The Six – My List of Underrated Science Fiction Movies
Led by the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, science fiction films have always been a staple for moviegoers. Unfortunately, while there have been many celebrated films, there have been quite a few pretty good films that were underrated on release. Even worse, some of these have been largely forgotten, as new films – chock-full of the most up-to-date special effects and the newest stars – fill the cinemas and queue up for bingeing on the streaming channels. In hoping that you might take a chance on some of these underrated films, here’s a list of six of some of the most underrated science fiction movies.
The Thing (1982). Directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and Keith David. A remake of Howard Hawks’ The Thing From Another World (1951) and based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Once unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creating terror as it becomes one of them. But who?
Dark City (1998). Directed by Alex Proyas, and starring Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly. A man struggles with memories of his past, which includes a wife he cannot remember, and a nightmarish world without a sun, the Dark City, which gets re-shaped into a new metropolis every night.
Equilibrium (2002). Directed by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, and Emily Watson. In a futuristic world, emotion is outlawed and human behavior is controlled by a drug, Prozium, that hinders emotion. Clerics are officials trained in the martial arts gun kata, in charge of finding and eliminating potential threats to the regime. When one Cleric does not take his dose of Prozium, a whole new world is opened up to him and he takes on the establishment that he's supposed to be working for.
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Moon (2009). Directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, and Dominique McElligott. Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Coherence (2013). Directed by James Ward Byrkit, and starring Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, and Nicholas Brendon. Strange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.
Snowpiercer (2013). Directed by Bong Joon Ho and starring Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, and Tilda Swinton, based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob and Jean-March Rochette. In a future where a failed climate-change experiment has killed all life except for the lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, a new class system emerges as Curtis Everett leads a group of passengers from the lower-class rear to the more gentrified front of the train.
These are all amazing films to experience, and I’m sure you can think of a few other underrated films that science fiction aficionados should be aware of. Maybe I haven’t heard of them either, and I should have a watch… Let me know in the comments or in the DSF Reader Group on Facebook and I’ll share them sometime in the future!
He was recognized as a Best American Science Fiction & Fantasynotable author for his work, Hereafter. His book projects have hit the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists, and have hit #1 in the speculative fiction charts on all major ebook platforms – Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBooks, and Kobo.
Samuel's works have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including Lightspeed, Canyons, Beyond the Stars, UnCommon, Existere, OCHO, Seedpod, Undercurrents, and Fictionaut.
He is the creator and series editor of the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, with every title rising, in turn, to the top of the Amazon bestseller lists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountain
Moon is in my Top 10 favorites of all time, and Snowpiercer is fabulous.
I would probably say the most underrated and surprising sci-fi movie I’ve ever watched is Another Earth.
The Thing is excellent. Equilibrium was a huge disappointment and Snowpiercer was just typical Hollywood dime a dozen. Haven’t seen the other three.
I LOVE Dark City and rewatch it every now and again! Rufus Sewell and Kiefer Sutherland were excellent in this movie. It’s one of those movies where the more you watch it, the more you notice… and the more you appreciate the story! I also loved the Thing. I will have to look for the other movies to try.
Hello. I have to agree that The Thing is an awesome sci fi flick. Been waiting for a sequel – Another Thing, More Things, Thing 2… Probably my all time favourite along with Avatar and the Terminator and Alien/Predator series.
Saw the prequel by the same name (2011, a Norwegian director). Better special effects but essentially the same storyline. 6 out of 10.
Another box office flop that I loved is Outlander (2008) starring Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, John Hurt and Ron Perlman. Anything with Ron has to be watched IMHO!
Dark City was ok and have not viewed the others – yet.
Cheers
The author clearly had no idea what the word “underrated” really means. John Carpenter’s The Thing is probably the most overrated science fiction film of all time. Moon received tremendous critical acclaim when it was released and quickly became a cult favorite. Dark City was overlooked by most critics except for Roger Ebert, and is now regarded as one of the best SF films of the nineties.