You’ve Binged Squid Game … Now What?

By FPL_Amy

Chances are if you watched Squid Game on Netflix, you, like everyone else, found yourself watching it in one sitting or two. The ending probably left you a bit bereft and looking for something similarly as thrilling to fill your time. Here are some books, movies, and TV shows that can fill the Squid Game shaped hole in your life.  

Movies & TV Shows

Alice in Borderland – Based on the manga with the same name, Alice in Borderland is a Japanese science fiction suspense-thriller drama series where a gamer and his friends have been pulled into a parallel universe of Tokyo where they are forced to participate in brutal games to survive. Like Squid Game, you can stream this on Netflix.

Battle Royale – Based on the manga with the same name, a Japanese action-thriller where high school students have to battle to death and where only one can survive. You can stream this online for free at TubiTV.

The Hunger Games – Based on the Book series with the same name, Hunger Games is an American science fiction dystopian film that follows one of two contestants as they are forced to participate in a televised battle between other teens from the country’s twelve districts.

The Maze Runner – Based on the Book series with the same name, The Maze Runner is an American dystopian science fiction film that follows a group of boys who have been transported to a deadly maze in which they are trying to find their way out.

Parasite – Parasite is a Korean black comedy thriller that follows the relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan while exploring greed and class discrimination. This award-winning film, Academy Award for Best Picture, is a must see for anyone interested in watching more cinematic masterpieces that showcase modern life in South Korea. It also has a plot twist that you’ll never see coming.

Books

Friday Black – A collection of short stories set in a dystopian near future that explores black identity and confronts societal issues that we face today. I recommend the entire book, but especially recommend the short stories Zimmer Land, Friday Black, and Through the Flash if you’re looking for the darkly satirical tone and surrealism that you feel in Squid Game.

The Last One – A psychological suspense that blurs the lines between reality TV and reality. Twelve contestants are sent to the woods and while there, a disaster occurs, leaving contestants unsure if this is a worldwide catastrophe or part of the challenge.

The Long Walk – A dystopian horror novel by the King of Horror himself, Stephen King, that takes 100 teenage boys and forces them to participate in a grueling walking contest in which the punishment is severe if they break the rules.

Snowpiercer – A graphic novel, in which Earth is a frozen wasteland where a train eternally travels around the world. Society has been defined by their economic status and assigned compartments depending upon their status. Like Squid Game’s players trying to overcome the system that has trapped them in the games in the first place, the poorer citizens on the train start a rebellion to try and overcome the class division in their society. There is also a movie adaptation with the same name.

All Your Twisted Secrets – A group of would-be scholarship students must choose one person to die by poison or they’ll all be killed when a bomb explodes.

Red Rising – A Martian society in which people in the lowest caste have been lied to to keep them subservient and laboring for a higher caste. A young man infiltrates the highest caste so he can participate in a deadly game in which only the fittest survive.

The Grace Year – This novel follows a group of sixteen-year-old girls who are banished in the wild for a year so that they can purify themselves and make themselves ready for marriage.

Assassination Classroom – While more lighthearted than Squid Game, this manga series follows a classroom of underachievers as they are given the assignment to try and kill their alien-like teacher who just destroyed the moon, or the teacher will destroy earth. Talk about high stakes!

The Running Man – While there is a movie based on this Stephen King novel, I highly recommend the novel. This science fiction thriller follows a contestant of a futuristic game of life or death where he tries to stay alive from trained assassins in order to win a large cash prize.