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The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review

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Theme: Inventors

Inventors are the genius scientists that frequently turn up in science-fiction. Inventors are frequently known to be eccentric and frequently absent-minded about everyday matters and are almost always bespectacled. They can be middle-aged and white-haired or young juvenile nerds.

They are capable of churning out an amazing array of devices, inventions and Fantastical Vehicles that are usually passport to a series of adventures or comic escapades or else are given to friends or relatives who will depart on such adventures.

The concept of the inventor came out of turn of the 20th Century scientists – in particular Thomas Edison who created the image of the genius pushing amazing frontiers of research in their own laboratory. This image came at contrast to real world science, which has increasingly been conducted by university, private or government laboratories involving research grants, double-blind experiments, teams of scientists and engineers and rigorous publication of peer-reviewed papers.

The inventor was popular on screen throughout the 1930s through the 1960s from Flash Gordon’s Dr Zarkov to a range of screwball comedies from Disney in the 1960s. Nowadays the inventor is more a comic caricature, although such geniuses regularly appear from time to time, often in children’s works.

Inventors should be differentiated with those whose discoveries have a habit of going amok and causing social chaos who are listed under Mad Scientists.


20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

18 March 20038 September 2024

Rating: ★★★★

Victorian Submarine Inventor/Jules Verne Adaptation

Director: Richard Fleischer
Actors: James Mason, Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, Paul Lukas
Category: Science Fiction

The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959)

28 June 201714 April 2025

Rating: ★★

Giant Woman Comedy

Director: Sidney Miller
Actors: Lou Costello, Dorothy Provine, Gale Gordon, Jimmy Conlin, …
Category: Science Fiction

30,000 Leagues Under the Sea (2007)

10 June 201412 April 2025

Rating: ★

Jules Verne Modernisation

Director: Gabriel Bologna
Actors: Lorenzo Lamas, Sean Lawlor, Kim Little, Michael Tower
Category: Science Fiction

The Absent-Minded Professor (1961)

9 April 199922 June 2024

Rating: ★★★★

Anti-Gravity Rubber/Disney Comedy

Director: Robert Stevenson
Actors: Fred MacMurray, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Nancy Olson, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)

16 April 199910 June 2025

Rating: ★★

Funky Inventor Hero vs Alien Invaders

Director: W.D. Richter
Actors: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978)

8 June 199922 January 2023

Rating: ★★

Captain Nemo’s Modern Day Adventures

Director: Alex March
Actors: Jose Ferrer, Burgess Meredith, Tom Hallick, Burr DeBenning, …
Category: Science Fiction

April and the Extraordinary World (2015)

3 November 20158 July 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Animation/Steampunk Alternate History Adventure

Director: Christian Desmares, Franck Ekinci
Category: Science Fiction

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

21 August 20149 July 2025

Rating: ★

Jules Verne Comedy Adaptation

Director: Frank Coraci
Actors: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile De France, Jim Broadbent, …
Category: Science Fiction

Back to the Future (1985)

9 May 19994 December 2024

Rating: ★★★★

Time Travel

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, …
Category: Science Fiction

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

6 July 19999 December 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Time Travel

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, …
Category: Science Fiction

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

6 August 19996 November 2020

Rating: ★★★½

Time Travel

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, …
Category: Science Fiction

Big Meat Eater (1982)

4 September 199919 March 2024

Rating: ★★★½

Bad SF Movie Parody

Director: Chris Windsor
Actors: George Dawson, Big Miller, Andrew Gillies
Category: Science Fiction

Deadly Friend (1986)

5 April 200217 March 2020

Rating: ★

Teenager Resurrects Girlfriend

Director: Wes Craven
Actors: Kristy Swanson, Matthew Laborteaux, Anne Twomey, Anne Ramsey, …
Category: Horror

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

5 July 200230 September 2020

Rating: ★★★★

Alienated Artificial Boy

Director: Tim Burton
Actors: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Alan Arkin, Dianne Wiest, …
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 Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)

20 September 201214 March 2024

Rating: ★★★★½

Jules Verne Adaptation/Steampunk

Director: Karel Zeman
Category: Science Fiction

The Fantastic Four (1994)

15 June 201012 November 2020

Rating: ★★

Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Oley Sassone
Actors: Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Carl Ciarfalio, …
Category: Science Fiction

Fantastic Four (2005)

8 July 200525 April 2025

Rating: ★★★

Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Tim Story
Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, …
Category: Science Fiction

Fantastic Four (2015)

15 August 20151 June 2024

Rating: ★★½

Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Josh Trank
Actors: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, …
Category: Science Fiction

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

25 June 20079 October 2024

Rating: ★★

Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Tim Story
Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, …
Category: Science Fiction

The First Men in the Moon (1964)

5 September 200224 October 2019

Rating: ★★

Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation

Director: Nathan Juran
Actors: Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd, Martha Hyer
Category: Science Fiction

The First Men in the Moon (2010)

28 January 20113 January 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation

Director: Damon Thomas
Actors: Mark Gatiss, Rory Kinnear, Philip Jackson
Category: Science Fiction

Flash Gordon (1936)

1 February 201016 April 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Serial/Space Opera

Director: Frederick Stephani
Actors: Larry Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Frank Shannon, Charles Middleton, …
Category: Science Fiction

Flash Gordon (1980)

20 June 20007 June 2024

Rating: ★★★

Campy Space Opera

Director: Mike Hodges
Actors: Sam Jones, Max Von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, …
Category: Science Fiction

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

12 February 200526 June 2024

Rating: ★★★

Serial/Space Opera

Director: Ford Beebe, Ray Taylor
Actors: Larry Buster Crabbe, Carol Hughes, Charles Middleton, Frank Shannon, …
Category: Science Fiction

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938)

1 February 200115 December 2020

Rating: ★★★★

Serial/Space Opera

Director: Ford Beebe, Robert Hill
Actors: Larry Buster Crabbe, Frank Shannon, Jean Rogers, Charles Middleton
Category: Science Fiction

Flubber (1997)

1 January 200013 September 2022

Rating: ★★

Absent-Minded Professor Remake

Director: Les Mayfield
Actors: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Jodi Benson, Christopher McDonald, …
Category: Science Fiction

Help! I’m a Fish (2000)

20 January 20047 July 2021

Rating: ★★½

Animation/Children Transformed Into Talking Fish

Director: Stefan Fjeldmark, Michael Hegner
Actors: Jeff Pace, Alan Rickman, Aaron Paul, Terry Jones, …
Category: Fantasy

Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992)

16 August 199924 August 2021

Rating: ★★

Giant Baby

Director: Randal Kleiser
Actors: Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Robert Oliveri, John Shea, …
Category: Science Fiction

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

15 February 200129 June 2021

Rating: ★★★★

Miniaturised Backyard Adventures

Director: Joe Johnston
Actors: Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Jared Rushton, Robert Oliveri, …
Category: Science Fiction

Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves! (1997)

30 July 200024 August 2021

Rating: ★★

Miniaturised Adventures

Director: Dean Cundey
Actors: Rick Moranis, Stuart Pankin, Eve Gordon, Bug Hall, …
Category: Science Fiction

Hugo (2011)

15 December 201110 June 2020

Rating: ★★★★

Children’s Film/Georges Melies Tribute

Director: Martin Scorsese
Actors: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, …
Category: Fantasy

Injustice (2021)

24 October 20213 February 2022

Rating: ★★½

Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Matt Peters
Actors: Justin Hartley, Anson Mount, Janet Varney, Gillian Jacobs, …
Category: Science Fiction

International House (1933)

19 January 201510 November 2021

Rating: ★★★

Screwball Comedy/TV Invention

Director: Edward Sutherland
Actors: W.C. Fields, George Burns, Bela Lugosi, Gracie Allen, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Invisible Boy (1957)

29 May 200316 November 2021

Rating: ★★★

Robbie the Robot Film

Director: Herman Hoffman
Actors: Richard Eyer, Harold J. Stone, Robert H. Harris
Category: Science Fiction

It Happens Every Spring (1949)

2 August 201018 November 2021

Rating: ★★

Eccentric Scientist Becomes a Baseball Star

Director: Lloyd Bacon
Actors: Ray Milland, Paul Douglas, Ray Collins, Ed Begley
Category: Science Fiction

Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2001)

23 December 200121 December 2021

Rating: ★★

Animation/Juvenile Scientific Genius

Director: John A. Davis
Actors: Debi Derryberry, Patrick Stewart, Martin Short, Rob Paulsen, …
Category: Science Fiction

Justice League vs the Fatal Five (2019)

22 July 202116 February 2023

Rating: ★★

Animation/Comic-Book Superheroes

Director: Sam Liu
Actors: Kevin Conroy, George Newbern, Susan Eisenberg, Diane Guerrero, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Monkey’s Uncle (1965)

5 March 199916 December 2022

Rating: ★★

Teenage Inventor/Disney Comedy

Director: Robert Stevenson
Actors: Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Leon Ames, Leon Tyler, …
Category: Science Fiction

Mysterious Island (1961)

4 January 200122 September 2023

Rating: ★★★

Desert Island Survival/Giant Animals

Director: Cy Endfield
Actors: Herbert Lom, Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Gary Merrill, …
Category: Science Fiction

Mysterious Island (2005)

9 October 200822 September 2023

Rating: ★

Desert Island Survival/Giant Animals

Director: Russell Mulcahy
Actors: Kyle MacLachlan, Patrick Stewart, Gabrielle Anwar, Vinnie Jones, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Mysterious Island (2012)

29 December 20138 May 2020

Rating: ★★

Desert Island Survival/Time Warp

Director: Mark Sheppard
Actors: Lochlyn Munro, Gina Holden, W. Morgan Sheppard, Edrick Browne, …
Category: Science Fiction

Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972)

9 February 199927 December 2022

Rating: ★★

Invisible Teen/Disney Comedy

Director: Robert Butler
Actors: Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Cesar Romero, Michael McGreevey, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Phantom Treehouse (1984)

13 July 20177 July 2021

Rating: ★★

Animation/Boy’s Adventure on a Magic Island

Director: Paul Williams
Category: Fantasy

Project Almanac (2015)

31 January 20152 October 2024

Rating: ★★★

Found Footage Time Travel Film

Director: Dean Isrsaelite
Actors: Jonny Weston, Sofia Black D'Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista, …
Category: Science Fiction

Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish (1998)

16 September 20055 June 2025

Rating: ★★

Comic-Book Rich Kid/Alternate Timeline

Director: John Murlowski
Actors: Eugene Levy, Lesley Ann Warren, David Gallagher, Jake Richardson, …
Category: Fantasy

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

4 July 201217 July 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Possible Time Machine

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Actors: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, …
Category: Science Fiction

Santa and Sons & Daughter! (2005)

26 November 20056 March 2025

Rating: ★

Christmas Film

Director: Robert Battaile
Actors: Kimberly Jensen, John Maniaci, R.J. Snead, Robert Ayres
Category: Fantasy

The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015)

13 March 201525 May 2023

Rating: ★

Sword and Sorcery

Director: Mike Elliott
Actors: Victor Webster, Ellen Hollman, Will Kemp, Barry Bostwick, …
Category: Fantasy

Sleight (2016)

6 August 201722 December 2019

Rating: ★★½

Street Magician

Director: J.D. Dillard
Actors: Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Dulé Hill, Storm Reid
Category: Science Fiction

Son of Flubber (1963)

1 June 20151 January 2023

Rating: ★★

Absent-Minded Professor Sequel

Director: Robert Stevenson
Actors: Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk, Keenan Wynn, Nancy Olson, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Strongest Man in the World (1975)

25 June 199927 November 2024

Rating: ★

Super-Strength Cereal/Disney Comedy

Director: Vincent McEveety
Actors: Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Dick Van Patten, Cesar Romero, …
Category: Science Fiction

Thunderpants (2002)

9 June 200316 April 2025

Rating: ★★★

Kid with Super-Powerful Farts

Director: Peter Hewitt
Actors: Bruce Cook, Rupert Grint, Ned Beatty, Simon Callow, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Time Machine (1960)

19 January 20012 July 2019

Rating: ★★★★

Time Travel/H.G. Wells Adaptation

Director: George Pal
Actors: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Time Machine (1978)

1 April 201616 April 2025

Rating: ★

Time Travel/H.G. Wells Adaptation

Director: Henning Schellerup
Actors: John Beck, Priscilla Barnes, Andrew Duggan, Rosemary DeCamp, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Time Machine (2002)

9 April 20023 May 2020

Rating: ★★

Time Travel/H.G. Wells Adaptation

Director: Simon Wells
Actors: Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Orlando Jones, Mark Addy, …
Category: Science Fiction

Tin Man (1983)

19 January 20084 December 2024

Rating: ★★

Deaf Inventor Builds an A.I.

Director: John G. Thomas
Actors: Timothy Bottoms, Deana Jurgens, Troy Donahue, John Phillip Law
Category: Science Fiction

Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1965)

10 November 200330 April 2025

Rating: ★★½

Comic-Book Character

Director: Philippe Condroyer
Actors: Jean-Pierre Talbot, Jean Bouise, Felix Fernandez, Max Elloy
Category: Fantasy

Tintin and the Lake of Sharks (1972)

7 March 200930 April 2025

Rating: ★★½

Comic-Book Character/Animation

Director: Raymond LeBlanc
Category: Science Fiction

Tomorrowland (2015)

23 May 20155 May 2025

Rating: ★★

The Fight to Create a Utopian Future

Director: Brad Bird
Actors: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Raffey Cassidy, Hugh Laurie, …
Category: Science Fiction

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1916)

5 May 200127 March 2024

Rating: ★★★½

Victorian Submarine Inventor/Jules Verne Adaptation

Director: Stuart Paton
Actors: Allen Holubar, Jane Gail, Howard Crampton
Category: Science Fiction

Viy (2014)

24 January 201819 December 2020

Rating: ★★

Russian Gothic

Director: Oleg Stepchenko
Actors: Jason Flemyng, Yuriy Tsurilo, Andrey Smolyakov, Aleksey Chadov, …
Category: Horror

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

16 September 20052 January 2025

Rating: ★★★★

Aardman Animation

Director: Steve Box, Nick Park
Actors: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes
Category: Fantasy

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)

4 January 20254 January 2025

Rating: ★★★

Aardman Animation

Director: Merlin Crossingham, Nick Park
Actors: Ben Whitehead, Reece Shearsmith, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel, …
Category: Fantasy

Young Einstein (1988)

26 March 200727 January 2023

Rating: ★★★

Gonzo Comedy/Alternate Albert Einstein

Director: Yahoo Serious
Actors: Yahoo Serious, Odile Le Clezio, John Howard (ii), Su Cruickshank
Category: Science Fiction

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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
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  • Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film
  • Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema
  • Weird Westerns
∧

Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2025

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