steve Bisley take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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