Suggest lesser-known good Sci-Fi films

[LTig]

I don't believe anyone has yet listed Ex Machina. There is also High Life by Claire Dennis. The movie The Bad Batch by Lily Amipour which I appreciated much more on a second viewing. There are two additional ones that I must say are difficult movies and I don't recommend them. They are for hard core students of cinema. They are Hard to be a God by Aleksei German, and the Russian movie 4 (2004) by Ilya Khrzhanovsky.

This version by Peter Fleischmann from 1989 is not so hard core:

 

[Honken]

Lots of good suggestions in here, I'll especially echo the recommendations for Solyaris and Stalker, fantastic movies. Edward Artemiev's soundtrack for the latter is in rather heavy rotation in my playlists.

12 Monkeys was already mentioned, it's a good one and if you liked that perhaps you would like La Jetée as well. It's a minimalistic short that I really enjoy myself, and if you don't like it - it won't take up much of your time.

A favorite of mine is Strange Days, it takes place in the far future of 1999 and it explores some neat sci-fi concepts around virtual reality and recording memories. Perhaps it wasn't the first to do so even in 1995 (If nothing else, Wim Wenders was there before with Bis ans Ende der Welt, a movie that I like but is a bit of an acquired taste) nor did it explore this idea the furthest, but I don't think that this hurts Strange Days.

I know you said nothing from the 2000s, but Primer is a good one about time travel. If that one's a bit much, try Timecrimes, another good one around the same concept.

For something newer, I quite liked Arrival. It's a bit hard to talk about without spoiling anything, so I won't - but I highly recommend it. The opening track happens to be a favorite of mine and it fits the tone of the movie very well, Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight.

 

[OldHvyMec]

Mr. Sardonicus, 1961. I think the whole budget was under 10k, lunches included.

Regards

 

[mmi]

Kin-Daz-Dza is great as mentioned earlier. I found it maybe 15 years ago searching for highest rated sci fi films on IMDB.

The recent Cronenberg Crimes of the Future was fun (if you like body horror) and flew under the radar.

 

[JSmith]

Absolute classic, original 1951;

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) ⭐ 7.7 | Drama, Sci-Fi

1h 32m | G

www.imdb.com

JSmith

 

[Somafunk]

Nothing new to add but three films previously mentioned in the thread that I consider to be excellent are,

Moon, Sam Rockwell holds the entire film on his own

Under The Skin, filmed in my fav city and excellent soundtrack by Mica Levi

Primer, Low budget but all the better for it.

Edit : Thought of one, Metropolis by Fritz Lang, 1927 so definitely fits as a classic

 

[VMAT4]

Some scenes are real howlers by today's standards. But, I enjoyed it non-the-less.

 

[OldHvyMec]

Nothing new to add but three films

Party Pooper!

 

[VMAT4]

Some scenes are real howlers by today's standards. But, I enjoyed it non-the-less.

This was also enjoyable,

 

[sam_adams]

Mostly from the 1950's and 1960's:

Kronos

H Man

Caltiki

Angry Red Planet

The Thing From Another World - Howard Hawkes version

Destination Moon

Rocketship X-M

War of the Worlds - Original Version

It Came From Outer Space

Them

This Island Earth

When Worlds Collide

Earth Versus the Flying Saucers

20 Million Miles to Earth

The Fly - Original Version

Invaders From Mars - Original Version

The Blob - Steve McQueen version

From the Earth to the Moon

The Crawling Eye aka The Trollenberg Terror

On the Beach

Journey to the Center of the Earth

The Incredible Shrinking Man

The Time Machine

Voyage to the Bottom Of the Sea

Day of the Triffids

First Men in the Moon

Five Million Years to Earth aka Quatermass and the Pit

The Illustrated Man

Fantastic Voyage

Crack in the World

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Panic in the Year Zero

Creation of the Humanoids

 

[suttondesign]

Edit: Just changed the title a little to focus on less well known films. It doesn't have to be something nobody has heard of, but presume I have seen all the big/well known films (Terminator, Total Recall, Planet of The Apes, Aliens, Matrix...you get the drift). Thanks

Any suggestions as to good (better still, excellent) Sci-Fi films, preferably pre-2000s. I admit to being rather less than impressed with the genre when it is on film, compared to book form. No need to suggest any of the very obvious stuff, i.e Bladerunner (which I found dull tbh) and The Fifth Element (a good film, but not very Sci-Fi imo).

I would usually say the weirder the better, but there are definitely limits. I did give the original Russian Solaris a try. At first I thought it was excellent, but I was waiting for something to happen, something that tied it all together, but I just ended up baffled and bored, so turned off before the end.

pitch black

 

[Honken]

This was also enjoyable,

I stumbled across this one many years ago and it seemed like it'd be right up my alley, but I found it to be a slog. Perhaps I should try it again, thanks for the reminder!

 

[earlevel]

Any suggestions as to good (better still, excellent) Sci-Fi films, preferably pre-2000s...

I love me some sci-fi, as a 12-year old kid I scraped up change and walked to the theater many a time (eight, IIRC) to see 2001.

I'm sure I have a bunch, but digging deep for one no one has mentioned:

Soldier, 1998 with Kurt Russell. He doesn't say a word until well into the movie, then says few.

Now, the title is underwhelming, I had no thought to seek it out until I happened on an interview with David Webb Peoples on AM radio, where the discussion intrigued me. You might know he was a co-writer of the Blade Runner screenplay, and he wrote Soldier on his own. A number of Blade Runner easter eggs (if you're paying attention, you'll notice the solider fought in the Battle of Tannhauser Gate). Yet another Gary Busey movie where he, uh, might die. Jason Scott Lee (says even less). You might recognize Sean Pertwee from Equilibrium (and Event Horizon). Severely under-appreciated.

People mentioned Dark City—one of my all-times. What greatly enhances it is the analysis by Roger Ebert, which was included with the DVD—Ebert had done it independently for a class on filmmaking. Also, the director's cut—although the original is brilliant, there were some concessions to the studio that Alex Proyas at least partially addresses.

OMG, I see why Soldier bombed. This is one of the worst sci-fi trailers I've ever seen Do yourself a favor and just watch the movie without clicking one this link—it will give you the completely wrong impression—unless you have a good sense of humor and just want to see how not to promote a sci-fi movie:

 

[rgpit]

Robinson Crusoe On Mars

 

[rgpit]

Enemy Mine

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

Robert A Heinlein.
Job
Thought provoking and funny.

 

[earlevel]

Digging for some more pre-2000, unmentioned so far:

Gattaca (1997)—Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Alan Arkin, what's not to like
Repo Man (1984)—yes, it's categorized as sci-fi, what else would it be
eXistenZ (1999)—Cronenberg weirdness sci-fi, and more Jude Law

Already mentioned movies: Galaxy Quest is perhaps the pinnacle of comedy sci-fi, no one should not see Galaxy Quest. Carpenter's The Thing—omg. When I saw Guillermo Del Toro single this movie out among the great horror (/sci-fi) flicks with such enthusiasm, I knew I had to watch more Del Toro (more fantasy and horror than sci-fi, but Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Cronos, and The Devil's Backbone are certainly worthy of mention). Silent Running—ah. Pitch Black, They Live...there's a lot of sci-fi in Darkman (only the original), I think it qualifies, even though it's usually tagged action, thriller, or other.

 

[LTig]

Simulacron-3 (1973) comes to my mind - the mother of Matrix. Based on the novel by Daniel F. Galouye. German name is Welt am Draht. A later version is The 13th floor (1999). I liked them both.

 

[Plan9]

A walk on the mild side....The Man Who Fell To Earth...Bowie...

 

[LTig]

@Plan9 from outer space?