Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954)
A routine B movie about a sea monster that was one of the first films produced by Roger Corman. This has mostly been made around obtaining the use of a one-man submersible
Science Fiction
Monster Island (1981)
Supposedly an adaptation of Jules Verns’s Mysterious Island from low-budget Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon, one that gives the impression nobody actually read the book
Monster Island (2019)
One of the better mockbusters from The Asylum, timed to come out at the same time as the US Godzilla, King of the Monsters and actually far more modestly enjoyable
Monster on the Campus (1958)
One of Jack Arnold’s lesser films, a Jekyll and Hyde story where a scientist finds himself reveting to a caveman after scraping his hand on a prehistoric coelacanth
The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
Average entry in the atomically enlarged animal cycle of the 1950s concerning a giant mutated mollusc on the attack
Monster Trucks (2016)
You can almost see the process in the scriptwriters head “What if we had Monster Truck rallies where the trucks were actual monsters?”. Way more entertaining than you ever expect it to be
Monster Zero (1965)
This was the sixth Godzilla film, the first where the series combines elements of space opera. This was a typical entry of the 1960s era and colourfully entertaining about it too
Monsternado (2023)
This tries to go one up on Sharknado and offers a tornado made up of assorted animals and prehistoric life. A completely ridiculous film from prolific British producer Scott Jeffrey
Monsters (2010)
Cloverfield by way of Stalker – a unique and original film about zones on Earth overrun by alien creatures. Director Gareth Edwards creates his own effects that far surpass many big budget efforts
Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)
A sequel to the sleeper hit of Monsters; what we instead get is not many monsters and a film about recruits in a Middle Eastern war zone. That said, it is an undeniably well made film
Monsters from the Id (2008)
A documentary about science in the modern world and its reflections in the media. Featuring this site’s author as one of the interviewees discussing 1950s SF cinema
Monsters vs Aliens (2009)
Cutley appealing DreamWorks animated film that brings together a bunch of oddball creatures clearly intended as an affectionate homage to various 1950s sf films
Moon 44 (1990)
An early Roland Emmerich film with Michael Paré investigating pirates targeting a mining moon. As usual with Emmerich, the focus is on action while neglecting the plausibility of the scenario
The Moon (2023)
Solid South Korean attempt to copy Gravity and The Martian with the attempts to rescue an astronaut who becomes stranded on The Moon
Moon Crash (2022)
The Asylum offer up a mockbuster copy of Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall that is far more entertaining than the film that is is supposed to be copying
Moon (2009)
An SF film with Sam Rockwell as a lone man stationed on The Moon who discovers the truth of his existence. This gained much word of mouth when it came out
Moon Man (2022)
A comedy from China about a janitor who is abandoned on the Moon and inadvertently becomes the last person left alive after the destruction of the Earth
Moon Pilot (1962)
A Disney Space Age comedy starring Tom Tyron as an astronaut who becomes caught up in comedic antics when alien visitor Dany Saval appears to him
Moon Rainbow (1983)
An obscure work of Soviet era SF. Clearly influenced by Stalker, this concerns an investigation into a mysterious alien zone that has left astronauts with psychic powers
Moon Zero Two (1969)
A muchly ridiculed Hammer film that was billed as a ‘Space Western’. However, once one gets past that, it is actually a far more interesting and underrated film than it suggests
Moonfall (2022)
Roland Emmerich returns to mass destruction with a film about The Moon on a collision course with Earth, which then heads in some conceptually out there fringe science directions
Moonraker (1979)
The eleventh James Bond film that sees that series trying to compete with Star Wars by taking Roger Moore into orbit. One of the most spectacular productions of the series, it is also killed by a cartoonish unserious tone
Moonshot (2022)
From Arrowverse producer Greg Berlanti, a film about a nerd who stows away on a voyage to Mars. An improbable scenario works as a passable romantic comedy
Morgan (2016)
An A.I. film that is awfully similar to Ex Machina but sidesteps any questions about A.I., while the latter half becomes The Terminator before a frankly unbelievable twist ending sinks the film
Morlocks (2011)
Not as you might assume an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine but another cheap, tatty Syfy Channel production that grafts Wells’ Morlocks onto their typical monster movie formula
Morons from Outer Space (1985)
Comedy about stupid alien visitors largely construed as a vehicle for popular British comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones. Some witty SF in-jokes among a haphazard script
Mortal Engines (2018)
Peter Jackson written-produced film that creates a fascinatingly original world. As always with a Jackson film, the fun is in the massively scaled effects sequences and the design of the world, less so the script
Mortal Kombat (1995)
This film adaptation of the videogame is a lot of fun. The plot rehashes Enter the Dragon and offers up wall-to-wall action and exotic creatures. A directorial debut for Paul W.S. Anderson
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
Sequel to the Mortal Kombat film. While the first film was fun, here all plot has been stripped away to just fight scenes such that the film blurs into a single shapeless action sequence
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)
The second of the Mortal Kombat animated films, this introduces a bewildering array of characters from the games amid a high degree of violence and bloodshed
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
The third of the Mortal Kombat animated films. This abandons inter-dimensional kombat and takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, focused around the blind swordsman Kenshi
Moscow-Cassiopeia (1973)
Space exploration film from the Soviet Union about teenagers selected to go on a decades-long journey to the stars, this has the same stolid drama of the other Soviet SF films but is better made than most
Mosquito (1995)
A ridiculous giant bug film, albeit not unentertainingly so. This has been premised solely on the provision of absurd creature effects every few minutes and little else that one can take seriously
Mother/Android (2021)
A directorial outing from screenwriter Mattson Tomlin. Chloe Grace Moretz plays a pregnant woman struggling to survive in the aftermath of the android rebellion
Mothra (1962)
The most successful of the original monster movies Toho made following the success of Godzilla, the only one to spawn its own sequels, and one of the best kaiju eiga of the era
Mouse on the Moon (1963)
Charming sequel to The Mouse That Roared where the world’s smallest country decides to launch a mission to the Moon and accidentally end up winning the Space Race
Mr. Accident (2000)
The third and final film directed, written by and starring Yahoo Serious to date – another of Serious’s gonzo comedies where he plays an accident prone man who is obsessed with alien life
Mr. Nobody (2009)
A film that reaches for epic ideas in a story about the multiverse, along with assorted ideas taken from physics but fails to assemble them in a way that makes much sense
Multiplicity (1996)
Harold Ramis followed up the hit of Groundhog Day with this amiable comedy in which Michael Keaton is an overworked husband who creates several clones of himself to help with the workload
Munchies (1987)
A pitiful and painfully cheap and badly made ripoff of Gremlins about a horde of malevolent alien creatures. Produced by Roger Corman
Muppets from Space (1999)
The third and one of the better of the Muppet movies made following Jim Henson’s death. This tells the story of Gonzo’s origins where the film spoofs the then-hit of tv’s The X Files
A Murder at the End of the World (2023)
Brit Marling is one of the most intelligent creative faces of the 2010s/20s. Here she co-writes, co-directs and stars in a fascinating murder mystery set in the tech world at a futuristic retreat
Murder By Moonlight (1989)
Murder mystery set on a moonbase. Besides assuming the USSR would exist in the future, this creates a surprisingly credible lunar environment set amid East-West tensions. Brigitte Nielsen even gives a performance
Murder By Television (1935)
The novelty of a film that was SF at the time but no longer is today – concerning the invention of a television. Fascinating watching what people thought television would be vs the reality today
Murder in Space (1985)
TV movie that had a unique selling point – a whodunit set aboard an international space mission – where viewers were invited to guess who the killer was
Murder in the Air (1940)
The only Ronald Reagan film that will ever be reviewed on this site. An air adventure story where Reagan pays a treasury agent who sets out to bust a fifth column of agents trying to steal a raygun
Murdercycle (1998)
A passable B-budget film about a team that is sent in to fight a deadly armoured motorcycle and rider that have been taken over by an alien force
Murderers Row (1966)
An excruciating copy of the James Bond films, the second of the Matt Helm films starring Dean Martin as a drunken lounge lizard spy up against businessman Karl Malden trying to build a death ray
Mutant Chronicles (2008)
Long-planned project based on a role-playing game that creates an interesting future scenario, epic action, an array of Dirty Dozen characters but emerges as surprisingly trivial
Mutant Ghost Wargirl (2022)
A work that is very different to the current boom of SF films in Chinese cinema at the moment. This is a Cyberpunk film about the construction of mutant fighters
Mutant Girls Squad (2010)
A prime example of the gonzo Japanese splatter film, filled with mind-boggling anatomical rearrangements and attachments, the screen awash with blood and everything directed with a mad cartoonish energy
Mutant Hunt (1986)
A laughably badly made ripoff of Blade Runner and The Terminator with a mercenary who is brought in to huntin androids that have been turned into mutant killers
Mutant on the Bounty (1989)
This is a film that comes with an amusing title pun. Otherwise this is a feeble SF comedy about a series of comedic goings-on among a spaceship crew
Mute (2018)
Duncan Jones appropriates the Blade Runner look to make a futuristic neo-noir but this never quite works. The noir plot never sufficiently keys in, while the derivative future setting is of no real relevance
My Favorite Martian (1999)
The big screen remake of the 1960s sitcom about a wacky alien visitor. However, this all of the original’s amusements promptly gets buried under frenetic slapstick and cheap CGI gags
My Science Project (1985)
A forgotten Disney film about a group of teens who find that heart of a UFO and use it as part of their science project only for it to open up a time warp at their high school
My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)
1980s icon Kim Basinger displays unexpected comedy talents here where she is a fish out of water alien romancing Dan Akyroyd. Throwaway fluff that has an undeniably appealing silliness
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
An unfunny Ivan Reitman comedy with Luke Wilson as a regular guy who is being stalked by his psychotic ex Uma Thurman who happens to also be a superheroine
The Mysterians (1957)
Ishiro Honda and Toho, the creators of Godzila, turn their attentions to the alien invasion film – the first Japanese entry in the great 1950s SF alien invader fad – and deliver all the same colourful mass destruction we expect
Mysteries of the Gods (1976)
A William Shatner-hosted documentary based on the works of author Erich von Daniken and his pseudo-science claims that various archaeological mysteries were created by alien visitors
The Mysterious Island (1929)
The first film adaptation of Jules Verne’s sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The original book is a desert island adventure story; the film throws all that out and has a story about Captain Nemo encountering a race of merpeople
Mysterious Island (1951)
A serial adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic survival story about escapees aboard a hot-air balloon who wash up on a desert island. To the regular story, this sees fit to add hostile natives, pirates and invading aliens from Mercury
Mysterious Island (1961)
Amid the fad for Jules Verne adaptations of the 1950s/60s, we had this version of Verne’s desert island story, which has been pumped up with the addition of giant-size Ray Harryhausen animals and insects
Mysterious Island (2005)
Hallmark tv mini-series adaptation of Jules Verne’s desert island drama featuring no less than Patrick Stewart as Captain Nemo. This sinks badly amid incredibly shoddy giant animal digital effects
The Mysterious Island (2012)
About the ninth film version of Jules Verne’s desert island survival story. This doesn’t add the giant animals/insects other versions do, although we still get a number of wild sf elements the original book never had. Problem though is that the film never adds enough to make proceedings very interesting
Mystery Men (1999)
A comic-book adapted superhero parody about a group of reject superheroes who all have useless powers. Despite moments of amusement, this fails to quite come off
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)
Film spinoff from tv’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 and its deplorable habit of inserting jokes into old films. Here it is the turn of This Island Earth, which is a far better film than the attempt to send it up here
The Naked Gun (2025)
A revival of the Leslie Nielsen starring Naked Gun films, which were a parody of the hard-boiled detective film. With Liam Neeson playing Nielsen’s son. Featuring a surprising degree of SF content
Nasty Rabbit (1964)
A legendarily awful spy movie where assorted characters run around a ranch in ethnic disguise trying to stop a Russian who is unleashing a rabbit that contains a deadly virus
A Nation Without Women (2003)
Indian film set in a future where female infanticide has become so widespread there are no longer any women. A fundamentally implausible idea is treated with some conviction
National Lampoon’s Men in White (1998)
An excruciatingly unfunny spoof of Men in Black that was shoved out using the name of National Lampoon magazine. A painful viewing experience.
Natural City (2003)
Wrongly referred to as an adaptation of the original Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, this South Korean Cyberpunk film does homage many aspects of Blade Runner
Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Hayao Miyazaki’s second film, a visually stunning work set in the aftermath of a holocaust. Miyazai’s frequent themes of pacifism and respect for the environment and run through building to a emotionally wrenching climax
Nazi Overlord (2018)
The Asylum’s mockbuster answer to the J.J. Abrams’ produced Overlord concerning GIs on a mission behind enemy lines encountering Nazi mad science. Passably well made for the most part
Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)
Hands down the best film ever produced by The Asylum. How could one not like an entertainingly madcap concoction that features mad scientists, zombie stormtroopers, Nazi UFOs and Adolf Hitler preserved as a head in a jar attached to a robot body?
Needle in a Timestack (2021)
Solid time travel film about a man who struggles to find a way back to his love as her ex keeps changing the timeline so she doesn’t leave him
Neil (2005)
Film that assembles interesting a number of SF elements and twists but is killed by its delivery as a pretentious indie film
Nemesis (1993)
Albert Pyun’s finest film. It is another of his standard killer cyborg films but comes with an often hauntingly written gritty Cyberpunk edge that makes it quite unique
Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995)
The first of several sequels Albert Pyun made to Nemesis. This copies The Terminator with bodybuilder Sue Price being pursued through East Africa by killer androids
Nemesis 3: Time Lapse (1995)
The third of Albert Pyun’s Nemesis films about time-travelling cyborgs – not much plot just action scenes and some moments of undeniable strangeness
Nemesis 4: Death Angel (1996)
Another of the string of cyborg action films that low-budget director Albert Pyun made in the 1990s. This has a head-scratching fascination, featuring very weird cyborg sex scenes, the unearthly bodybuilder heroine Sue Price and a series of strange philosophical ruminations
The Neptune Factor: An Undersea Odyssey (1973)
An underwater adventure movie about a submarine that ventures to explore the depths. This tries to emulate 2001: A Space Odyssey but has a bad movie reputation
The Net (1995)
Film that tried to jump aboard the newly arrived paradigm of the internet but is mostly a cliched thriller about Sandra Bullock trying to recover her erased identity
Never Let Me Go (2010)
This has a similar scenario to Michael Bay’s The Island but also at 180 degree remove – where Bay was loud and bludgeoning, this approaches the idea as a subtle British childhood pastoral
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Rogue James Bond film made outside the regular series due to a complicated copyright battle. Sean Connery was inveigled back the role and this has some standout casting that is a welcome relief from the unserious Roger Moore films
Never Too Young to Die (1986)
Completely insane 1980s spy film – a madcap mahsup of elements including James Bond gadgetry, mad scientists, action and splatter served up with not a shred of realism. The crowning glory is a completely OTT Gene Simmons as a cross-dressing super-villain
Neverland (2011)
Following Tin Man and Alice, another of Nick Willing’s ingenious rewritings and rationalisations of classic children’s tales in science-fiction terms. Here the essentials of Peter Pan are transported to another planet
New Alcatraz (2002)
Gimmicky B-budget film about a hi-tech future prison built at the South Pole. Thus has been thrown together with a giant snake amok plot. A passably routine effort
The New Barbarians (1983)
One of a number of Italian-made copies of Mad Max 2 from Enzo G. Castellari. This is cheap and in some of the writing and dialogue frequently laughable
New Eden (1994)
SF film with Stephen Baldwin sentenced to life on a prison planet where he becomes saviour to a small peaceful community
New Life (2023)
A thriller about the hunt for the carrier of a deadly mutated form of Ebola. This is a not uninteresting film but it seems stuck in pre-Covid depictions of plague and pandemic
The New Mutants (2020)
What will be the very last of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films, this is more like a superheroic version of The Breakfast Club than any of the other X-Men films
New Rose Hotel (1998)
Abel Ferrara adapts a William Gibson short story but seems disinterested in Gibson’s densely cluttered, technologically brimming Cyberpunk futures and strips the essence down to a caper film
Next (2007)
This adapts a Philip K. Dick story and then throws it out to make a generic action film with Nicolas Cage as a psychic. All the potential of its idea is lost amid a series of ridiculous plot twists
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008)
Whose bright idea was it to give us kid versions of The Avengers (ostensibly their children)? While Marvel have had an unparallelled string of hits on the big screen in the 00s, their attempts to replicate the successes that rival DC have had in animation have been a dismal failure
The Next One (1984)
A very strange film where widow Adrienne Barbeau finds an amnesiac Keir Dullea on a Greek island who shows mysterious abilities and may have come from the future
Nick Fury, Agent of Shield (1998)
Way back before Marvel Comics’ extraordinary domination of cinema screens and Samuel L. Jackson’s airing of the role, there was this tv pilot with David Hasselhoff; Although the film has a ridiculed reputation today, David S. Goyer delivers a tongue-in-cheek script filled with side-splitting one-liners
The Night Caller (1965)
This has the most ridiculous premise of any alien invasion film – an alien is abducting women from ads for models placed in girlie magazines – but is played with a stone-faced seriousness that defies you to laugh
Night Fright (1967)
An incredibly dreary film about an alien monster menacing a small town. The alien invasion cinema equivalent of watching paint dry. Unseen during its original release, it was then resurrected in the VHS era as an E.T. copy called E.T.n – The Extra-Terrestrial Nasty
Night of the Big Heat (1967)
One of a trilogy of SF films made by Hammer director Terence Fisher during the mid-1960s, none of which have a very good reputation. This is an alien invasion film but Fisher fails to create the paranoid atmosphere of the better US counterparts of this period