Mad scientists and mechanical men, space cowboys and time travelers, manmonsters and maneating aliens clearly this is our kind of crowd. We came up with a list. Spielbergs dinosaur flick is still one of the most iconic scifi films. With cuttingedge special effects, it remains a movie and franchise that. The-Best-Sci-Fi-Movies-of-the-1990s-The-Matrix-The-Iron-Giant-Terminator-2-Judgment-Day.jpg' alt='Cult Sci Fi Movies We Are The Strange ' title='Cult Sci Fi Movies We Are The Strange ' />Best Sci Fi Cult Classics That Everyone Should See. There are more than a few bona fide science fiction film classics that everyone has seen, but for the most part, much of the genres best offerings have only been watched by a select few. The vast offerings of sci fi encompass a litany of beloved cult classics. Lets see if we can expand some horizons and run through the greatest of them all, ranked by Rotten Tomatoes critics scores. A note ties were broken by overall audience scores. The Blob 1. 95. 8The Blob Paramount Pictures. Widely remembered as one of the genres early B movies, the original The Blob film depicts teenagers in a small Pennsylvania town who are up against a growing alien substance that landed on Earth in a meteorite. Buy Duel Masters Movie here. Starring a young Steve Mc. Queen in his first leading role, the film is a classic to many a genre fiend. There have been talks of a future remake beyond the unnecessary 1. Starship Troopers 1. Starship Troopers is a triumph of text versus subtext, as Paul Verhoeven uses a rah rah science fiction setup to satirize the fascism inherent in our society and especially, our wars. The story focuses on a graduating group of friends heading off to war, an essential rite of passage in their militaristic society. Polynoid has released an animated video for the fictional Korean Strange Plant Research Institute that visualizes the growth and development process of a fake plant. The surface level story revolves around the soap opera esque shuffling between relationships and a simplistic war against a race of alien bugs. But a closer look reveals a world of disturbing implications, defined by and dependent upon perpetual war sound familiar and xenophobia that is controlled by government approved media releases. Neil Patrick Harris is a highlight and one of the only cast members who seems to be aware of the films subtext as a friend who disappears for much of the film, only to resurface as a Himmler esque evil scientist. Logans Run 1. 97. Hundreds of years in the future, overpopulation is such that no one is allowed to live past their 3. Or, thats the idea of Logans Run, a film about a sandman who puts people to sleep, and his choice to flee the dystopian society he is a vital part of when he is forced to face his own mortality. The film features several scenes that can only be described as hokey, but the underlying messages of sexual freedom and youth oriented culture are intriguing. Overall, the movie manages to be both entertaining and meaningful, making it timeless. Barbarella 1. 96. Whether or not you enjoy Barbarella depends on a few factors. On the surface, its a campy, directionless flick thats primary focus is showing you how sexy the main character is. Even at the time, there were critics who deemed it sexist. But in retrospect, its a time capsule of the mod era. Jane Fondas eponymous space heroine could now almost be considered a parody of how men see women in lead roles. And the effects are cheesy, yes, but a cheesy visual feast at that. The Thing 1. 98. Audiences at the time of The Things release were more interested in cuddly aliens like Steven Spielbergs E. T. than they were in monstrous, shape shifting ones, which explains the critical and commercial failure of John Carpenters The Thing. Thankfully, viewers have rediscovered the film, which stands as one of the greatest horror and science fiction films. An Antarctic outpost of men struggles to identify and destroy an alien that can assume the form and personality of any living thing it consumes. The men, led by a never better Kurt Russell, act competently in facing the threat, making it all the more terrifying when they cant stop it. Theres mounds of existential tension and paranoid distrust to go around in the icy and isolated setting. Carpenter knows how to play off the tension brilliantly, using some of the most tactile and creatively terrifying practical effects in cinema history, courtesy of Rob Bottin. They Live 1. 98. With They Live, director John Carpenter transformed the goofy visuals and themes of beloved 5. Reagan era corporatism for communism. Roddy Pipers grizzled drifter discovers a mysterious pair of sunglasses that allows him to perceive the disturbing messages behind advertisements and the inhuman monsters beneath the fancy suits of the rich and powerful. The film has a campy streak a mile wide and includes one of the most grueling, needlessly lengthy fight sequences of all time, but the humor doesnt distract from the films scathing central message against consumerism. Carpenter deftly uses genre conventions to explicitly critique American society as he saw it, a world wherein a self serving upper class holds all the power and the lower classes are turned into mindless, idle consumers. Science fiction has always allowed subversive statements to reach the masses, and Carpenter uses it to savage the realities of the present world. RIP Roddy Piper. 1. Donnie Darko 2. 00. The young stars of 2. Donnie Darko have gone on to do very well, but many are still remembered for their role in this beloved, yet underperforming, sci fi cult classic. The films eponymous teenager has a premonition that the world will end in less than a month. Over the next few weeks, Donnie learns about time travel, while his family grows concerned about his seemingly delusional behavior. Young people especially found the films theme of finding your place in a dark world to be captivating, along with the strong visuals and remarkable performances featured. Battle Royale 2. This futuristic and dark Japanese film is often referenced when describing the plot of The Hunger Games franchise. Its understandable, as the concept is very similar Teenagers are forced to play a game and fight to the death until only one remains. Due to its graphic nature, Battle Royale was never officially released in the U. S. Despite the controversy it brought, American critics praised the film for its social commentary and gripping narrative. Even its fighting scenes are highly regarded, with acclaimed action director Quentin Tarantino citing it as a great inspiration of his. Robo. Cop 1. 98. Described as a cyberpunk action film, 8. Robo. Cop sees a police officer who is killed in a violent dystopian future. He is then recreated as a robot using the technology of a major corporation that has taken control of the police. Like most of the other films on this list, this thriller is a lot more than meets the eye. The themes of corporations controlling our government and the fear of technology taking over are obvious, but deeper than that are issues that are consistently relevant, including masculine identity, gentrification, and human nature as a whole. Monkeys 1. 99. 5Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis star in 1. Monkeys, a dark, sci fi time travel film that explores the parameters of reality. In the year 2. 03. To travel back to 1. However, he ends up in 1. The film jumps back and forth in time, but coherence is held together by Willis as James Cole. The film was a box office success, and even spawned a TV series on the Syfy network. Moon 2. 00. 9Despite a robot companion and old recordings of his family, Sam Rockwell is the only truly human presence in Duncan Jones existential 2. Its nearly impossible to say anything further about the films plot without spoiling something. Rockwell is brilliant, as always, imbuing a touch of his comedic talents as a truly desperate and lonely man reaching the end of his rope. The production design creates a convincing space station while the cinematography accentuates the soul crushing loneliness of the location. Theres an original story to be told here, and Jones is smart enough to use it to raise some of the most worthwhile questions in sci fi history. What makes us human Do we have any purpose, or must we create our ownMost importantly, why arent there more movies like this Blade Runner 1. Set in 2. 01. 9, Ridley Scotts sci fi action flick Blade Runner suffered from classic cult hit syndrome. Kathryn Bigelows Thrilling Sci Fi that Doesnt Feel As Strange As It Should Cinephilia Beyond. Its been seven years since the esteemed American film director Kathryn Bigelow entered the history books as the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar for her work on The Hurt Locker. Fifteen years prior to this historical success, however, she broke through another barrier, as she became the first woman to win a Saturn Award for Best Director. The film that charmed the American Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films was Strange Days, a science fiction action thriller set in the then near future of Los Angeles, where we follow a former cop, now black market specialist on his odyssey of solving a brutal murder of a prostitute, at the same time trying to win back the love of his life with the help of a couple of reliable friends. Based on James Camerons idea and the screenplay he subsequently developed with Bigelow and experienced screenwriter Jay Cocks Marin Scorseses The Age of Innocence, Strange Days premiered in the autumn of 1. Unable to wrestle with more efficiently marketed pictures like Assassins and How to Make an American Quilt, and a couple of weeks later Get Shorty and Leaving Las Vegas, Bigelows unorthodox, gloomy, violence packed sci fi made six times less than its 4. Century Fox. Despite the fact Strange Days had its vigorous champions back in those days, with Roger Ebert giving it his highest praise and calling it a definite cult film, it took years for it to gain status among film lovers. Today, Strange Days is largely seen as an underappreciated gem of a film, a true nineties classic regarded ahead of its time even by its fiercest disparagers. The story is set in Los Angeles, the year is 1. Among all this disarray we meet Lenny Nero Ralph Fiennes, a former LAPD officer who makes a living out of selling SQUID recordings on the black market. These illegal electronic devices allow the users to experience other peoples memories, reliving someone elses experiences as if they were their own. When hes not watching the tapes he made with his old lover Faith Juliette Lewis, who has since then moved on to become the partner of a successful music mogul, Lenny cruises the city finding new clients, connected as a human being only to his bodyguard and driver Mace Angela Bassett and a private investigator he considers to be his best friend Tom Sizemore. A SQUID recording of the brutal rape and murder of a prostitute puts him in danger and sets the plot in motion, and the rest of the film is a thrilling, captivating and often brutal ride to Lennys ultimate redemption. In the last two days of 1. Lenny has the chance to reach a decision, as circumstances force him to choose between continuing down the road of slow self destruction, suffocating in the images of days long gone, or living his life without the virtual reality goggles he puts on when the imminent reality seems too hard to face. I was fascinated by the dramatic and thematic potentials of the millennium, and the idea of doomsday as a backdrop for the redemption of one individual, stated James Cameron, as he explained how he initially got the idea for writing Strange Days back in 1. Cameron first called it The Magic Man, referring to the protagonists ability to get you any kind of SQUID recordings your heart desired, and back then, the whole idea consisted of no more than five handwritten pages. I never got around to writing it, at least not that decade. It seems the Los Angeles riots of 1. When an African American taxi driver called Rodney King was severely beaten by the police, as witnessed by the public on a videotaped that one of the witnesses made, Los Angeles erupted in a series of riots, lootings and clashes with the police, further empowered by the fact that the four LAPD officers responsible for Kings beating were soon acquitted. Cameron used this incident and incorporated it into Strange Days. The idea was originally his, but the atmosphere, politics and general setting of the film developed through a series of conversations with Bigelow. After Cameron wrote a 9. Jay Cocks to help with the script, the writer with whom Bigelow had previously worked on a script on Joan of Arc. Cameron was allegedly more focused on the romantic aspect of the film, developing the relationships between Lenny, Faith and Mace, while Bigelow was far more interested in the edginess and atmosphere. Strange Days was shot by cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti, who had previously worked on such films as Poltergeist, Commando and Red Heat, with the music of the New Zealand composer Graeme Revell From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City. Cameron, who took on the roles of writer and producer, also did a lot of the editing, but was prevented from getting an editing credit because he joined the editors union only a couple of years later, before making Titanic. The camera work was impressive, especially considering the numerous fascinating point of view sequences. Since Bigelow couldnt find an existing camera system that could help her pull off such shots, an entire year was spent on designing and producing a special, 8 pound, 3. In this way, the camera was able to mimic the human eye as accurately as possible, and Bigelow got the sequences that seemed revolutionary back in those days, when point of view video was reserved for video games such as Doom. This particular feature of Strange Days is especially relevant considering the role of the SQUID system both in the society portrayed in the film and in the broader context of Bigelows desire to make a comment on the very nature of film as an escapist, voyeuristic tool of regular people by putting on the goggles and witnessing other peoples experiences, the users escape their own reality to become immersed in someone elses. Like the brilliant Peeping Tom, Bigelow said upon the films release, Strange Days utilizes the medium to comment on the medium. Ralph Fiennes was given the lead role, even though a lot of other top notch names, such as Andy Garcia, Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, were considered. His work on Schindlers List and The Quiz Show, however, convinced Bigelow he was the only choice for conveying Lennys complexity. Angela Bassett was Camerons choice from the beginning, while Juliette Lewis got her role of the femme fatale partly thanks to her ability to sing. Even though Bigelow had to face some harsh criticism from women who saw Strange Days as an anti women film because of the shocking violence on display, it could be argued Strange Days is a pure feminist picture, as Angela Bassetts Mace is a physically imposing, capable, intelligent yet distinctly feminine character who might be the supporting pillar of Ralph Fiennes lost soul, but in some ways remains the emotional center of the whole film. Strange Days, named after the Doors song, is a dark, gloomy but technically expertly crafted and beautiful film full of humanity. Its distinct atmosphere and unforgettable setting make it one of the most memorable sci fi films weve seen, and Camerons script features well developed characters and a story that somehow ends with an unexpected triumph, as a beam of hope pushes through all the smog of an alternate future that, given the events that unfolded in the last couple of years, just doesnt feel as strange as it should. It should be uncomfortable to watch, said Bigelow. All things this close to home usually are. A monumentally important screenplay. Dear every screenwriterfilmmaker, read James Cameron Jay Cocks screenplay for Strange Days PDF. NOTE For educational and research purposes only. The DVD of the film is available at Amazon and other online retailers. Absolutely our highest recommendation. The following is an excerpt from Film Comment September 1. Gavin Smith, Momentum and Design Kathryn Bigelow Interviewed. How did Strange Days come about Jim Cameron had been thinking of and working on it for about nine years.