Mega Piranha (2010)
If you could take it seriously, this would be a a bad movie but its awareness of its own absurdity is its saving grace. The sight of giant piranha skipping down rivers has an appealing delirium
Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011)
The Asylum had hits with Mega Python vs Giant Shark and Mega Piranha featuring former teen pop stars Debbie Gibson and Tiffany. This pits Tiffany and Debbie together in an epic bitch-fight vs giant animals
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2009)
The Asylum’s first venture into the gonzo shark movie that would spin off a series of sequels and culminate in the Sharknado phenomenon. Despite one of the great attention grabbing titles of all time, this is an unmemorable affair
Mega Shark vs Kolossus (2015)
The fourth of The Asylum’s Mega Shark films and the best of the series where they get the balance of tongue-in-cheek absurdity just right and the low-budget effects prove surprisingly good
Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark (2014)
Third in The Asylum’s series of Mega Shark films where they borrow the Godzilla series’ idea of Mecha-Godzilla and pit the Mega Shark against a robot copy of itself
Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010)
The first sequel to The Asylum’s Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. This is less sparing with the cheap effects, while it plants tongue-in-cheek and tries to make a virtue out of the sheer ridiculousness of the action
Megaboa (2021)
In the vein of their Mega Shark films and Mega Python vs Gatoroid, The Asylum make a monster movie about a giant-sized snake. Cheesy with a B movie competence.
Megaforce (1982)
From the director of Smokey and the Bandit, an SF film about an international action team who go into action in hi-tech vehicles. This was a big bomb in its day and widely ridiculed.
Megalodon (2018)
The Asylum’s low-budget mockbuster copy of The Meg, which is an irony in that The Meg was really an Asylum killer shark film with an A-budget. Two sequels followed.
Megalodon Rising (2021)
The Asylum make a sequel to their earlier giant prehistoric shark film Megalodon with a US Navy ship facing Chinese spy ships and megalodon sharks risen from the depths
Megalodon: The Frenzy (2023)
The third of The Asylum’s trilogy of films about giant prehistoric sharks, this has another US Navy ship and the crew of an underwater research station facing more prehistoric sharks
Megalopolis (2024)
Francis Ford Coppola’s extraordinarily ambitious SF film about an architect’s vision of building a utopia. Hated by most audiences, this still contains some great if flawed film-making.
Megamind (2010)
A DreamWorks animated film about a super-villain that might have worked better had its thunder not been stolen by the far superior Despicable Me a few months earlier
Megaville (1990)
Little-known SF film with Billy Zane in a dystopian future involving Virtual Reality tech and implanted memories. Like Total Recall rewritten as an episode of Miami Vice
Megiddo (2001)
Sequel to the Biblical End Times film The Omega Code as Michael York’s Antichrist seeks to brings about Armageddon, This dispenses with preaching faith but still slips into absurdity
Mekong Hotel (2012)
As with any of Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s films, this has some intensely haunted moments but is severely lacking in plot or any dramatic momentum
Melancholia (2011)
Lars von Trier’s exploration of his depression continues in this nihilistic end of the world film. It is bleak and relentless but somehow I preferred von Trier back in agent provocateur mode
Melies Cinemagician (2011)
Melies Cinemagician was a special screening of a selection of films from Georges Melies presented by Vancouver’s Vancity Theater to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth
Memoir of a Snail (2024)
The second Claymation film from Adam Elliot, who made the sublime Mary and Max, concerning the banally hilarious lives of two twins and the weird, eccentric characters surrounding them
Memoirs of a Survivor (1981)
Adaptation of a Doris Lessing novel set in a collapsing future England. The world is nicely portrayed but the cryptically surreal time travel element ends up baffling
Memoria (2021)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a darling of the arthouse and makes bafflingly cryptic films with a very haunted mood. This features Tilda Swinton in search of a series of mysterious sounds
Memories (1995)
An anthology made up of three short films all adapted from the works of Katsihiro Otomo of Akira fame, of which Otomo also directs one of the segments
Memories of Murder (2003)
An early film from Bong Joon-ho made before his international breakthrough, this is a true crime work about the investigation into a rural Korean serial killer
Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)
An absorbing documentary about the making of Alien, which charts the film’s origins, the key personnel and the making of the classic chestburster scene
Men & Chicken (2015)
A Danish black comedy in perfect pitch deadpan. Imagine a version of The Island of Dr Moreau as directed by Giorgos Lanthimos of Dogtooth and The Lobster fame
Men (2022)
Alex Garland has become a must watch director/writer since Ex Machina and Devs. Here he ventures into an intriguing if cryptic mix of folk horror and gender politics
Men Behind the Sun (1988)
One of the most extreme films ever made, a catalogue of the true-life atrocities and experiments on prisoners during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in WWII. Not for the faint-hearted
Men in Black (1997)
A huge box-office hit, this is a witty comedy that turns the UFO conspiracy of The X Files on its head with the heroes part of an organisation that covers up the existence of aliens
Men in Black 3 (2012)
One fails to greet another sequel with any enthusiasm. This mostly consists of tired, familiar gags, where the most generous compliment you can pay is that it is better than Men in Black II
Men in Black II (2002)
Sequel that turns a witty original into overblown slapstick that never consists of anything more than absurd gags with aliens and technology popping up from behind everyday objects
Men in Black: International (2019)
The original Men in Black was a witty parody of alien coverup conspiracies; the sequels became slapstick films about pop-up aliens and gadgets hidden behind everyday things. This offers little that is new
Mercano the Martian (2002)
A satiric Argentinean animated film about a Martian left stranded abandoned on Earth after the crash of his flying saucer, this then begins to poke fun at internet culture
Mercy (2000)
One of the better copies of Basic Instinct with detective Ellen Barkin being tempted as she investigates a serial killer who is targeting women involved with a lesbian call girl
Mercy (2014)
Modestly creepy adaptation of a Stephen King short story about a boy who realises that his grandmother is a witch who made a deal with a backwoods entity
Mercy (2026)
Timur Bekmambetov makes a film in the Screenlife process where the screen becomes a computer screen. Set in a near future L.A. where the judicial system has been replaced by an A.I
Meridian (1990)
A much better than usual film from Charles Band, an erotic fairytale in which Sherilyn Fenn becomes involved with a circusmaster and his twin brother who turns into a werewolf
Merlin and the Book of Beasts (2008)
A work of Arthurian sequelia made for the Syfy Channal featuring Arthur’s daughter inheriting the sword. This has the feel more of a B-budgeted D&D adventure made without much effort
Merlin’s Apprentice (2006)
Sequel to Hallmark’s earlier tv mini-series Merlin featuring a return performance from Sam Neill in the title role, this is otherwise a generic and unmemorable work of Arthurian fantasy
Mermaid Down (2019)
This comes with the promising premise of a mermaid having her tail hacked off then being placed in an asylum where she tries to convince the other patients of who she is
Merry Little Batman (2023)
A real head-scratching oddity, a Batman animated Christmas film. This takes nothing seriously and most count as possibly the weirdest entry to go out bearing the Batman name
Message from Space (1978)
A Japanese attempt to jump aboard the space opera bandwagon in the aftermath of Star Wars fad, a vigorous and colourful retelling of The Seven Samurai set in space
Messages Deleted (2010)
The last script from Larry Cohen, a playful work with Matthew Lillard as a screenwriting lecturer harassed by a killer only to find real-life doesn’t obey the same rules that screenplays do
Messiah (2001)
A strong and worthwhile serial killer thriller mini-series from the BBC with a killer who is targeting victims with the names and professions of the apostles. Several sequels followed.
Messiah of Evil (1973)
Film that has developed a cult reputation set in a seaside town where the dead are returning to life. The film has an unsettling nightmare ambience where things happen without any explanation
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983)
Early Charles Band film made in the mid-80s 3D revival fad. A cheap planetary adventure that feels like a collage of other SF films around at the time, most notably Star Wars and Mad Max 2
Metamorphosis (1990)
An Italian exploitation film intended to take advantage of the 80s makeup effects revolution as a scientist injects himself with an untested serum and transforms into a monster
Metamorphosis (2007)
A Countess Bathory film actually made by Hungarians (the area where Bathory lived historically). However, this promptly sinks into extremely bad movie territory
Metamorphosis (2010)
Wildly experimental South Korean adaptation of the Kafka story about a man turning into an insect – a film shot entirely by the director in bed with the camera pointed at his feet
Metegol (2013)
Spanish-Argentinean animated film about the miniature players of a table football game come to life. Everything plays out to to fairly predictable sports movies cliches
Meteor (1979)
1970s disaster movie that prefigures Armageddon with its plot of trying to divert a meteor on a collision course with Earth. It sets aside the usual soap opera dramatics to make an interesting parable about Cold War tensions
Meteor (2009)
A TV mini-series where a meteor is about to collide with the Earth. Assorted well-known faces fight through the chaos and Disaster Movie formulaic perils to prevent this
Meteor Moon (2020)
The Asylum’s mockbuster version of Moonfall. This plays the same ridiculous premise with an ingenious absurdity and is proves more entertaining than its big budget model
Methgator (2023)
Cocaine Bear proved a reasonable success and led to several low-budget copycats. The Asylum’s response was to give us Methgator about a drug-addicted giant alligator
Metropia (2009)
Animated film set in a dystopian near-future Europe of constant surveillance where a call centre worker discovers that people are being monitored via implants in their heads
Metropolis (1927)
Fritz Lang’s work was way ahead of its time and is one of the few silent films screened today. The film’s politics are naive but Lang’s visions of the city of the future and first screen robot are vivid.
Metropolis (2001)
Stunning anime remake of Metropolis based on an Osasmu Tezuka manga. The visuals and design are overwhelming – like a Cyberpunk film set in a stylised Art Deco world
Michael (1996)
A Nora Ephron romantic comedy with John Travolta cast as angel who is a is less than angel-like slob. A rather aimless shapeless comedy that thinks it is funnier than it is
Michael (2011)
Chilling portrait of a paedophile and the young boy he keeps locked in his cellar. The entire film is an astonishing exercise in calm and mannered understatement
Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself (2023)
A documentary focused on the unique and distinctive French director Michel Gondry, tracing his emergence through music video and to the success of films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mickey 17 (2025)
Parasite director Bong Joon Ho makes an SF film with Robert Pattinson as a clone(s) on a planetary colonisation expedition who becomes embroiled in trying to save an alien species
Midnight (2021)
A standout South Korean thriller about a deaf girl who is pursued through the streets by a serial killer. Filled with some scenes of gripping seat-edge tension.
Midnight in Paris (2011)
An appealingly lightweight whimsy from Woody Allen in which Owen Wilson keeps timeslipping between the present and 1920s Paris where he meets the artistic/literary greats
Midnight Mass (2021)
Mike Flanagan returns with his finest work to date. A mini-series that is effectively a Catholic version of Salem’s Lot and comes with some flat out great pieces of writing
Midnight Movie (2008)
A horror film about the screening of a lost horror film whose director is reputed to have killed people for real. Now the killer emerges from the screen to slaughter the attendees
Midnight Ride (1990)
A cheaply made Cannon Films release that plays out like an action version of The Hitcher, featuring a completely over-the-top Mark Hamill as the psycho
Midnight Special (2016)
This feels like a 70s/80s sf film like Starman or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Based around a series of amazing happenings but its crucial failing as SF is the lack of explanations for why these are happening
Midnight’s Children (2012)
Adaptation of a Salman Rushdie novel that acts as a superhero film of sorts about a secret war between people with unique powers set against the backdrop of 20th Century Indian history
Midsommar (2019)
Ari Aster had a word of mouth hit with Hereditary, which had him acclaimed a major new name. This was his follow-up, a fascinating dive into Folk Horror territory in the depiction of a pagan cult
Midwinter of the Spirit (2015)
Impressive British mini-series about a woman exorcist. This dispenses with the usual barf-bag theatrics and feels like the first theologically thought out work of its type and come with a superbly well-written story
Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
One of Woody Allen’s most warmly funny films of the 90s, featuring a side-splitting and Academy Award-winning performance from Mira Sorvino. Allen gently spoofs Greek tragedy.
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Many of the people involved in the 1933 King Kong came back together to create another giant ape film. Much overlooked, this is one of the masterpieces of stop-motion animation
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
The original Mighty Joe Young was a wonderfully underrated giant ape film. This is a remake conducted in the post-Jurassic Park era that adds CGI but holds none of the magic of the original
Mikey (1992)
Routine psycho-thriller with Brian Bonsall as a child who murders his adopted families when they fail to meet his expectation. An amusing idea plays out with comic-bookish set-ups
Mill of the Stone Women (1960)
One of the films from the Italian Gothic cycle of the 1960s. It draws influence from Hammer Films and goes off at a strange tangent that is one part House of Wax, another part resurrection experiments
Millennium (1989)
The long-planned film adaptation of a time travel novel by John Varley, one of the finest SF writers in the world, that alas ends up bluntening and dumbing the story down in the clod hands of Michael Anderson
Millennium Actress (2001)
An anime from Satoshi Kon that tells the story of a famous Japanese actress that in turn become a meta-fictional work and a surreal journey through Japanese cinema history
Mimesis (2011)
This has an interesting premise where characters wake up inside a simulation of Night of the Living Dead and realise they are meant to play the people at siege from the zombie onslaught
Mimesis: Nosferatu (2018)
Sequel to Mimesis, which had people trapped in a simulation of Night of the Living Dead, where this time people are trapped in a recreation of Nosferatu
Mimic (1997)
This was the second film from Guillermo Del Toro, a modest and quite good copy of Alien with Mira Sorvino hunting intelligent, evolved insects in the New York subway tunnels
Mimic 2 (2001)
This was the first of two video-released sequels to Guillermo Del Toro’s intelligent insect film Mimic, although this is now more of a regular and unexceptional monster movie
Mind Ripper (1995)
Produced by Wes Craven and his son, this started as a third Hills Have Eyes film but ends up a generic Alien copy with a mutant monster hunting people in a desert laboratory
Mindbender (1996)
The worst film from the legendary Ken Russell, a ridiculously bad biopic of the Israeli psychic Uri Geller. Geller was a fraud but the film treats all his claims as though they are to hysterical effect
Mindgame (2004)
An anime based on an autobiographical manga, this leaps off into a variety of artistic styles and comes filled with mind-bending and madcap surrealistic visuals
Mindhunters (2004)
Serial killer thriller from the perpetually terrible Renny Harlin. A variant on Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, it promptly collapses into ludicrous plotting and an even more ridiculous string of deaths
Mindscape (2013)
Without Inception there would be no Mindscape, which involves people entering memories rather than dreams plus other similarities but this has has no interest in the SF potential beyond a thriller plot
Mindwarp (1992)
One of three films produced by Fangoria magazine, this takes place in a post-holocaust wasteland of crazies and is certainly gore-drenched but unfortunately only churns cliches
Minions & Monsters (2026)
This is the third of the Minions films where they are placed in the setting of silent Hollywood, which comes with a number of classic movie jokes amid all their usual manic antics
Minions (2015)
The incomprehensibly manic antics of the Minions have a cuteness appeal that has overspilled the Despicable Me films. Here they get a film all to themselves with amiably lightweight results
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
The cutely nonsensical Minions have become a pop culture phenomenon. Here we get more of them in the second film outing, although this acts more as a Gru origin story
Minor Premise (2020)
Fascinating film that conjures something of Primer in which a scientist creates a machine that splits his personality into ten parts
Minority Report (2002)
Steven Spielberg takes on Philip K. Dick in a much grittier film than usual In the strong, intelligent script, Tom Cruise is an officer on a police force that predicts crime before it happens
Minutemen (2008)
An amiable, lightweight Disney Channel film about a trio of kids who build a time machine and use it to go back and save the school’s nerds from embarrassment
Miracle in Milan (1951)
One of the classics of the Italian Neo-Realist period, a charming whimsy that comes with a number of fantastical touches about homeless people who built a shantytown
Miracle in the Rain (1956)
This was one of a spate of miracle films during this period. It is Catholic nonsense with Jane Wyman and Van Johnson finding love and realising that it transcends death
Miracle Mile (1988)
Offbeat comedy where Anthony Edwards picks up a phone call that warns a nuclear strike is about to hit in 50 minutes during which he tries to find his love as L.A. descends into chaos
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
An absolutely classic Christmas film with Edmund Gwenn as a genial old man who insists he is the real Santa Claus and is then placed on trial where he has to prove such
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
A John Hughes written remake of the classic Christmas film where an elderly man (Richard Attenborough) claima to be Santa Claus and ends up having to prove it in court.
Mirage (2018)
Intelligent and absorbing thriller where a freak storm allows a woman to communicate with the past only to inadvertently create a new timeline where her life is very different
Mirai (2018)
A Mamoru Hosoda film nominated for the Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards. A young boy jealous at the arrival of a baby sister is visited by her future self
Miranda (1948)
The very first mermaid film, a wonderfully droll British comedy in which a capricious Glynis Johns innocently wreaks havoc on all the men around her