The 1990s was a great time for science fiction adventure movies. This was the decade of Jurassic Park, Men In Black, and The Matrix. A time when sci-fi went mainstream and the multiplex experience was all the richer for it.
Even so, some of the era’s best and most inventive sci-fi adventure movies went under-appreciated – save for a few video store rentals and occasional late-night TV broadcasts. Thankfully, the dawn of the internet and rise of streaming services means it has never been easier to seek some of these forgotten screen gems out – starting with these.
Updated on October 21st, 2020 by Mark Birrell: As time passes, the memory of great movies can actually become stronger. So, as more time has passed, more excellent sci-fi adventure movies have come flooding back to genre fans. From space and cyberpunk to monster movie madness in several different ways, here are 5 more outstanding science-fiction adventures from the 90s that deserve to be remembered.
Screamers (1995)
A financial flop on release and a dud with critics, this seemingly bargain-bin-quality sci-fi monster movie is actually quite an immersive adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story “Second Variety” and has developed a strong following over the years.
With an original screenplay by cult sci-fi legend Dan O’Bannon (whose earlier Philip K. Dick adaptation, Total Recall, became one of the most famous sci-fi movies of the decade), the story revolves around warring factions on a far-flung planet who discover that machines built to finish the conflict have rebelled and begun their own war against humanity. Lead by RoboCop himself, Peter Weller, Screamers is entertainingly schlocky, surprisingly thought-provoking, and certainly worth rediscovering.
Nirvana (1997)
Nirvana is an existentialist cyberpunk road movie about a video game designer in your typical Blade Runner dystopia who embarks on a quest to break into his own company’s servers to delete his own game in an act of mercy after he learns that the main character has become sentient.
With the movie cutting back and forth between realities and jumping through time, it may seem like an overly serious plot but there’s always an emphasis on quirky comedy that helps it sell its heavily philosophical plot.
Darkman (1990)
Over a decade before helping to define the current age of Marvel, iconic horror director Sam Raimi invented his own superhero with Darkman. Liam Neeson’s tortured antihero is made in the image of icons from as far and wide as pulp detectives to the Phantom of the Opera.
Packed with a smorgasbord of the kind of 90s VFX shots that were necessary before the days of modern computer effects, Darkman is a hugely creative movie and a very interesting stepping stone between Tim Burton’s Batman and Raimi’s own Spider-Man movie.
Deep Rising (1998)
Before achieving mainstream success with his hit movie The Mummy the following year, writer and director Stephen Sommers delivered a much bloodier–and critically mauled–aquatic monster movie in the same vein with Deep Rising.
A heist adventure survival horror comedy set on a cruise ship, the movie is gleefully overflowing with gore and wisecracking action movie tropes. The gruesomeness of the tentacle monsters that attack the ship gives the story a real sense of threat and horror despite it mostly being a comedy and, while it may not quite have The Mummy‘s universal appeal, it’s a must for fans.
Sphere (1998)
On the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of prestige, yet hated even more by critics than Deep Rising, is this second forgotten underwater sci-fi horror movie from 1998.
Directed by Barry Levinson and adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, Sphere ends up biting off a little more than it can chew with its time-bending story of an alien spacecraft discovered on the ocean floor. But that doesn’t undo the frightening quirks of the complex story and the immense strength of its cast.
Abraxas: Guardian Of The Universe (1991)
After standout supporting turns in Predator and The Running Man, the ‘90s saw wrestler-turned-actor Jesse Ventura finally get top billing in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe. Ventura plays the titular Abraxas, an intergalactic cop hot on the tail of renegade ex-partner Secundus, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stuntman, Sven-Ole Thorsen.
Matters are complicated further when Secundus heads to Earth. Once there he wastes no time in impregnating a woman with a potentially deadly mutant embryo (simply by touching her belly) in the hopes of gaining planet-conquering powers. Featuring a cameo from Jim Belushi, this is big, brash action sci-fi adventure fun.
I Come In Peace (1990)
Two years before Jurassic Park, screenwriter David Koepp got his first taste of sci-fi with this buddy cop B-movie effort starring everyone’s favorite Rocky villain, Dolph Lundgren.
I Come in Peace centers on Lundgren’s brilliantly named renegade lawman, Jack Caine, and his investigations into a string of drug-related slayings. Things take an unusual turn, however, when Caine learns an alien is behind the homicides, as part of an elaborate plan involving him shooting people full of heroin in order to extract the endorphins created to sell as a drug called Barsi on his home planet.
Timescape (1992)
Released on video as Grand Tour: Disaster in Time, Timescape paired a Jeff Daniels with Jurassic Park child star Ariana Richards for a time travel caper that belies its modest budget.
They play a widower and his daughter who – after moving back to their small-town guest house – encounter a strange group of travelers with an unusual interest in historical disasters. That sets in motion an engrossing sci-fi tale offering fresh twists on the familiar time travel tropes. Adapted from a novella by Henry Kuttner and CL Moore, and directed by Pitch Black’s David Twohy, Timescape is well worth seeking out.
Fortress (1992)
Whisper it quietly among Highlander fans, but Fortress might actually be Christopher Lambert’s best movie. The premise is certainly a lot easier to follow. Lambert plays John Henry Brennick, an inmate at a private underground prison known only as ‘the Fortress’, overseen by a sadistic warden and an evil corporation intent on perfecting mind control.
Incarcerated alongside his wife, Brennick is forced to hatch a plan to get them both out of the hi-tech hellhole after learning his other half is illegally pregnant. With a stellar supporting cast including Kurtwood Smith and Jeffrey Combs, Fortress offers high concept action high jinks.
No Escape (1994)
Ray Liotta channels his inner Mad Max for this inspired play on Lord of the Flies. He plays John Robbins, a former Marine serving out a life sentence on a remote island inhabited by a collective of cannibalistic prisoners known as “The Outsiders”.
Thankfully for Robbins, the island is also home to “The Insiders”, a group of convicts led by Lance Henriksen’s The Father who are intent on forming some semblance of a society. Soon enough, Robbins is leading the Insiders in an all-out war against their island rivals, all while trying to engineer an escape home.
Guyver: Dark Hero (1994)
Not to be confused with The Guyver, this 1994 sequel serves as a more faithful adaptation of the cult manga and anime series it was based on. It centers on the exploits of Sean Barker, played by David Hayter, who after discovering an alien artifact known as “The Unit” is transformed into an alien-hybrid super-soldier called “The Guyver”.
Significantly darker and more serious than the original, this follow-up was released direct-to-video in the US but, thanks to its R-rating, boasts an impressive amount of gory action that helps give proceedings the feel of a very violent episode of Power Rangers.
Strange Days (1995)
Kathryn Bigelow’s criminally underrated cyberpunk thriller centers on Ralph Fiennes’s Lenny Nero, a former vice cop now trading in illegal “squid” recordings made directly via the cerebral cortex which allow viewers to essentially “live” someone else’s experience as if they were there.
Lenny’s life is turned upside down when he ends up in the possession of a “squid” showing someone doing some very, very bad things. Soon he’s drawn into a murky conspiracy that threatens to unravel everyone and everything he knows. Visually stunning and brimming with creativity, Strange Days was–and still is–ahead of its time.
Existenz (1999)
eXistenZ suffered the misfortune of being released in the same year as The Matrix, but it makes for a fascinating companion piece. David Cronenberg’s film pairs Jennifer Jason Leigh with Jude Law for an inventive sci-fi thriller boasting some of the gooiest, most grotesque technology ever committed to film.
Leigh plays an enigmatic game designer who, after a run-in with an assassin, jumps into her latest virtual reality creation to determine whether her work has been damaged. Joined by Law’s marketing trainee, she soon encounters conflict in the virtual world where a bounty has been placed on her head.
The City of Lost Children (1995)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is best known for films like Delicatessen and Amelie, but The City of Lost Children is arguably his most striking and ambitious. Set in a dystopian alternate reality, a young(ish) Ron Perlmann stars as One, a fairground strongman who sets out to find his brother following his kidnapping by a mad scientist intent on capturing children and harvesting their dreams in the hope it will slow the aging process.
A dark and vividly realized tale, Jeunet injects the bleak premise with enough humor and eye-catching visuals to make it a mesmerizing must-see for fans of the genre.
Dark City (1998)
Director Alex Proyas followed his infamous movie The Crow with another cult classic, Dark City, which remains among the most underrated sci-fi adventure movies ever. It stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, a man who awakens in a strange hotel with no memory and an arrest warrant out on his head for a series of gruesome murders.
On the run from William Hurt’s Inspector Frank Bumstead, Murdoch’s situation turns increasingly bizarre when he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld being controlled by a mysterious group known only as The Strangers, and that’s only the beginning of it. A must watch.
