• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Suggest lesser-known good Sci-Fi films

Berwhale

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 29, 2019
Messages
3,933
Likes
4,922
Location
UK
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.

+1 for Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until the End of the World). It's quite a long film for it's day and almost feels like two films one after the other.
 

Timcognito

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
3,349
Likes
12,542
Location
NorCal
My son put me on to this one and it's pretty new. If you like flying saucers and horses the movie NOPE currently on Prime was good for some trills. Starts off slow but stick with it for some down to earth SciFi. Not for little kids.
220px-Nope_%28film%29_poster.jpg
 

Timcognito

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
3,349
Likes
12,542
Location
NorCal
Some prehistoric History-Science-Fiction here. Starts off with a gruesome scene but levels off quickly on the theme in the title, a real epic journey. Again, not for kids.
220px-Quest_for_Fire_%28movie_poster%29.jpg
 

kemmler3D

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 25, 2022
Messages
3,008
Likes
5,601
Location
San Francisco
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 :p
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.
Big +1 for eXistenZ unless you really can't abide the standard Cronenberg gross-out.

Galaxy Quest is gold as well.
 

kemmler3D

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 25, 2022
Messages
3,008
Likes
5,601
Location
San Francisco
It's not super obscure but if you like Anime, BLAME is a pretty solid far-future-dystopia movie. Along the lines of Terminator but possibly even more bleak.
 

Mal

Active Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2022
Messages
157
Likes
61
The Man in the White Suit
Quatermass and the Pit
Daleks' Invasion Earth
War of the Worlds (Harryhausen...)
The Time Machine (George Pal...)
The Invisible Man (James Whale...)
A Clockwork Orange
The Day the Earth Stool Still
Village of the Damned (1960 film of Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos)
The Day of the Triffids
Silent Running
Wall-e
20 000 Leagues Under the Sea
Crash, High-Rise (Ballard...)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
Under the Skin
Forbidden Planet
Invasion of the body snatchers
Things to come
Fahrenheit 451
Metropolis
Htchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Sleeper (Woody Allen...)
The Sleeper Awakes
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Lost Horizon
Never Let Me Go
Barbarella
The Man Who Fell to Earth (Bowie...)
Eraserhead

 

Ata

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
May 6, 2021
Messages
388
Likes
333
Location
Adelaide, Australia
The Thirteenth Floor (1999).
 
Top Bottom