Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies on VHS

Blade Runner (1982)

1982 brought us three of the movies on this list, and those three films remain in a class of their own. One of them is Blade Runner, a movie based on the plot of Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968). In order to secure the title “Blade Runner”, Director Ridley Scott also had to acquire the rights to a novel called The Bladerunner (1974) by Alan E. Nourse. Scott took the name from this book, but no plot points. The screenplay has a gritty, haunting tone and hard boiled dialogue that make it a taught thriller and set it apart from its source material. The film’s diverse locations and sets come to life with moody atmosphere in an iconic fashion that set a standard for an entire sub-genre. Blade Runner instantly impressed an aesthetic upon its viewers that would become ubiquitous with the “cyberpunk” craze that had not yet begun at the time the film was released.

Upon reading the novel and watching the film, you might notice that there was a discrepancy in a very specific scene focusing on an owl. The owl in Blade Runner the movie was deemed artificial and was dismissed very quickly by Rachael. Rachael responds “Of course” when asked if it’s fake. But the owl is real in the novel. The novel makes a point to mention how owls were listed as extinct, but Tyrell made private deals with naturalists in Canada to obtain one for an unpublished price. You might suppose that’s just too many unnecessary details for a screenplay, but it did go to show how wealthy and godlike Eldon Tyrell really was. In a world where owls were extinct, he could conjure a real one. Differences from the book aside, the practical effect visuals and gorgeous ambience made this gritty future-noir an instant classic.

Alien (1979)

This made the cut on both this list and the Top 10 Horror Movies on VHS list because it’s just a solid horror and sci-fi movie. One of the reasons that this film stands the test of time is because of the incredible attention to detail. Everything in the scene looks like a functional and practical implementation that has a purpose. This immersion only adds to the horror factor later on as we are plunged into dark, baffling corridors where terror lurks around every corner.

Reactions are very important for the audience to understand how they should be empathizing with the characters. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is our protagonist and we certainly see the story from her perspective throughout much of the film. However, it is Ripley’s reactions to the horror she experiences in the last act that make us feel the real terror that a malevolent alien being would likely induce. Much of this tension is created by the implications of what she discovers and the decisions she has to make, and quickly. While there certainly are slasher elements to be found in Alien, it is far more than a mere “slasher in space” and gives the viewer a sense of true cosmic horror.

Twelve Monkeys (1995)

In the future, humans exist underground due to a viral pandemic years before in 1996. James Cole is a prisoner in this future dystopia. He volunteers to be sent back to 1996 to gather what information he can, as the prisoners of his time have the option to do. Unfortunately, the scientists of his time accidentally send him back to 1990, and the plan becomes complicated.

This movie is based on the 1962 French short film La Jetée. Twelve Monkeys is a brilliant time travel movie from the director of Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam.

The Thing (1982)

When it comes to 80s sci-fi, there are a couple movies at the top that hit that perfect nerve of horror. Alien is one, the other is The Thing. John Carpenter’s story of an alien life form uncovered from the ice in Antarctica will have you on the edge of your seat with its excellent score and unforgettable characters.

First, the visceral ooze and sentient guts come to life with amazing practical effects. We’re talking Rob Bottin level amazing. The amount of immersion that the special effects endow to The Thing’s atmosphere cannot be overstated.

The tension is unbearably taught almost constantly, yet the story itself remains sparse. This is a similarity it has with its predecessor, The Thing From Another World (1951). The characters are nearly cardboard-thin in their broad generalities, but we accept it all anyway because of the blazing fast narrative. Even after viewing, The Thing draws us in psychologically with its scant clues that still have theory-mongers guessing 40 years later.

Tron (1982)

Arcade owner and computer hacker Kevin Flynn is sucked into the digital world of a large corporation’s computer and is forced to participate in gladiatorial games. His only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program and his own cyber-wits.

Featuring designs by renowned futurist Syd Mead, the visuals in this movie are really in a league of their own. Tron, along with The Last Starfighter (1984), is one of the earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery. Seeing the stylized insides of a computer in 1982 was the coolest thing imaginable. This movie, along with War Games (1983), made computers extremely popular.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

With a time travel-y premise, cyborgs, A.I., and a villain made of mimetic polyalloy (liquid metal), this was an absolute blockbuster smash hit for a good reason. Easily the most action-packed movie on this list, The Terminator and Terminator 2 took a bunch of concepts that were emerging or were established standards in science fiction and merged them together in a unique way that fed on the multitude of societal anxieties of the time.

The Terminator franchise is loved the world over and has grown into something much larger than just movies. Fans of Terminator 2 have been treated to video games, toys, books, a TV show, a 3D ride at Universal Studios, the list is long. The Sega CD version of Terminator is an excellent side-scroller and I highly recommend watching the Terminator 2 Director’s Cut for some very enjoyable deleted scenes as well.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park is a science-fiction movie in every sense of the word. Michael Crichton had a knack for balancing the science with the story in his novels, even the novel Timeline had some great theories to back up the ridiculous story. The Andromeda Strain and The Sphere are excellent science fiction stories and films to varying extents but were nowhere nearly as successful as JP.

In fact, intellectual property that is “Jurassic Park” is still going strong to this day. Over the past decades we’ve seen rides at Universal Studios, toys from Kenner, and literally everything in between. Jurassic Park is a highly popular movie because of its likeable characters and the fun afforded in the plot. Like all great sci-fi movies, the attention to detail made it all the more believable and terrifying. After all, developments in genetics at the time of the film’s release were starting to make amazing breakthroughs. In fact, Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996!

2001 (1968)

Stanley Kubrick’s technocratic and existential masterpiece is still poignant and visually arresting all these decades later. By using classical waltz music to describe the dance of mankind’s technological creations and Rococo architecture to conceptualize that which we may not comprehend, Kubrick created something that stretches back to the dawn of human ingenuity to the infinity that makes us seem insignificant. This is the film against which all science fiction films should be measured.

Runners up:

The Blob (1988)

This remake, along with other 80s re-imaginings like The Thing and Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), capitalized on the contemporary fear of the unknown just as their counterparts had in the 50s. However, what The Blob also did was add some The X-Files style skepticism. While most people didn’t openly fear blobs coming to earth in the 80s, they were extremely wary of their government. Adding a secret federal biohazard containment unit to the mix made this adaptation truly compelling and raised the stakes of the action.

You’ll also fine lots of humor and self-awareness along with a few super-serious deep dialogues of personal growth in the style of The Breakfast Club (1985). Overall, there’s a more modern, underdog aspect that turns the traditional tropes upside down and gives it a Twin Peaks kind of feel.

They Live (1988)

The aliens are already among us, they control our desires, and they live in plain sight. That is, once a very determined man gets a hold of some very special sunglasses. This movie inspired so much in pop culture but also relies on that tin foil hat awareness that 1988’s The Blob also tapped into.

 

They Live is unique in its balance of being a serious dystopian sci-fi while also maintaining a dark, sometimes silly, sense of humor. The synthesized soundtrack and slow build set the tension up for when the action heats up. Fun fact: it was inspired by the 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson.