Top Ten Sci Fi Films

According to
This is in chronological order. Also I know that there are films that deserve to be on this list that aren’t. In some ways this is more of a “favorite” list than a “best movie” list.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) – The first sci-fi movie I remember watching. While I haven’t watched it in years I would have been remiss not to include it.
Them (1954) – This is my all time favorite giant irradiated monster movie. I rank it higher than Godzilla mainly because this was actually scary to me and that ant noise still creeps me out.
Planet of the Apes (1968) – I love this movie (the whole series really) in an unholy way. I got the boxed set which included a behind the scenes doc on making all of the monkey movies and that just deepened my respect.
Alien (1979) – Sci-fi and scary just go together so well, don’t they? I remember seeing this as a kid and still have the emotional scars to prove it. I couldn’t really make a successful argument as to which is better, this or its sequel, but I really wanted another 70′s movie so this won.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) – I think this is the best of the Max movies to paint the picture of just how far the world has moved on. That plus the boomerang kid sold this completely as being numero uno.
Blade Runner (1982) – Several movies have tried to capture the truly odd worlds of Phillip K. Dick and I think that this is the only one that has really succeeded so far. That plus the really noir feel that it has and the fact that it starred Harrison when he still had something going on made this an obvious choice for me.
Ghostbusters (1984) – Okay so I had to include one movie that was intentionally funny. I love Bill Murray and all the gang and I think this is a strong choice.
Brazil (1985) – I saw this thing on video store shelves for years and always said no. Then a good friend gave me a copy and I watched it and… well I’m glad I did. Gilliam likes to do things that not only push the boundaries but kick them in their teeth (do boundaries have teeth?). If you haven’t seen this, then you must rectify that immediately.
The Fly (1986) – I almost gave this slot to the original. I was like this close. You can’t see how far apart I’m holding my fingers but it’s really close. Making it hard to type really. Anyway, then I remembered that this movie is just better. Sometimes a remake is not a bad thing.
The Iron Giant (1999) – I had to include an animated flick and this one always brings me closest to tears of any other movie. It captures the essence of fifties sci-fi and distills it into something pure and magical. And Vin rawks.
Probably should be on here:
John Carpenter’s The Thing – I have just never been able to get into this and I realize that that’s a character flaw on my part.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Long. Boring. Pretentious. Or I’m an idiot.
The Incredible Shrinking Man – I know that this is a good movie, but couldn’t justify including it on rep alone and it had been too, too long since I’ve seen it uninterrupted. If I even have.
Metropolis – Silent movie. Never seen it.
Forbidden Planet – This was another one that fought for a spot. It was tussling with The Day. I think I made the right choice.
Dr. Strangelove – I don’t really see this as sci-fi per se, but I love it and it was on a lot of other lists. So I stuck it here.
Gattaca – I actually really quite like this and I think that it has potential to be a classic on day. Just not yet.

  • Rock

    Here is my list of favorites Sci-Fi films loosely ranked. (not counting horror and giant monster movies)
    Star Trek II – Wrath of Khan (1982)
    The best Star Trek ever
    Planet of the Apes (1968)
    Ranked high for the social commentary alone and also a great adventure story
    2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
    Simply incredible filmaking. HAL is a great villain
    Forbidden Planet (1956)
    Precursor to lots of Sci Fi.
    The Matrix (1999)
    Only the original, not sequels.
    Blade Runner (1982)
    Androids
    Jurassic Park (1993)
    Dino DNA!
    Terminator 2 (1991)
    I’ll be back
    Star Wars Revenge of the Sith (2005)
    I may have just lost all credibility
    The War of the Worlds (1953)
    Awesome!
    The Last Man on Earth (1964)
    Close to the horror genre
    Phase IV (1974)
    Ants!
    Stepford Wives (1975)
    The original
    The Land that Time Forgot (1975)
    Dinosaurs again!
    Vanilla Sky (2001)
    Weird twist to this one

  • http://www.spiritualtramp.com Scott

    Some good picks there. You lost some cred with the Sith pick but it is teh best of a bad lot. Teh rest of your choices more than balance out the bad though. I came close to picking Khan, Last Man, and JP, as they’re all close to my heart.

  • Patrick

    Blade Runner
    -By far better than most films. This is, of course in my Top 10 of all movies.
    The Fifth Element
    -A great, fun movie that I can watch over and over.
    Star Wars: A New Hope
    -Yeah yeah.
    Solaris
    -Great film-making and a bit of the creep factor.
    The Abyss
    -Classic Cameron
    The Matrix (Number 1 and the first half of Reloaded)
    -Just like everyone else.
    Minority Report
    -This one would get me chided in certain company, but this is the closest thing I can see to a possibly real future vision. This is the closest thing to a Shadowrun movie I can think of, apart from Johnny Mnemonic.
    12 Monkeys
    -I love this movie. Also another I could see as a very real future of the planet
    2001: A Space Odyssey
    -Classic, through and through.
    Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (paired with Search for Spock)
    -These two movies together make one helluva great Star Trek movie.
    And for a bonus…
    Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    -See my reasons for Solaris

  • Patrick

    Those are in no particular order, btw.

  • Rock

    Good overall list Patrick.
    Let’s do one for horror movies. You start us off Scott.

  • http://www.spiritualtramp.com Scott

    Excellent picks Pat. Some a bit to modern for what I would put forth in a best of genre, otoh the last fifteen years has put out some darn fine sci-fi. I love Minority Report to be sure and for the very reasons you state.
    I’ll do a horror oen later today time permitting.

  • Patrick

    They’re pretty modern because I haven’t really gotten that much into the older sci-fi films. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never seen The Day the Earth Stood Still or the original War of the Worlds movie (plus too many others).

  • http://www.spiritualtramp.com Scott

    Those are both good places to start.

  • http://order-sixty-six.blogspot.com Charlie

    1. BLADE RUNNER
    2. THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
    3. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
    4. SOLARIS
    5. PLANET OF THE APES
    6. AI. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIENCE
    7. GOJIRA
    8. STAR TREK – THE MOTION PICTURE
    9. ROBOCOP
    10. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
    Some may be surprised at the lack of Star Wars, but I just don’t consider it SF.

  • http://www.spiritualtramp.com Scott

    Yeah SW is defintely fantasy. You might have been the one to soundly convince me of that. Thus no SW in my list either. AI and Robocop are both solid choices. Solaris is on my to watch list which sadly gets longer rather than shorter.

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