List of World War II science fiction, fantasy, and horror films


Below is an incomplete list of science fiction, fantasy, and horror feature films or miniseries on the theme of World War II.
A separate list of TV series appears at the end.

20th century

YearCountryMain title
Original title
DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depicted
1941United StatesKing of the ZombiesJean YarbroughHorror-comedy. Nazi doctor on island off US coast attempting to acquire war intelligence using zombies
1942United StatesBlack DragonsWilliam NighSF. Scientist turns Japanese spies into Americans
1942United StatesSpy Smasher William Witney
1942Thunder RockRoy BoultingFantasy/Drama. Outspoken anti-Fascist journalist in isolation of Lake Michigan lighthouse visited by immigrant spirits who encourage fight against Fascism
1943United States'Victor FlemingFantasy. Spirit of dead pilot acts as "guardian angel" for new pilots
1943United StatesRevenge of the ZombiesSteve SekelyHorror.
1943United StatesTarzan TriumphsWilhelm ThieleAdventure. German paratroopers conquer a lost city in Africa
1946United Kingdom' Powell and PressburgerFantasy.
1964United States'Arthur Lubin, Robert McKimsonLive-action/animated comedy. Man turns into talking fish and helps US Navy destroy U-boats, 1941
1966United Kingdom'Herbert J. LederSF horror. Scientist reanimates frozen heads of Nazi war criminals to revive Third Reich
1966United StatesSpy Smasher Returns William WitneyAction-adventure. Superhero Alan Armstrong battles Nazi villains and saboteurs determined to spread destruction; edited TV version of 1942 serial Spy Smasher
1968United StatesThey Saved Hitler's Brain David BradleySF thriller. Nazis in South America kidnap scientist to maintain living head of Adolf Hitler in order to revive the Third Reich
1971United StatesBedknobs and BroomsticksRobert StevensonChildren's fantasy musical. German raid on England repulsed with magic, 1940
1972United StatesSlaughterhouse-FiveGeorge Roy HillSF based on Kurt Vonnegut novel. Firebombing of Dresden, 1945
1975United StatesWonder Woman Leonard HornAction-adventure. Pilot in dogfight with Nazi plane crash-lands in Bermuda Triangle on uncharted island inhabited by women
1977United StatesShock Waves Ken WiederhornSF horror. Island-shipwrecked party encounters former SS commander leading zombie storm troopers
1977CzechoslovakiaTomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with TeaZítra vstanu a opařím se čajemJindrich PolákSF comedy. Time travel by aging former Nazis conspiring to alter results of war
1978United States
United Kingdom
'Franklin J. SchaffnerSF thriller based on Ira Levin novel. Nazi hunter discovers doctor's plot to revive Third Reich by cloning Hitler in Paraguayan jungle
1980United Kingdom
Canada
Death ShipAlvin RakoffHorror-Mystery. Nazi prison ship sails seas since end of war luring unsuspecting victims aboard
1980United States' Don TaylorSF. Modern US nuclear aircraft carrier lost in storm arrives in South West Pacific Theatre on 7 December 1941
1981FranceOasis of the Zombies L'abîme des morts vivantsJesus FrancoHorror. Treasure hunters seeking Nazi bullion, carried across Sahara Desert by Wehrmacht soldiers falling under Allied assault with only one survivor, encounter gold's zombie protectors
1981France
Spain
Zombie Lake Le lac des morts vivantsJean RollinHorror. Wehrmacht soldiers killed in lake by French Resistance during war are reanimated into zombies
1982United StatesDead Men Don't Wear PlaidCarl ReinerDetective comedy. Nazis in Latin America with weaponized cheese mould
1984United Kingdom'Michael MannAction-horror. German Army and "Einsatzkommandos" occupy Romanian citadel with demonic forces
1984United States'Stewart RaffillAdventure-fantasy. Military experiment sends USN destroyer escort from Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1943, to 1984 Nevada desert town; prequel to 1993 film Philadelphia Experiment II
1985United StatesZone TroopersDanny BilsonSF. Soldiers find alien craft
1986SpainIn a Glass CageTras el cristalAgustí VillarongaHorror.
1989United States' David SchmoellerSF horror. Nazi mission to capture US puppeteer with "secret to life" ate explored by modern scientists
1991United States'David DeCoteauHorror-thriller. Puppeteer avenging his wife killed by Nazis bent on developing drug that reanimates dead
1991United States'Joe JohnstonAction-adventure. Young pilot discovers Howard Hughes' jetpack prototype and as flying superhero battles Nazis before US entry into war
1993United States'Stephen CornwellAdventure-fantasy. Military experiment sends ex-WWII sailor to alternative "1993" where Germany has won war before arriving in Nazi Germany along with modern stealth bomber, 1943; sequel to 1984 film The Philadelphia Experiment
1998United StatesApt PupilBryan SingerHorror based on Stephen King novella.
1999United States Donna DeitchFantasy/Drama. Modern teenage girl projected into 1940's death camp prisoner to experience horrors firsthand

21st century

2000s

YearCountryMain title
Original title
DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depicted
2001The BunkerRob GreenIn 1944, in the Belgian - German border, seven German soldiers survive an American attack in the front and lock themselves in a bunker. Under siege by the enemy and with little ammunition, they decide to explore tunnels to seek supplies and find an escape route. While in the tunnel, weird things happen to the group.
2002United StatesBelowDavid TwohyStrange happenings occur on a United States WW II submarine after picking up three survivors from a sunken British hospital ship.
2002United States
Canada
Australia
Return to Never LandRobin Budd, Donovan CookAnimated family adventure based on J.M. Barrie book. Peter Pan rescues young girl from Captain Hook in Never Land during Battle of Britain, 1940; sequel to the 1953 film Peter Pan
2004United StatesHellboyGuillermo del ToroInfant summoned from Hell to Earth by Nazi occultists discovered by Allied Forces
2005Japan'Rōrerai Shinji Higuchi, Cellin GluckExperimental Japanese submarine attempts to prevent atomic bombing of Tokyo
2006SwedenFrostbiteFrostbitenAnders BankeHorror comedy. Former SS geneticist attempting to create master breed of vampires in Norrland
2006United KingdomGhostboat Stuart OrmeMystery-thriller based on Neal R. Burger novel. Fictional RN submarine presumed lost in Baltic in 1943 resurfaces near end of Cold War, 1981
2006United StatesHorrors of War Peter John Ross, John WhitneyAction-horror. OSS conducts missions to discover source of Hitler's wunderwaffen and vergeltungswaffen terrorizing Allies
2006Spain
Mexico
Pan's LabyrinthEl laberinto del faunoGuillermo del ToroFantasy/Drama. Parable influenced by fairy tale of young girl's escape into abandoned labyrinth with mysterious faun creature in Francoist Spain, May–June 1944
2006CanadaWar of the DeadSean CisternaHorror. Special agent investigating deaths of WWII veterans being hunted down by Nazi zombies
2006United StatesSS DoomtrooperDavid FloresAction Sci-Fi. A genetically bred Nazi super soldier fights Allied troops.
2007United StatesReign of the Gargoyles Ayton DavisAction-horror. An American aircrew join forces with British soldiers and local townsfolk to battle living gargoyles and the German army
2008United KingdomOutpostSteve BarkerAction-horror. Mercenaries on Eastern European mission battling mysterious Nazi evil in old Nazi bunker
2008United StatesWarBirds Kevin GendreauAmerican air crew in Pacific Theatre meet pterosaurs
2009NorwayDead SnowDød snøAnders BankeHorror-comedy. SS troops killed in Norway reanimate into zombies terrorizing a modern-day wilderness vacation
2009Russia
Japan
Canada
First SquadPervyy otryad ; Fāsuto sukuwaddo :ja:ファースト・スクワッド|ファースト・スクワッド Yoshiharu AshinoAnime. Set during the Eastern Front, featuring Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities that are opposed by a supernatural army of crusaders
2009United States'C. Thomas HowellSF based on Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. Stranded U-boat crew in time void on island inside Bermuda Triangle; loosely made re-make of similarly titled 1975 film
2009United StatesBlood Creek Joel SchumacherHorror-thriller. Brothers on revenge mission in rural West Virginia where Nazi professor has been waging occult war since 1936

2010s

YearCountryMain title
Original title
DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depicted
2010United States
Canada
Germany
'Uwe BollFantasy-thriller. Dhamphir battling vampire Nazi officer bent on making Hitler immortal
2010Jackboots on WhitehallEdward McHenry, Rory McHenryAnimatronic satire. Alternative history of war where Nazi Germany occupies London
2010United KingdomNanny McPhee and the Big Bang Susanna WhiteComedy fantasy. Operation Pied Piper and governess who uses magic to aid farm family in need of assistance
2010United States
Canada
Germany
'David DeCoteauHorror-SF. Young man dreaming of joining war effort finds dead puppeteer's crate of mysterious puppets before battling Axis agents on homefront
2010United Kingdom'Michael AptedFantasy-adventure based on C. S. Lewis novel. Children travel from wartime England to the magical land of Narnia
2011United States
Canada
Germany
BlubberellaUwe BollAction-Comedy. Dhamphir battling Nazis bent on eliminating Resistance group on Eastern Front; spoof of '
2011United States'Joe JohnstonBased upon the Marvel comic book of Captain America,American soldier transformed into super soldier aids war effort against Hitler's head of advanced weaponry
2011New ZealandThe Devil's RockPaul CampionAction-horror. A New Zealand commando on the Channel Islands discovers a Nazi occult plot to win the war
2011United States
Lithuania
Italy
War of the DeadMarko MäkilaaksoAction-horror. Medical experiments performed on captured Russian soldiers by Gestapo officer who are later encountered by platoon of American and Finnish soldiers, 1939/41
2012Finland
Germany
Australia
Iron SkyTimo VuorensolaNazis attack Earth from Moon base
2012United StatesNazis at the Center of the Earth Joseph J. LawsonA direct-to-video sci-fi film produced by The Asylum
2012United Kingdom'Steve BarkerAction horror. Scientist develops technology to create immortal Nazi zombie army near end of war to prevent rise of 4th Reich; sequel to 2008 film Outpost
2013Netherlands
United States
Czech Republic
Frankenstein's ArmyArmy of FrankensteinRichard RaaphorstAction, Horror, Sci-fi. Russian soldiers find secret Nazi lab in eastern Germany
2013United Kingdom'Outpost 3Kieran ParkerAction horror. Russian soldiers find themselves facing not only zombie soldiers but also the threat of becoming part of the zombie army too; sequel to 2012 film '
2015IndiaDetective Byomkesh Bakshy!Dibakar BanerjeeBased upon the novel Satyanweshi by the Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. The film, set in the war-torn Calcutta of 1940's, follows the first adventure of detective Byomkesh, fresh out of college, as he pits himself against an evil genius who is out to destroy the world.
2017United StatesMichael BayScience fiction; Relevant to the plot of the long history of Transformers, Bumblebee, who now transforms into a Mercedes-Benz 770 instead of a Chevy Camaro, is allied with the Devil's Brigade unit and helps them besiege Nazi territory with his war hammer.
2018United StatesOverlordJulius AveryThriller, Horror; During D-Day, American paratroopers stumble upon a strange Nazi experiment in a French village.

In development

YearCountryMain title
Original title
DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depicted
2014FinlandI Killed Adolf HitlerTimo Vuorensola
201XUnited States' Josef RusnakHorror thriller. American spy in Romania infiltrates SS fighting partisans in Carpathians and encounters vampires
201XUnited StatesBoys From BrazilBrett RatnerThriller based on Ira Levin novel. Neo-Nazi plot to begin Fourth Reich in South America by cloning Hitler; remake/sequel to 1978 film The Boys From Brazil
201XCanada
Germany
Fangs of WarJim DonovanHorror thriller. Nazi Supernatural Division secret lab at Castle Dracula, Transylvania unlocks secrets of Count Dracula's immortality, 1944.
201XUnited StatesPanzer 88Peter BriggsAction thriller. Eastern Front King Tiger tank crewmen battle creature
201XUnited States'To be determinedComedy and live-action/animated. Kidnapping of Jessica Rabbit by Nazi spies; prequel to 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Other films

In Paul Verhoeven's 1997 film Starship Troopers, the troopship is named the Rodger Young, after Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young.

TV series

Dramatized documentary

YearCountryMain title
Original title
DirectorBattles, campaigns, events depicted
2008Russia
United States
Philosophy of a Knife Andrey IskanovHorror. Unit 731 and Japanese human experimentation