5 Lesser-Known Science Fiction Hidden Gems Made by Famous Directors
Sometimes it takes time for a movie to be fully appreciated.
For many ambitious directors, working with science fiction is a real challenge.
It is always difficult to predict whether a film will become a classic of world cinema or an outcast that will have to spend a long time waiting to be rediscovered.
1. Repo Man, 1984
British director Alex Cox became famous with the drama Sid and Nancy, a scandalous story about the life of Sid Vicious. But before that, he made a sci-fi comedy.
Repo Man is absurd in its premise: a nuclear physicist drives a mysterious car with an alien corpse in the trunk, and gangs of repo men compete to find the fugitive against the backdrop of depressed Los Angeles.
Today, Cox's film is named an underrated gem of the '80s, and a portrait of a society of uncertainty.
2. THX 1138, 1971
Even before Star Wars, George Lucas tried his hand at science fiction, albeit in a much riskier and more experimental way. In THX 1138, made with money from Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas created a cold dystopian world where people are forbidden to fall in love. Only one rebel, after refusing to take special drugs, starts a relationship with a woman and tries to leave the city.
Lucas's debut seems undeservedly forgotten today, but it is hard to deny its special charm – in sterile settings, anxious sense of control and retro-futuristic design.
3. Strange Days, 1995
Strange Days is mostly known to science fiction fans, as the 1995 movie was not a success. Kathryn Bigelow's cyberpunk film about people trading emotions and memories through illegal technologies was received rather coldly and did not do well at the box office – the film gathered dust on the shelves of half-forgotten science fiction projects of the 90s.
Today, Strange Days is taken much more seriously, and is sometimes compared to Blade Runner: the film depicts a neon city where progress and inequality go hand in hand, and the anticipation of the new millennium reveals new fears for which civilization is not yet ready.
4. The Abyss, 1989
The Abyss – a movie about ocean explorers – was praised for its visual effects, the director's first forays into CGI, its dramatic component and, above all, its spirit of adventure.
The Abyss was obviously lost against the background of other high-budget epics of the director. And even failed at the box office, settling somewhere between Aliens and the second The Terminator.
5. Contact, 1997
Robert Zemeckis' Contact was more popular with scientists than with ordinary viewers. The heart-pounding drama about Jodie Foster's first contact with an alien civilization was based on the theoretical work of astrophysicist Carl Sagan.
Over time, Contact has gained more popularity – the movie has been called the Interstellar of the 90s.