The 10 Best Sci-fi Films of 2020

Ever since Groundhog Day came out in 1993, numerous films have taken the basic concept of time looping and tweaked it. Some of these films, such as Edge of Tomorrow and Source Code, have been highly regarded. Others, like ARQ and Naked, came out with a whimper. Regardless of the varying responses, it’s fascinating to see different filmmakers toy with such a specific premise. This year’s take on the formula comes from newcomer Max Barbakow, who gives us the romantic comedy Groundhog Day we always wanted.

Okay, so maybe Groundhog Day has romcom elements of its own, but Palm Springs somehow manages to come across as a completely fresh take on well-worn territory. A lot of this is the result of screenwriter Andy Siara. His nihilistic dialogue sharply cuts into a premise that has been visited repeatedly by folks who want a slice of the time loop pie. The guys behind the screen have managed to create something that feels quintessentially 2020. It’s got some edge, but there’s plenty of heart to compensate.

This pairs beautifully with the stellar performances of the two leads. Samberg doesn’t exactly break new ground, but his comedic timing is welcome as usual. Meanwhile, Cristin Milioti’s “everything sucks” attitude feels right at home in a movie like this. This combination of standout elements elevates Palm Springs beyond what it could have been – another Groundhog Day.

It’s really refreshing to see an international sci-fi film perform so well on a streaming service. It seems like a lot of movies are just dumped onto streaming services and immediately forgotten about, but The Platform managed to actually find an audience pretty shortly after its release. It would be easy to attribute this to Grade-A marketing, but that would also be naive. How did a low-budget Spanish movie from a first-time director break through to the mainstream with so many other, more accessible options?

Aside from the top-notch marketing mentioned before, The Platform is just a very good movie. Although the premise is Snowpiercer-esque, it’s certainly not the same story. Like Bong Joon-Ho’s movie, The Platform focuses on inequality and the concept of survival of the fittest. Unlike Snowpiercer, however, class doesn’t necessarily play as big of a role.

In the film, residents live in a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” which is essentially a giant elevator. This giant elevator delivers one massive serving of food to every floor, but it doesn’t limit how much people can eat. As a result, the top few floors can eat every ounce of food, leaving the bottom floors at a life-threatening disadvantage.

The premise is fascinating, but it could never be a guaranteed success. Luckily, there’s an equal balance between style and substance. This allows for a motion picture that is consistently surprising and admirably put together. This sort of quality makes Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia a director worth watching. If this is any indication, he has a bright future ahead.

Imagine you’re an angst-ridden teenager walking into your first period class. Your hormones are already going into overdrive thanks to the average adolescent stressors like, and then your classmate’s head explodes with no explanation. Now imagine that this event keeps happening. That’s the premise behind Spontaneous. It’s not exactly sunshine and rainbows, but this pitch-black comedy somehow manages to keep you smiling through the pain.

Spontaneous is a modern teen comedy that deserves to be remembered years down the road. Like Heathers and Welcome to the Dollhouse, the jokes serve to elevate the dark subject matter. Without its unique sense of humor, Spontaneous would be mid-tier disaster porn. Thankfully, there is plenty of humor to spare. It’s not always easy to strike a balance between several genres, but this film does so effortlessly.

Following the release of Possessor, one thing became crystal clear: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Brandon Cronenberg, son of acclaimed body horror auteur David Cronenberg, recently gifted us with a slam dunk of a movie that almost certainly made his father proud. Although it’s reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s greatest hits, it never feels like a carbon copy. This is body horror for the modern era.

The film revolves around an assassin who is able to transfer her consciousness to other bodies in order to perform various hits. By assassinating people outside of her own body, she is able to go on living a consequence-free life, or so she thinks.

Possessor toys with motifs revolving around morality and humanity. If she’s not committing the murders, is she the one to blame? Is it possible to live a halfway normal life when your illegal career is aided by the promise of anonymity? Cronenberg asks big questions, and while he could have taken things a step further in various places, it’s still easy to commend his vision.

It turns out that Mandy wasn’t the last neon-soaked horror flick starring Nicolas Cage. Richard Stanley’s first film in over twenty-five years might look familiar to fans of the aforementioned grindhouse masterpiece from 2018, but it’s hardly the same movie. On the contrary, Color Out of Space is its own beast. Though it shares base-level similarities as a result of its vibrant color palette, the actual execution is far different.

While Mandy is a horror-tinged grindhouse acid trip, this is more of a cosmic horror outing. It’s still unabashedly weird, but it’s a different kind of weird. You won’t find the infamous Cheddar Goblin here. Instead, you’ll get to experience mutated alpacas and the usual assortment of Lovecraftian tentacles. It’s a singular entity that comes from the mind of a very unique filmmaker.

Color Out of Space doesn’t just stand out next to other colorful Nicolas Cage vehicles; it stands out next to basically everything. Some of this could be attributed to the quirky screenplay, but there isn’t just one thing that helps the film differentiate itself. This is an unparalleled vision that could only come from the most gifted of minds. That’s why it has earned a spot on this list.

It’s probably fair to say that few people expected The Invisible Man to be this good. Leigh Whannell’s take on Universal Classic Monster wisely distances itself from recent efforts like The Mummy, Dracula Untold, and Victor Frankenstein. While those movies took a big budget action-blockbuster approach, The Invisible Man dials things back. Rather than telling a cliché-ridden story about a spooky monster that goes bump in the night, Whannel chooses to tell a timely horror story grounded in realism; that’s largely why it works.

This is not the same HG Wells story you know and love, and honestly, that’s a good thing. It shares the same DNA, but it chooses to focus more heavily on modern themes. Judging by the jump scares and atmosphere, this has plenty of elements commonly found in traditional horror flicks, but they aren’t what really make this a horror story. The horror largely comes as a result of the modern twist. The Invisible Man isn’t some featureless ghoul; he’s a very real human capable of inflicting psychological trauma at any given opportunity.

The source material’s central character has never been cardboard, but audiences have also never seen him this fleshed out. The titular invisible man is an abusive monster before he turns even invisible. The suit may keep him hidden from plain sight, but this modern interpretation wants viewers to understand the extent of his domestic violence immediately. The suit doesn’t make him a villain; his violent past does.

By taking the original premise and warping it into a cautionary tale about domestic abuse, Leigh Whannell is able to craft something far different from the other contemporary monster flicks. After the swing and miss that was the Dark Universe, it’s pleasant to see something with such passion behind it. If only every reboot had this much soul.

While Ridley Scott continues to get all philosophical with his Alien franchise, other filmmakers are taking a different approach. 2017’s Life proved that cosmic critters are often most terrifying when the story is kept simple. Recently, another movie helped verify that sentiment.

Sputnik, like the severely underrated Jake Gyllenhaal feature mentioned above, doesn’t overcomplicate things. At its most basic, it’s about an alien who’s pissed off beyond belief. It’s very much a straightforward survival movie, but unlike the competition, there’s enough hard science to make the story feel believable.

Despite the lack of philosophical mumbo jumbo, Sputnik is actually a pretty clever movie. It feels like a perfect balance between raw survival horror and hard science fiction. The story itself never feels overcomplicated, but the science behind everything helps the film feel like more than an Alien fanfiction.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have slowly been gaining clout following years of underground success in the world of science fiction and horror. Resolution, Spring, and The Endless aren’t mainstream success stories by any means, but they’re all critical darlings in one way or another. Synchronic doesn’t stray terribly far from the formula that has worked so well for this directing pair. The budget may be substantially larger than any of their previous releases, but this is still a sci-fi movie with horror undertones.

Well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Benson and Moorhead know what works for them, and their commitment to doubling down is admirable. It would have been nice to see the pair break free of their collective comfort zone, but the craftsmanship here is undeniable. Once again, viewers have the chance to sit through a mind-bending journey that strives to surprise.

Christopher Nolan’s latest lacks the cohesion of his greater works, but it provides enough visual spectacle to entertain throughout its two-and-a-half hour runtime. Just don’t expect to understand everything after watching it one time. It’s a mess of a puzzle, but it’s a puzzle that plenty of viewers will love putting together.

Let’s start with the basics. Tenet is an action thriller focused on the time travel theory made popular in movies like Primer and 12 Monkeys. Like Primer and 12 Monkeys, this particular scientific theory makes first-time viewing laborious. Everything is intricately placed at a specific moment in time, and while all of this is likely very intentional, some viewers may just find it pretentious. Calling the timeline a jagged line would be oversimplifying things; it’s more of a massive flowchart.

Because of this, Tenet might be Nolan’s least accessible film to date. The director has always had grandiose visions, and they often result in some confusion among viewers, but the science behind Tenet is especially unkind to those who choose to watch Tenet passively.

If this comes off as negative, it’s not necessarily supposed to. Through all the chaos and winding timelines, Tenet remains one hell of an enjoyable blockbuster. In between complex expository dialogue, viewers will be treated to blisteringly fast car chases and thrilling action sequences. You don’t have to understand every single part to enjoy it, but at the same time, subsequent viewings easily expand on moments that might have seemed mind-boggling the first time around. Sure, Tenet is not Nolan’s magnum opus, but it’s a blockbuster worth checking out.

In a directorial debut like no other, Andrew Patterson has delivered a science fiction masterpiece that takes inspiration from the classics of yesteryear. The Twilight Zone is obviously the biggest inspiration here, but The Vast of Night isn’t just a one-note copy of Rod Sterling’s acclaimed anthology series. This surprise hit takes all the best elements of classic sci-fi stories and blends them into a wholly unique final product. Though the individual pieces may seem familiar, there’s still nothing quite like this low-budget throwback.

The Vast of Night takes place in 1950s New Mexico, where mysterious occurrences are uncovered by a disc jockey and switchboard operator. As the two team up to find answers, things get increasingly bizarre in the small rural town that serves as the film’s backdrop.

Mysteries are uncovered largely through dialogue and sound as opposed to large setpieces. The occupations of the two protagonists are no coincidence. The extraterrestrial activity doesn’t show itself as much as it exposes itself through radio frequencies. This isn’t an action movie focused on large-scale battles with alien life; it’s a more thoughtful approach to a story as old as time.

This slower, dialogue-driven style won’t gel with folks looking for something big and bold. This is a quintessential indie sci-fi movie at the end of the day. It’s aggressively low-key, but that’s part of the appeal.