10 Movies You Didnt Realize Were SciFi (But Technically Are)

10 Movies You Didn’t Realize Were Sci-Fi (But Technically Are)

Sci-Fi can be more than just starships and extra-dimensional beings, as proven by these unconventional pieces of science fiction movies.

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The Science Fiction genre is synonymous with ideas that are larger than life, such as meeting aliens, making apes smarter, or inventing Artificial Intelligence that’s on par with (or even superior to) its creators’. However, some of the best sci-fi stories don’t need these heightened concepts to get their message across. Sometimes all they need is a fascist government or a more grounded approach to familiar sci-fi ideas.

With that in mind, here are some movies that actually tackle sci-fi themes – although you wouldn’t know that upon first glance. Then again, appearances can be deceiving. Without further delay, here are ten movies you never knew were sci-fi but technically are.

10 The Lobster (2015)

A common shorthand in dystopian fiction for showing how controlling a society has become is to have the populace’s sex lives and family planning pre-determined. This is the case in The Lobster, although that may be easily overlooked due to how dry the movie is and how little is actually explained.

The dead giveaway is that should a person fail to find a spouse in 45 days, they will be turned into an animal of their choice. This (and the setting as a whole) isn’t really elaborated upon, but this strange punishment for failing to live up to this society’s strict demand for monogamy and love is up there with the existentially frightening prisons of Minority Report. That, and masturbation is punishable by sticking hands in a toaster.

9 Mad Max (1979)

While the more popular Mad Max movies (like The Road Warrior or Fury Road) have become the templates of the post-apocalyptic side of sci-fi, the very first movie stands out because 1) it doesn’t feel like a Mad Max movie and 2) it could easily be mistaken for any action-thriller of its time.

Mad Max is the rare pre-apocalypse movie that shows civilization on the brink of the end. Here, law and order have crumbled to such an extreme that the police don’t even know if they have any superiors to answer to anymore. However, the end of the world is only background noise to the movie’s real focus: Max’s downfall.

8 Battle Royale (2000)

The world of Battle Royale is like that of The Running Man, only if all the humor of that Schwarzenegger gem was stripped off and the central concepts were taken to frightening extremes. Using “The Program” to keep the youth in check, the government of Battle Royale forces an entire class of students to kill each other until only one is left.

Thing is, these murderous policies only serve as the catalyst for the drama and carnage that unfolds. Battle Royale focuses on the class’ crumbling dynamic, as some step up while others lose their minds. It’s easy to forget these sci-fi elements as the real horror and human elements of The Program take center stage.

7 Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best (and most heartbreaking) movies about a relationship ever seen. It also just so happens to be a drama with some sci-fi elements in it.

That’s not to say that the speculative ideas (i.e. a machine that can wipe out a person’s memories) are unimportant, but they do take a backseat to the fallout of Joel and Clementine’s break-up. Other sci-fi movies would have tackled the social implications of such an invention, while this movie only uses it as a literal plot device to examine the highs and lows of love.

6 Groundhog Day (1993)

Momentarily ignoring Ghsotbusters’ existence, Groundhog Day is undoubtedly the definitive Bill Murray comedy. Him being stuck in the same day for what seems like the rest of time may sound like a perfect story for the magical realism section, but this could also be seen as a different take on time travel.

Rather than going to the past or future, Groundhog Day traps Bill Murray in a stable time loop. Just like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this movie uses its sci-fi concept more as a plot device and focuses on the characters’ personal journeys, not the science behind it. A more traditional sci-fi take on this idea can be found in Looper.

5 The Spongebob Squarepants Franchise

We’re not kidding; technically speaking Spongebob Squarepants as a whole count as sci-fi. Fantastical sci-fi stories often suggest that the oceans – one of the Earth’s last unexplored regions – are home to yet undiscovered civilizations. This fits Bikini Bottom perfectly, as they are marine life (and a sponge) who somehow live like humans do. It doesn’t help that a common fan theory posits that Bikini Bottom is the result of the countless nuclear tests done in the real life Bikini Atoll.

Some of the sci-fi concepts that the movies play with include: time and extra-dimensional travel, the sentient fish meeting humans, a despotic regime brought up by a fast food chain, a Mad Max-styled dystopia brought about by a lack of fast food burgers, and more. These are played for comedic effect rather than speculative fiction, as is expected of traditional sci-fi. The series itself has even more bonkers ideas at work.

4 Inside Out (2015)

Scientists have done a great job of showing us how our brains work, but even the greatest scientist would struggle to explain something as abstract and irrational as emotions. Inside Out proposes that our emotions are people who, from a control room in the brain, run a human being as if they were a giant robot in a mecha anime.

Obviously this isn’t how emotions happen (or do they?), but Pixar’s fantastical interpretation of emotional reactions shares a lot in common with sci-fi epics that imagine fully functioning human-like societies living beyond the stars or in the Earth’s core. That, and this is one of the most unique reinterpretations of the human body’s functions.

3 The Cabin In The Woods (2012)

The horror genre is one of the most fantastical genres around since we know for a fact that mainstays like Freddy Krueger or unicorns don’t exist (or do they?). The Cabin in the Woods, meanwhile, takes horror literally and shows how humans would react to living in a world at the mercy of monsters, supernatural killers, and ancient evils.

The answer turns out to be rather harrowing, as those who know this truth have no choice but to make a sprawling facility dedicated to human sacrifices that will theoretically hold the end of the world at bay. The Cabin in the Woods is praised for being one of the most meta recontextualizations of horror movies, but it deserves some praise for being a uniquely morbid take on sci-fi.

2 Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is best remembered as an existential drama about life, death, and a creepy bunny. But beneath its ruminations on mortality, there’s a lot of heavy sci-fi concepts at play. According to the movie, the story could be taking place in a branching future, an alternate dimension, or Donnie’s schizophrenic delusion – or all of the above.

All three possibilities are discussed by the characters thus making each one plausible, although the real focus is on Donnie questioning reality. No matter which interpretation you believe, these layered theories prove that Donnie Darko is more than just an unsettlingly surreal view into a troubled teenager’s life.

1 Idiocracy (2006)

Idiocracy is exactly the kind of foul-mouthed satire you’d expect from the creators of South Park. In this future, humanity’s collective intelligence has been reduced to an IQ equal to that of a shovel, leading to hordes of idiots who eat nothing but Carl’s Jr. and laugh at kicks to the crotch all day. Silly as the premise is, there’s actually a decent sci-fi explanation for everything.

Idiocracy proposes that stupid people kept on procreating while those with even a lick of intelligence continually made up excuses not to. This led to a generational brain drain where humanity has been reduced to its basest interests. While the movie’s understanding of genetics is simplified at best, it leads to a version of Brave New World that’s somehow funnier and more frightening at the same time.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/sci-fi-movies-you-didnt-realize-but-technically-are/

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