The 1990s had a series of incredible sci-fi movies that remain masterpieces and classics, but there are also some great, underrated sci-fi movies that many people might have missed out on. When looking back on the 90s, it is easy to find the sci-fi masterpieces, from Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Matrix to Stargate and Men in Black. There are also several popular cult classics from the decade, including The Faculty and 12 Monkeys. However, sci-fi is a big genre, and as something that tends to attract a more niche audience, there were several movies that sci-fi fans from the 90s loved, but fans today might have never heard of.
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From a sci-fi movie starring a rock and roll legend to films about aliens, the end of days, and superpowers, here are underrated ’90s sci-fi movies that people need to check out.
7) Freejack (1992)
Released in 1992, Freejack is a sci-fi movie that deserves to be seen thanks to its eclectic cast. In the high-tech future year of 2009, the super-wealthy have become immortal by hitting “bonejackers” using time travel devices to steal people from the past right before they are supposed to die to use as substitute bodies, since the regular people suffer from poor health in a dystopian world. Anyone who escapes when taken to the future is called a “freejack” and is considered to have no rights.
Emilio Estevez stars as Alex, a Formula One racer who was about to die in a massive car crash, but when he gets to the future, he escapes. Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger is Victor Vacendak, the bonejacker tasked with bringing him in for his wealthy boss. The cast is impressive, with Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins, and Amanda Plummer, and while the film received poor reviews, Freejack remains a fun watch for sci-fi fans.
6) Tank Girl (1995)
Tank Girl is a cult classic, but it isn’t a movie that people talk about as much as its contemporaries like The Crow. Based on the comic book by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, Lori Petty stars as the anti-hero, known as Tank Girl. The film also starred Naomi Watts as Jet Girl, Ice-T as the Ripper T-Saint, and Malcolm McDowell as the industrialist villain.
The movie takes place in the future, where the year 2033 has seen a drought for a decade since a comet crashed into the Earth. When the main water company kidnaps and enslaves people to work for them, they end up with Tank Girl in their grasp, and she battles to bring them down. The film has since become a cult classic and is known for its strong feminist themes.
5) Strange Days (1995)
Strange Days is an interesting 90s sci-fi movie because of the talent behind it. James Cameron wrote the script and Kathryn Bigelow directed the movie. The film was set over the last two days of 1999 in a Los Angeles that had fallen into a dangerous spot thanks to police brutality and violence, and people rising up against corruption. However, it also took a sci-fi slant with a black marketeer of a device that allows people to experience recorded memories and sensations of other people.
The movie was a massive failure at the box office, which is a disappointment because it was a fantastic sci-fi movie with a thoughtful and clever storyline. It has become a cult classic, for good reason, and at least genre ceremonies like the Saturn Awards saw its brilliance, with Angela Bassett winning Best Actress and Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to win Best Director there.
4) Screamers (1995)
Screamers is a 90s sci-fi movie based on a book by Philip K. Dick. While not quite up to the level of movies like Total Recall and Minority Report, Screamers remains a fascinating film full of Dick’s conspiracy-laced ideas. Based on the short story, Second Variety, this is set in a world where the Soviet Union has gone to war with the United Nations, and this has destroyed most of life on Earth.
Dan O’Bannon (Total Recall) wrote the script and moved the Dick story off Earth and onto another planet in the distant future, where warring factions between mining companies threaten its survival. The Screamers from the title are the robots that threaten a mass extinction-level event. The film stars Peter Weller (RoboCop) and shares Blade Runner’s themes on what it means to be human.
3) The City of Lost Children (1995)
The City of Lost Children is the true definition of a forgotten cult classic in the sci-fi genre. Co-directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, Alien Resurrection), this is a co-production between studios in France, Germany, and Spain. The film follows beings created by a vanished scientist who live together on an abandoned oil rig. They include a brilliant, malicious creature called Krank, six childish clones, a dwarf named Martha, and a brain in a vat.
As expected, this is a surreal and bizarre sci-fi movie from the 90s, but one that is overflowing with ideas. There is even a recognizable face for American movie fans as Ron Perlman stars as One, a carnival strongman. The film is one of the most disturbing and confusing sci-fi films of the decade, but it has a lot of ideas under the hood that will leave all viewers talking about what it all means in the end.
2) Dark City (1998)
Dark City is an amazing sci-fi movie from the 1980s by director Alex Proyas, who also directed the brilliant first Crow movie. The film is a neo-noir sci-fi movie that has an amnesiac man named John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wake up in a hotel bathtub, and he finds out that a group of men are trying to capture him. This leads him to discover a world “behing the curtains” that most people don’t know exists.
The film is shot in a noir style, almost like German Expressionist filmmaking, with shadows, weird angles, and an off-kilter feel that keeps the viewers as confused as the main character. Kiefer Sutherland has a role as a doctor trying to help the hero, and familiar faces like William Hurt and Jennifer Connelly are also part of the cast. The movie received mixed to positive reviews, and more people need to be talking about this almost forgotten 90s sci-fi movie.
1) Event Horizon (1997)
Paul W.S. Anderson has built a reputation on making video game adaptations that are often dismissed by fans as mostly empty, overblown action extravaganzas. However, his career started with two incredible movies that have almost become buried thanks to his later output. These films were the video game adaptation Mortal Kombat and the sci-fi horror movie Event Horizon.
The movie showed Anderson at his best, delivering some horrific scenes that were very scary. Of all the sci-fi horror movies of the 1990s, Event Horizon stands above almost every other film in the decade. It has become a cult classic, and in a career that saw Anderson almost ridiculed nonstop for his later video game adaptations, it was a sign of what could have been.
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Image courtesy of Monolith Productions, Nightdive Studios, Warner Bros. Games, and Atari
