Best Cult Underdog SciFi & Fantasy Films
by marty-133 | created - 12 Aug 2012 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicLesser known favorite scifi & Fantasty Genre Flicks
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1. Equilibrium (2002)
R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future where all forms of feeling are illegal, a man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system and state.
Director: Kurt Wimmer | Stars: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs
Votes: 346,965 | Gross: $1.20M
Highly artistic, great and original fighting choreography.
2. Cypher (2002)
R | 95 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
An unsuspecting, disenchanted man finds himself working as a spy in the dangerous, high-stakes world of corporate espionage. Quickly getting way over-his-head, he teams up with a mysterious femme fatale.
Director: Vincenzo Natali | Stars: Jeremy Northam, Lucy Liu, Nigel Bennett, Timothy Webber
Votes: 32,062
Well cast with great plotline.
3. Delicatessen (1991)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Votes: 90,031 | Gross: $1.79M
One of the best dark comedies ever made. Visually stunning.
4. The Cell (2000)
R | 107 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
An F.B.I. Agent persuades a social worker, who is adept with a new experimental technology, to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to learn where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.
Director: Tarsem Singh | Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Colton James
Votes: 109,089 | Gross: $61.33M
A bit better well-known, but filled with stunning visuals as well.
5. Strange Days (1995)
R | 145 min | Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
A former cop turned street-hustler accidentally uncovers a conspiracy in Los Angeles in 1999.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore
Votes: 78,418 | Gross: $7.92M
Brilliantly written with great actors.
6. Fido (2006)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
In an Earthly world resembling the 1950s, a cloud of space radiation has shrouded the planet, resulting in the dead becoming zombies that desire live human flesh. A company called Zomcon ... See full summary »
Director: Andrew Currie | Stars: Kesun Loder, Billy Connolly, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Kaye
Votes: 30,145 | Gross: $0.30M
Horror-Comedy at its best.
7. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,738 | Gross: $2.12M
Hauntingly stunning movie with a well thought out plot.
8. Truckers (1992)
11 min | Animation, Adventure, Crime
Under the floorboards of an old department store live the nomes, tiny people for whom things like Outside and Sun and Rain are just daft old legends. Then a group of new nomes arrive from ... See full summary »
Stars: Joe McGann, Edward Kelsey, Debra Gillett, Rosalie Williams
Votes: 216
A hilarious fantasy-comedy based on one of Pratchett's witty novels. Great stop-motion animation.
9. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
R | 100 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937 becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.
Director: Josef Rusnak | Stars: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 77,262 | Gross: $15.50M
Great storyline.
10. The Fall (I) (2006)
R | 117 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
In 1920s Los Angeles, a bedridden patient in a hospital captivates a young girl with a fantastic tale of heroes, myths, and villains on a desert island.
Director: Tarsem Singh | Stars: Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Kim Uylenbroek
Votes: 116,674 | Gross: $2.28M
As visually stunning as Singh's other film on this list "The Cell", while a bit more quirky and slightly less dark.
11. The Substitute (2007)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A group of sixth-graders is convinced their new substitute teacher is actually a menacing alien.
Director: Ole Bornedal | Stars: Paprika Steen, Ulrich Thomsen, Jonas Wandschneider, Nikolaj Falkenberg-Klok
Votes: 3,424
A great horror-comedy with a plotline similar in feel to "The Witches", a bit Dahl-esque.
12. Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
R | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
Director: Christophe Gans | Stars: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Renier, Vincent Cassel
Votes: 71,461 | Gross: $11.26M
Great action and visuals.
13. Vidocq (2001)
R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Fantasy
Paris, 1830: Vidocq is killed by a mirror masked man. A thief turned investigator, he was working on a case of men killed by lightning. His biographer tries to solve the case.
Director: Pitof | Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Guillaume Canet, Inés Sastre, André Dussollier
Votes: 23,107
Stunning visuals, completely in contrast to and utterly better than Pitof's terrible Hollywood debut (Catwoman).
14. Ginger Snaps (2000)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.
Director: John Fawcett | Stars: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Mimi Rogers
Votes: 52,293 | Gross: $0.00M
Great Canadian entry into the Werewolf series of movies.
15. Battle Royale (2000)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Director: Kinji Fukasaku | Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto, Chiaki Kuriyama
Votes: 194,399
Before Hunger Games there was this much darker "alternate reality" Horror movie with different themes.
16. Cemetery Man (1994)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Horror
A cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.
Director: Michele Soavi | Stars: Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Mickey Knox
Votes: 23,328 | Gross: $0.25M
You've never seen Rupert Everett this good -- great Zombie-Comedy.
17. District B13 (2004)
R | 84 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and an ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
Director: Pierre Morel | Stars: Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Tony D'Amario, Bibi Naceri
Votes: 73,869 | Gross: $1.20M
Crazy-cool Action/Scifi movie featuring basejumping and other nifty acrobatics.
18. Screamers (1995)
R | 108 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A military commander stationed off planet during an interplanetary war travels through the devastated landscape to negotiate a peace treaty, but discovers that the primitive robots they built to kill enemy combatants have gained sentience.
Director: Christian Duguay | Stars: Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andy Lauer
Votes: 29,440 | Gross: $5.78M
Underappreciated scfi flim based on a Philip K. Dick shortstory.
19. Byzantium (2012)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Residents of a coastal town learn, with deathly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought shelter at a rundown hotel.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Caleb Landry Jones
Votes: 45,936 | Gross: $0.08M
20. Okja (2017)
TV-MA | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Ahn Seo-hyun, Jake Gyllenhaal
Votes: 132,127
21. Frequency (2000)
PG-13 | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.
Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Shawn Doyle, Elizabeth Mitchell
Votes: 115,727 | Gross: $45.01M
22. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
When residents of their nursing home start dying of dubious causes, an aged Elvis and an African-American senior who claims to be President John F. Kennedy discover that the perpetrator is an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Bob Ivy, Ella Joyce
Votes: 51,488 | Gross: $2.00M
23. Slither (2006)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
Director: James Gunn | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, Don Thompson
Votes: 88,845 | Gross: $7.77M
24. The Aerial (2007)
99 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
This near-silent black and white film from Argentina tells the story of a city that has lost its voice, stolen by Mr. TV, and the attempts of a small family to win the voice back. Similar in design to early German expressionist films.
Director: Esteban Sapir | Stars: Alejandro Urdapilleta, Valeria Bertuccelli, Julieta Cardinali, Rafael Ferro
Votes: 4,603
25. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Director: L.Q. Jones | Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire
Votes: 19,206 | Gross: $6.90M
26. Summer Time Machine Blues (2005)
107 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A sci-fi club concocts a plan to repair a remote by using a time machine that suddenly appears.
Director: Katsuyuki Motohiro | Stars: Eita Nagayama, Yoshiaki Yoza, Daijirô Kawaoka, Munenori Nagano
Votes: 1,687
27. Under the Shadow (2016)
PG-13 | 84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home.
Director: Babak Anvari | Stars: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Arash Marandi
Votes: 30,113 | Gross: $0.03M
28. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
PG | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
After New York City receives a series of attacks from giant flying robots, a reporter teams up with a pilot in search of their origin, as well as the reason for the disappearances of famous scientists around the world.
Director: Kerry Conran | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi
Votes: 87,463 | Gross: $37.76M
29. Redline (2009)
Not Rated | 102 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
A story about the most popular racing event in the galaxy, the Redline, and the various racers who compete in it.
Director: Takeshi Koike | Stars: Takuya Kimura, Yû Aoi, Tadanobu Asano, Yoshiyuki Morishita
Votes: 17,198
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