Like with the action genre, the ’90s were quite possibly the heyday for the science fiction genre. It was the decade of The Matrix, Men in Black, and Independence Day, all films that made major names for themselves at the worldwide box office and all of which have received at least one sequel. But the sci-fi films that follow are the lesser-known ones, though they are all just as worth your time as the three aforementioned box office smashes. Instead, these are the films that probably slipped under your radar in the moment, but deserve a second chance for their unique stories and performances. That means you shouldn’t expect to see Total Recall, The Fifth Element, Jurassic Park, or Terminator 2: Judgement Day here because, while they are certainly worth watching, you’ve likely already done so.
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With those parameters in mind, let’s see what some of the ’90s underappreciated sci-fi movies are. You might just find a new favorite.
Darkman
Between the first two Evil Dead movies and his Spider-Man trilogy, director Sam Raimi created a comfortable combination of the two with Darkman. The film follows Liam Neeson’s Peyton Westlake, a scientist working on a synthetic skin who is severely burned and left to die by mobster Robert Durant (Larry Drake). Now that everyone, including his girlfriend (Frances McDormand), thinks he’s dead, Westlake crafts and wears skins that make him appear like the attacking vicious gangsters to bring Durant’s enterprise down.
Neeson and McDormand are both terrific in their roles, but at the end of the day this ends up being Larry Drake’s movie. His Durant is a frightening figure and further proof he could inhabit a memorable villain after his work in Tales from the Crypt‘s “And All Through the House.” Furthermore, the film’s central concept of adopting the visages and personalities of a gang to corrode it from the inside is a novel one.
Stream Darkman on AMC+.
Hardware
Richard Stanley’s Hardware stars Dylan McDermott and scene-stealer Stacey Travis as, respectively, a scavenger and an artist living in a post-apocalyptic future. When McDermott’s Mo brings home some parts of a robot, Travis’ Jill assembles them into an art piece. Unfortunately for them, the robot becomes sentient and goes on a killing spree.
Hardware was the movie that got Stanley the director’s gig for The Island of Dr. Moreau (more on that later). But, as fate would have it, that gig was not a long lasting one. It makes sense why he was given the keys to a bigger-budgeted kingdom though, because Hardware has to be the most inventive and effective Terminator-adjacent film out there.
Hardware is currently not available to rent or stream, but can be purchased on Blu-ray.
Predator 2
Predator 2 moves the action from a literal jungle to the concrete jungle of L.A., which is already overrun by warring drug cartels. It’s open season for the just-landed Yautja, but now that Officer Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover, in a great action hero role) is aware of him, his warpath won’t continue uninterrupted.
Like Alien 3, Predator 2 is an underrated entry in its respective saga’s long history. It makes sense why it didn’t generate nearly the same critical or commercial success as the original film, but there’s still much merit to be found in Stephen Hopkins’ film.
Stream Predator 2 on Hulu.
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RoboCop 2
It’s been difficult to follow-up on Paul Verhoeven’s masterful 1987 classic RoboCop, but The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner’s RoboCop 2 is fun, nonetheless, if not half as incisive. The plot follows RoboCop as he continues to run up against Omni Consumer Products, who this time have infused a drug kingpin’s brain into a robotic apparatus.
RoboCop 2 brought back Peter Weller as the title character as well as Nancy Allen and Dan O’Herlihy, which makes it a terrific companion piece to the original film. And, thanks to Tom Noonan’s performance as Cain, it has a solid villain. Time will tell if the announced reboot series can be enjoyable as well or if it will be a dud like RoboCop 3 and 2014’s dull remake.
Stream RoboCop 2 on fuboTV.
Universal Soldier
Before The Expendables 2 had Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren go head-to-head, Roland Emmerich’s Universal Soldier did it. Van Damme plays Luc Deveraux, a former U.S. Army soldier who fell during the Vietnam War. Resurrected via the “Universal Soldier” program, Deveraux is now on a collision course with the also-resurrected Andrew Scott (Lundgren), his murderous superior officer during the war.
All in all, Universal Soldier is one of Emmerich’s better films. With a relatively slim budget it manages to pull of some exciting action sequences. For the most part, though, the appeal is in seeing Van Damme and Lundgren share the screen, and neither disappoints in their respective role.
Stream Universal Soldier on Paramount+.
12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys takes place in the year 2035, a world where human beings have been forced to embrace subterranean life after a man-made virus has eliminated 99% of the species. Bruce Willis stars as prisoner James Cole, who is sent back to the ’90s via time travel to confirm if it was in fact the Army of the Twelve Monkeys revolutionary group who crafted the devastating strain.
Much of Gilliam’s filmography isn’t for everyone, and this includes 12 Monkeys. But, with a lot on its mind and a career-best performance by Pitt (which netted him his first Academy Award nomination), it’s one of the ’90s very best science fiction films.
Rent 12 Monkeys on Amazon Prime Video.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
If there was a ’90s film plagued by behind-the-scenes drama, it was John Frankenheimer’s (and, for about a week, Richard Stanley’s) The Island of Dr. Moreau. The narrative follows David Thewlis’ (Wonder Woman and the Harry Potter franchise) U.N. negotiator Edward Douglas as he and his raft are discovered in the middle of the sea by Montgomery (Val Kilmer, who was just one of the many issues during production). Montgomery is a vet working with the outlandish Dr. Moreau (Marlon Brando, another source of difficulties), who has been merging human DNA with that of animals.
Frequently lambasted as a mess, The Island of Dr. Moreau is actually much better than it has the right to be, given just how difficult it was to make. At the very least it’s a cultural curiosity, and like most cultural curiosity films it’s worth watching at least once. It’s certainly the only movie out there where the late Brando wears a tin jug on his head and has The Craft‘s Fairuza Balk pour water into it. The Island of Dr. Moreau also makes for an ideal first entry on double feature night, with the second entry being the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau.
Watch The Island of Dr. Moreau for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
Mars Attacks!
Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! is a throwback to both the Topps trading card series of the same name and cheesy sci-fi flicks of the 1950s. The plot follows the residents of Earth (including Jack Nicholson as both the U.S. President and a boisterous casino owner) as they find themselves overrun by brainy (in more ways than one) Martians. As it turns out, no one is safe, and until a certain weakness is found it looks as though the human race is done for.
Almost certainly Burton’s most underrated movie, Mars Attacks! is a blast even if it can sometimes suffocate under the weight of its own expansive scope. With such a stacked cast it’s inevitable that some famous faces will be short-changed (as is the case with Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, and Christina Applegate), but for the most part it’s a sci-fi comedy that finds a nice balance between those two genres and has a lot of fun doing so.
Rent Mars Attacks! on Amazon Prime Video.
Event Horizon
The frightening and to this day woefully underseen Event Horizon follows a crew of scientists sent to investigate a spacecraft that has suddenly reappeared after a mysterious seven-year absence. But the craft is far from an average spaceship, it’s a vessel to Hell, and now the scientists are likely going to disappear for much longer than seven years.
Even with many of its most intense scenes removed from the final cut, Event Horizon is a gruesome, memorable sci-fi horror film. Without a doubt it’s the best entry on Paul W. S. Anderson‘s (Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, AVP: Alien vs. Predator) filmography.
Stream Event Horizon with a Paramount+ add-on on Apple TV.
Gattaca
Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca pairs Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman as two members of a futuristic society where procreation is less determined by love and more determined by genetic selection. But Hawke’s Vincent Freeman was conceived outside this program, and because of that he faces genetic discrimination.
Gattaca is a thinker of a sci-fi film and a severely underrated one at that. Hawke, Thurman, Alan Arkin, and Jude Law are all phenomenal in their roles in a film that raises some big questions the ethics of reproductive technology as well as the idea of destiny. Its Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction was well-deserved.
Rent Gattaca on Amazon Prime Video.
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