20 best movies like Maximum Overdrive (1986)

When the body of a man is found completely destroyed in the swamps in Louisiana, the medical investigator Sam Rivers is assigned to investigate the murder. He travels with the biologist Mary Callahan to the location where the victim lived in a floating house and he meets his family and friends. They find that Chinese snake-heads genetically engineered that belong to a wealthy hunter are attacking and killing the locals. While the group fights to survive, the hunter Jeff arrives with his team to hunt the predators.

A group of young people stuck in the small Texas town of Fossil Ridge have to fight for their lives against dinosaurs that have been reanimated by a local scientist.

When a young ski team training for the Olympics arrives at the remote and isolated Lost Mountain Ski Resort to focus on training, they're thrilled to find a retired Olympic skier is there to help them train. But their plans are halted when a scientist working at a nearby government lab arrives with the horrifying news that a top secret Government project has produced giant spiders and they have escaped, killing and eating everything in sight.

A scientist enlists the help of the US army to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her father, deep in the Belizean jungle. Caught in the crossfire between a brutal guerrilla army controlled by a mystical warlord, they are also confronted by an even bigger terror giant mutated wasps that are, for some reason, thirsty for blood.

The widow, Deputy Sheriff Jane Kozik, moves from Manhattan to Black Stone, New York, with her daughter Kelsey Kozik. There she expects to find a safe place to live. The day after moving, a homeless man is found dead in the tool shed of Jane's blind friend Beverly Rowe. Devin Hall and the entomologist Katherine Randell are summoned to help with the investigation. Devin is Jane's brother-in-law and former boyfriend, and Jane still has a crush on him. Meanwhile, Kelsey befriends the scientist Eli Giles, who has developed genetically modified wasps to the army as a weapon, and now he is trying to revert the process. When the wasps attack Black Stone, Jane, Devin and Eli team-up to attempt to destroy the swarm.

Lovely and resourceful Daria and Tisa escape a space gulag only to crash land on a nearby world where a guy in tight pants named Zed is playing The Most Dangerous Game. Zed turns the girls and another guest loose in his jungle preserve to serve as the prey in a mad hunt. Armed only with knives and their wits, the girls must battle their way across the jungle to a hidden arms cache before Zed catches and kills them.

When most of the population of Earth is infected by a virus and transformed into flesh eaters and blood drinking creatures, a group of hunters lead by Tao and his sword chase the vampire zombies to eliminate them. Six non-infected survivors try to find the exit of an abandoned hospital crowded of the infected creatures. Meanwhile, the military is ready to bomb the whole area.

Seventeen years ago, NASCAR racer Cutter McCullough died in a fiery crash. But death can’t stop a man driven by revenge. He and his car are back from the grave to settle a score with his old girlfriend Tammy and his rival JJ Sawyer. Now JJ, Tammy, and their daughter, Jesse, are hitting the road with the Phantom Racer on their tail.

Zombie Hunter is set in a post-apocalyptic Zombie wasteland caused by the mysterious street drug "Natas". We follow one man who has nothing left other than a beat up Camaro and a trunk full of guns and booze. He runs down Flesh Eaters, hunting for sport and redemption, while also running from his past. After crashing into a small group of survivors, who are running low on resources, he decides to lend a hand. But a surprise attack by the Flesh Eaters forces them on the run and puts the Hunter's skills to the test.

A mysterious virus, carried by mutant rats, creates pandemonium in New York City in which rat-bite victims turn into homicidal rat-mutants. This movie centers on six tenants of a small apartment complex on the Lower East Side Mulberry Street as they fight to survive the night against the rats and rapidly multiplying cannibal mutants.

A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.

Following a deadly viral outbreak, private military soldier Max Gatling leads a handful of survivors and a ragtag band of robots against an army of the infected.

Based on actual creatures that for years have tormented our armed forces in the Middle East, these creatures have now invaded the southwestern deserts of the United States. The Camel Spiders now freely hunt for prey, unafraid of any predator - including man. No place is safe no one is beyond their paralyzing sting. In the end, a small band of hearty fighters are forced to make one last stand against the creatures.

Supernatural private eye, Dylan Dog, seeks out the monsters of the Louisiana bayou in his signature red shirt, black jacket and blue jeans.

When zombies overrun San Francisco, a desperate group survives by locking themselves inside Alcatraz Prison. When the undead breach the island, our heros are forced to return to the mainland overrun with the undead.

In the quiet waters of the Mississippi, body parts are being discovered. No one knows what is behind it all, until a huge man eating bull shark turns up. This bull shark is different, as it can breath in fresh water, making a deadly encounter between anyone who comes before it. John Sanders must now try and reach the surface, with his ex-wife and whilst being held hostage.

Our hero, Cooper, awakes to find himself nauseous, weak and covered in webbing, hanging from the ceiling of an office where, just minutes ago, he started his new job. As he struggles out of his slimy prison he comes face to face with his opponent - a grotesque, powerful and very angry bug. All 3 ft of it. And so begins a hideous, nail-biting, comedic, all-action adventure to find a safe haven while constantly outwitting an infestation of monstrous proportions. As Cooper embarks on his journey, he befriends a ragtag group of survivors including the feisty, determined Sara. Will they make it to safety before they are picked off one by one? And what other surprises are in store for our group of unlikely heroes?

On a lush tropical island, working under a secret government charter, Martin Drake has not only grown sprawling acres of giant vegetables, but inadvertently spawned two mammoth reptiles as well. Now they've broken free of their enclosures, and Drake has only one option: kill the creatures before word gets back to Washington and they close him down. When Drake's first team of well-armed mercenaries gets wiped out within hours of setting down in the jungle, he turns to one lone hunter, The Cajun, to go in single-handedly. But will The Cajun be cunning enough to find the creatures and destroy them before they turn the blue waters red with the blood of tourists. The only hope is to bring the monsters together and make them fight. When one emerges victorious, that will be the time to strike and kill the other. It's a risky plan, but ultimately the only one that may work. One of David Carradine's last movies.

A dog turns from man's best friend into man's worst nightmare as he attacks everything that moves.

Two full-length feature horror movies written by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez put together as a two-film feature. Including fake movie trailers in between both movies.

A small town, desperate to recover from hard economic times, is under threat when voracious Snakehead fish mutate and survive previous lake chemical poisonings. The fish transform from pests to predators when human growth hormones are dumped into the local lake in the hopes of reviving the local fishing industry. Thriving on the hormones, the Snakehead fish grow to monstrous proportions, devouring everything within reach. Capable of moving and eating on land, they are forced to leave the now barren lake in a desperate search for food - animal, vegetable or human.

After a massive earthquake destroys Los Angeles, a new order is formed. But disagreement among the ranks leads to more war and disruption, and The Last Patrol must bring order if there's to be any hope for the future.

Beowulf is a wanderer who learns about a man-eating creature called Grendel, which comes in the night to devour warriors trapped at the Outpost. The Outpost is ruled by Hrothgar. He has a daughter, whose husband may have been murdered by the Outpost's master of arms.

A mentally ill man in a small Texas town goes on a killing rampage and is fatally wounded by police. When doctors use an experimental serum to bring him back to life, the killer develops superhuman strength and the town sheriff must pursue him.

Though no one can see him, Hollow Face lurks in the corners, desperately desiring love but only knowing how to spread fear and hate. He creeps into the life of John Farrow after Farrow’s beloved 13-year-old daughter Mia is assaulted in their home. The line between the real and the imaginary blurs as fissures start to open within the family unit. It seems that no security measure can keep Hollow Face out.

An underwater earthquake generates a tsunami that strikes Malibu, bringing a hunting pack of prehistoric-looking goblin sharks to the surface. Although the beach is evacuated before the big wave strikes, a group of lifeguards and a crew of construction workers are stranded in the high water and have to fight the sharks to get to dry land.

A man steps out of a park fountain in Ho Chi Minh City with no recollection of who he is or where he came from. As he wanders through the city, piecing together clues to his past, he is relentlessly pursued by mysterious figures.

Months after a zombie plague has wiped out 90 percent of the American population, a small group of survivors fight their way cross-country to a rumored refuge on the island of Catalina.

Earth as we know it is gone. A virus has destroyed the planet and rendered all its women infertile, all but one. An elite team of soldiers are tasked with bringing the woman to safety on the newly habitable Earth Two. But when they are forced underground they find themselves fighting for survival from an bloodthirsty creature in a maze of ever shrinking tunnels. As the team's ranks start to dwindle, the tunnels shrink and the ammunition run out, the crawl for survival becomes more and more desperate.

Seven female directors present seven short films.

When a nun broke her covenant with God to save the life of her unborn son, Aman, he was cursed for life. As an adult, Aman has killed those who have crossed him. But his curse brings his victims back to life and they pursue him for revenge, so Aman enlists a young gunman to fight by his side against his undead victims.

Captain Martin Stone is leading a finely-trained, elite platoon of Allied soldiers as they attack an enemy bunker. Underestimating their enemy's strength, they are quickly beaten back into the forest. As they try to regroup, they are suddenly attacked by the same soldiers they had just killed a few minutes earlier. Forced to flee deeper into Russian territory, they discover one of war's most terrifying secrets and realize they have woken up a far more deadlier enemy.

A band of ninja warriors, led by an Iga Ninja named Yamata, witness a giant ball of fire drop from the sky and crash into the forest. When the warriors find and attempt to identify the object, they discover aliens that attack and feast on them. Yamata and the survivors swear vengeance, but in challenging the aliens, they learn that their weapons have no effect.

After X-Corp, a radical weapons manufacturer, is taken over by a Cyber Virus, a group of survivors must fight to save humanity from the army of Machines the Virus now controls.

A sequel to 2004's Alien vs. Predator, the iconic creatures from two of the scariest film franchises in movie history wage their most brutal battle ever - in our own backyard. The small town of Gunnison, Colorado becomes a war zone between two of the deadliest extra-terrestrial life forms - the Alien and the Predator. When a Predator scout ship crash-lands in the hills outside the town, Alien Facehuggers and a hybrid Alien/Predator are released and begin to terrorize the town.

Video game developer Clayton Software enlists the talents of a misfit group of programmers to develop the scariest computer combat game: EVILUTION. With four weeks to bring the game to market and a million-dollar bonus on the line, they utilize a telemetry suit to render a 3-D version of the onscreen player. But when a power surge gives the hard drive a mind of its own, the suit comes to life to play the game for real and the programming team find themselves in the middle of a chilling virtual nightmare beyond their wildest imagination.

Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.

A quaint Australian fishing village is overcome by meteorites that turn its residents into the ravenous undead, leaving a small group of those unharmed to find a way out.

A group of researchers in Antarctica are abducted by a platoon of masked soldiers and dragged into a hidden continent in the center of the Earth. There, they discover that surviving Nazi soldiers are plotting an invasion of Earth to revive the Third Reich.

He's a one-man arsenal... with enough voltage to rock the free world. They Don't Play by the Rules. You're either on their side...or in their way. America's top counter-terrorist usually works alone...this time he's got company.

Only a few people still live in New York in 2015. They are organized in gangs with their own turf. One of them is led by Baron, another one by Carrot, and they are constantly at war with each other.

Plan 9 is the story of Nilbog, a small town with a big story. The beginning of an invasion! However, instead of lasers, space ships, and epic force, these aliens have a different plan for the inhabitants of Earth. To resurrect their dead as their own army set with but one goal… To wipe out all mankind! Only the townsfolk on this Halloween night stand in the way of total domination. From the police department, to those trapped in a convenient store, and even those trying to stay alive in the streets, this night will decide the fates of all who walk the planet and thought they were the top of the food chain.

Dante travels across a desolate, futuristic Spain in search of his girlfriend, Ula. He is pursued by a bloodthirsty, cybernetic Rottweiler.

A group of oddball high school students find themselves trapped in detention with their classmates having turned into a horde of Zombies.

In the midst of a tropical storm, the crew of an offshore oil rig must survive the rampage of a creature after invading its undersea habitat.

After miners disappear in the Namib Desert, some scientists find their remains and the demonic creature that killed them.

The Most Dangerous Game formula gets a monstrous twist as the mythical Hydra turns the tables on a group of wealthy human-hunters. Kidnapped along with three ex-convicts, former Marine Tim Nolan is transported to a deserted island where the super rich pay a fortune to hunt human prey. But this island isn't exactly deserted; it's actually home to Hydra the Beast!

Late one night, a mysterious car is brought into the Chicago police impound garage after a deadly traffic accident. The on-call mechanics soon discover the car has a mind of its own. With hundreds of horsepower and two tons of reinforced steel at its command, it's a seemingly unstoppable killing machine capable of outrunning -- and outwitting -- humans.

A fanatical animal rights activist releases giant pythons into the Everglades, believing the wild animals should be set free. When they start decimating the native animal population, an over-zealous park ranger feeds experimental steroids to wild alligators so they can fight back. The giant pythons and gargantuan alligators go on a killing spree, and it is now left up to the two feuding women to put aside their differences to put a stop to the creatures and the destruction.

Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) is a hard nosed police chief in the year 2025. She and a police snatch squad are sent to Mars to apprehend a dangerous criminal James Williams (Ice Cube). Mars has been occupied by humans for some time and they have set up mining facilities. The mining activities on Mars have unleashed the spirits of alien beings who gradually possess the bodies of the workers. It soon turns out that catching the dangerous fugitive takes a back seat as the alien spirits begin to rid their planet of the 'invaders'.