Welcome to a world where time has become the ultimate currency. You stop aging at 25, but there's a catch: you're genetically-engineered to live only one more year, unless you can buy your way out of it. The rich "earn" decades at a time (remaining at age 25), becoming essentially immortal, while the rest beg, borrow or steal enough hours to make it through the day. When a man from the wrong side of the tracks is falsely accused of murder, he is forced to go on the run with a beautiful hostage. Living minute to minute, the duo's love becomes a powerful tool in their war against the system.

In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

The Earth was ravaged by the Formics, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Fifty years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species. Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.

Awakening in an elevator, remembering nothing of his past, Thomas emerges into a world of about thirty teenage boys, all without past memories, who have learned to survive under their own set of rules in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies. With a new boy arriving every thirty days, the group has been in "The Glade" for three years, trying to find a way to escape through the Maze that surrounds their living space (patrolled by cyborg monsters named 'Grievers'). They have begun to give up hope when a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change with the boys dividing into two factions: those willing to risk their lives to escape and those wanting to hang onto what they've got and survive.

This horror/action-adventure film from director Gerard McMurray serves as a prequel that recounts events that led up to the first Purge event. To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community.

A couple are driving home when their car breaks down just as the Purge commences. Meanwhile, a police sergeant goes out into the streets to get revenge on the man who killed his son, and a mother and daughter run from their home after assailants destroy it. The five people meet up as they attempt to survive the night in Los Angeles.

Dystopian Dimensions: Brave New Worlds

movie

Andy Alvarado

2007 film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Zombie Apocalypses: The Undead Uprisings

1999 film by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Genre Gems: Heart-Pounding Horror

2005 film directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Psychological Dramas: Mind and Reality

Sci-Fi Masterpieces: Exploring the Cosmos and Beyond

2004 American science fiction drama film directed by Shane Carruth

2004 film directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

Dystopian Dimensions: Brave New Worlds

More lists by Andy Alvarado

Zombie Apocalypses: The Undead Uprisings

Genre Gems: Heart-Pounding Horror

Psychological Dramas: Mind and Reality

Sci-Fi Masterpieces: Exploring the Cosmos and Beyond

Genre Gems: Temporal Treks Time Travel

Adrenaline Rush: High-Octane Action Films

My Anime Recommendations

Genre Gems: Mind-Bending Thrillers

Slavery and Liberation: Tales of Freedom and Justice