10 cult sci-fi movies that were not immediately appreciated

Did you know that even such pillars of science fiction as Metropolis (1927) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1967) met with mixed receptions from critics immediately after their release? The public perception of a work of art is a specific process, especially in terms of the initial reaction to it and subsequent rethinking and reassessment, if they happen, of course. That’s the kind of film we’re going to talk about today — rejected, failed, trampled on, or simply not wanted by anyone, but perceived in a completely different way over time. In some cases, it is no exaggeration to call this the restoration of cultural and historical justice.

“Scanners”

Year of release: 1981
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Stephen Leck, Jennifer O’Neely, Patrick McGuane, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside, Robert A. Silverman, Lee Broker
IMDb rating: 6.7

In our world, there are scanners — a handful of people with telepathic and telekinetic abilities that can not only read the minds of others, but even kill. Dr. Paul Ruth recruits one of them, the drifter Cameron Vale, to stop the powerful scanner Darryl Rivock, who is trying to take control of the entire world.

Initially, Scanners received a very restrained reception from critics. For example, the authoritative Roger Ebert appreciated the novelty as a mediocre movie, accusing David Cronenberg of “not engaging the viewer and not moving them with the characters.” Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, emphasizedthat “the local detective intrigue only emphasizes the movie’s stupidity.” And the film critic John Simon in National Review did not hesitate to call the movie garbage.

However much this sci-fi horror film was criticized by its contemporaries, today it is considered a cult film, one of a number of films in the filmography of the founder of “body horror.” And the audience of that time seems to have been more farsighted than some professional reviewers, because Scanners was able to compete with American releases at the box office, which was an extraordinary event, and became a box office hit. And it was after this film that Cronenberg drew much more attention, including from major Hollywood studios.

By the way, the director’s next project, the equally iconic Videodrome (1982), would be supported by Universal Pictures and have the largest budget in the Canadian filmmaker’s career at that time. However, the public perception would be the opposite of that of Scanners: critics would praise the film, but it would be a box office failure.

“Blade Runner”

Year of release: 1982
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Gower, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Michael Emmett Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson
IMDb rating: 8.1

In the dystopian “future” of Los Angeles in 2019, humanity relies on synthetic humans, the so-called replicants, created by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a group of advanced replicants led by a dangerous Roy Batty escapes and ends up on Earth, and the grim fugitive hunter Rick Deckard takes over.

“Blade Runner deserves to be on this list like no other. Critics were divided on the film: some pointed out that it was a thematically complex movie with a good set of visual effects, which, among other things, should stand the test of time. Others resented the fact that the local plot looked secondary to the special effects and complained about the slow pace of the story. For example, Pat Berman, writing for newspapers in the city of Columbia, characterized the movie as “sci-fi pornography.”.

At the box office, the promising project failed miserably — along with mixed reviews, which is a kind of reaction to the future classic of the genre and one of the most prominent and influential SF films in history.

“The Thing”

Year of release: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Richard E. Deysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney
IMDb rating: 8.2

Among the harsh snows of Antarctica is an American research station. There, local scientists encounter a mysterious extraterrestrial life form that can mimic other organisms. Paranoia and conflicts are rapidly brewing among the frightened scientists, as the group members no longer trust each other, as any of them could be a deadly The Thing.

The film should be considered one of the most eloquent representatives of cult cinema, which initially looked like a disaster. The reviews of many critics were sharply negative, and the financial performance was a disaster. The audience of the time criticized Carpenter’s horror film for its boring plot, supported by poorly developed characters and excessive special effects. For example, Gary Arnold in The Washington Post called the movie as a “pathetic excess”. “The Something was criticized even by the director of the original The Thing from Another World (1951), Christian Nibi.

Among the reasons for the failure was, among other things, competition with Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which had been released two weeks earlier and offered a completely opposite, optimistic view of the human encounter with an alien. The project also had to compete with the aforementioned Blade Runner, which premiered on the same day. If only such “failed” films could be released in theaters at the same time.

But after an unsuccessful theatrical run, it was released on video and television, and that’s when audiences saw something in Carpenter’s creation. Something that has made it one of the coolest sci-fi horror films about alien invaders to date, along with Invasion of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979), which we’ve been talking about wrote in detail the day before in our longread.

“Highlander”

Year of release: 1986
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Clancy Brown, Sean Connery, Roxanne Hart, Alan North, Beth Edney, Christopher Malcolm, James Cosmo
IMDb rating: 7

Connor MacLeod hails from the 16th century Scottish Highlands. When it seemed that he had died in battle with the invincible Barrow, he miraculously rose from the dead. But the villagers cast Connor out, convinced that his healing is connected to dark forces. Five years later, McLeod is found by a man named Juan Ramirez, who explains that people like him have an unusual gift. The decisive battle between the Scottish warrior and his old enemy is to take place in New York in 1985. Only one man will be left.

After its release, Highlander was a box office flop and received a mixed reception in the media. Even the fact that the film featured tracks by the legendary Queen did not help. Reviewers’ opinions ranged from Variety’s conclusion that the movie was a “complete mess” to White Dwarf’s description of it as “visually stunning.”.

The situation changed in favor of this fantasy action movie after it was released on video, when it gained cult status. And it was thanks to this that the world saw four sequels (although probably in vain) and a hit TV series of the same name (1992—1998) starring Adrian Paul in the title role.

“They Live”

Year of release: 1988
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, Peter Jason, George “Buck” Flower, Raymond St. Jacques
IMDb rating: 7

Unemployed bullfighter John Nada arrives in Los Angeles in search of a better life. But when he stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses, he discovers a terrible truth about the world around him.

For its modest budget of $3—4 million, another John Carpenter film performed well at the box office. But reviewers at the time did not appreciate the story, inspired by Reaganomics, which the director found unsatisfactory, about how the main characters arm themselves with dark glasses, but actually —tear off their pink ones. For example, Richard Harrington of The Washington Post made is the disappointing conclusion: “The plot of They Live is full of black holes, the acting is terrible, the special effects are mediocre.”.

But over time, the film gained cult status and much greater favor from reviewers. This is confirmed by Brian Eggert, by writing for Deep Focus Review is: “They Live is pure Carpenter and a quintessential cult classic”; and the general critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes: “A politically subversive blend of horror and science fiction, They Live is an underrated genre film by John Carpenter”.

But in reality, what is written here is not what it seems. Just obey, watch TV, consume, don’t think.

“The Blob”

Year of release: 1988
Director: Chuck Russell
Cast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca, Del Close, Art Lafleur, Paul McCrane
IMDb rating: 6.7

A meteorite crashes near the town of Arboville, bringing with it a dangerous slimy substance that consumes everything in its path. Against the backdrop of widespread panic and the attempts of scientists who have arrived to contain the deadly slime, ordinary young people Brian Flagg and Megan Penny try to escape.

“Kraplya is one of the few films on this list that was not hated by critics, but even so, it did criminally poorly at the box office, with audiences literally ignoring the film. In an article in Screen International, dated May 27, 1989, the film’s box office in the United States called were nothing short of catastrophic. And this seems like an unfortunate omission and a great injustice, because even now the film looks fascinating, definitely worth watching.

For those who are still wondering whether to spend time on The Drop, we remind you that along with Chuck Russell, the script was written by Frank Darabont, who would later direct the legendary Stephen King adaptations “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), “The Green Mile” (1999) and The Mist (2007). And even on a very young Shawnee Smith, the future star of of the Saw franchiseIt’s a pleasure to look at.

Even though the movie had a disastrous box office, Kraplya quite rightly gained a cult following and is considered a remake, the creators of which managed to surpass the original — the 1958 science fiction horror film of the same name.

“Strange Days”

Year of release: 1995
Director: Catherine Bigelow
Cast: Rafe Fines, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D’Onofrio, Glenn Plummer, William Fichtner
IMDb rating: 7.2

The last days of 1999. The world is going crazy, waiting for the new millennium. Former Los Angeles police officer Lenny Nero makes his living by “selling” pieces of other people’s lives recorded on special mini-discs, which can be experienced through an innovative device developed by the FBI. But when Lenny’s girlfriend is brutally murdered, he plunges into a dangerous investigation with his friends — detective Max Peltier and, not to mention his Die Hard co-star, the badass limo driver Lornet Mason.

Strange Days had all the prerequisites to become a real hit. Kathryn Bigelow as the director, whose previous work was the successful Point Break (1991). Her ex-husband James Cameron as one of the screenwriters, who has a number of outstanding films under his belt. A star cast, plus a decent $42 million budget. But in the end, the idea turned into a terrible box office fiasco that almost ruined Bigelow’s career and received mixed reviews in the press. In particular, reviewers complained about unjustifiably violent scenes of violence.

However, over time, everything fell into place. The film gained a fan base, and critics’ opinions in retrospect were much more favorable. In his 2009 article, Drew Morton of the Pajiba website characterized “Strange Days is an extremely underrated film” and “the best example of cyberpunk to appear on screens since Blade Runner. And in 2021, Travis Johnson of Blunt Magazine made The conclusion: “Despite the fact that its initial release in 1995 was a flop, Kathryn Bigelow’s dynamic sci-fi thriller has become a cold-blooded and brutal classic.”.

By the way, the director’s career is doing well: in five years, her next feature, The Weight of Water, will be released, in 2010 she will receive an Oscar for The Hurt Locker (2009), and in October, Netflix is scheduled to release her new film, a political thriller called House of Dynamite.

“Starship Troopers”

Year of release: 1997
Director: Paul Vergoven
Cast: Casper van Deen, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris, Jake Busey, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside
IMDb rating: 7.3

In the distant future, humanity faces a grave danger in the form of an insect-like alien race known as the Arachnids. After graduating from high school, a young man named Johnny Rico decides to join the army, as do several of his school friends. It is they who, as part of the star troopers, will have to engage in a fierce battle with enemy forces and determine the fate of all mankind.

“Starship Troopers” can undoubtedly be called the thematic headliner of the article, because it was the one that underwent the most expressive rethinking since its release. Many viewers and critics simply failed to recognize Vergovin’s satire on right-wing militarism, taking the movie at face value, and trampled it into the mud. American film critic Stephen Gunther in his review for The Washington Post was determined and hostile: “It is Nazi in spirit, Nazi in psychology. It is directly born of the Nazi imagination and takes place in the Nazi universe.”.

Although Roger Ebert saw the satirical component, he rated the film 2 stars out of 4 and noted the film’s “action, characters and moral principles are designed for 11-year-old science fiction fans”. Jeff Weiss of the Deseret News was not kind to Vergoven’s brainchild either: “A nonstop gore-fest so devoid of taste and logic that it makes even the most ridiculous summer blockbusters seem intelligent.”.

The phenomenon of Starship Troopers and the reasons for its failure, both financial and critical, have been the subject of many comprehensive materials (for example, here this), and you’ve probably heard at least something about the disappointing history of this movie. For now, it is a reimagined, anti-fascist cult classic (Vergovin himself emphasized the anti-fascist message in his interviews), for which humanity was simply not ready back in ’97.

“Event Horizon”

Year of release: 1997
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Lawrence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee
IMDb rating: 6.6

In the not-so-distant future of 2047, a group of astronauts embark on a rescue mission after receiving a distress call from the missing Event Horizon spacecraft that suddenly appeared in Neptune’s orbit. Upon arrival, the team is horrified to discover that a mysterious, sinister force is aboard the starship.

After the commercial success of Mortal Kombat (1995), all doors were open to English director Paul W.S. Anderson. If only he knew that the studio would eventually cut his 130-minute original version and reduce it to the standard 90 minutes. Perhaps that is why “Over the Horizon” became a financial and critical failure that only the lazy did not notice.

“A bloody mess, full of powerful special effects, but nothing more” — sadly stated Mark Savlov from the Austin Chronicle. “The bottom line is that ‘Beyond the Horizon’ is not particularly effective as a horror, adventure, or science fiction film, and to enjoy it you’ll have to do something more creative than sit passively in your chair and soak up the chaos on screen,” agreed his colleague James Barardinelli in his review for ReelViews. And there were a lot of similar reviews at the beginning.

But over time, especially after its release on DVD, Anderson’s space horror gained a loyal following and a cult following to boot. In IGN’s retrospective piece dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, was noted its influence on the Dead Space video game series. And at Total Film, in the same year, 2022, emphasizedthat “25 years later, the film is firmly established in pop culture history as a cult classic and an important addition to the science fiction and horror genre”. This conclusion is followed by an interesting interview with Paul Anderson, which we recommend reading.

After the successful release on video, Paramount Pictures approached Anderson with a proposal to restore the deleted footage, but it was too late — it was either lost or irretrievably destroyed. I wonder the Englishman’s next film, the action film Soldier (1998), had exactly the same story, so it also deserves to be mentioned here.

“Constantine”

Year of release: 2005
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia Labeouf, Djimon Gonzou, Tilda Swinton, Peter Stormare, Max Baker
IMDb rating: 7

John Constantine has a supernatural ability to recognize the angelic and demonic, including those who wander among people and look like people. But John himself perceives this not as a gift but as a curse. In his attempts to kill himself just to get rid of him, the sealed suicide Konstantin was returned to the world of the living against his will. He has to guard the border that separates heaven and hell, and thus save his sinful soul.

From science fiction and space wastelands or whatever, for the sake of variety, let’s turn to the theme of hell and heaven, darkness and light, bizarre superheroics (remember, this is an adaptation of the Hellblazer comic book by DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) mixed with horror about the supernatural with a touch of fantasy.

For director Francis Lawrence, it was his feature film directorial debut. For the actor Keanu Reeves, it was his first high-profile blockbuster after the iconic Wachowski trilogy. And while the film made some money at the box office, although it was not profitable, fans of the comic book hated the movie because of the deviations from the source material (in particular, the inconsistency of the protagonist’s image), and critics did not take it well.

“Constantine” is as stupid a fantasy as it is possible to have” — stated Jack Matthews of the New York Daily News. Roger Ebert also gave the picture a low rating, naming local hell “a post-nuclear Los Angeles created by hangover animators” and adding it to his list of the most hated movies. Chicago Tribune reviewer Michael Wilmington echoed them: “While the plot is potentially fascinating and the visuals are at times mesmerizing, the movie itself is stuck in second-rate purgatory”.

Even in the magazine Cinema Digest, which the author of these lines read in the 2000s, critic Alexander Vinogradov gave Lawrence’s work 1 point out of 5 and passed a devastating sentence. To put it bluntly, feel the harshness of critical journalism 20 years ago:

But over time, the perception of the painting has changed significantly for the better. Now it has gained an army of fans and, accordingly, has become a cult film. Ryan Scott agreed with this in his material Fangoria in honor of the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, and Sabine Graves in news about developing a sequel, and Ian Murray in articles GQ, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Constantine. And after all, Francis Lawrence himself in one of the interviews. And Rafael Motamayor in his review on Rotten Tomatoes says called on to apologize to the film for our initial reaction to it. I wonder if Alexander Vinogradov would agree with him now.