10 Must-See Obscure Sci-fi Movies You May Have Missed

25 APRIL 2018 FEATURES, FILM LISTS BY ANTONI URBANOWICZ

The cinematic world of science fiction brings joy and thrills for audiences since
its silent era beginnings. It�s an artistic formula that makes the impossible
possible. For almost a century, we were witnessing on the silver screen the
exploration of space, confrontations with extraterrestrials, rebellions of
intelligent machines, and a sometimes optimistic and sometimes nihilistic view of
the future world.

It�s practically impossible not to know or having heard about movies like �2001: A
Space Odyssey,� �Blade Runner� or �The Matrix.� In the list, you can find lesser
known or forgotten sci-fi films, which are worth watching for reasons described in
their mini-reviews below. Here�s the 10 must-see obscure sci-fi movies.

1. O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization

O-Bi, O-Ba The End of Civilization

After nuclear annihilation, what�s left of humanity remains in a gigantic

underground bunker. To give any hope to the people, bunker authorities perpetrates
a religious myth of an �Ark� vessel, which will rescue everyone from the mournful
underground reality. Soft (Jerzy Stuhr) receives a task to find Engineer (Jan
Nowicki), who�s responsible for the construction of bunker, because its
construction is on the brink of collapse.

�O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization� is a post-apocalyptic film like no other and
has the bleakest and most pessimistic vision of the future. The underground
facility is plagued with overwhelming poverty and most of tenants are demented
maniacs � a grim effect of years and years of isolation.

Along with the protagonist, who�s one of the last standing voices of reason, the
audience is discovering step by step the frightening secrets of this place. This
experience is far from being pleasant and guarantees to stay with the viewers long
after the movie�s end.

Just like other sci-fi films directed by Piotr Szulkin, it�s an intelligent
parallel of the comparable gloomy life and politics in the time of the communistic
Polish People�s Republic. The only Polish sci-fi films that are worthy of
recommendation are the ones made by Szulkin and, if you want to discover his
fascinating filmography, start with �O-Bi, O-Ba.�

2. Split Second

London of the future (2008) is not a nice place to live. It�s partially submerged
due to the greenhouse effect and the streets are filled with poverty,
contamination, and bloodthirsty mutated rats. What�s even worse, a psychopathic
part-human, part-beast serial killer, who has an urge to eat hearts, is on the
loose. The police department sent their best detective � Harley Stone (Rutger
Hauer), a man who�s addicted to coffee and sweets � to track him down.
�Split Second� is not a masterpiece of any kind. It�s a visibly cheap knock-off of
specific elements from better sci-fi movies like �Blade Runner,� �Alien� and the
buddy-action classic �Lethal Weapon.� Other than that, it�s a very watchable and
simply fun, obscure sci-fi action film.

Rutger Hauer is wonderfully over the top as the cartoonish protagonist, who acts
like he was taken straight from pulpy noir novels from the 1940s. The plot doesn�t
always make perfect sense, but the whole movie generates a fascinating grim
atmosphere by presenting a devastated cyber-punk London.

It�s a perfectly tailored movie to watch with bunch of friends while drinking beers
and discussing what�s happening on screen. The worse quality VHS copy you could
get, the better for a s�ance.

3. Lifeforce

Lifeforce (1985)

The space shuttle Churchill is sent to explore Halley�s Comet. In its coma, they
find an alien spaceship with three seemingly human bodies � one female and two
males in a hibernation state, and many corpses of bat-like critters.

The crew of Churchill decides to take these three bodies onto the ship, not knowing
that the hibernated entities they discovered are ancient space vampires. They
settle the course back to Earth, which will lead to the beginning of apocalyptic
events that will destroy London.

Sounds cheesy? Well, because it is cheesy as hell! �Lifeforce� is definitely not a

good movie according to the definition of what is a good film. It�s a self-
conscious B-movie, in the style of Roger Corman�s sci-fi horrors from the 1950s,
which were made for drive-in audiences. It delivers a lot of escapist fun and cheap
thrills. The practical and makeup effects are kind of awesome because of their
1980�s nostalgic charm.

The movie is never boring due to the dynamic pacing and multiples absurdities of
the script, such as the constantly naked vampire lady terrorizing London, or a
possessed Patrick Stewart talking with a woman�s voice in one of the most memorable
sequences.

Tobe Hooper�s carrier had its ups and downs (maybe even more downs, if you believe
the rumors that Steven Spielberg � not Hooper � directed �Poltergeist�), but
�Lifeforce� definitely needs to be rediscovered for its entertaining values.

4. God Told Me To

God Told Me To

Larry Cohen had a pretty weird career as a director. He was responsible for such B-
class oddities as the blaxploitation classic, �Black Caesar�(1973); the cult horror
movie about a mutated baby, �It�s Alive� (1974) and its sequel �It�s Alive II: It
Lives Again� (1978); the giant monster film, �Q� (1982); and the horror satire on
capitalism, �The Stuff� (1985). His most mainstream achievement was the script for
popular film �Phone Booth� (2002), directed by Joel Schumacher.
However, the most gripping and interesting movie is Cohen�s sci-fi thriller �God
Told Me To� (1976). The film tells a story of a police detective, Peter Nicholas
(Tony Lo Bianco), who investigates killing sprees perpetrated by random people who
claim that God told them to do it. It�s all somewhat connected to the mysterious
Bernard Philips (Richard Lynch), a leader of a bizarre religious cult and, which is
revealed later, a hermaphrodite extraterrestrial.

�God Told Me To� is part police procedural thriller, part science fiction. Under
the veneer of a B-movie there is a social commentary regarding the once extremely
popular New Age cults and absurdities of the religion in general. Unfortunately,
history knows a lot of maniacs who committed various atrocities in the name of God.

While the production and acting values leave a lot to be desired, the movie is
definitely worth watching because of the craziness, fascinating concepts, and
gritty atmosphere of New York in the 1970s. Don�t miss the cameo by legendary
comedian Andy Kaufman, who plays the role of a mad policeman shooting people during
the St. Patrick�s Day parade.

5. XTRO

Xtro (1983)

After three years of absence, Sam Phillips (Philip Sayer) returns to his wife,
Rachel (Bernice Stegers) and son, Tony (Simon Nash), who witnessed his
disappearance in sinister lights. They don�t know that Sam was kidnapped by aliens
and is now genetically modified. Soon, he bites Tony, which endows his son with
telepathic powers. Tony uses his new abilities to make his toys alive in order to
harass his unfriendly neighbor.

�XTRO� is a truly horrifying and surreal British sci-fi body horror that was
strongly criticized in the time of its release, but after years managed to achieve
the status of a cult movie. Perhaps it�s the strangest film that deals with
extraterrestrial infestation, as �XTRO� is full of bizarre and therefore very
memorable scenes.

One of the first sequences shows the attack of a creepy alien creature impregnating
woman, who later gives birth to a fully grown man, who strongly resembles the worst
nightmares human could have as well as equally messed up films by David Cronenberg
and Takashi Miike. Not to mention the gigantic toy soldiers sent to kill, or the
wicked midget clowns with rubber hammers.

Despite its low budget, �XTRO� has impressive special effects and animatronics,
which contribute to the demented and disturbing vision of the director, Harry
Bromley Davenport.

6. The Hidden

The Hidden (1987)

A crime-ridden 1980�s Los Angeles is dealing with a completely new type of problem.
Villainous slug-like aliens came from space to possess the bodies and minds of
randomly selected people to wreck total chaos on the streets, preferably to the
tunes of heavy metal music.
Hard-boiled police detective Beck (Michael Nouri) is assigned to work with
eccentric FBI agent Gallagher (Kyle MacLachlan) to stop the killing spree. Beck
doesn�t know that Gallagher confronted an alien invader in the past, in a distant
part of the galaxy�

�The Hidden� is an energetic, fast-paced, buddy-cop action film with a sprinkle of

science fiction horror on top of it, which makes the movie a very tasty and
refreshing combination. It starts with a bank robbery and an exciting car chase
sequence, and because it�s not really slowing down afterward, it�s impossible to
get bored with this film.

MacLachlan is wonderfully cast as the weird but likable Gallagher. His role in �The
Hidden� is a specific acting trial for another role of an idiosyncratic lovable FBI
agent, which of course is Dale Cooper from the legendary �Twin Peaks.�

7. A Boy and His Dog

A Boy and His Dog

In the deadly year 2024, decades after the nuclear holocaust, Vic (Don Johnson) and
his telepathic dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire) have a peculiar alliance. Vic is
responsible for looking after the food, and Blood for tracking females for Vic.

In the desolate outskirts, they find the mysterious Quilla June Holmes (Susanne
Benton), with whom Vic falls in love. Despite Blood�s warnings, Vic decides to
follow her to the underground region, where a secret totalitarian government
prepared a sinister fate for him�

�A Boy and His Dog� is an adaptation of the famous sci-fi novella by Harlan Ellison
and directed by L.Q. Jones, who is known for his acting work in various westerns.
The film is a forefather of the grim depiction of a post-apocalyptic society,
desert-based and plagued by numerous vicious and primitive gangs. It also had a
major influence on the cult video game �Fallout� series.

However, in the second half, the movie turns into a dystopian thriller with its
presentation of a bizarre underground society, which is heavy stylized on pre-World
War II America.

A rocky friendship between a young man and his telepathic dog is made very
believable because of the bromance chemistry between the unusual duo. The audience
roots for them despite the fact that they don�t always follow moral values, but
this is the core of the post-apocalyptic world � only the strongest and not
necessarily the most righteous ones will survive in the harsh reality of nuclear
wastelands.

8. Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Tetsuo the Iron Man

Trans-humanism is a favorite subject of sci-fi films, strongly popularized by such

movies as �Robocop� (1987) or �The Terminator� (1984). One of the weirdest films
that deals with the theme of combining a man with a machine is the Japanese
underground classic �Tetsuo: The Iron Man.� The movie is directed by Shinya
Tsukamoto, who�s also known for his acting work in Takashi Miike�s �Ichi the
Killer� (2001) and Martin Scorsese�s �Silence� (2016).
The movie�s sort-of plot revolves around Salaryman (Tomorowo Taguchi) and his
progressive and gruesome transformation into a machine � an act of vengeance
perpetrated by the Metal Fetishist (the director itself), who was hit by
Salaryman�s car.

�Tetsuo� is a surrealistic body horror made strictly for an audience that doesn�t
mind gore and Japanese-style madness. If you find the idea of watching a penis
transform into a drilling machine appealing, then this is a movie for you.

Filmed in the style of an utterly disturbing fever nightmare, with industrial music
by Chu Ishikawa playing in the background, �Tetsuo� is a hell of a wild ride. The
film could be as well watched as a cyberpunk depiction of the slow dehumanization
of Japanese society due to the rapid advancement of computer systems and machines.

9. Colossus: The Forbin Project

Colossus The Forbin Project (1970)

Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden) creates a revolutionary intelligent supercomputer

named Colossus for national military defense purposes. Just after the moment it�s
turned on, Colossus makes an announcement that the Soviets created a similar system
named Guardian.

Two computers start to communicate using the language that is impossible for the
scientists to decipher, and eventually Forbin decides to break the connection
between them. It causes Colossus to start to make threats about destroying cities
with nuclear weapons. This is only the beginning of Colossus gradually taking by
force the power over U.S. and finally over the rest of the world. All of it in the
name of mathematically calculated peace.

�Colossus: The Forbin Project� is a minimalistic, intelligent, and nerve-wrecking

yet forgotten sci-fi thriller. It efficiently makes the audience glued to the
screen from the beginning to the movie�s shocking end.

Watching sequences of ill-fated attempts taken by staff of scientists to outsmart

the omniscient machine could really induce heart palpitations. Its portrayal of
villainous artificial intelligence, with a taste for global domination, precedes
the much more recognizable �Skynet� from �The Terminator.�

Set in the times of the Cold War, �Colossus: The Forbin Project� is still actual
because of the constant development of A.I., which induces human fear, and also
because of the recent diplomatic crisis between the United States and Russia.

Since 2013, rumors have been floating that Ron Howard is planning to make a remake
starring Will Smith as Charles Forbin. It is our responsibility as humanity to
create a supercomputer that will track and eliminate every attempt to make
unnecessary remakes of perfectly fine movies.

10. Liquid Sky

Liquid Sky

The daily routine of a model, Margaret (Anne Carlisle), and a post-punk singer/drug
dealer, Adrian (Paula E. Sheppard), is made of taking drugs, spending time in
nightclubs, and having sex without any obligations. Just the typical life of people
who were connected to the artistic bohemia in the age of New Wave movement � a
perfect time for aliens to visit Earth.

A spacecraft lands on the rooftop of Margaret�s and Adrian�s apartment, which

starts a chain of strange events. Margaret�s sexual partners are dying during
intercourse and their bodies are mysteriously disappearing.

�Liquid Sky� became an independent cult classic immediately after its release. It�s
a fascinating portrayal and examination of New York counterculture at the beginning
of the 1980s. The combination of colorful costumes, eerie synth-music, post-punk
mentality, and omnipresent neon lights make the movie a very authentic audio-visual
postcard sent from the 1980s.

The sci-fi concept of aliens kidnapping people while having sex, because of their
addiction to endorphins produced during orgasm, is as genuinely frightening as it
is strongly allegorical in the context of the movie�s embedment at the end of true
sexual freedom, just before the emergence of the AIDS epidemic.

A true star of �Liquid Sky� is Anne Carlisle, who plays both Margaret and male
model Jimmy. She is charismatic and otherworldly as the androgynous Margaret,
partly resembling David Bowie, partly Klaus Nomi. It�s one of the favorite movies
of Nicolas Winding Refn and had a visible influence on his �The Neon Demon� (2016).

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