90s Scifi, best to worst
by J_Frank_Parnell | created - 23 Oct 2022 | updated - 18 Feb 2023 | PublicThere were a few solid 90s scifi movies, but mostly it was a decade of scifi trash- Glorious trash, like 'Independance Day' and 'Mars Attacks', and the birth of the genre of cheesy, disposable, trashy, global-disaster movies from the likes of Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich- 'Armageddon', 'Deep Impact', 'Waterworld', etc that would continue into the 00s with '2012' and 'The Day AFter Tomorrow'. And also action-movie/scifi trash, like 'Universal Soldier', 'Demolition Man', or the terrible first attempt at a 'Judge Dredd' movie.
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1. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
TV-MA | 83 min | Animation, Action, Crime
A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.
Directors: Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera
Votes: 157,010 | Gross: $0.52M
2. Gattaca (1997)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Gore Vidal
Votes: 323,388 | Gross: $12.34M
3. Total Recall (1990)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 354,773 | Gross: $119.39M
4. 12 Monkeys (1995)
R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito
Votes: 646,927 | Gross: $57.14M
5. 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: 1,067,836 | Gross: $402.45M
6. Contact (1997)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
Votes: 293,232 | Gross: $100.92M
7. The Iron Giant (1999)
PG | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel
Votes: 227,660 | Gross: $23.16M
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,174,810 | Gross: $204.84M
9. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm
Votes: 506,639 | Gross: $63.54M
10. Starship Troopers (1997)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
Votes: 321,402 | Gross: $54.81M
11. Independence Day (1996)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell
Votes: 605,979 | Gross: $306.17M
12. Mars Attacks! (1996)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
Earth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening
Votes: 243,638 | Gross: $37.77M
13. The City of Lost Children (1995)
R | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 71,694 | Gross: $1.51M
14. Dark City (1998)
R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
Votes: 212,386 | Gross: $14.38M
15. Galaxy Quest (1999)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.
Director: Dean Parisot | Stars: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub
Votes: 178,321 | Gross: $71.58M
16. Event Horizon (1997)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Votes: 197,280 | Gross: $26.67M
17. Roujin Z (1991)
PG-13 | 80 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A compassionate young nurse is determined to help an elderly invalid strapped to a revolutionary health care bed but there are unexpected consequences.
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo | Stars: Shinji Ogawa, Shinsuke Chikaishi, Chisa Yokoyama, Hikojirô Matsumura
Votes: 3,192
18. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,054,697 | Gross: $171.48M
19. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)
R | 102 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A traumatized member of an elite para-military police force falls for the sister of a female terrorist courier who died in front of him on duty.
Directors: Kenji Kamiyama, Hiroyuki Okiura | Stars: Michael Dobson, Yoshikazu Fujiki, Sumi Mutoh, Moneca Stori
Votes: 18,773 | Gross: $0.09M
20. Men in Black (1997)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 613,264 | Gross: $250.69M
21. The Rocketeer (1991)
PG | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A young pilot stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high-flying masked hero.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton
Votes: 61,788 | Gross: $46.70M
22. Memories (1995)
PG-13 | 113 min | Animation, Sci-Fi, Thriller
An animated science fiction anthology from the visionary anime director, Katsuhiro Otomo.
Directors: Kôji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Marc Swint, Robbie Daymond, Frank Todaro, Laura Post
Votes: 21,410
23. Universal Soldier (1992)
R | 102 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Soldiers who were killed in action are brought back to life in a top secret military experiment that creates superhuman warriors.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Ally Walker, Ed O'Ross
Votes: 96,260 | Gross: $36.30M
24. Star Trek: Generations (1994)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.
Director: David Carson | Stars: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Frakes
Votes: 87,072 | Gross: $75.67M
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: 28,452 | Gross: $20.10M
26. Stargate (1994)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors
Votes: 205,191 | Gross: $71.57M
27. Godzilla (I) (1998)
PG-13 | 139 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
French nuclear tests irradiate an iguana into a giant monster that heads off to New York City. The American military must chase the monster across the city to stop it before it reproduces.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria
Votes: 203,687 | Gross: $136.31M
28. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
PG | 93 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.
Director: Peter Hewitt | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler, Joss Ackland
Votes: 81,090 | Gross: $38.04M
29. Face/Off (1997)
R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 401,086 | Gross: $112.23M
30. Sphere (1998)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote
Votes: 112,539 | Gross: $37.02M
31. The Faculty (1998)
R | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
When Casey Connor, Herrington High School's newspaper photographer, witnesses the murder of a nurse and sees her alive again, he decides to investigate the bizarre happenings.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett
Votes: 135,181 | Gross: $40.06M
32. Flatliners (1990)
R | 115 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Five medical students experiment with "near death" experiences, until the dark consequences of past tragedies begin to jeopardize their lives.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin
Votes: 93,480 | Gross: $61.49M
33. Darkman (1990)
R | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A brilliant scientist left for dead returns to exact revenge on the people who burned him alive.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake
Votes: 69,889 | Gross: $33.88M
34. 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: 21,263 | Gross: $0.43M
35. Mimic (1997)
R | 105 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Three years ago, entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin, Giancarlo Giannini
Votes: 55,699 | Gross: $25.48M
36. 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: 78,455 | Gross: $7.92M
37. The X Files (1998)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Mulder and Scully must fight the government in a conspiracy and find the truth about an alien colonization of Earth.
Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John Neville, William B. Davis
Votes: 110,204 | Gross: $83.90M
38. eXistenZ (1999)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 107,255 | Gross: $2.84M
39. Roswell (1994 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Beginning at a 30-year reunion for members of a military nuclear bomb unit, flashbacks are presented that follow the attempts of Major Jesse Marcel to discover the truth about strange ... See full summary »
Director: Jeremy Kagan | Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen, Dwight Yoakam, Xander Berkeley
Votes: 2,718
40. Frankenhooker (1990)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A medical student sets out to recreate his decapitated fiancée by building her a new body made of Manhattan street prostitutes.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: James Lorinz, Joanne Ritchie, Patty Mullen, J.J. Clark
Votes: 13,534 | Gross: $0.21M
41. Species (1995)
R | 108 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A group of scientists try to track down and trap a killer alien seductress before she successfully mates with a human.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina
Votes: 85,299 | Gross: $60.07M
42. Judge Dredd (1995)
R | 96 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopian future, Joseph Dredd, the most famous Judge (a police officer with instant field judiciary powers), is convicted for a crime he did not commit and must face his murderous counterpart.
Director: Danny Cannon | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Rob Schneider, Jürgen Prochnow
Votes: 124,985 | Gross: $34.69M
43. 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: 193,459 | Gross: $58.06M
44. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
R | 96 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A data courier, literally carrying a data package inside his head, must deliver it before he dies from the burden or is killed by the Yakuza.
Director: Robert Longo | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer, Ice-T
Votes: 76,221 | Gross: $19.08M
45. Meet the Applegates (1990)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Modelling themselves after an idyllic cookie-cutter suburban 1950s family, a colony of insects move from South America into the United States with the intent of getting access to the nation's nuclear resources.
Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Ed Begley Jr., Stockard Channing, Dabney Coleman, Bobby Jacoby
Votes: 2,614 | Gross: $0.49M
46. Wild Wild West (1999)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
The two best special agents in the Wild West must save President Grant from the clutches of a diabolical, wheelchair-bound, steampunk-savvy, Confederate scientist bent on revenge for losing the Civil War.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek
Votes: 167,335 | Gross: $113.81M
I kinda love this beautiful trainwreck of a movie. It's complete trash, of course, but incredibly fun, in a super-dumb way. You have to see it at least once.
47. Waterworld (1995)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw "smokers," and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper, Tina Majorino
Votes: 210,043 | Gross: $88.25M
48. Armageddon (1998)
PG-13 | 151 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler
Votes: 451,036 | Gross: $201.57M
49. Tank Girl (1995)
R | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
A girl is among the few survivors of a dystopian Earth. Riding a war tank, she fights against the tyranny of a mega-corporation that dominates the remaining potable water supply of the planet.
Director: Rachel Talalay | Stars: Lori Petty, Ice-T, Naomi Watts, Don Harvey
Votes: 34,791 | Gross: $4.06M
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