Recommended Science/Fiction Films

The Purge (2013)

The Purge is a 2013 American horror film starring Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane and Max Burkholder as a family who find themselves the target of a criminal gang during the Annual Purge. The Purge is a night where all crimes are legal and the populace is allowed to kill, maim, rob, rape and vandalise for one night a year, supposedly in an effort to reduce crime in general for the remaining 364 days a year. As a result of this Annual purge crime has become virtually non-existent and unemployment has dropped to 1%.Dark in nature and often violent the Purge and it’s sequels are films worth watching in order and I would recommend them but be warned of it’s sometimes troubling content. Given the recent Trump administration this film is very interesting and presents a possible view of a totalitarian future that is sometimes uncomfortably close to the modern political climate. Please click on the image to watch the Film on Netflix.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

>The Purge Anarchy is a 2014 sequel to 2013’s The Purge. It stars Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanches and Michael K Williams. It follows the story of a family and their sons attempt to sell himself as an offering to the Purgers for $100,000 to try and help pay for treatment for his terminally ill father. Frank Grillo plays Leo Barnes, an off duty police officer, who plans to kill a man called Warren Grass. Grass inadvertently killed Barnes’ son whilst driving drunk. The film follows a relentless pace as each of the protagonists eventually combine their resources in order to survive the night. As per the previous film the content is politically apt even though we don’t quite yet live in this type of society just yet! This movie is available to stream via the link contained in the image to the right.

Alien (1979)

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film starring Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto and John Hurt. It was directed by Riley Scott and is considered a classic and has spawned various sequels and prequels as well as an entire franchise of spin off material such as books, audio plays and graphic novels. In this film the crew of Nostromo land on an unknown planetoid and inadvertently pick up an Alien parasite that later comes to threaten the entire crew. The film features classic creature designs by HR Giger that remain iconic until present day. During the chest bursting scene Veronica Cartwrights screams are genuine as she didn’t realise that blood would be squirting out into her face as she wasn’t told by the crew this would happen! You can view this film on Amazon Prime by click the image to the right.

Alien Covenant (2017)

Alien Covenant is a 2017 science fiction horror film starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demian Bichir as well as a small roles for James Franco, Guy Pearce and Naomi Rapace. It is a direct sequel to 2012’s Prometheus and follows the crew of colony ship The Covenant as they encounter a distress call and land to investigate. Things go awry when they encounter the mysterious David (Fassbender) the android and only survivor of the ship Prometheus. Directed by Ridley Scott and a prequel to 1979’2 Alien this film depicts the surprising revelation that the Xenomorph (Alien) creature was in fact created by an android. Fassbender plays dual roles of both David and the android from The Covenant whilst Waterson takes over from Sigourney Weaver as the female lead aided by Danny McBride as Tennessee Faris. If you have seen this film please watch Prometheus first and then this film. Both are available to stream on Amazon Prime which is accessible via the image to the right.

Prometheus (2012)

Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlie Theron. It follows the story of Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Dr Charlie Holloway (Marshall-Green) as they seek the creators of life on Earth via an expedition funded by Peter Weyland (Pearce). David (Fassbender) is an android with an open disdain and disregard for humanity accompanies them along with the crew of the Prometheus. The film introduces the viewers to the “Engineers”, the creators of life on Earth and the pilots of the mysterious ship found by the crew of the Nostromo in 1979’ Alien. Scott intended this film to not act as a direct prequel to Alien and as a result the Xenomorph is not shown however some of the creatures are similar to the Xenomorphs. Fassbender excels as the ambiguous David and Theron is almost as inhuman as David himself. A enjoyable and often unnerving movie that you can watch on Amazon Prime by clicking on the image to the right.

Krampus (2015)

Krampus is a American Christmas comedy horror film directed by Michael Dougherty starring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LeVie Owen and Krista Stadler. It centres on a family gathering at Christmas where the relatives argue, bicker and antagonise each other causing a young boy to lose his festive spirit. After destroying his Christmas list he inadvertently summons the Krampus, a horned demonic beast from European Folklore who is the opposite of Santa Claus and takes away those who have lost their Christmas spirit. The film is shot in the style of a horror comedy in much the same vein of Gremlins as the family come to terms with their situation and try to survive against the Krampus and his demonic toys. A film that should really be watched during the festive period it is nonetheless a blast from beginning to end and should be watched for the Gingerbread Men alone. Available to stream on Netflix via the link in the image to the right.

Aliens (1986)

Aliens is a 1986 Science Fiction Action Horror film directed by James Cameron. The film stars Sigourney Weaver who reprises her role as Ellen Ripley from Alien who eventually returns to Earth 57 Years after the events of Alien to discover that the planetoid the Nostromo crew has now been colonised. Shortly after her return a reluctant Ripley returns to LV-426 to once again face the Xenomorphs who have multiplied. The film also stars Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Carrier Henn. A different film in terms of tone and pace, Aliens features a group of space marines fighting against the Xenomorphs and their Queen and their attempt to escape LV-426. Did you know that the Aliens was filmed at Acton Lane Power Station in London and the alien nest set was later used for the 1989 Batman film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Aliens is available to rent from Amazon Prime via the link contained in the image to the right.

Brightburn (2019)

Brightburn is a 2019 American Superhero Horror film directed by David Yarovesky and stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A Dunn, Matt Jones and Meredith Hagner. It follows the story of a young boy Brandon Breyer who discovers that he was not born on Earth and arrived via a spaceship as a baby. The ship emits a powerful red energy which brainwashes him into his true purpose for been sent to Earth- to destroy and conquer the planet. It follows a what if scenario where a Superman type been is evil and how would we fight him? The film depicts Brandon as starting off as a relatively normal boy who becomes darker and more arrogant and begins to harm or kill those who get in his way including his own family. A chilling concept and presented in a superb story that makes the viewer wonder how would we survive? The film is available to watch on Amazon Prime via the link contained in the image to the right.

Wishmaster (1997)

Wishmaster is a 1997 American Fantasy Horror film direct by Robert Kurtzman and produced by Wes Craven. The film stars Andrew Divoff , Tammy Lauren, Robert Englund, Chris Lemmon and Ted Raimi and is about an evil Djinn (Genie) who has been imprisoned in a gem after attempting to force a Persian Emperor into helping him unleash his demon army by making wishes. In present day Alex Amberson (Lauren) unwittingly unleashes the Djinn and must fight him to prevent him from forcing her to make the wishes he needs to unleash his forces. A typical 1990s slasher film with plenty of corny dialogue but a sinister performance from Divoff mostly negates this. The film spawned 3 sequels of which I would recommend watching Wishmaster 2:Evil Never Dies as it features the Djinn purposely allowing himself to arrested and imprisoned so he can collect the souls of his fellow prisoners. You can watch Wishmaster via the link contained in the image to the right.

Doom (2005)

Doom is a 2005 science fiction action horror film based on the video game series of the same name. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak and stars Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Razaaq Adoti, Dexter Fletcher and Dwayne Johnson who is credited by his wrestling name The Rock in this film. It is set in the future on Mars where the United Aerospace Corporation (UAC) has set up an archaeological dig that unleashes genetic mutated creatures who infect the employees of the UAC facility causing them to mutate into demonic beasts. The game series actually portrays the monsters as demons from hell and features more hellish iconography. This film is not particularly brilliant by any means but puts enough effort into to be mildly entertain and is gamely acted by Urban, Pike and Johnson. Special mention must go the 1st person shooting sequence which successfully mimics the player experience in Doom 3 which was a game released in 2004. It is a shame that PC’s at the time were not able to run Doom 3 as smoothly as this sequence!!!!! It is available to watch via the link to the right.

Christopher 30/12/2020 6.45pm

Thanks for recommending The Predator. Really enjoyed.

Andrew 27/12/2020 3.20pm

I haven't watched any Alien film before and I really enjoyed the 3 you have on your site. Any chance you can add the other films too?

1 Comment:

Mike 26/12/2020 2.30pm

So glad you haven't put the Alien vs Predator films on here! They are awful!