The 30 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Movies on Netflix Right Now
We constantly use the term “science fiction and fantasy” to refer to fantasy stories, but in reality, each of these genres contains many works. The SFF movie could have been an alien invasion blockbuster; a bloody epic of swords and sorcery; or a quiet, thoughtful fable. What all these films have in common is that they are able to think beyond the world we see from the window.
Here are the 30 best movies you can stream on Netflix right now.
Damsel (2024)
Millie Bobby Brown ( Stranger Things, Enola Holmes ) is practically the face of Netflix these days, and she’s back again in this dark fantasy from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo ( 28 Weeks Later ). She plays Elodie, the titular damsel who is offered an arranged marriage by her family, which doesn’t sound so bad until she learns that it was all part of an elaborate ritual sacrifice meant to keep a dragon from destroying the kingdom. Luckily for her, she is much more resourceful than her family thinks. First goal: get out. Second goal? Get more.
Paradise (2023)
In this German sci-fi dystopia, time is literally a commodity. Max (Kostya Ullmann) works for a technology company, appropriately named Aeon, that buys time (years) from the poor to extend the lives of its rich and powerful clients. He’s great at his job, but that doesn’t matter much when his apartment burns down and he’s responsible for a loan secured by 40 years of his wife Elana’s life. Having suddenly married an older woman, he is determined to get his wife’s time back at any cost.
Nimona (2023)
Based on the graphic novel by N.D. Stevenson, Nimona had a rocky road to the screen, enduring delays, company shutdowns, a pandemic and pressure from Disney to tone down its strange themes. Luckily, none of these dramas made it into the finished product (eventually streamed by Netflix). This is a heartfelt, joyful and funny fantasy set in a futuristic world full of medieval trappings. Ballister Baldheart, along with his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, is about to be knighted by the Queen, becoming the first commoner ever to receive the honor. All was well until he was accused of murdering the queen and forced to flee, becoming the criminal the snobs had already mistaken him for. Luckily (or not), he is joined by Nimona, a teenage outcast who has been shunned due to her shapeshifting powers. The two work together to clear Ballister’s name, although Nimona has a lot to teach Ballister about how to live authentically.
The Old Guard (2020)
In the Netflix comic film, Charlize Theron plays Andromache, the occasional leader of a group of immortal individuals who are already several centuries old when the film begins. They usually work as mercenaries when the reason is right, but find that their group is beginning to fall apart in the face of a new threat: modern technology has made it harder to hide their secret, and a pharmaceutical company executive plans to catch them, find out why they are immortal, and then produce a sellable product. The film is a solid mix of comic book heroics and mercenary action, with a sequel on the way. Shortly after, director Gina Prince-Bythewood filmed the historical drama The Lady King, also on Netflix.
Circle (2015)
It’s an alien abduction for the Squid generation of games , set in the aftermath of a mass abduction. The circle opens with 50 people waking up in a dark room. They are on platforms from which they cannot move under fear of death from a laser strike, and quickly realize that they are trapped in a game with simple and specific rules: with hand gestures they must vote for the next person to die (if not, every two minutes someone will die). then selected randomly). It’s a disgusting scheme devised by would-be invaders, but it’s also an exploration of our species and leads to some less-than-flattering conclusions about how quickly we’ll throw each other under the bus (er, laser beam).
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Eschewing the more-is-more approach of the American Godzilla series, writer-director Takashi Yamazaki reminds us that Japanese filmmakers truly know their king of the monsters. This is a prequel of sorts to the original 1954 film. In this film, kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) had several encounters with Godzilla over the years following World War II. This wartime trauma, which harkens back to the original film, gives this film an emotional weight comparable to kaiju. Equally important, the masterful Oscar-winning visual effects make Godzilla scary again, and the action sequences have real weight and stakes.
Ultraman: The Rise (2024)
This Japanese-American co-production reboots the beloved franchise of more than half a century with the help of director Shannon Tindle and co-writer Mark Haymes (both brilliant “Kubo” and “2 Strings “). Professional baseball player Ken Sato returns home to Japan, having inherited the mantle of (you guessed it!) Ultraman from his retired father. The stylish animation is beautiful and there’s plenty of action for the whole family, but it wouldn’t work half as well without the emotional arc: egotistical sports star Sato needs to reconnect with her estranged father, even as he becomes an unwilling parental figure to the child. an orphaned kaiju child.
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
It may not be exactly what prolific writer and Conan creator Robert E. Howard had in mind, but it’s a lot of fun in a shirtless, sweaty, sword-and-sorcery style. This film started a pretty cool series of sci-fi films in the 80s and also gave Arnold Schwarzenegger his big cinematic break. Long-haired James Earl Jones also gives his second most memorable villainous performance as the evil sorcerer Tulsa Doom.
See you yesterday (2019)
“See You Yesterday” tricks you into thinking you’re signing up for a sci-fi romp – an early cameo from Michael J. Fox seems to underline this. At the very beginning, young geniuses C.J. Walker (Eden Duncan Smith) and Sebastian Thomas (Dante Crichlow) develop a time machine and plan to test it by going back one day and carefully avoiding any changes. Soon after, the Spike Lee-directed film takes a dark turn when C.J.’s older brother is shot and killed by an NYPD officer who mistakes a phone for a gun. CJ tries again and again to save him, but is disappointed as each attempt fails in a new way. It’s not exactly a dark film, but in the best science fiction tradition, the high concept at its core has a more down-to-earth meaning.
Midnight Sky (2020)
There’s a lot of derivativeness in this George Clooney film, but it’s also poignant in a way that’s rare in modern science fiction. This is a very specific regime, but refreshing in its own way. Clooney plays Augustine, a terminally ill scientist in 2049 who becomes one of the very few people left alive on Earth after some unknown event leaves the surface contaminated with radiation. He discovers that a mission from Jupiter’s moon is returning to Earth and makes it his mission to warn them that the planet is no longer hospitable – a mission complicated by the discovery of a young girl whom he feels the need to protect. .
Platform (2019)
Okay, the metaphor is a little harsh: in a large tower euphemistically called the “Vertical Self-Government Center”, food is delivered down a shaft that stops at each floor from top to bottom: those at the top get to eat their fill; those at the bottom get the leftovers. The Spanish-language thriller is incredibly violent but inventive, and it’s not like real-life capitalism is particularly sophisticated in its deprivations.
What Happened on Monday (2017)
Tommy Wirkola, director of David Harbour’s recent Christmas action thriller A Cruel Night and the Coming of Spermageddon , directed this high-concept sci-fi tale about the dangers of overpopulation. In the near future, the one-child policy involves cryogenically freezing spare children until they can become colonists on another planet or until Earth finds more resources, whichever comes first. Think Children of Men , but a little sillier. Glenn Close is responsible for enforcing this policy, and Willem Dafoe plays the grandfather of identical septuplets. He comes up with a plan to keep all the kids out of the freezer: They’ll take turns playing the same person (Noomi Rapace, in multiple roles). Funny, but fun.
Rebel Moon (2023)
Zack Snyder, the latest addition to the DC Cinematic Universe, inspires passionate opinions, but his sci-fi sequel Army of the Dead can’t be accused of lacking ambition. It’s a multi-part space opera (it’s unclear exactly how many parts) that combines Snyder’s signature visual style with Star Wars- style action. Sofia Boutella plays a former soldier who rallies warriors from across the galaxy to join a rebellion against the imperial Motherworld on the game’s remote agricultural moon. Currently you can watch the first part ( “Child of Fire “) and the second ( “Executioner” ); A longer, R-rated director’s cut debuts Aug. 2.
Back to the Future (1985)
You know that Broadway musical that everyone loves? Turns out it was a movie back in the 1980s. Who knew? It’s a carefully crafted and impressively weird time-travel comedy about a kid who goes back in time and is forced to evade his mother’s romantic advances while trying to make sure his still-parents get together and get along. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd make a cinematic pairing for the ages in a film that is funny and surprisingly thoughtful in its use of sci-fi tropes.
The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022)
Halloween movies are relevant any time of year, so there’s no reason to put off this seasonal fantasy for the whole family. The Howard family has moved to the town of Bridge Hollow just in time for the holidays, and daughter Sydney ( Stranger Things ‘ Priah Ferguson) is excited about the town’s holiday spirit. Dad (Marlon Wayans), on the other hand, is a science geek who hates creepy nonsense—Kelly Rowland’s mom is often left to judge. However, the family is forced to try to come together when Sydney accidentally releases a ghost who is amassing an army from the town’s decorations. Oops!
65 (2023)
Starring Adam Driver , 65 came and left theaters rather quickly in 2023, and not entirely unfairly—it doesn’t really live up to the promise of its premise. But the high concept is so good that it almost works anyway: 65 million years ago, a pilot from an alien planet (Driver) goes on a two-year long-distance expedition to earn the money needed to treat his wife’s illness (crappy capitalist medicine, apparently universal ). His ship goes off course and ends up on an even more alien planet: the Land of the Dinosaurs. Together with a young girl who also survived the disaster, he must try to pass through various terrifying Earth creatures and return home before the asteroid that hit his ship reaches Earth.
The Matrix (1999)
Perhaps you’ve heard of this indie classic from the Wachowskis? It’s a thrilling spectacle that revolutionized American movies while also sparking a million conversations about philosophy (many of which are silly, but that’s hardly the film’s fault). Netflix is also home to streaming the 2021 sequel , The Matrix Rebirth , the best of the franchise since the 1999 original.
Bureau of Adjustments (2011)
Less known than other Philip K. Dick adaptations ( Blade Runner , Total Recall , Minority Report ), it’s still a lively and effective sci-fi story. Matt Damon plays a congressional candidate who meets Emily Blunt (not in the men’s room); their chemistry is instant, and it would be a perfectly reasonable and sweet movie if not for the fact that it was never meant to be – at least according to the editors, the well-dressed men responsible for correcting the film’s minor errors. News feed. Our two main characters are determined that their own free will is more important than some idea of fate, so they try to escape and outsmart their perceived fate.
Life (2017)
An eerily effective take on Alien , Life follows a team of astronauts (Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds) as they discover and examine soil samples from Mars that appear to contain the first evidence of extraterrestrial life. From there everything goes downhill.
Bubble (2022)
From Attack on Titan and Death Note director Tetsuro Araki and an all-star creative team, Bubble finds Tokyo cut off from the rest of the world as reality-warping bubbles (perhaps shades of Stephen King’s Under the Dome ) rain down on the city. Anime fans were almost certainly looking for a great parkour-filled love story, but anyone who loves animation (or great sci-fi films in general) should check it out.
Sea Beast (2022)
Chris Williams, an animator who either directed or had a hand in creating some of the best films of the last decade ( Bolt , Big Hero 6 , Moana, etc.) about a young woman who hides out on the ship of a legendary hunter on monsters (Karl Gorodskoy). The film was nominated for an Oscar, so it may not be that obscure, but it still seems to have gotten lost among the big animated releases of the past year.
My Father’s Dragon (2022)
Based on Ruth Stiles Gannett’s 1948 children’s novel of the same name and aimed at an even younger audience than the other all-ages animated films on this list, My Father’s Dragon still has plenty to recommend it to just about anyone—along with higher emotional intelligence. than many films made for adults. In the film, a boy named Elmer (Jacob Tremblay) and his shopkeeper mother Dela (Golshifteh Farahani) leave their close-knit small town for a larger city, although the promise of better conditions does not materialize so quickly. Elmer’s patience is rewarded, however, when a talking cat invites him to go on a wonderful candy-colored adventure. The film comes from the director of The Breadwinner , set in modern-day Afghanistan, and Cartoon Saloon, the production company behind animated films such as the beautiful Irish folk tale Wolfwalkers .
The Wandering Earth (2019)
The title isn’t a metaphor: this Chinese blockbuster is literally about what happens when the Earth goes off course, and the people who band together to keep it from colliding with Jupiter. It all starts when a rogue red giant threatens to devour the Earth within a century, causing the world’s nations to rally around building giant engines to throw us off course. It’s crazy in the best sense of the word, with special effects that easily surpass those of many American blockbusters. The human element here is also a plus, as the film leaves room for a broad ensemble of interesting characters, suggesting that great things (like not hitting Jupiter) happen when people work together.
Space Cleaners (2021)
It doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel, but it does put a refreshing emphasis on the lower classes of the future without going too far into dystopia. I’m not the first to compare Space Sweepers and Cowboy Bebop , but given the recent and rapid failure of Netflix’s live-action version of this cartoon, it’s not a stretch to say that you’ll find a better encapsulation. Bebop’s ragtag spirit found family and its cosmic Western milieu here, on the game show that bore his name. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for with engaging characters and extravagant special effects. It’s also nice to see a less American-centric view of the future.
The Sound of Block Island (2020)
Strange events occur on Block Island, the most obvious of which is the huge amount of dead fish that constantly wash up on the shore. Even more disturbing is the behavior of one of the local fishermen, Tom, who constantly wakes up in strange places and generally loses time. His daughter Audrey (Michaela McManus) works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is sent to investigate a massive fish kill; she takes her daughter with her and is reunited with her brother Tom (Chris Sheffield) along the way. Together, they discover that no ordinary environmental disaster is to blame for the death of all the fish, as the film combines family drama and eerie local events, building to a rather chilling climax.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Starship Troopers is an extremely entertaining adaptation that takes simple source material—in this case, Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 novel—and largely satirizes it by taking it at face value and making a straight adaptation. This is some pretty shocking literary criticism disguised as a B-movie, turning the novel’s themes on their head. At the risk of oversimplifying Heinlein, the novel (with an almost identical plot) suggests that war is inevitable and that military service may be the best cure for general moral decline. In the film we get an increasingly relevant picture of the slide of militarism into fascism, which is also quite impressive and very funny to see.
Okja (2017)
A Korean-language sci-fi fantasy about a girl and her genetically engineered pig may not seem like an easy sell, but the film certainly received more deserved attention when its director Bong Joon-ho won one of the most justifiable awards. Oscar for best recent film – Parasite . The darkly quirky film challenges the norms of the American and South Korean meat industry in many ways on its own, but fans of “Parasite” will recognize a blend of dark comedy, action and social commentary that’s hard to ignore.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
The Pinnochio director’s passion project has had a long journey to the screen, but it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t worth the wait. Set in fascist Italy between the wars and depicted through stunning stop-motion animation, this beautiful, moving film deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Jumanji (1995)
All three Jumanji films are a lot of fun, but there’s also a lot to be said for Robin Williams’ version, which happens to be the only one streaming on Netflix. A group of friends become trapped in the titular board game, which unleashes jungle-related chaos upon players. Williams, previously trapped in the game, is at his most manic here, and the early CGI may be a little wonky, but it’s still a charmingly silly pastime for the whole family.
Guilt (2017)
In the future, the City is growing like a virus, endlessly in all directions, people have long lost control over the automated systems designed to manage affairs. The same systems now view humans as “illegals” to be purged, so flesh-and-blood survivors are caught between the city’s murderous defense systems and the need to find food. However, one group of people is searching for a person with a genetic marker that they believe will allow them to gain access to the city’s control systems – the hunt is led by Killie, a synthetic human who may hold the key.