Great sci-fi movies satisfy a unique craving in all of us that no other genre can. To qualify for this list, however, it’s not sufficient to be a universally acclaimed or highly influential genre touchstone that’s held up remarkably well today. Screw that. Today, we’re counting down a number of compulsively rewatchable sci-fi movies that always keep you coming back for more and feel fresh no matter how many times you’ve seen it. You know the kind — so you already wore out the VHS tape, know every single line like gospel, and seen the film about 120 times give or take, but you’ll still gladly sit down to watch even if you catch it halfway through on cable, or throw it on after a hard day’s work no questions asked.
From retro-futuristic ’80s slashers and punk-rock conspiracy thrillers, animated mind-melters to irreverent comedy spoofs: There should be something for every type of SF aficionado in our entirely subjective rundown of 10 most rewatchable science fiction movies of all time, listed in no specific order, that only get better the second (or third) time around.
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
James Cameron’s original 1984 “Terminator” and its bleak, gritty vision of technology run amok remains to this day a landmark achievement in low-budget sci-fi. That said, there’s a solid reason why “Judgment Day” recently plowed its way into our ranked rundown of the most entertaining movies of all time and squarely belongs in the conversation as one of if not the finest sequel ever made.
Nobody expected the first film’s titular big baddie — Arnold Schwarzenegger’s remorseless killer cyborg T-800 — to turn into mankind’s unlikely savior after being sent back from the future to protect John Connor from an even deadlier and advanced Skynet robot made out of liquid metal. But the gambit more than paid off, allowing “T2” to fully separate itself from its $6 million predecessor, become the highest grossing movie of 1991, and cement Cameron as the most reliable crowd-pleasing director of the modern era.
There’s not an ounce of fat in this 137-minute-long sustained adrenaline rush, a perfectly paced thrill ride that wastes no time setting up the stakes and waltzing through one memorable set piece after another before barreling into a tear-jerking climax for the ages. Future historians will claim that cinema peaked the moment a 12-gauge shotgun-wielding Arnie flashed across our screens soaring through the air and jumping into the L.A. canal on his 780-pound Harley Davidson Fatboy.
2. RoboCop (1987)
Of course, we wouldn’t think of putting together a list of essential sci-fi titles without having one of the patron saints of the genre crop up at least once. It’s been almost 40 years since Dutch iconoclast Paul Verhoeven got away with the cinematic equivalent of unleashing a Trojan horse onto the world by getting this sharply satirical rabble rouser bankrolled and wide released by a major Hollywood studio right smack in the middle of the Reagan administration.
Being ahead of its time is a term that gets thrown around a little too often in film criticism, but this cinematic flip-bird to American excess and corporatism, cleverly disguised as crass, brainless ’80s schlock and starring Peter Weller as a Detroit law enforcement agent killed in the line of duty who’s brought back as a human-robot hybrid by a shady tech conglomerate that practically owns the entire city, grows more relevant with each passing year.
The subversive satirical subtext was so much on the nose that it somehow went over a lot of heads at the time, and it seems as though a subset of young fans only enjoy Verhoeven’s work semi-ironically nowadays — a pity because as multiple, enriching visits reveal, “RoboCop” feels fresh no matter how many times you watch it. And if you’re down for another gloriously offbeat Peter Weller-led ’80s sci-fi extravaganza, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” is worth delving into.
3. They Live (1988)
Obey, conform, do not question authority, and consume this 1988 sci-fi thriller by John Carpenter, toplined by beloved WWE heel “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in the role of an unemployed drifter living on the fringes of L.A. who lays hands on a unique pair of Ray Ban sunglasses that reveal that aliens have covertly taken over as the Earth’s ruling class and placed hidden, subliminal messages across billboards and media to keep the non-compliant subdued.
From a vantage point more than 30 years later, the central conceit to Carpenter’s not-so-subtle middle-finger to 1980s consumerist culture may sound like the sort of bonkers conspiracy theory spouted by a bunch of basement-dwelling nutjobs in tinfoil hat circles today. But let’s be honest, you don’t need to listen to Alex Jones on a daily basis or subscribe to the notion that aliens walk among us to appreciate Carpenter’s sharp Reagan-era social commentary, or have an absolute blast watching Piper and Keith Davis trade blows for 5-plus glorious minutes. Along with “The Thing”, this is Carpenter at his best and most compulsively re-watchable. Period.
4. Aliens (1986)
What’s that? Another sequel directed by James Cameron, you say? Sometimes, it boils down to giving credit where credit is due: Nobody in the past half-century has nearly as good of a track record when it comes to churning out top-shelf blockbuster follow-ups as Big Jim.
The Canadian filmmaker had quite some big shoes to fill when he was handed over the reins of the Alien franchise to helm the much-anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s seminal haunted house in space masterpiece. Cue “Aliens”, through which Cameron jolted new life into the series by giving fans precisely what they least expected: A guns-blazing shoot-‘em-up extravaganza that traded the original’s simmering slow-burn tension, deep-space isolation, and close-quarter claustrophobia for full-throttle action.
Predators become prey as we watch lone Nostromo survivor Ellen Ripley team up with a squad of buff marines to wipe out an entire colony’s worth of acid-spraying xenomorphs in the space colony LV-426. It’s loud, brash, and unapologetically OTT, but also one of the most satisfying action-war movies ever to grace the big screen.
How does it stack up against Ridley Scott’s original? The debate around whose film reigns supreme still rages on 38 years later. It’s a bit apples to oranges, really, but taking rewatchability value into account, we have no option but to go with Cameron’s as the installment in the Alien series we simply have to stop and watch all the way to the end whenever it’s on cable. If only the director would’ve had the good sense not to waste the back half of his career in the moon of Pandora. Oh well.
5. The Matrix (1999)
The groundbreaking blockbuster that single-handedly brought trench coats, wraparound shades, and black leather back in style on the eve of the millennium has lost none of its foothold in the public consciousness and continues to be the yardstick on how to expertly juggle profound philosophical dilemmas and mind-melting sci-fi with a full serving of kickass action thrills.
You know the drill: Keanu Reeves’ mild-mannered software programmer-by-day, anonymous cyber-terrorist-by-night has a growing suspicion that his world might not be quite what it seems, only to eventually learn that he’s said to be the one to lead humanity into revolt against the man-made machines that have secretly enslaved us in the near-future.
The idea that our perception of reality might exist simply as a computerized simulation wasn’t exactly novel by the time movie audiences watched Neo take the red pill, learn kung fu, and dodge bullets in “The Matrix”. But we hadn’t seen anyone transpose these heavy existential themes into the big screen with such sheer flavor and gusto as the Wachowskis, who hit the bull’s-eye and broke into the mainstream with an irresistible film mash-up that draws on everything from Plato’s philosophy, Eastern religion, cyberpunk anime, Hong Kong action cinema and a healthy dose of Y2K bug anxiety. With endlessly quotable line reads, badass wire-fu choreography, and now-iconic bullet-time effects to spare — what’s not to like?