5 Best Sci-Fi Movies From 1992, Ranked
by Witney Seibold · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Cast your minds back to the halcyon days of 1992. "Batman Returns" and "Aladdin" are ruling the box office. Comedies like "Wayne's World" and "Sister Act" are drawing huge numbers, as are the romantic drama "The Bodyguard" and the steamy thriller "Basic Instinct." If you're in high school, there's no way you avoided hearing Boys II Men's "End of the Road," and you definitely knew all the words to Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." One-hit-wonders like "Achy Breaky Heart" and "Life is a Highway" are likewise insinuating themselves into your subconsciousness.
On TV, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has hit its stride, you may be enjoying the now mostly forgotten but still worthwhile "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," or you might just be reveling in super-hit sitcoms like "Roseanne," "Home Improvement," or "Murphy Brown." Bill Clinton is in office, Gen-X is fostering disaffection, and Kurt Cobain is still alive.
Meanwhile, the sci-fi genre is doing some really weird stuff in theaters. 1992 was a year of bold cinematic attempts, many of which were not appreciated in their day. Some have said that there were few dominant genre trends in the 1990s, which may be a fair assessment. The singular movie trends that were so often repeated in the 1980s were running out of juice, and filmmakers didn't really know what to do next. As such, they tried a lot of new, interesting ideas.
Some of the best sci-fi films of 1992 have sometimes been considered among the year's worst, which speaks to their off-center appeal. Certain sequels and adaptations came out that made daring swings or just ignored their source material, which resulted in fascinating misfires that, upon reflection, are actually fascinating and great. The following five movies are the best sci-fi movies of 1992.
5. The Lawnmower Man
As some may remember from the time, Brett Leonard's cyber-thriller "The Lawnmower Man," supposedly based on a short story by Stephen King, was taken to court. The movie bears almost zero similarities to its source material, and King sued to have his name removed from the production. This was a fair thing to do, as King's 1975 story is about a satyr posing as a greenskeeper, while Leonard's 1992 film is about using virtual reality technology to alter the mind of a human being.
But that's not to say that Leonard's film is bad. In fact, it's a very strange, intense horror flick about the nightmares of the nascent digital world. Pierce Brosnan stars as Dr. Angelo, a scientist who's been using a combination of drugs and VR training to turn chimpanzees into violent soldiers. The chimp experiment goes awry (you get to see more of this in the film's director's cut), but Dr. Angelo is not deterred. Unbeknownst to his company, he decides to test his brain-enhancing tech on Jobe (Jeff Fahey), an intellectually disabled professional lawn worker locally known as the Lawnmower Man.
The VR tech, however, works a little too well. Not only do Jobe's intellectual functions change, but he begins developing eerie mental powers as well. Before the end of the movie, he can digitally deconstruct people with his mind and read their thoughts. All the VR stuff is realized with 1992-era CGI, which seems rudimentary now but has a slick, fluid, and even creepy quality that modern CGI cannot replicate. Leonard's film is very strange and, dare I admit, kind of scary. The threat of modern computer tech actually seems like, well, a threat in this movie.
4. Memoirs of an Invisible Man
It's quite well reported that director John Carpenter hated working on "Memoirs of an Invisible Man." Working with Chevy Chase was a headache, the story goes, and the movie left Carpenter considering retiring from directing. Of Carpenter's films, it bears the least of his trademark craftsmanship, feeling more like a lightweight Steven Spielberg or Robert Zemeckis movie. The visual effects, at the very least, are incredibly impressive, worthy of any Hollywood A-production.
Chevy Chase stars as Nick, a shallow stock analyst who, while attending a shareholder's meeting at a laboratory, is caught in an accident that turns him invisible. He immediately begins having to traverse the many practical issues this presents. He can still talk to people on the phone but not face-to-face. He cannot sleep well because his eyelids are invisible. He can't use utensils because he can't see his hands. And when he eats, he can see the food digesting in his stomach. Luckily, his food vanishes once it has been digested enough, so we never see his full colon. Ick.
The plot involves ... actually, the plot is the least memorable part of "Memoirs of an Invisible Man." The more memorable moments involve Nick's practical concerns about being invisible. Late in the film, he is able to spy on others, and Nick finds he misses human connection. That's about as profound as the movie gets. Carpenter may have hated working on this flick, but he would go on to reunite with one of the movie's co-stars, Sam Neill, on "In the Mouth of Madness," which is Carpenter's best film of the 1990s. Meanwhile, "Memoirs" bombed at the box office, but it certainly didn't deserve to.
3. Alien³
When people say they are a fan of the "Alien" movies, they usually mean one of two things: Either they are a fan of the existential horror of Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien," or they are a fan of the high-octane action of James Cameron's 1986 sequel "Aliens." If you are of the former camp, then you probably have more of a chance of loving David Fincher's 1992 threequel "Alien³." If you are of the latter camp, you most certainly will not love it.
The production of "Alien³" was a nightmare, and no one seemed happy with the final product. The film was a hit, but for many years, "Alien" fans agreed that it was, at best, a mess. It wouldn't be until a 2003 home media release that fans would see the "Assembly Cut," which cobbled together the most cogent version of the movie based on the footage that was shot.
Beyond all of the behind-the-scenes drama, however, is a film that, when taken at face value, is daring and unique and refreshingly tragic. "Alien³" begins with the deaths of two of the survivors from "Aliens," and has the legendary Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) crash-landing on a prison planet. The prisoners aren't closely tracked and have formed a vaguely monastic society, making them notably ill-equipped to deal with any Xenomorphs that might invade their world. And, wouldn't you know it, a Xenomorph invades their world. So, Ripley has to teach them how to deal with this threat while also learning that there may be a Xenomorph incubating inside her own body.
"Alien³" is bleak and dour in ways I adore. Resolute action solves nothing when the universe is against you, and it seems keen to make Ripley's life a living hell.
2. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
Shinya Tsukamoto's 1989 cult oddity "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" is one of the most striking, intense pieces of cyberpunk noise you will ever experience. It concerns the increasing modernization of Japan and the insidious, ever-present technology that dictates our minds. In the film, a salaryman (Tomorowo Taguchi) spontaneously begins sprouting machines and circuit boards from his body. This attracts a metal fetishist (Tsukamoto), who proves to be his archenemy. "Tetsuo" is about the horrors of mechanized modernity.
"Tetsuo II: Body Hammer" takes those notions to the next level, exploring how rage — in a modern world — can turn us into literal weapons. Taguchi and Tsukamoto reprise their roles ... somewhat. Taguchi's salaryman, this time, has a young son that is kidnapped by acolytes of the metal fetishist. The experience drives him to wrath, and he sprouts gun barrels from his body. When he uses them, however, he accidentally slays his own son.
"Body Hammer" then gives way to a psychedelic trip wherein sweaty, muscular men work out in greasy, factory-like basements, and the salaryman has to avoid getting angry to prevent more guns from growing out of him. There are themes of repressed memories and stifled rage. Tsukamoto is saying something about how modernity activates anger and makes the world a self-destructive place by design.
"Tetsuo: The Iron Man" was filmed in glittering black-and-white, but "Body Hammer" is all warm reds, cool blues, and wrathful yellows. It's one of Tsukanoto's best-looking movies. And the director is still making films. His latest venture — "Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?" — played at this year's Venice Film Festival.
1. Fortress
Stuart Gordon's "Fortress" didn't hit theaters until 1993, but it debuted on the festival circuit a year prior, so it technically counts as a 1992 movie. Besides, it's just too good not to include on this list.
Gordon was an expert in genre cinema, stretching its limits and exploring fun conceits. Horror fans love his work on films like "Re-Animator," "From Beyond," and "Dolls," fans of drive-in sci-fi love him for "Robot Jox" (crash and burn, baby), and fans of intense dramas may even love him for his later films "Edmond" and "Stuck." And if you haven't seen his movie "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit," then you're missing out on one of the most pleasant, sweetest kid flicks ever made.
Everyone, however, will be able to get behind "Fortress," a sci-fi prison movie of impeccable B-grade quality. Christopher Lambert plays Brennick, a man who is arrested and imprisoned, along with his wife Karen (Loryn Locklin), for trying to have a second baby after the loss of their first. This is the far-flung future of 2017, you see, and couples are only allowed to have one baby, period. Thus, Brennick finds himself in a super-prison run by the Men-Tel Corporation. Prisoners are implanted with pain-inducing modules that can explode and are watched over by robot-like guards with guns. The prison itself is remotely overseen by Director Poe (Kurtwood Smith), a cold-blooded weirdo with eyes for Karen.
Eventually, Brennick teams up with other prisoners (played by Jeffrey Combs, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Vernon Wells) to stage a prison break. "Fortress" is B-movie action at its finest, using its low budget well. The rules of the prison are clever, and the ways the characters outwit them are cleverer still. "Fortress" is just a rollicking good time.