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The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review

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Theme: Coming of Age Stories

The Coming of Age story is one of the staples of cinema. It takes place on the cusp between childhood and adulthood and centres around the defining events that leads to the protagonist(s) growing up.

Coming of Age stories are usually quasi-biographical realistic and not fantastic. There are however a number of occasions where Coming of Age story has been blended with the fantastic as in films like E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) or in horror like the various films versions of Stephen King’s It (1986), along with a good many others that wind in encounters with the alien, magical creatures, ghosts and other elements.

For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Coming of Age Stories


5-25-77 (2022)

3 March 202313 April 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Filmmakers Autobiography

Director: Patrick Read Johnson
Actors: John Francis Daley, Colleen Camp, Austin Pendleton, Steve Coulter, …
Category: Science Fiction

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

16 April 20224 March 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Animation/Coming of Age Story/Kid Flies a NASA Moon Mission

Director: Richard Linklater
Actors: Jack Black, Milo Coy, Bill Wise, Lee Eddy, …
Category: Science Fiction

Bones and All (2022)

21 January 202324 April 2023

Rating: ★★★½

Young Adult Cannibalism Film

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Actors: Taylor Russell, Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance, Andre Holland, …
Category: Horror

Can’t Be Heaven (1998)

26 February 200725 April 2023

Rating: ★

Coming of Age/Ghostly Saxophonist

Director: Richard Friedman
Actors: Diane Ladd, Ralph Macchio, Michelle Trachtenberg, Rachel Ticotin, …
Category: Fantasy

Cashback (2006)

1 January 200921 June 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Youth Can Freeze Time

Director: Sean Ellis
Actors: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans, Michelle Ryan, …
Category: Fantasy

Crater (2023)

10 September 202329 September 2023

Rating: ★★½

Coming of Age Story on The Moon

Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Actors: Isaiah Russell-Bailey, McKenna Grace, Billy Barratt, Orson Hong, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Divine Ryans (1999)

26 September 199925 April 2023

Rating: ★★★

Family Saga/Father’s Ghost/Surreal Dreams

Director: Stephen Reynolds
Actors: Pete Postlethwaite, Wendel Meldrum, Robert Joy, Rick Boland, …
Category: Fantasy

E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

16 December 200125 September 2023

Rating: ★★★★★

Cute Alien

Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote
Category: Science Fiction

Earth to Echo (2014)

4 July 201426 April 2023

Rating: ★★

Kids Discover Cute Alien

Director: Dave Green
Actors: Teo Halm, Brian Astro Bradley, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt, …
Category: Science Fiction

Eve’s Bayou (1997)

10 May 200914 April 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Backwater Louisiana Childhood/Voodoo

Director: Kasi Lemmons
Actors: Lynn Whitfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Debbi Morgan, Meagan Good, …
Category: Fantasy

Explorers (1985)

18 January 200125 April 2025

Rating: ★★★½

Teenagers Build Spaceship

Director: Joe Dante
Actors: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson, Dick Miller, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Fields (2011)

5 May 201418 November 2020

Rating: ★★½

Coming of Age Story/Backwoods Happenings

Director: Tom Mattera, David Mazzoni
Actors: Joshua Ormond, Bev Appleton, Tom McCarthy, Tara Reid, …
Category: Horror

Frankenstein and Me (1996)

25 August 201327 April 2023

Rating: ★★★

Genre Fan Childhood

Director: Robert Tinnell
Actors: Jamieson Boulanger, Burt Reynolds, Myriam Cyr, Ricky Mabe, …
Category: Horror

Hearts in Atlantis (2001)

29 September 20015 July 2021

Rating: ★★

Clairvoyance/Stephen King Adaptation

Director: Scott Hicks
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Anton Yelchin, Hope Davis, Mika Boreem, …
Category: Fantasy

Heavy Traffic (1973)

21 January 20156 July 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Adult Animation/Growing Up in Brooklyn

Director: Ralph Bakshi
Actors: Joseph Kauffmann, Beverly Hope Atkinson, Frank De Kova
Category: Fantasy

How I Live Now (2013)

15 November 20132 September 2021

Rating: ★★

England Invaded/Outbreak of Nuclear War

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird, …
Category: Science Fiction

I Kill Giants (2017)

1 April 201813 December 2024

Rating: ★★★

Girl Believes in Giants

Director: Anders Walter
Actors: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, Art Parkinson, …
Category: Fantasy

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

23 June 202429 March 2025

Rating: ★★★

TV Fandom and Surrealism

Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Actors: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, …
Category: Fantasy

It (1990)

10 June 201620 May 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Stephen King Adaptation/Killer Clown Monster

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Actors: Tim Curry, John Ritter, Richard Thomas, Annette O'Toole, …
Category: Horror

It (2017)

4 November 201717 December 2024

Rating: ★★

Stephen King Adaptation/Killer Clown Monster

Director: Andy Muschietti
Actors: Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, …
Category: Horror

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

23 February 200819 December 2024

Rating: ★★★★★

Anime/Young Witch’s Adventures

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Category: Fantasy

Lady in White (1988)

5 April 199926 April 2023

Rating: ★★★★

Ghost Story

Director: Frank LaLoggia
Actors: Lukas Haas, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson, Alex Rocco, …
Category: Horror

Matinee (1993)

23 May 20036 January 2025

Rating: ★★★½

B-Movie Homage/Genre Fandom Childhood

Director: Joe Dante
Actors: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, …
Category: Science Fiction

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022)

8 July 202311 October 2024

Rating: ★★★

Text Messages from Beyond the Grave/Stephen King Adaptation

Director: John Lee Hancock
Actors: Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland, Joe Tippett, Colin O'Brien, …
Category: Horror

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

18 October 20045 July 2024

Rating: ★★★★★

Anime/Children Befriend Mysterious Creature

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Category: Fantasy

My Old Ass (2024)

15 March 20256 April 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Teenager Meets Her Future Self

Director: Megan Park
Actors: Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza, Percy Hynes-White, Kerrice Brooks, …
Category: Fantasy

Onward (2020)

5 April 202021 June 2021

Rating: ★★★

Pixar Animation/Alternate Present Inhabited by Magic Creatures

Director: Dan Scanlon
Actors: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, …
Category: Fantasy

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

19 October 20021 July 2021

Rating: ★★

Time Travel/Housewife Revisists Her Youth

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Actors: Kathleen Turner, Nicholas Cage, Barry Miller, Kevin J. Connor
Category: Fantasy

Penda’s Fen (1974)

4 March 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Coming of Age/Folk Religion

Director: Alan Clarke
Actors: Spencer Banks, John Atkinson, Ian Hogg, Ron Smerczak
Category: Fantasy

Radio Flyer (1992)

3 January 20017 July 2021

Rating: ★★★

Childhood Abuse/Fantasy of Flight

Director: Richard Donner
Actors: Elijah Wood, Lorraine Bracco, Joseph Mazzello, Adam Baldwin, …
Category: Fantasy

Red Dawn (1984)

11 January 20031 February 2023

Rating: ★

Communist Invasion of the USA

Director: John Milius
Actors: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Powers Boothe, …
Category: Science Fiction

Red Dawn (2012)

21 November 201231 January 2020

Rating: ★

North Korean Invasion of the USA

Director: Dan Bradley
Actors: Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Reflecting Skin (1990)

8 January 200125 February 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Surreal Vision of Disturbed Childhood

Director: Philip Ridley
Actors: Viggo Mortensen, Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Cooper, Sheila Moore, …
Category: Fantasy

The Scarecrow (1982)

2 February 20036 March 2025

Rating: ★★★½

New Zealand Gothic

Director: Sam Pillsbury
Actors: John Carradine, Tracy Mann, Bruce Allpress, Des Kelly, …
Category: Horror

Slash (2016)

21 April 201727 April 2023

Rating: ★★

The World of Slash Fandom

Director: Clay Liford
Actors: Michael Johnston, Hannah Marks, Michael Ian Black, Peter Vack, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Spirit of the Beehive (1974)

17 February 200325 April 2023

Rating: ★★★★★

Spanish Childhood/Ghost of the Frankenstein Monster

Director: Victor Erice
Actors: Ana Torrent, Isabel Telleria, Fernan Gomez, Tersea Gimpera
Category: Fantasy

Star Wars (1977)

16 December 20009 September 2023

Rating: ★★★★★

Space Opera

Director: George Lucas
Actors: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, …
Category: Science Fiction

Summer of 84 (2018)

19 January 202012 April 2025

Rating: ★★

Retro 80s Film/Teens Believe Neighbour May Be a Serial Killer

Director: Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Category: Horror

Super 8 (2011)

16 June 201118 March 2020

Rating: ★★½

Alien Monster/1980s Coming of Age Tale

Director: J.J. Abrams
Actors: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, …
Category: Science Fiction

Three Wishes (1995)

20 February 199926 April 2023

Rating: ★★½

1950s Coming of Age Tale/Mysterious Stranger

Director: Martha Coolidge
Actors: Patrick Swayze, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Joseph Mazzello, David Marshall Grant, …
Category: Fantasy

Tomorrow When the War Began (2010)

26 March 201126 April 2023

Rating: ★★

Australia Invaded/Teenagers Fight Back

Director: Stuart Beattie
Actors: Rachel Hurd-Wood, Caitlin Stasey, Colin Friels, Chris Pang, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Tree of Life (2011)

4 June 201112 April 2025

Rating: ★★★★½

Lost American Childhood/The Evolution of Life on Earth

Director: Terrence Malick
Actors: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, …
Category: Fantasy

The Tripods [Season 1] (1984)

7 December 20217 December 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Earth After an Alien Invasion

Director: Christopher Barry, Graham Theakston
Actors: John Shackley, Jim Baker, Ceri Seel, Charlotte Long, …
Category: Science Fiction

Village of Dreams (1996)

28 November 200425 April 2023

Rating: ★★

Mischievous Twins’ Childhood/Magical Realism

Director: Yoichi Higashi
Category: Fantasy

Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)

20 November 201914 July 2020

Rating: ★★★

Coming of Age Story/Eccentric Psychic Father

Director: Peter Hewitt
Actors: Michael Legge, Tom Courtenay, Laura Fraser, Stephen Fry, …
Category: Fantasy

When Marnie Was There (2014)

14 June 20152 September 2021

Rating: ★★★

Anime/Ghost Story

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Category: Fantasy

Y2K (2024)

29 March 2025

Rating: ★★★

The Y2K Bug/Machines Amok

Director: Kyle Mooney
Actors: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Lachlan Watson, …
Category: Science Fiction

Recent Posts

  • The Ritual (2025)
  • Long Distance (2024)
  • To the Solitary Me Who Loved You (2022)
  • Parallel World Love Story (2019)
  • The Loch Ness Horror (2023)
  • Planetquake (2024)
  • Earthtastrophe (2016)
  • It Lives Inside (2023)
  • Subservience (2024)
  • Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
  • The Assessment (2024)
  • The Mighty Gorga (1969)
  • Empire of the Apes (2013)
  • The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead (1991)
  • Swarmed (2005)
  • Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)
  • Incantation (2022)
  • Dick Dynamite: 1944 (2023)
  • The Shrouds (2024)
  • Clown in a Cornfield (2025)
  • Incoming (2018)
  • Box: Metaphor (2023)
  • The House That Vanished (1973)
  • Skinwalker Ranch (2013)
  • A Werewolf in England (2020)

Contact Moria

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Theme Essays

  • Films About Atlantis
  • Werewolf Films
  • Virtual Reality
  • Imprisonment Thrillers
  • Films Depicting NASA and the Space Program
  • Human Bloodsports and Death Games
  • Animals Attack Films
  • Films About Plague and Pandemic
  • Disaster Movies
  • Steampunk Films
  • Documentaries
  • Films About Halloween
  • Films About Prophecy
  • Magicians and Sorcerers
  • Secret Societies
  • Real-Life People in Fiction
  • Techno-Thrillers
  • Twins in Fantastic Cinema
  • Asylums
  • Possession Films
  • Films About Imaginary and Magical Lands
  • Religion in Fantastic Cinema
  • Romantic Comedies
  • Film Noir
  • Spy Films
  • Jekyll and Hyde Films
  • Films That Make Dubious Claims to Being True Stories
  • Coming of Age Stories in Fantastic Cinema
  • Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation
  • Alternate History Films
  • Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film
  • Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema
  • Weird Westerns
∧

Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2025

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