The sci-fi movie genre has been popular ever since it was first created, with its speculative and thematically engaging stories gripping audiences around the world. With every decade, the sci-fi genre seems to evolve, making use of new visual effects technology while also following the specific trends and tropes that define the era. The ’70s had a lot of movies featuring space travel, and the ’80s had a lot of aliens and sci-fi action. The best sci-fi movies of the 1990s began to branch out into different subgenres, with hacker-inspired cyberpunk stories, imaginative dystopian futures, and psychological sci-fi horror all featuring throughout the decade.
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There always seem to be great sci-fi movies nobody talks about, and the ’90s were no exception. The decade boasts several titles that have been widely forgotten or overlooked, even in spite of their positive qualities. For one reason or another, even great sci-fi movies sometimes fly under the radar and fail to leave the lasting legacy that they deserve in the genre.
5) Fortress (1992)
1992’s Fortress might not be a sci-fi masterpiece, but it has all the makings of a beloved genre classic. Set in a dystopian future, Fortress stars Christopher Lambert as a former captain in the US Army Rangers imprisoned alongside his pregnant wife for breaching a strict one-child policy, and follows his attempts to escape the high-tech maximum-security facility. Alongside Lambert, its cast features Loryn Locklin, Kurtwood Smith, Clifton Collins Jr., and Jeffrey Combs.
Fortress really isn’t groundbreaking sci-fi, but it’s a solid action thriller that leans heavily into its dystopian science fiction premise. It may not be a sci-fi movie that has aged incredibly well, but it does hold up when it isn’t taken too seriously. It’s the sort of guilty pleasure sci-fi movie that deserves a more established place in pop culture, thanks to its imaginative execution of the premise and the very specific sci-fi-action-prison-movie niche it carves for itself.
4) Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
The 1990s saw the release of some incredibly underrated cyberpunk movies, and Johnny Mnemonic is often counted among them. It stars Keanu Reeves as Johnny, and is set in a dystopian future dominated by megacorporations and ravaged by a tech-induced plague. It’s a movie that boasts a considerable cult following, but never really managed to achieve mainstream success thanks to studio meddling and less-than-impressive critical reviews.
Johnny Mnemonic is a brilliant piece of sci-fi history. It perfectly captures the entire vibe of the ’90s hacker cyberpunk culture, imagining a dark future that has come closer to existing than some might have considered possible. Even for all of its various shortcomings, it’s a charming and entertaining sci-fi movie that doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit or attention.
3) Strange Days (1995)
Strange Days has become something of an obscure title, even though its cast is packed with celebrated actors. The 1995 movie looked just slightly ahead of its own time to 1999, predicting a sci-fi future in which a device allowing its user to live the recorded memories and experiences of other people becomes the center of a criminal conspiracy. Combining sci-fi with film noir tropes, Strange Days was directed by Katheryn Bigelow from a script penned by James Cameron.
Strange Days polarized critics upon release, perhaps going some way toward explaining why it remains one of the most overlooked sci-fi movies of the 1990s. Its talented cast, led by Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett, does a great job of bringing the story to life, and the movie also manages to explore heavy themes, including racism, the abuse of power, and voyeurism. For all its narrative weight and power, Strange Days has been largely forgotten and is rarely talked about today.
2) Fire in the Sky (1993)
Fire in the Sky is a movie that some would refuse to consider sci-fi, as it is adapted from the supposedly true story of Travis Walton’s alleged abduction by aliens. Whether it should be considered fiction or not, the movie’s story, which follows Arizona logger Walton who is abducted by an alien spacecraft, divided opinion upon its release. It’s perhaps because of the nature of its source material that it isn’t as talked about as it otherwise deserves.
Putting aside the likelihood of its story being true, Fire in the Sky is a great sci-fi movie. The horrifying nature of Walton’s abduction, and the realism with which it’s presented, is genuinely harrowing, and the dismissive attitudes of doctors and police upon his return to Earth are equally unsettling. It’s a movie that subtextually cuts to the core of how terrifying alien abduction could be, and examines the painful likelihood that no one would ever believe a survivor of such an ordeal. As a sci-fi movie, it deserves to be talked about more, regardless of your personal stance on ufology.
1) Dark City (1998)
1998’s Dark City is one of the 1990s’ best sci-fi movies. Another movie that has since come to be considered a cult classic, Dark City earned considerable critical acclaim upon release, but proved to be a box office bomb. It’s perhaps the most obvious example of a great movie from the ’90s that deserves far greater recognition than it has ever received.
Dark City‘s premise delivers one of the most atmospheric and unsettling movies of the decade, populated by excellent sci-fi movie villains. The creepy but visually striking presentation of the movie is at once eye-catching and unnerving, and Dark City‘s slightly mind-bending premise has since been credited as an inspiration to various sci-fi sensations. Of all the sci-fi movies released in the 1990s, Dark City is the one that most deserves to be talked about more.
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