Films of 1993: From Best to Worst
by spencergrande6 | created - 05 Nov 2011 | updated - 13 Dec 2016 | PublicOriginal theatrical release.
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1. Dazed and Confused (1993)
R | 103 min | Comedy
The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 199,404 | Gross: $7.99M
2. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,066,771 | Gross: $402.45M
3. Army of Darkness (1992)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie
Votes: 194,313 | Gross: $11.50M
4. The Sandlot (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
In the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures.
Director: David Mickey Evans | Stars: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Art LaFleur, Patrick Renna
Votes: 102,349 | Gross: $32.42M
5. True Romance (1993)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
In Detroit, a pop-culture nerd steals cocaine from his new wife's pimp and tries to sell it in Hollywood, prompting the mobsters who own the drugs to pursue the couple.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer
Votes: 242,433 | Gross: $12.28M
6. Groundhog Day (1993)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 684,905 | Gross: $70.91M
7. Sonatine (1993)
R | 94 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Several yakuza from Tokyo are sent to Okinawa to help end a gang war. The war then escalates and the Tokyo drifters decide to lay low at the beach.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura
Votes: 23,276
8. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
PG-13 | 118 min | Drama
A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 254,019 | Gross: $9.17M
9. The Dark Half (1993)
R | 122 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A writer's fictional alter ego wants to take over his life...at any price.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Timothy Hutton, Amy Madigan, Michael Rooker, Julie Harris
Votes: 19,327 | Gross: $9.58M
10. Crime Story (1993)
R | 103 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A Special Agent is assigned to protect a wealthy business magnate. However, when the businessman is kidnapped in a daring ambush, he teams up with a seasoned detective to crack the case. But soon he discovers the case isn't that simple.
Directors: Kirk Wong, Jackie Chan | Stars: Jackie Chan, Kent Cheng, Christine Ng, Kar-Ying Law
Votes: 7,438 | Gross: $0.19M
11. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
PG | 104 min | Comedy, Mystery
A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Jerry Adler, Lynn Cohen
Votes: 46,807 | Gross: $11.29M
12. Fortress (1992)
R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a future, private underground prison/Fortress, the inmates are computer controlled with CCTV, dream readers and devices that can cause pain or death. John and his illegally pregnant wife are inside but want to escape before birth.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Christopher Lambert, Loryn Locklin, Kurtwood Smith, Clifton Collins Jr.
Votes: 30,462 | Gross: $6.74M
13. The Fugitive (1993)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt led by a seasoned U.S. Marshal.
Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Julianne Moore
Votes: 318,571 | Gross: $183.88M
14. Fearless (1993)
R | 122 min | Drama, Thriller
A man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rossellini, Rosie Perez, Tom Hulce
Votes: 24,552 | Gross: $7.00M
15. Trauma (1993)
R | 106 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young man tries to help a teenage girl find the serial killer who murdered her parents before the killer comes after them.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Christopher Rydell, Asia Argento, Piper Laurie, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 8,061
16. Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
R | 97 min | Horror
Having recently witnessed the horrific results of a top secret project to bring the dead back to life, a distraught youth performs the operation on his girlfriend after she's killed in a motorcycle accident.
Director: Brian Yuzna | Stars: J. Trevor Edmond, Melinda Clarke, Kent McCord, James T. Callahan
Votes: 16,730 | Gross: $0.05M
17. Cronos (1992)
R | 94 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A mysterious device designed to provide its owner with eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel
Votes: 33,120 | Gross: $0.62M
18. King of the Hill (1993)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, History
A young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Jesse Bradford, Jeroen Krabbé, Lisa Eichhorn, Karen Allen
Votes: 8,822 | Gross: $1.30M
19. El Mariachi (1992)
R | 81 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gómez, Jaime de Hoyos, Peter Marquardt
Votes: 71,278 | Gross: $2.04M
20. Leprechaun (1992)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
An evil, sadistic Leprechaun goes on a killing rampage in search of his beloved pot of gold.
Director: Mark Jones | Stars: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt, Mark Holton
Votes: 30,487 | Gross: $8.56M
21. Body Snatchers (1993)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A teenage girl and her father discover alien clones are replacing humans on a remote U.S. military base in Alabama.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Terry Kinney, Reilly Murphy
Votes: 21,250 | Gross: $0.43M
22. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen
Votes: 42,403 | Gross: $7.27M
23. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
PG | 76 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Batman is wrongly implicated in a series of murders of mob bosses actually committed by a new vigilante assassin.
Directors: Kevin Altieri, Boyd Kirkland, Frank Paur, Dan Riba, Eric Radomski, Bruce Timm | Stars: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach
Votes: 56,837 | Gross: $5.62M
24. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
G | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A fun-loving American bulldog pup, a hilarious Himalayan cat, and a wise old golden retriever embark on a long trek through the rugged wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains in a quest to reach home and their beloved owners.
Director: Duwayne Dunham | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, Don Ameche, Don Alder
Votes: 51,170 | Gross: $41.83M
25. Fire in the Sky (1993)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy
An Arizona logger mysteriously disappears for five days in an alleged encounter with a flying saucer in 1975. His co-workers endure ridicule and contempt as they are wrongly accused of murder.
Director: Robert Lieberman | Stars: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer, Peter Berg
Votes: 28,416 | Gross: $20.10M
26. Body Bags (1993 TV Movie)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Three short stories in the horror genre: the first about a serial killer, the second about a hair transplant gone wrong, and the third about a baseball player.
Directors: John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Larry Sulkis | Stars: John Carpenter, Tom Arnold, Tobe Hooper, Robert Carradine
Votes: 12,604
27. Ticks (1993)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of troubled teenagers are led by social workers on a California wilderness retreat, not knowing that the woods they are camping in have become infested by mutated, blood-sucking ticks.
Director: Tony Randel | Stars: Rosalind Allen, Ami Dolenz, Seth Green, Virginya Keehne
Votes: 5,731
28. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
PG-13 | 125 min | Comedy, Drama
After a bitter divorce, an actor disguises himself as a female housekeeper to spend time with his children held in custody by his former wife.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein
Votes: 290,849 | Gross: $219.20M
29. Jason Goes to Hell (1993)
R | 87 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Serial killer Jason Voorhees' supernatural origins are revealed.
Director: Adam Marcus | Stars: John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Kane Hodder, Steven Williams
Votes: 36,798 | Gross: $15.94M
30. Cool Runnings (1993)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican Bobsled Team.
Director: Jon Turteltaub | Stars: John Candy, Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis
Votes: 113,733 | Gross: $68.86M
31. Last Action Hero (1993)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
With the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance
Votes: 163,755 | Gross: $50.02M
32. Demolition Man (1993)
R | 115 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A police officer is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent nemesis who is loose in a non-violent future society.
Director: Marco Brambilla | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne
Votes: 193,285 | Gross: $58.06M
33. Cannibal! The Musical (1993)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
The sole survivor of an ill-fated mining expedition tells how his taste for gold was replaced by that of human flesh.
Director: Trey Parker | Stars: Trey Parker, Dian Bachar, Stephen Blackpool, Stan Brakhage
Votes: 13,067
34. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
PG | 76 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.
Director: Henry Selick | Stars: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey
Votes: 375,075 | Gross: $75.08M
35. Free Willy (1993)
PG | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
When a boy learns that a beloved killer whale is to be killed by the aquarium owners, the boy risks everything to free the whale.
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Jason James Richter, Lori Petty, Michael Madsen, Jayne Atkinson
Votes: 82,951 | Gross: $77.70M
36. The Meteor Man (1993)
PG | 100 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
A high school teacher from a troubled inner city Washington D.C. neighborhood becomes a super-powered hero and takes on the gang that has been terrorizing his streets.
Director: Robert Townsend | Stars: Robert Townsend, Marla Gibbs, Eddie Griffin, Robert Guillaume
Votes: 8,819 | Gross: $8.02M
37. The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
In Missouri, during the 1840s, young Huck Finn fearful of his drunkard father and yearning for adventure, leaves his foster family and joins with runaway slave Jim in a voyage down the Mississippi River toward slavery free states.
Director: Stephen Sommers | Stars: Elijah Wood, Courtney B. Vance, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Robards
Votes: 9,240 | Gross: $24.10M
38. Witchboard 2 (1993)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
A beautiful young woman starts receiving messages through a ouija board, claiming to be from the former occupant of her apartment. The former tenant claims she's been murdered, but there's no record of a murder or even her death.
Director: Kevin Tenney | Stars: Ami Dolenz, Christopher Michael Moore, Laraine Newman, Timothy Gibbs
Votes: 1,932 | Gross: $0.17M
This is a tough film to review or to even talk about really. It's mediocre in most respects, and really nothing much of note happens for good chunks of it. And yet, there's something about it that's appealing and fun. It's probably the touch of directory Kevin S. Tenney. It's clear he's a bit disinterested here but still can't help making a film that's light and funny and playful.
The camerawork announces this, swooping in and out of windows at will. Ami Dolenz is appealing as usual, her great horror year of 93 (see also: <i>Ticks</i> and <i>Pumpkinhead 2</i>) a classic lesson of how sub-par acting in low-budget films can still be remembered and even "good" in some sense if done with the right intentions.
Maybe the best character to sum up this film is that of the ex-boyfriend cop whose first entrance into the film announces him as an angry douchebag type, meant to cause problems for Ami. But by his second scene he already shows remorse, and even apologizes to Ami. After this, while still retaining his douchebaggery, he helps and even saves her in the end. I don't want to use the word complex, but if he's comprised of notes it's at least three, which is two more than necessary in a flick like this and most of its ilk.
Also there's a scene where a 60's hippie chick is hit by a wrecking ball into the mystery machine and you get a nice shot of the van exploding and her mannequin with it, which is pretty cool.
39. We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993)
G | 72 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A time traveling scientist goes back to prehistoric times and feeds dinosaurs a magic cereal that increases their intelligence - next they land in modern New York City for a series of comic adventures.
Directors: Phil Nibbelink, Simon Wells, Dick Zondag, Ralph Zondag | Stars: John Goodman, Charles Fleischer, Blaze Berdahl, Rhea Perlman
Votes: 16,070 | Gross: $9.32M
40. Rookie of the Year (1993)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
When an accident miraculously gives a boy an incredibly powerful pitching arm, he becomes a major league pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.
Director: Daniel Stern | Stars: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, Albert Hall, Amy Morton
Votes: 30,956 | Gross: $53.58M
41. Dust Devil (1992)
R | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A woman on the run from her abusive husband encounters a mysterious hitch-hiker.
Director: Richard Stanley | Stars: Robert John Burke, Chelsea Field, Zakes Mokae, John Matshikiza
Votes: 5,942
42. Hocus Pocus (1993)
PG | 96 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.
Director: Kenny Ortega | Stars: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz
Votes: 155,897 | Gross: $44.34M
Watching it again, I'm not sure that I understand the nostalgia for it. It obviously has a great cast of witches, and there's humor that works but mostly this sometimes interminable and mostly busy movie has little lasting impact, ironically given its new reputation, and no indelibility. At least for this viewer.
43. Super Mario Bros. (1993)
PG | 104 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Two Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi, must travel to another dimension to rescue a princess from the evil dictator King Koopa and stop him from taking over the world.
Directors: Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton | Stars: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis
Votes: 62,966 | Gross: $20.92M
44. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
When journalist April O'Neil discovers an ancient scepter with magical powers, the Turtles must cow-a-bunga their way back to 17th century Japan to rescue her from the evil clutches of Lord Norinaga.
Director: Stuart Gillard | Stars: Elias Koteas, Paige Turco, Stuart Wilson, Sab Shimono
Votes: 36,430 | Gross: $42.66M
45. Addams Family Values (1993)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy
The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved Uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack
Votes: 109,555 | Gross: $48.92M
46. Dennis the Menace (1993)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Family
When his parents must go out of town on business, Dennis stays with Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. He is driving Mr. Wilson crazy, but he is just trying to be helpful, even to the thief who has arrived in town.
Director: Nick Castle | Stars: Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, Joan Plowright, Christopher Lloyd
Votes: 64,891 | Gross: $51.27M
47. RoboCop 3 (1993)
PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
Robocop saves the day once more. This time the half man/half robot takes on ruthless developers who want to evict some people on "their" land.
Director: Fred Dekker | Stars: Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, Mario Machado, Remy Ryan
Votes: 54,362 | Gross: $10.70M
48. Coneheads (1993)
PG | 88 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
Aliens with conical crania crash-land on Earth.
Director: Steve Barron | Stars: Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Robert Knott, Jonathan Penner
Votes: 57,981 | Gross: $21.27M
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