Suggest lesser-known good Sci-Fi films

[Lambda]

Repoman

 

[Chr1]

Repoman... punk sci-fi.

Great subgenre!

 

[Chr1]

Fantastic Planet (1973)

 

[Chr1]

Another one from France. The first sci-fi film ever made...

A Trip To the Moon (1902)

Both low-fi but definitely worth a watch. Super surreal/trippy...

 

[Sal1950]

1984's The Toxic Avenger ?

 

[Chr1]

1984's The Toxic Avenger ?

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzViNmQ5MTYtMmI4Yy00N2Y2LTg4NWUtYWU3MThkMTVjNjk3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg

https://www.slashfilm.com/img/gallery/the-toxic-avenger-remake-will-include-a-butt-guts-scene-is-giving-the-fans-what-they-want-exclusive/l-intro-1679676304.jpg

Yes... Very good indeed!

On a similar vein, and another Troma production... one of my personal favourites : POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD

(Slightly off topic as it is more sci-fi/horror... Are poltergeists, zombies sci-fi? Hmm)

 

[Chr1]

Again, slightly off topic as more science-fact than science-fiction, but extremely good.

For All Mankind (1989)

Awesome hi-res NASA footage. As always, if possible, watch on a large screen in surround sound. Great original soundtrack by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.

PS Havent seen the modern series by the same name, but very doubtful that it is anything like as good as this classic documentary!

 

[Svend P]

Also this if you like your sci-fi to be a litte crazy and over the top. The best part is there is no fake CGI in it (but some dodgy stop-motion though)

Nemesis (1992) ⭐ 5.4 | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

1h 35m | R

www.imdb.com

 

[olieb]

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

These are to the action sci-fi type.
Then there are more philosophical themed ones

Dark Star (film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mirror (film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

or some classics
Forbidden Planet
Logan's Run
Soylent Green
or Godard's take on the genre: Alphaville
or Truffaut's: Fahrenheit 451

Then there are those future films that time has already left behind.

Woman in the Moon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Until the End of the World - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and many more.

 

[Triliza]

Another one from France. The first sci-fi film ever made...

A Trip To the Moon (1902)

Both low-fi but definitely worth a watch. Super surreal/trippy...

Very creative and lively film. It was restored at some point in color, with music from the band 'Air'.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

The Navigator, a 1988 time travel story about a group of people who travel from plague ridden England in the 1300s to contemporary New Zealand. It played art houses when it came to the US although it has more general appeal. Very well done. It's one of the few science fiction movies I've ever seen that wasn't an action story with space ships.

 

[Chr1]

Very creative and lively film. It was restored at some point in color, with music from the band 'Air'.

Yes, and it works very well, when you think it may not. Vintage film updated with a modern soundtrack.
Link

 

[Short38]

Repo Man

 

[bluefuzz]

the weirder the better

Well you don't get anything weirder or better than Andrzej Zulawski's On the Silver Globe (1977/1988)

Here's a few more from my library. I can't say I've seen all of them and some of those I've seen are dreadful but others are great. But that's the fun of it ... ;-)

Bertrand Tavernier - Death Watch (1980)
Enki Bilal - Tykho Moon (1996)
Ken Russell - Altered States (1980)
Rob Van Eyck - The Afterman (1985)
Jane Arden - Anti-Clock (1980)
Valie Export - Invisible Adversaries (1977)
Piotr Szulkin - Ga-ga: Glory to the Heroes (1986)
Peter Hyams - Capricorn One (1977)
Piotr Szulkin - The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981)
Piotr Szulkin - Golem (1980))
Roberto Faenza - H2S (1969)
Sutton Roley - Chosen Survivors (1974)
Yves Boisset - The Prize of Peril (1983)
Elegio Herrero - Human Animals (1983)
Anton Leader - Children of the Damned (1964)
Stuart Gordon - Re-Animator (1985)
Konstantin Lopushansky - Dead Man's Letters (2014)
Risto Jarva - A Time of Roses (1969)
David Cronenberg - Rabid (1977)
Steve Barron - Electric Dreams (1987)
Peter Fleischmann - Die Hamburger Krankheit (1979)
Charles Matton - Spermula (1976)
Piotr Szulkin - O-Bi, O-Ba - The End of Civilization (1985)
Norman J. Warren - Inseminoid (1981)
Jeannot Szwarc - Bug (1975)
Don Taylor - The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
David Cronenberg - Shivers (1975)
Jan Schmidt - Late August at the Hotel Ozone (1967)
Luc Besson - The Last Battle (1983)
George Lucas - THX 1138 (1971)
Michael Campus - Z.P.G. (1972)
Norman Jewison - Rollerball (1975)

 

[Ricardus]

Rollerball is one of my favs of all time.

 

[Multicore]

I would usually say the weirder the better, but there are definitely limits.

Have you seen World on a Wire? It's weird, full of surprises, sexy, fun, enthralling and sometimes inexplicable. It's also a good mystery thriller with a well developed and paced drama.

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.

I am perplexed by how movie buffs typically praise that film. Sometimes I wonder if movie buffdom is a kind of fashion industry.

I don't recall reading Solaris but I just read His Master's Voice, which is very good. How does a Lem story end up so empty as a film?

 

[Multicore]

The Black Hole deserves a mention. It's not a great movie but it is very weird in a particular way, viz., if a big budget movie is half done when the producers start arguing if it should be on the 2001 bandwagon or the Disney gravy train and then they decide for both. In this clip the evil Bond villain (notice the John Barry music? also very Bond) in space goes to hell with his giant evil robot cum machine tool and then his soul goes to heaven. Very confusing.

 

[Multicore]

Repoman... punk sci-fi.

Great subgenre!

Repoman is fab. What are the other examples of the genre?

 

[Anton D]

How far back from pre-2000?

Metropolis
On The Beach
Forbidden Planet
Failsafe
The Day Earth Stood Still
2001 Space Odissey
Soylent Green
Stalker
Silent Running
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (all versions)
Planet of the Apes (the original)
Village of the Damned (the original)

Fabulous list!

 

[Count Arthur]

The Black Hole deserves a mention. It's not a great movie but it is very weird in a particular way, viz., if a big budget movie is half done when the producers start arguing if it should be on the 2001 bandwagon or the Disney gravy train and then they decide for both. In this clip the evil Bond villain (notice the John Barry music? also very Bond) in space goes to hell with his giant evil robot cum machine tool and then his soul goes to heaven. Very confusing.

I remember that being uncharacteristically dark for a Disney movie - I guess the clue's in the name.