Just Imagine (1930)
Future New York Musical-Comedy
Essentially Metropolis remade as a Broadway musical, one of the first US films to depict the future
Cryogenics and Suspended Animation
Cryogenics (sometimes referred to as cryonics) is the science of freezing the human body in a suspended state and then reviving it at a later period.
In science-fiction, cryogenics is used as a means of dealing with lengthy space voyages – there are a number of stories where astronauts wake from sleep to find things gone wrong.
Another popular story is of the cryogenic sleeper who wakes up in a changed future or the present-day, which includes popular characters like Buck Rogers and Captain America. Cryogenics is also seen as a popular means of punishing criminals.
Fantasy regularly deals with suspended animation as in the story of Cinderella pricking her finger and going to sleep for a hundred years. Also popular have been a series of films dealing with dinosaurs and cavemen revived after being frozen in ice.
For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation.
Gog (1954)
Machinery at a Space Laboratory Tries to Kill People
Underrated 1950s SF film, a murder mystery as the equipment at a space research laboratory tries to kill people. Contains the first ever depiction of a computer virus
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Disney Animation/Fairy-Tale
One of the finest of all Disney animated films, an adaptation of the fairytale made with the full artistic resources that studio could bring to bear
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Hammer Frankenstein Film
This was the third of Hammer’s Frankenstein films. A usually overlooked entry in the series, this is made into something vivid and memorable by Freddie Francis’s direction
The Perils of Pauline (1967)
Heroine's Campy Adventures
Pearl White was the original serial heroine in The Perils of Pauline. During the 1960s Batman craze, the serial was revived as this campy comedy
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Hammer Frankenstein Film
The fourth of Hammer’s Frankenstein films and the most conceptually wild with Frankenstein conducting soul transplants, including transferring his assistant’s soul into a woman’s body
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stargate/Amok AI/Human Evolution/Space Mission
The greatest science-fiction film ever made? Stanley Kubrick goes against all convention – the film is slow, has no clear story and reaches an enigmatic ending and yet it is a work of brilliance, both visually and in terms of effects technology, groundbreaking in a number of ways,
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Planet of Talking Apes
The film that started it all. This takes what could have been a jokey premise and delivers it in bold, exciting stokes. What elevates the film is Rod Serling’s script. filled with embittered soliloquies that become a biting commentary on the human condition, before the film reaches one of the great cinematic twist endings
Grimm’s Fairy Tales for Adults (1970)
Erotic Fairytale Adaptations
A X-rated, German-made adaptation that blends together several fairytales. The result should be seen for its sheer bizarreness
Sleeper (1973)
Dystopian Future Comedy
Hilarious Woody Allen film in which he plays a contemporary man unthawed in the 22nd century. This satirisises SF cliches and has some side-slitting comedy sequences
Genesis II (1973)
Cryogenic Sleeper Awakes in a Post-Holocaust World
An unsold Gene Roddenberry tv pilot that is a fascinating almost-ran in sf. Roddenberry was trying to rehash Star Trek by way of Buck Rogers in a post-holocaust setting. The set-up could have made for a worthwhile series
Dark Star (1974)
Space Mission Gone Wrong Comedy
John Carpenter’s first film, made as a student project in collaboration with an also unknown Dan O’Bannon. A send-up of the boldly going space exploration of Star Trek, this features a ship where the crew are going stir crazy. The results are quite hilarious
Strange New World (1975)
Cryogenic Sleepers Awake in a Post-Apocalyptic World
The third of the films based around Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s Genesis II concept where a cryogenic sleeper awakes in a post-apocalyptic world
The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978)
Captain Nemo's Modern Day Adventures
TV mini-series released as a theatrical film in some parts of the world that resurrects Captain Nemo in the present-day. It is Irwin Allen returning to his tv roots where Captain Nemo’s adventures become a blatant attempt to copy Star Wars
Alien (1979)
Alien Nasty on a Spaceship
One of the most influential films on this site, producing a host of sequels and making the careers of all involved. At heart, a simple monster on a spaceship film, it is made into a classic through Ridley Scott’s relentless suspense and H.R. Giger’s design work
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)
Space Opera/Man Unfrozen in the Future
In the aftermath of Star Wars, the comic-book/serial hero was revived in this heavily Star Wars influenced remake that was released theatrically and then served as the pilot of a tv series
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Space Opera
George Lucas’s first sequel to Star Wars and a work that holds up every bit as well as its predecessor, in many places betters it. The story darkens the mythos and introduces new characters, while the special effects sequences are the peak of the series
Galaxina (1980)
Female Android
The major distinction this has is as starring murdered Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten. An SF comedy made in the aftermath of Star Wars where Stratten is an android on a ship voyage romancing her human commander
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
Gonzo SF
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a multi-media phenomenon that has developed a cult. The tv series with a less-than-stellar BBC budget was not the most effective incarnation of these but still hits the wittily absurd nerve of Douglas Adams’ humour
2019: After the Fall of New York (1983)
Post-Holocaust Action
One of the more cheesily entertaining among the Italian-made ripoffs of Mad Max 2 during the 1980s (as well as more than a few dashes of Escape from New York). The film works up a moderate head of steam
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Space Opera
A disappointing end to George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy. The script lazily wraps up loose ends while sidelining the new characters introduced the last time, and the climax rehashes the climaxes of the two other films
Iceman (1984)
Revived Caveman
Excellent and underrated film that revisits the old revived caveman drama with modern scientific and anthropological realism
2010 (1984)
2001: A Space Odyssey Sequel
2001: A Space Odyssey did not need a sequel but this fits the bill surprisingly well. A warmer and much more human film than Stanley Kubrick made, this has some of the very best effects of its era.
Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)
Alien Visitors Musical Comedy
Forgotten 1980s obscurity about aliens come to Earth in search of rock music that feels like someone attempted to conduct a version of Grease for the Star Wars crowd. Filled with utterly excruciating slapstick humour and bland songs from bands that nobody has heard from again
Sex Mission (1984)
Women-Ruled Future Comedy
Popular Polish comedy about two men who awake from cryogenic suspension in a women-ruled future where men are obsolete
Aliens (1986)
Alien Sequel
James Cameron’s follow-up to Alien is one of the few sequels that matches its predecessor (surpasses it in the eyes of many). Adding a troupe of Marines, Cameron creates a powerhouse of a film that sustains itself with seat-edge tension throughout
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987)
Sherlock Holmes Unfrozen in the Present
Unsold tv pilot that features Sherlock Holmes cryogenically unfrozen in the present-day. While the characters have some quirky appeal, the exercise seems construed more as a copy of a tv show of the era like Moonlighting
The Order of the Black Eagle (1987)
Spy/Action Film
A low-budget spy/action film with entertainingly bizarre elements including a cryogenically frozen Hitler and the hero going into action accompanied by a baboon
Sleeping Beauty (1987)
Fairytale
One of the cheap fairytale adaptations made by Cannon Films in the 1980s. A dreary impoverished run through by the numbers with Morgan Fairchild as the Wicked Stepmother and Tahnee Welch in the title role
Earth Star Voyager (1988)
Space Expedition
TV mini-series that came out the same time as Star Trek: The Next Generation, clearly hoping to ride its coattails – one became a classic, the other a forgotten footnote that looked dated barely ten years later. Somehow the idea of teenagers on a space mission didn’t get many audiences enthused
Gandahar (1988)
Animation/Planetary Adventure
The final film of French animator Rene Laloux, a planetary adventure set on a world where Laloux delights in creating exotically trippy aliens and landscapes. Released in English as Light Years with an Isaac Asimov script
The Iceman Cometh (1989)
Hong Kong Martial Arts/Warriors Thawed Out in the Present
Enormously entertaining Hong Kong version of Highlander with two rival swordsmen transported into the modern day
Captain America (1990)
Comic-Book Superhero
Cheap and fairly terrible adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero from low-budget director Albert Pyun. The superheroics look impoverished and Matt Salinger makes a dopey-looking Steve Rogers
Late for Dinner (1991)
Cryogenic Sleepers Awake in the Present
Thoughtful and well-written Cryogenic Sleepers Awake film that charts the culture shock of two men frozen in the 1960s being thawed out in the present
Project: Shadowchaser (1992)
Android Terrorist
Completely ridiculous mix of The Terminator and Die Hard where, for no clear reason, an android terrorist decides to take hostages in an office building and the FBI’s only hope is a cryogenically unfrozen football player
Forever Young (1992)
Cryogenic Sleeper Awakes
Popular film with Mel Gibson as a as a man who is cryogenically frozen in the 1940s and thawed out in the present. The romantic focus of the film is undone by some absurd plotting incredulities. An early script from J.J. Abrams
Encino Man (1992)
Revived Caveman/Teen Comedy
An excruciatingly unfunny teen comedy with Brendan Fraser as a caveman who is unfrozen in the present-day. The film served to introduce Fraser and Pauly Shore, one of the most annoying figures to ever appear on screen
Alien3 (1992)
Alien Sequel
Third of the Alien films, a directorial debut for David Fincher. A better film than was perceived at the time, this explores new character depths, while Fincher imprints his own visual style on the film
Demolition Man (1993)
Satirical Politically Correct Dystopia/Action
One of Sylvester Stallone’s better films, a satirically funny work where he plays a contemporary police officer unfrozen in a future overrun by Political Correctness to chase down criminal Wesley Snipes
Blue Flame (1993)
Alien Psychological Games in Dream Reality
Low-budget but not uninteresting film that throws in a mind-bending mix of aliens, dream and alternate realities
Necronomicon (1993)
H.P. Lovecraft Anthology
Anthology of three H.P. Lovecraft tales from directors Christophe Gans, Brian Yuzna and Shusuke Kaneko. For claiming such a quintessentially Lovecraftian title as this, you feel that it should have been more than it is
Hologram Man (1995)
Holographic Villain/Action
SF/action film with a ludicrous premise with a future prison where criminals are turned into holograms with one lone cop facing an escaped inmate in a hologram body
Dead Fire (1996)
Space Station Action
Action film set aboard a space station that houses cryogenically frozen survivors of a devastated Earth as C. Thomas Howell tries to stop a mad Matt Frewer
Vampirella (1996)
Comic Book Adaptation/Alien Vampire Heroine
Disappointingly tatty rendering of the famous comic-book strip as a low-budget Roger Corman production. Vampirella is missing her distinctive costume and Talisa Soto comes nowhere near the comic-book character’s statuesque voluptuousness
Open Your Eyes (1997)
Reality Bender
Excellent film from Alejandro Amenabar in which a handsome playboy finds himself in the midst of a baffling series of reality flips before arriving at an SF twist ending
Batman and Mr Freeze: SubZero (1997)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
The second of the animated Batman films, a Mr Freeze story timed to come out at the same time as Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin atrocity. This treats the Mr Freeze story with far more respect than that film
Batman & Robin (1997)
Comic-Book Superhero
Possibly the worst film ever made on a big studio budget, Joel Schumacher’s follow-up to Tim Buton’s standout Batman films where he turns everything into an absurd Day Glo realm with a script for two year-olds, campy puns and badly overacting super-villains
Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery (1997)
Spy Movie Spoof
The first of Mike Myers’ Austin Powers films is at times extremely silly and scatological but does offer a knowing and witty parody of the James Bond films. The result became a cult phenomenon
Time Under Fire (1997)
Time Travel/Action
Unimaginative time travel/action film that plays out like
Nick Fury, Agent of Shield (1998)
Marvel Comics TV Pilot/Spy Adventure
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 Last Train (1999)
Train Crash Survivors Emerge into a Post-Apocalyptic World
A mini-series where a group of people aboard a train go into suspended animation and emerge to find a devastated world
Alien Cargo (1999)
Paranoia-Inducing Alien Virus
Alien crossbred with The Crazies. Jason London and Missy Crider are crewmembers on a spaceship affected by an alien contaminant that makes them turn homicidal
Pitch Black (2000)
Planetary Survival
A gripping and particularly well conceived planetary survival story. The film that launched Vin Diesel’s career and he has never been better than as the lethal, tight-lipped serial killer Riddick
Blue Remains (2000)
Anime/Underwater Post-Holocaust Environmentalism
Epic and beautifully animated anime set largely underwater about the struggle to save a dying Earth from an evil super-computer that wants eradicate humanity
Supernova (2000)
Spaceship Rescues Mutated Killer
The celebrated Walter Hill directs an Alien-inspired film about a mutated killer loose on a spaceship. This was a problem-ridden production that pans out far less interestingly than it promises to be
Jason X (2001)
Slasher in Space
The tenth Friday the 13th film. This tries to add novelty as Jason is thawed out in the future aboard a space station to slaughter anew. Featuring David Cronenberg as a victim
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Reality Bender
The English-language remake of Open Your Eyes, starring Tom Cruise. The Spanish version is still the superior of the two but this stays surprisingly faithful to the original
Final (2001)
Psychiatric Patient/Reality Bender
Indie SF film where Denis Leary wakes up as patient in a psychiatric institution where he insists he has been awoken from cryogenic suspension in a future where he is awaiting execution
Matthew Blackheart (2002)
Monster Hunter
Film about a monster hunter from the 1940s thawed out in the present-day. This appears to have been made as a tv pilot
Immortal (ad vitam) (2004)
Future New York/Ancient Egyptian Gods Return
Comic-book creator Enki Bilal creates a visually extraordinary film about Ancient Egyptian gods awakening in a future New York
Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)
Space Opera Boardgame
Enjoyable sequel to Jumanji and actually a much superior film in the hands of Jon Favreau. This expands the idea of the Jumanji boardgame that brings things out from a jungle to life to a space theme
Idiocracy (2006)
Future Ruled by Stupid People
A film about stupid people that actually is funny – a raucous but often biting satire about how the stupid inherit the future
Ultimate Avengers (2006)
Marvel Comics Superhero Team/Animation
The first of several animated films based on Marvel Comics properties, this does a solid job in adapting Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, a retelling of The Avengers origin story
Merlin’s Apprentice (2006)
Arthurian Legends Adventure
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
H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air (2006)
H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation
Low-budget director Albert Pyun, best known for his kickboxing cyborg action films of the 1990s, conducts a micro-budgeted adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story about a scientist who fends off death by keeping their room chilled
Transmorphers (2007)
Asylum Mockbuster/Alien Robot Invasion
The Asylum’s answer to Michael Bay’s Transformers. Bay had a $150 million budget; they try to copy it for $250,000. To its credit, the film flies valiantly in the face of inadequate effects and delivers a watchable show, particularly with a series of terse character interactions
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
Martial Arts Adventure
Westernised homage to Wu Xia and the Shaw Brothers film with an American teen transported back to Ancient China, this has all the thrill of junior-grade martial arts tournament
Mr. Nobody (2009)
Alternate Life Pathways
Jaco Van Dormael film that reaches for epic ideas in a story about multiple life pathways and a babble of ideas taken from physics but fails to assemble them in a way that makes much sense
Cargo (2009)
Problems Aboard a Space Mission
Fine Swiss-made SF film where cryogenic sleepers are awoken aboard a deep space mission to find someone is killing the crew and even that the very purpose of their mission may be a lie
Pandorum (2009)
Space Mission Gone Wrong
Rare cinematic treatment of the generation ship story that conducts it with a modest degree of affectiveness. Produced by Paul W.S. Anderson.
The Last Airbender (2010)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
Live-action film adaptation of the popular animated tv series, this was widely seen as a disaster and a nail in the coffin of the career of M. Night Shyamalan. i am one of the few that liked the film and Shyamalan’s creation of a complex and superbly designed world
The Sleeping Beauty (2010)
Fairytale
Catherine Breillat, a director usually known for tackling issues of female sexuality, adapts the classic fairytale in a muddled effort that singularly fails to fly either as fairytale or deconstruction
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Comic-Book Superhero
One of the more disappointing of the Marvel Comics adaptations. Despite all the elements assembled, this never comes to life in director Joe Johnston’s hands and takes forever to get into action
Lockout (2012)
Future Orbiting Prison/Action
Luc Besson written action-prison film that blatantly borrows from Escape From New York and emerges as an entertaining comic-book of a movie, even if its depth exists no further than Guy Pearce tossing off flip one-liners
Prometheus Trap (2012)
Space Expedition/Timeloop
Low-budget film that was clearly trying to ride on the coattails of Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus. This tells an almost interesting story about a timeloop and gets full marks for winding in the Greek myth of Prometheus
Prometheus (2012)
Alien Prequel
Ridley Scott’s promised prequel to Alien. The first half creates epic mystery but the answers provided are not nearly as interesting as promised, while the latter half disappointingly settles for doing the Alien standard with decidedly lesser effect
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (2012)
Videogame Adaptation/Military Recruits in Training
Web-series, later released as a film, made as promotion for the Halo 4 videogame. While the games have a massively detailed backhistory of the universe, this is disappointingly only a low-budget military recruits in training scenario
Underworld: Awakening (2012)
Vampire-Werewolf War
Yet another entry that nobody asked for in a conceptually threadbare series that nobody seems to like … passably better than the last two sequels due to some ok action moves but still empty-headed in terms of ideas
Astronaut: The Last Push (2012)
Space Mission Gone Wrong
Gravity presaged a big upsurge about scientifically realistic space films. Coming out only a few months before, this concerns a lone astronaut on a space mission to Europa that goes wrong
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Intergalactic Adventures
I had mixed feelings about J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek This time around the actors seem more at home in the characters and the plot works a good deal better (for the most part), while Abrams creates a hurtling effects spectacle that is the most action-oriented of the Trek films
AE: Apocalypse Earth (2013)
The Asylum Mockbuster/Planetary Adventure
Another of The Asylum’s mockbusters, intended to come out the same time as M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth. This feels like a cheap planetary adventure that recycles Avatar and Planet of the Apes
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
Futuristic Military Action Team
You can’t complain that this is not exactly what you expect it to be – two hours of cartoonish action during which the brain singularly fails to engage. This is less unapologetic about being a military fantasy than the first film
Oblivion (2013)
Post-Holocaust Deserted Earth/Conceptual Breakthrough
This falls short of being a great science-fiction film by a hairs breadth. Not the big space/action film it was sold as, more a Philip K. Dickian conceptual breakthrough film that seems to have borrowed large chunks of its set-up from Moon
Machete Kills (2013)
Gonzo Action Film
Robert Rodriguez escalates his earlier Mexican-themed action film into an insanely creative comic-book overflowing with science-fiction devices (and homages). The casting alone is side-splitting and Rodriguez’s nonsensical absurdism wins the day
Ice Soldiers (2013)
Revived Soviet Super-Soldiers
This Canadian effort about Soviet super-soldiers unfrozen in the present-day feels like one of a bunch of cheap direct-to-video copies of Universal Soldier that came out in the late 1990s. The film generates remarkably little in the way of action of excitement
Interstellar (2014)
Space Expedition
This could be Christopher Nolan’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he draws from in many respects, but where Kubrick was cold and oblique, this is a 2001 with a heart. A pleasure to see a film rooted in credible science and dealing with high concept SF
Maleficent (2014)
Live-Action Prequel to Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Another in the early 2010s fad for fairytales rewritten as dark adult fantasy films – in this case, a version of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (as opposed to the original fairytale version) told from the viewpoint of the witch. Nicely produced, not much substance – the most interesting parts are when it gets to mess around with the fairytale
The 7th Dwarf (2014)
Animation/Adventures of the Seven Dwarves
German animated film about the adventures of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves. Lightweight and trivial, this feels like it has come along ten years too late to the fad for fairytale parodies and mash-ups we had in the mid-2000s with films like Shrek and Hoodwinked!
Sleeping Beauty (2014)
Fairytale Adventure/The Asylum Mockbuster
In the early 2010s, we had a series of fairytales rewritten as dark adult fantasies; The Asylum served up their own cheap copies – this was their version of Maleficent. Directed by actor Casper Van Dien, this not uninterestingly plays out as a fantasy adventure that follows the prince’s attempts to enter the castle
Batman vs. Robin (2015)
Comic-Book Superhero/Animation
Second in the trilogy of animated films dealing with Bruce Wayne’s son Damian who becomes the new Robin – this also adapts the massive Court of Owls crossover event, which provides a fascinating new nemesis for Batman
Air (2015)
Cryogenic Sleepers Drama
This comes with a great premise – two men are woken from cryogenic suspension only to find one of their cryo-tubes broken and they discover their purpose there may not be what they were told
Yoga Hosers (2016)
Slacker Comedy/Cloned Miniature Nazi Soldiers
Kevin Smith’s follow-up to Tusk slides off the cliff somewhere between Johnny Depp’s incredibly silly performance, a nemesis you can’t take seriously and what largely becomes a vanity exercise in nepotism – Smith and Depp creating a vehicle to highlight their daughters
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
War Between Comic-Book Superheroes
Less Captain America 3 than The Avengers 3 – the entire film has been conceived as a massive superheroic punch-up. The results move with an exhilarating pace, but the Russo Brothers haven’t yet mastered Joss Whedon’s hand with character humour
The Curse of Sleeping Beauty (2016)
Horror Version of Sleeping Beauty
This offers the promising idea of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty reworked as a horror film (and set in the modern day). Never as interesting as it sounds in synopsis, this becomes more a Sleeping Beauty-themed haunted house ride
Passengers (2016)
Cryogenic Sleepers Awake Aboard a Space Voyage
The gratifying pleasure of a solid conceptually-driven science-fiction film – all based around the premise of “what if a cryogenic sleeper woke up halfway through a deep space voyage?” and the moral choices he must make. Strong, intelligent character-driven science-fiction and possibly the best designed film of the year
Space Cop (2016)
Cop from the Future Comedy
Comedy about a cop from the future who joins the present-day force where he is partnered with a cop thawed out from the 1960s. This is a premise that should have been funny but emerges as something like Sledge Hammer cast with the characters from Dumb and Dumber
Realive (2016)
Cryogenic Sleeper Awakes
Strong and worthwhile film about the first man woken from cryogenic suspension in the future. A film from Alejandro Amenabar’s regular co-writer, the writer of Open Your Eyes
What Happened to Monday (2017)
Overpopulated Dystopian Future
From Tommy Wirkola, director of Dead Snow and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a film where Noomi Rapace plays seven identical sisters hiding their existence in an overpopulated dystopian future, A film where neither the scenario nor the central characters end up convincing in any way
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Alien Prequel
Ridley Scott makes a further Alien prequel that is an improvement on Prometheus. While the first half gives us the stuff of aliens hunting humans, the second less interestingly doglegs off into the story of a mad android
Sleeping Beauties (2017)
Erotic Fairytale Adaptation
A softcore erotic version of the popular fairytale. Largely the film gets the fairytale over and done with in the first eight minutes and thereafter focuses on the erotic tumblings of Beauty awakened in the present-day