Alameda Entertainment/YouTube/CNET Screenshot

Intriguing premise? Check. Low budget? Check. Twist in the end? Check. This indie sci-fi mystery from Travis Milloy solidifies its place in the Google Search quest for “best indie sci-fi gems.” complex story focuses on a man held in an automated detention facility. He must fight superior technology to escape, an immensely tricky feat.

Tollywood

How cool and intriguing is that title? Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a low-budget time travel comedy from Japanese filmmaker Junta Yamaguchi. The wild premise: A café worker discovers his TV can show him what happens 2 minutes into the future. There’s obviously a lot more to that and the results are as creative and trippy as you can expect under the constraints of indie filmmaking. A gem.

United Artists

Remakes are rarely better than the original, but sometimes there comes a remarkable exception. The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers builds on the already excellent 1956 sci-fi horror, telling the story of a health inspector and his colleague who realize the people of San Francisco are slowly being replaced by drone-like replicas. Creating a dread and paranoia-infused atmosphere, with Donald Sutherland in the lead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers  as one of the best sci-fis of all time.

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Not much needs to be said about the first in the Terminator franchise. Apparently born of a fever dream, James Cameron’s story gives us a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to save mankind from the robot apocalypse.

Photo Credit: Jan Thijs

Before Dune, Denis Villeneuve directed another immense sci-fi classic. Arrival stars Amy Adams as a linguist who suffers a personal tragedy in the past. When mysterious extraterrestrial spacecraft hover over Earth, she’s recruited to make contact — with completely unexpected life-changing results. Arrival is a complete package, with performances, cinematography and writing that are… out of this world.

Paramount Pictures

The second Star Trek movie in the rebooted franchise beams up a terrific adventure with a memorable villain in Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan. The gang on the USS Enterprise travels to the forbidden zone in space to rescue an endangered species. While a little dated — a gratuitous underwear scene and a change in ethnicity for Khan — Into Darkness is a rollicking trip.

20th Century Fox/YouTube/CNET Screenshot

Oh look, it’s another Roland Emmerich film! This one follows Earth’s resistance soldiers making a last stand against an alien attack, an event they log in the calendar for July 4.

Paramount Pictures

This cult sci-fi gem is streaked with the tire tracks of kids riding around their neighborhood on bikes. A Stranger Things chaser, Explorers follows two teenage boys — played by Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix — who build a spacecraft for space exploring purposes. An ’80s flick that soars on the spirit of family-friendly adventure.

Amazon Prime Video

It’s hard to leave The Tomorrow War off this list, because it’s Prime Video’s big sci-fi actioner starring Chris Pratt. It follows a schoolteacher who’s drafted into a war with aliens — in the future. An easily digestible flick that you can watch while looking at your phone.

Vertigo Releasing/YouTube/CNET Screenshot

follows a father who tries to piece his life back together after a car accident. He agrees to an experimental procedure that leads him to the darkest recesses of his mind.

Vertical Entertainment/YouTube/CNET Screenshot

For a well-made, thoughtful sci-fi that makes sure not to let its meditations overtake entertainment value, is a great shout. The British directorial debut from Gavin Rothery stars Theo James as a scientist working on making an AI as human as possible. His reasons are hidden, personal and sure to put a spanner in the works. Drawing comparisons to Ex Machina, Archive is assured storytelling with an astute focus on character.

Oscilloscope Laboratories/YouTube/CNET Screenshot

Coherence doesn’t need an Avatar-size budget to craft a compelling story. The low-budget indie film follows friends at a dinner party who start noticing bizarre occurrences after a comet passes. Even more unsettling because of its grounded setting, Coherence nails the brief of true indie gem.