The 10 worst science fiction movies ever made
For many a decade, science fiction has been one of the most popular cinema genres, going, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been some absolutely awful productions. Sure, sci-fi has coughed up countless masterpieces over the years that have left deep impressions on the medium of cinema and culture at large.
When thinking of sci-fi, it’s hard not to immediately conjure up the brilliance of Ridley Scott’s Alien and Blade Runner, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, the Wachowskis’ The Matrix and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, for every brilliant work, there must invariably be a dreadful one, and Lord have mercy, there has been some absolute tripe.
Sci-fi movies can sometimes suffer from having ropey special effects that make their journeys into the beyond look like a rainy Sunday trip to the supermarket. On the other hand, a science fiction film might have lofty narrative ambitions that can’t quite be put into action, and as a result, the final product suffers greatly.
We’ve compiled a list of the ten worst science fiction movies ever made and ordered them from best to worst. So, from campy, overly sexualised voyages into space to strange explorations of Scientology, it’s time to sit back and prepare for some horrendous sci-fi offerings from the cinematic frontiers.
The 10 worst science fiction movies:
Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968)
By the time the 1970s were over, Jane Fonda had established herself as a two-time Academy Award winner and one of Hollywood’s biggest icons. The decade before had seen the daughter of Henry Fonda emerge as a new acting talent, but when she appeared in husband Roger Vadim’s highly sexualised sci-fi flick Barbarella, she invariably took part in a truly dodgy cinematic voyage.
Sure, there are some fans of Vadim’s movie, even to this day, and the visuals weren’t half bad for the time. However, there’s a real superficial quality to Barbarella in the way that it eschews any genuine desire for science fiction storytelling, preferring a misogynistic outlook and campy style that fails to plaster over a mostly incoherent plot. Risqué costume and overt innuendo maketh a quality film not.
Piranha 3DD (John Gulager, 2012)
Now, this may be the toughest inclusion on our list. While all of the movies featured are ostensibly bad in the broader context of the often-serious and always-cultured science fiction genre, Piranha 3DD stands out as different. This film is certainly the silver screen equivalent of a dump truck full of trash, but it knows it.
Any film to feature David Hasselhof as a lifeguard certainly knows what it is doing. When you couple that purposefully schlocky addition to the cheeky title, you have yourself a terrible movie that revels in being terrible. That, however, isn’t enough to save it from being entered into our list. The 2012 film is great fun for those willing to subject themselves to the ridiculousness, but for the genre of sci-fi, it’s a low-ranking effort.
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (The Brothers Strause, 2007)
As if we ever need the first mashup movie of the Alien and Predator cinematic worlds of 2004, some fool decided to greenlight a 2007 sequel directed by The Brothers Strause that did little to resurrect the rubbish original nor really add anything to either franchise. A completely uninventive plot surrounding the invasion of a small town got the film off to a bad start, but things got even worse from there.
Not only was the story of AvP2 ropey from the get-go, but when things did pick up into moments of extra-terrestrial action, you couldn’t bloody see anything as the production was so badly lit and outrightly dark that just about anything could have been going on on-screen and you wouldn’t know about it. Throw in some stereotypical characters and some egregious, unimpressive gore, and it’s plain to see that the Strause Brothers should have let this one rot.
Highlander II: The Quickening (Russell Mulcahy, 1991)
Highlander, the 1986 movie starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, deserves its spot in the pantheon of 1980s movies. Yes, it is hacky in parts, but there is an undeniable quality that runs throughout. The sequel, however, is pretty much awful in every way. The follow-up to the cult classic makes the mistake of championing mythology over the movie. The over-complication means this sequel was destined to fail from the very beginning.
While the powerhouse acting duo do return for the follow-up, the plot is so meandering that it cannot be saved. Rewriting the lore of the first movie is about a basic mistake that a sequel can make, and Highlander II seemed to revel in breaking out the red pen and crossing out everything already established in the first movie, defying logic and continuity at will.
Roller Blade (Donald G. Jackson, 1986)
Roller Blade is an unwanted testament to the wilder side of 1980s low-budget cinema. Directed by Donald G. Jackson, this sci-fi flick imagines a post-apocalyptic world where crime-fighting nuns on roller skates battle evil. Now, there is a good reason to be excited by such a truly maniacal premise, but sadly, it quickly falls apart under the weight of its own silliness.
A hard-to-follow plot doesn’t help things, and while the amateurish production value produces some welcome guffaws in the 21st century, it doesn’t make up for the inescapable ludicrousness of the movie, which will leave you far more bemused than entertained. Mysticism and campy theatrics will, at times, blend like the finest strawberry daiquiri; however, sometimes, all you get is a stain upon the cinematic landscape. Naturally achieving a cult status for the “so bad it is good” aficionados, the reality is that the movie is particularly difficult to get through without being wildly intoxicated. That is never a good sign.
2012 (Roland Emmerich, 2009)
The movies of Roland Emmerich have earned him the title of the “master of disaster”, but in 2009, the Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow director delivered an absolute stinker of a science fiction movie in the shape of 2012, through which he managed to put a decent cast including John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson in a film of genuinely awful proportions.
Based on the 2012 phenomenon of beliefs that the world would end that very year, the film has a geologist and a novelist come together to try and survive a series of cataclysmic occurrences, including earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. On the surface, that might have made for a good movie, but considering its increasingly worsening plot as the film progresses, an overreliance on dodgy-at-best CGI and some of the worst characterisation of the 21st century, it’s easy to see why 2012 was lambasted upon its release.
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (Bob Clark, 2004)
This is yet another instance of a terrible movie somehow getting an even worse sequel through the door. 1999’s Baby Geniuses got the hell panned out of it as the 20th century drew to a close, but for whatever reason, director Bob Clark returned for a shocker of a sequel, bringing back a gang of talking, super-intelligent babies who must join forces to stop the evil deeds of a malicious media mogul played by Jon Voight.
On the surface, it might appear that Superbabies could at least offer a handful of laughs, but the truth was that the comedy of the film was awkward at best and absolutely disastrous at worst. What that leaves is the possibilities of its premise, and even the science fiction genre could barely justify babies being so smart that they can talk with one another and save the world. A genuine low point in the career of Jon Voight and a stain on the history of sci-fi.
Mac and Me (Stewart Raffill, 1988)
When Steven Spielberg released E.T., the movie world saw an intergalactic buddy movie for all ages and, consequently, the many, many dollar signs it provided along the way. What followed, therefore, was a continued raft of similar projects. 1988’s Mac and Me is certainly one of the worst. The premise sees a tragically wheelchair-bound boy make friends with an alien named Mac, who, aside from seemingly being affiliated with both McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, is devoid of any sentimentality or humour.
The blatant rip-off of the aforementioned family adventure is so paper thin you could see the producer hoping to cash in rubbing their hands behind it. The acting is beyond poor, and the emotional beats are only ever delivered as dull thuds. The only saving grace of the entire picture is the laughably bad special effects, which would have felt off-kilter even for the late ’80s. This movie is a commercial sent to the silver screen and reeks of the perfumed claptrap that a studio executive would happily cash in on.
Battlefield Earth (Roger Christian, 2000)
Oh, good God, this one’s a disaster of religious proportions. The writing of scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has never had much literary or artistic merit, so could it possibly have any cinematic worth? That question was thoroughly and negatively answered by Roger Christian’s 2000 sci-fi movie Battlefield Earth, starring John Travolta, Barry Pepper and Forest Whitaker.
Scientologist Travolta helped produce the film, but even the Grease and Pulp Fiction actor could not save it from being confined to the science fiction garbage dump for all eternity. Narratively focusing on a future rebellion against an alien race, Battlefield Earth possesses an aimless plot, some dreadful acting, even from Travolta and Whitaker, and some of the worst special effects known to mankind. Avoid at all costs, lest Scientology be your whole thing.
After Earth (M Night Shyamalan, 2013)
On the whole, Will Smith has had a pretty good run in the science fiction genre, with I Am Legend often regarded as one of the modern masterpieces. However, M Night Shyamalan’s After Earth is a step too far. Starring Smith and his son Jaden, the duo explore an Earth already abandoned by humanity. Sadly, for cinemagoers, it would appear that humanity had also left the acting chops of Will and Jaden Smith, who both deliver unthinkably wooden performances, with the latter especially criticised for not providing the emotional depth required for such a role.
When adding these performances to a heavy-handed script and an unthinkably tedious set of twists from Shyamalan, you have a multi-layered disappointment. It may be that AFter Earth suffered from the weight of expectation. The director and lead actor had a serious amount of weight behind the picture, but it goes to show that a lack of narrative or character development will always become apparent, no matter who the star is.
