The Futility Of Top Ten Sci-Fi Film Lists

Nov 27

Nov 27 The Futility Of Top Ten Sci-Fi Film Lists

This could actually be about the futility of any top ten list not based on objective measurements (“the ten tallest girls in the 5th grade”) or very precise and narrow definition of terms (“the top ten Gene Kelly movies in color where he sings and dances on a public street”).

What we like -- and more importantly why we like it -- is entirely subjective, and I can understand perfectly why Saturn 3 -- to give one very specific example -- turns off so many viewers while I find a very compelling core in it.

What prompts these musings is a list my brother Rikk sent me of his top ten favorite sci-fi / horror films.

Okay, we’ve narrowed it down to a specific sub-genre (which is good; helps us focus), and from the list itself we can see Rikk enjoys sci-fi / horror movies with monsters in them (there are sci-fi / horror films that don’t have monsters, so the distinction is important).

Here’s Rikk’s list:

Alien
War Of The Worlds (1953)
The Thing (John Carpenter version)
Fiend Without A Face
The Angry Red Planet
The Mist [haven’t seen this one]
Invasion Of The Saucer Men
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
Kronos
The Monolith Monsters

That’s an eminently defensible list. There’s a couple I would never have considered for inclusion, but hey, like I said, everyone gets to pick their favorites, right?

If you’re curious, my top ten list of favorite sci-fi / horror films with monsters would include:

The Thing From Another World (1951)
Them!
It! The Terror From Beyond Space
Planet Of The Vampires (a.k.a. Terrore Nello Spazio)
Alien / Aliens
The Terminator
Galaxy Of Terror (Roger Corman’s smart Alien rip-off)
Forbidden World (Roger Corman’s goofy Alien rip-off)
The Fly (Cronenberg version)
Jason X (a stupid movie, but a gloriously stupid movie)

I wouldn’t define the original Forbidden Planet as a sci-fi / horror film even though it has a really good monster in it, and as much as I enjoy Terminator 2 it doesn’t really fall into the horror camp, either, even though its predecessor certainly did.

Likewise, I link Alien and Aliens together while all subsequent sequels and spinoffs are excluded.

But again, that’s just Buzz’s list of favorite sci-fi / horror monster movies.

What would I say are the ten best sci-fi films as a whole regardless of sub-genre?

Well, now that you asked…

Metropolis (restored version)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (original)
Forbidden Planet
Seconds
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Star Wars (original unnumbered theatrical Hans-shoots-first release)
Aliens
Blade Runner (original theatrical release)
Ghost In The Shell (anime version)

Again, I think we can all agree this is an eminently defensible list, all of them A-movies made by creators at the top of their form, and well received by audiences. (Well, technically Forbidden Planet was a B-movie but since it was an MGM B-movie that puts it on an A-movie level compared to other studios.)

The one oddball here is Seconds, which is a surprisingly small and low key film for inclusion but it addresses the human condition more directly than most of the other films on the list.

And many of you no doubt notice a few seemingly obvious exceptions -- Things To Come, War Of The Worlds, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Fantastic Voyage, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, etc.

Still, this is a pretty safe list, only a couple of really challenging films on it.

Let me draw up another list, this one of “must see” sci-fi films.