Top 100 SciFi Films of the Past 100 Years
There are quite a few science fiction lists out there and I'm not really happy with any of them, but the best I've found so far is the one compiled by the Online Film Critics Society, even if it has The Rocky Horror Picture Show in there.
It's called the Top 100 SciFi Films of the Past 100 Years and the source list is at the Online Film Critics Society (ofcs.org).
Don't go away because I included another sci-fi list after this one.
The List
| # |
Title |
Year |
Director |
IMDb |
| 1 |
2001: A Space Odyssey |
1968 |
Stanley Kubrick |
IMDb |
| 2 |
Blade Runner |
1982 |
Ridley Scott |
IMDb |
| 3 |
Star Wars |
1977 |
George Lucas |
IMDb |
| 4 |
The Empire Strikes Back |
1980 |
Irvin Kershner |
IMDb |
| 5 |
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial |
1982 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 6 |
Metropolis |
1927 |
Fritz Lang |
IMDb |
| 7 |
Brazil |
1985 |
Terry Gilliam |
IMDb |
| 8 |
Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
1977 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 9 |
A Clockwork Orange |
1971 |
Stanley Kubrick |
IMDb |
| 10 |
Alien |
1979 |
Ridley Scott |
IMDb |
| 11 |
Aliens |
1986 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 12 |
The Matrix |
1999 |
Andy & Larry Wachowski |
IMDb |
| 13 |
Back to the Future |
1985 |
Robert Zemeckis |
IMDb |
| 14 |
The Day the Earth Stood Still |
1951 |
Robert Wise |
IMDb |
| 15 |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
1991 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 16 |
The Terminator |
1984 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 17 |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers |
1956 |
Don Siegel |
IMDb |
| 18 |
Planet of the Apes |
1968 |
Franklin J. Schaffner |
IMDb |
| 19 |
Dark City |
1998 |
Alex Proyas |
IMDb |
| 20 |
Contact |
1997 |
Robert Zemeckis |
IMDb |
| 21 |
Twelve Monkeys |
1995 |
Terry Gilliam |
IMDb |
| 22 |
King Kong |
1933 |
Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack |
IMDb |
| 23 |
Bride of Frankenstein |
1935 |
James Whale |
IMDb |
| 24 |
La jetée |
1962 |
Chris Marker |
IMDb |
| 25 |
AI: Artificial Intelligence |
2001 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 26 |
Solaris |
1972 |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
IMDb |
| 27 |
The Road Warrior |
1981 |
George Miller |
IMDb |
| 28 |
The Thing |
1982 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 29 |
Jurassic Park |
1993 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 30 |
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
1982 |
Nicholas Meyer |
IMDb |
| 31 |
RoboCop |
1987 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 32 |
Forbidden Planet |
1956 |
Fred M. Wilcox |
IMDb |
| 33 |
The Abyss |
1989 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 34 |
Alphaville |
1965 |
Jean Luc Godard |
IMDb |
| 35 |
Dr. Strangelove |
1964 |
Stanley Kubrick |
IMDb |
| 36 |
Donnie Darko |
2001 |
Richard Kelly |
IMDb |
| 37 |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers |
1978 |
Philip Kaufman |
IMDb |
| 38 |
The Iron Giant |
1999 |
Brad Bird |
IMDb |
| 39 |
Frankenstein |
1931 |
James Whale |
IMDb |
| 40 |
The Incredible Shrinking Man |
1957 |
Jack Arnold |
IMDb |
| 41 |
The Truman Show |
1998 |
Peter Weir |
IMDb |
| 42 |
Videodrome |
1983 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 43 |
Pi |
1998 |
Darren Aronofsky |
IMDb |
| 44 |
The Fly |
1986 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 45 |
Return of the Jedi |
1983 |
Richard Marquand |
IMDb |
| 46 |
The Time Machine |
1960 |
George Pal |
IMDb |
| 47 |
Jacob's Ladder |
1990 |
Adrian Lyne |
IMDb |
| 48 |
The War of the Worlds |
1953 |
Byron Haskin |
IMDb |
| 49 |
Independence Day |
1996 |
Roland Emmerich |
IMDb |
| 50 |
The City of Lost Children |
1995 |
Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
IMDb |
| 51 |
The Invisible Man |
1933 |
James Whale |
IMDb |
| 52 |
Gattaca |
1997 |
Andrew Niccol |
IMDb |
| 53 |
Altered States |
1980 |
Ken Russell |
IMDb |
| 54 |
A Trip to the Moon |
1902 |
Georges Melies |
IMDb |
| 55 |
Ghostbusters |
1984 |
Ivan Reitman |
IMDb |
| 56 |
Stalker |
1979 |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
IMDb |
| 57 |
The Fifth Element |
1997 |
Luc Besson |
IMDb |
| 58 |
The Thing from Another World |
1951 |
Christian Nyby |
IMDb |
| 59 |
TRON |
1982 |
Steven Lisberger |
IMDb |
| 60 |
Them! |
1954 |
Gordon Douglas |
IMDb |
| 61 |
The Man Who Fell to Earth |
1976 |
Nicolas Roeg |
IMDb |
| 62 |
Starship Troopers |
1997 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 63 |
Night of the Living Dead |
1968 |
George A. Romero |
IMDb |
| 64 |
Superman |
1978 |
Richard Donner |
IMDb |
| 65 |
Strange Days |
1995 |
Kathryn Bigelow |
IMDb |
| 66 |
Quatermass and the Pit |
1967 |
Roy Ward Baker |
IMDb |
| 67 |
Edward Scissorhands |
1990 |
Tim Burton |
IMDb |
| 68 |
They Live |
1988 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 69 |
Things to Come |
1936 |
William Cameron Menzies |
IMDb |
| 70 |
Sleeper |
1973 |
Woody Allen |
IMDb |
| 71 |
Mad Max |
1979 |
George Miller |
IMDb |
| 72 |
The Cell |
2000 |
Tarsem Singh |
IMDb |
| 73 |
Fantastic Voyage |
1966 |
Richard Fleischer |
IMDb |
| 74 |
Star Trek: First Contact |
1996 |
Jonathan Frakes |
IMDb |
| 75 |
The Dead Zone |
1983 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 76 |
Dawn of the Dead |
1978 |
George A. Romero |
IMDb |
| 77 |
Akira |
1988 |
Katsuhiro Otomo |
IMDb |
| 78 |
Time Bandits |
1981 |
Terry Gilliam |
IMDb |
| 79 |
eXistenZ |
1999 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 80 |
Invaders from Mars |
1953 |
William Cameron Menzies |
IMDb |
| 81 |
On the Beach |
1959 |
Stanley Kramer |
IMDb |
| 82 |
Silent Running |
1971 |
Douglas Trumbull |
IMDb |
| 83 |
Total Recall |
1990 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 84 |
Open Your Eyes |
1997 |
Alejandro Amenabar |
IMDb |
| 85 |
Fahrenheit 451 |
1966 |
Francois Truffaut |
IMDb |
| 86 |
THX 1138 |
1971 |
George Lucas |
IMDb |
| 87 |
Seconds |
1966 |
John Frankenheimer |
IMDb |
| 88 |
Starman |
1984 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 89 |
Village of the Damned |
1960 |
Wolf Rilla |
IMDb |
| 90 |
Until the End of the World |
1991 |
Wim Wenders |
IMDb |
| 91 |
Fantastic Planet |
1973 |
Rene Laloux |
IMDb |
| 92 |
Men in Black |
1997 |
Barry Sonnenfeld |
IMDb |
| 93 |
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension |
1984 |
W. D. Richter |
IMDb |
| 94 |
The Rocky Horror Picture Show |
1975 |
Jim Sharman |
IMDb |
| 95 |
Highlander |
1986 |
Russell Mulcahy |
IMDb |
| 96 |
The Andromeda Strain |
1971 |
Robert Wise |
IMDb |
| 97 |
Time After Time |
1979 |
Nicholas Meyer |
IMDb |
| 98 |
Escape from New York |
1981 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 99 |
Slaughterhouse-Five |
1972 |
George Roy Hill |
IMDb |
| 100 |
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home |
1986 |
Leonard Nimoy |
IMDb |
The 100 Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time
While I continue to search for a science fiction list that rings true to me (and I may well end up having to do the research and compile my own), I've included another one for reference.
It's from Esquire magazine and it compares well to the Online Film Critics Society equivalent, failing in many of the same ways. The original is a horrendous nightmare of an ad-fuelled Flash gallery so be warned. This archive copy is a lot easier to navigate!
| # |
Title |
Year |
Director |
IMDb |
| 1 |
2001: A Space Odyssey |
1968 |
Stanley Kubrick |
IMDb |
| 2 |
Blade Runner |
1982 |
Ridley Scott |
IMDb |
| 3 |
Gattaca |
1997 |
Andrew Niccol |
IMDb |
| 4 |
Aliens |
1986 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 5 |
Metropolis |
1927 |
Fritz Lang |
IMDb |
| 6 |
Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
1977 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 7 |
The Empire Strikes Back |
1980 |
Irvin Kirshner |
IMDb |
| 8 |
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan |
1982 |
Nicholas Meyer |
IMDb |
| 9 |
The Terminator |
1984 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 10 |
Planet of the Apes |
1968 |
Franklin J Schaffner |
IMDb |
| 11 |
The Day the Earth Stood Still |
1951 |
Robert Wise |
IMDb |
| 12 |
Alien |
1979 |
Ridley Scott |
IMDb |
| 13 |
RoboCop |
1987 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 14 |
Forbidden Planet |
1956 |
Fred M Wilcox |
IMDb |
| 15 |
WALL-E |
2008 |
Andrew Stanton |
IMDb |
| 16 |
Logan's Run |
1976 |
Michael Anderson |
IMDb |
| 17 |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
1991 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 18 |
Akira |
1988 |
Katsuhiro Otomo |
IMDb |
| 19 |
Dark City |
1998 |
Alex Proyas |
IMDb |
| 20 |
Children of Men |
2006 |
Alfonso Cuarón |
IMDb |
| 21 |
The Fly |
1986 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 22 |
A Trip to the Moon |
1902 |
Georges Melies |
IMDb |
| 23 |
Total Recall |
1990 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 24 |
Star Wars |
1977 |
George Lucas |
IMDb |
| 25 |
The Matrix |
1999 |
Andy & Larry Wachowski |
IMDb |
| 26 |
Minority Report |
2002 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 27 |
District 9 |
2009 |
Neill Blomkamp |
IMDb |
| 28 |
A Clockwork Orange |
1971 |
Stanley Kubrick |
IMDb |
| 29 |
TRON |
1982 |
Steven Lisberger |
IMDb |
| 30 |
Sunshine |
2007 |
Danny Boyle |
IMDb |
| 31 |
Mad Max |
1979 |
George Miller |
IMDb |
| 32 |
The Thing |
1982 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 33 |
Jurassic Park |
1993 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 34 |
Idiocracy |
2006 |
Mike Judge |
IMDb |
| 35 |
Primer |
2004 |
Shane Carruth |
IMDb |
| 36 |
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial |
1982 |
Steven Spielberg |
IMDb |
| 37 |
Ghost in the Shell |
1995 |
Mamoru Oshii |
IMDb |
| 38 |
Solaris |
1972 |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
IMDb |
| 39 |
Brazil |
1985 |
Terry Gilliam |
IMDb |
| 40 |
Godzilla |
1954 |
Ishiro Honda |
IMDb |
| 41 |
Donnie Darko |
2001 |
Richard Kelly |
IMDb |
| 42 |
Star Trek: First Contact |
1996 |
Jonathan Frakes |
IMDb |
| 43 |
Back to the Future |
1985 |
Robert Zemeckis |
IMDb |
| 44 |
The Man Who Fell to Earth |
1976 |
Nicolas Roeg |
IMDb |
| 45 |
Enemy Mine |
1985 |
Wolfgang Petersen |
IMDb |
| 46 |
Soylent Green |
1973 |
Richard Fleischer |
IMDb |
| 47 |
Moon |
2009 |
Duncan Jones |
IMDb |
| 48 |
Starship Troopers |
1997 |
Paul Verhoeven |
IMDb |
| 49 |
A Scanner Darkly |
2006 |
Richard Linklater |
IMDb |
| 50 |
Avatar |
2009 |
James Cameron |
IMDb |
| 51 |
The Time Machine |
1960 |
George Pal |
IMDb |
| 52 |
The Andromeda Strain |
1971 |
Robert Wise |
IMDb |
| 53 |
Open Your Eyes |
1997 |
Alejandro Amenábar |
IMDb |
| 54 |
Predator |
1987 |
John McTiernan |
IMDb |
| 55 |
Contact |
1997 |
Robert Zemeckis |
IMDb |
| 56 |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
2004 |
Michel Gondry |
IMDb |
| 57 |
Nineteen Eighty-Four |
1984 |
Michael Radford |
IMDb |
| 58 |
When Worlds Collide |
1951 |
Rudolph Mate |
IMDb |
| 59 |
The Last Starfighter |
1984 |
Nick Castle |
IMDb |
| 60 |
Frankenstein |
1931 |
James Whale |
IMDb |
| 61 |
Twelve Monkeys |
1995 |
Terry Gilliam |
IMDb |
| 62 |
Altered States |
1980 |
Ken Russell |
IMDb |
| 63 |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers |
1978 |
Philip Kaufman |
IMDb |
| 64 |
Destination Moon |
1950 |
Irving Pichel |
IMDb |
| 65 |
Them! |
1954 |
Gordon Douglas |
IMDb |
| 66 |
Repo Man |
1984 |
Alex Cox |
IMDb |
| 67 |
THX 1138 |
1971 |
George Lucas |
IMDb |
| 68 |
Sleeper |
1973 |
Woody Allen |
IMDb |
| 69 |
Inception |
2010 |
Christopher Nolan |
IMDb |
| 70 |
Alphaville |
1965 |
Jean Luc Godard |
IMDb |
| 71 |
Rollerball |
1975 |
Norman Jewison |
IMDb |
| 72 |
The Day of the Triffids |
1962 |
Steve Sekely |
IMDb |
| 73 |
Ikarie XB-1 |
1963 |
Jindrich Polák |
IMDb |
| 74 |
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home |
1986 |
Leonard Nimoy |
IMDb |
| 75 |
Dark Star |
1974 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 76 |
Outland |
1981 |
Peter Hyams |
IMDb |
| 77 |
Scanners |
1981 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 78 |
Fahrenheit 451 |
1966 |
Francois Truffaut |
IMDb |
| 79 |
Fantastic Planet |
1973 |
Rene Laloux |
IMDb |
| 80 |
Cube |
1997 |
Vincenzo Natali |
IMDb |
| 81 |
Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
2011 |
Rupert Wyatt |
IMDb |
| 82 |
Dreamscape |
1984 |
Joseph Ruben |
IMDb |
| 83 |
Stalker |
1979 |
Andrei Tarkovsky |
IMDb |
| 84 |
Men in Black |
1997 |
Barry Sonnenfeld |
IMDb |
| 85 |
Sleep Dealer |
2008 |
Alex Rivera |
IMDb |
| 86 |
Starman |
1984 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 87 |
The Fountain |
2006 |
Darren Aronofsky |
IMDb |
| 88 |
eXistenZ |
1999 |
David Cronenberg |
IMDb |
| 89 |
Galaxy Quest |
1999 |
Dean Parisot |
IMDb |
| 90 |
The War of the Worlds |
1953 |
Byron Haskin |
IMDb |
| 91 |
They Live |
1988 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
| 92 |
Silent Running |
1972 |
Douglas Trumbull |
IMDb |
| 93 |
Escape from the Planet of the Apes |
1971 |
Don Taylor |
IMDb |
| 94 |
The Black Hole |
1979 |
Gary Nelson |
IMDb |
| 95 |
Serenity |
2005 |
Joss Whedon |
IMDb |
| 96 |
Westworld |
1973 |
Michael Crichton |
IMDb |
| 97 |
The City of Lost Children |
1995 |
Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
IMDb |
| 98 |
Attack the Block |
2011 |
Joe Cornish |
IMDb |
| 99 |
Splice |
2009 |
Vincenzo Natali |
IMDb |
| 100 |
Escape from New York |
1981 |
John Carpenter |
IMDb |
|
