Sci-fi movies have a way of taking us to places we've never imagined, from distant planets with alien life to future worlds where technology rules everything; but there are some incredible films in this genre that didn't get a lot of attention or money when they first came out, yet they're like hidden gems just waiting to blow your mind.
This list is a shout-out to those sci-fi movies that deserve way more love and attention; it's for anyone who's ever wanted to explore the unknown, to see what lies beyond our world or in the depths of human creativity, without having to board a spaceship or invent a time machine.
1. "Aniara" (2018) Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%
A spaceship carrying settlers to Mars is knocked off course, causing passengers and crew to drift endlessly through space, leading to societal collapse onboard as they grapple with their isolation and diminishing hopes of survival.
2. "Beyond the Black Rainbow" (2010) Rotten Tomatoes score: 62%
Held captive in a futuristic institute by a deranged therapist, a young woman with extraordinary abilities embarks on a violent and psychedelic journey to escape, uncovering the institute's dark secrets and her own past in the process.
3. "Tetsuo: the Iron Man" (1989) Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%
After a bizarre accident, a salaryman finds his body grotesquely metamorphosing into a hybrid of flesh and scrap metal, propelling him into a nightmarish, cyberpunk confrontation with a vengeful "metal fetishist" and his own uncontrollable transformations.
4. "Possessor" (2020) Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
An elite assassin uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people's bodies, executing high-profile targets, but when a mission goes awry, she becomes trapped in a host body, leading to a violent identity crisis and struggle for control.
5. "Pandorum" (2009) Rotten Tomatoes score: 30%
Two astronauts awake on a seemingly abandoned spacecraft with no memory of their mission or identities; as they explore the ship, they discover they are not alone and must fight for survival against a horrific evolutionary threat among the remnants of humanity.
6. "Turbo Kid" (2015) Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland of 1997, a teenage comic book fan dons the persona of his favorite hero to save his friend and fight a tyrannical overlord, armed with an ancient turbocharged weapon.
7. "Upgrade" (2018) Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
After a brutal mugging leaves him paralyzed and his wife dead, a technophobe is implanted with an experimental computer chip called STEM that enhances his physical abilities, propelling him on a violent quest for revenge with STEM's AI influencing his actions.
8. "Triangle" (2009) Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
A woman trapped on a mysterious yacht in a Bermuda Triangle-like area experiences a series of looping events and deadly encounters with herself and her friends, leading her to confront the horrifying realities of her situation.
9. "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961) Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
When simultaneous nuclear tests alter Earth's orbit, journalists at a British newspaper race to uncover and expose the truth behind the global disasters and the looming threat of annihilation as the planet hurtles towards the sun.
10. "Stalker" (1979) Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
In a post-apocalyptic world, a guide known as the Stalker takes two clients, a writer and a professor, into a mysterious, restricted Zone rumored to fulfill a person's innermost desires, leading to existential explorations and revelations.
11. "Solaris" (1972) Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting the enigmatic planet Solaris to investigate the crew's mental breakdowns, only to encounter his own deepest regrets and memories manifested by the planet's ocean, challenging his perceptions of reality and humanity.
A rescue mission to a distant planet discovers a scientist and his daughter as the sole survivors of an expedition, who are threatened by an invisible force linked to the planet's extinct civilization and the scientist's experiments.
A scientist experimenting with sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic drugs experiences physical and mental transformations that challenge the boundaries of human consciousness and evolution, leading to profound and terrifying consequences.
14. "Under the Skin" (2013) Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%
An alien entity in the form of a woman roams the streets of Scotland, seducing lonely men into a void from which there is no escape, only to undergo a crisis of identity when she becomes ensnared by human emotion and vulnerability.
15. "The Cell" (2000) Rotten Tomatoes score: 45%
A child psychologist enters the mind of a comatose serial killer in an attempt to locate his latest victim, navigating a surreal and twisted mindscape that blurs the lines between reality and nightmare.
16. "EXistenZ" (1999) Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
In a near-future where reality and virtual games are indistinguishable, a game designer on the run tests her latest virtual reality game with a marketing trainee, plunging them into a surreal and dangerous game world that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality.
On the eve of the millennium in Los Angeles, a former cop turned street hustler deals in black-market virtual reality experiences that allow users to live out other people's lives, becoming entangled in a conspiracy that involves murder, memories, and his own redemption.
In a dystopian future where books are banned and "firemen" burn any they find, one fireman begins to question his role and society's values, leading him to rebel against the system and seek salvation in the preservation of literary culture.
19. "Dark City" (1998) Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%
A man wakes up with no memories in a strange city controlled by beings who manipulate reality to conduct experiments on humans, seeking to discover the human soul, as he tries to uncover his past and the city's dark secret.
20. "Moon" (2009) Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
A lone astronaut working a three-year stint on a lunar base starts to question his sanity and reality after a series of disturbing events, eventually uncovering the truth about his identity and the corporation he works for, challenging the ethics of cloning and corporate exploitation.
