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I love sci-fi suspense/horror; lookin' for more. Suggestions?

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CZroe

CZroe

Lifer
I love sci-fi. I love sci-fi thrillers more. Thanks to Blu-Ray, I'm on a classic movie kick and I'm looking for more to watch. I hadn't seen The Final Countdown yet, but my sister warned me against it and suggested Sunshine, which I totally missed a few years ago. I didn't even know it existed, so I'm hoping for some suggestions of more that I may have missed. I'm critical, but not very discerning... the mainstream stuff in print, musical, or movies thoroughly entertain me (nothing obscure). Despite her warning, I do plan on watching The Final Countdown anyway. 😉

Though there are plenty more novels to read and I do sometimes read them, I find that surprisingly few of them have been turned into great movies. In fact, there seem to be more of my tastes made specifically for the big screen rather than adapted. That said, I'm looking for a few more MOVIES that fit the bill.

Novels I liked:
Anything Michael Crichton writes (wrote,
rose.gif
RIP 🙁); you know...
Prey, Jurassic Park/The Lost World, Sphere, Timeline, etc
I've never been much for Asimov but H.G.Wells and Jules Verne certainly left their mark on me...
War of the Worlds
Journey to the Center of the Earth

Musicals I liked:
Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (no, not Orson Wells' WotW radio broadcast but, rather, the 1978 prog-rock album; anything else like it?)

Movies I liked:
Sphere (the movie and the novel)
The Abyss (yeah, it's a little corny; "suspensful" in the final version, but not "horror")
Event Horizon (absolute favorite sci-fi/horror)
Sunshine (as close as it gets to Event Horizon, though not nearly as good)
Aliens (yeah, I'll go all "heretic" and admit that I liked Jim's better than Ridley's... screw all that "less is more" crap. What that man did without CG is AMAZING)
Katsuhiro Otomo Presents Memories (specifically, the first story; "Magnetic Rose")

Yes, I already saw the new Star Trek.
 
Oh and, as a gamer, I'm very much aware of games that fit the bill: Dead Space, the Half-Life series, heck, even the Jeff Wayne WotW PC game. 😉 Perhaps it would be every bit as useful to list what I DIDN'T like so much. At the very least, it will head-off the recommendations.

IIRC, I didn't really like the movie Contact, so I'm hesitant to read Carl Sagan's novel, though it's in my nightstand (waste of time?). It was a really long time ago. Perhaps I need to watch it again? Perhaps my earlier impression was tainted because, well, I hate Mathew Matthew McConaughey (don't we all?)

I'm disapointed in how poorly many of Crichton's novels have translated into movies... like Timeline (UGH!). Of course, Jurassic Park blew me away when I was 13 but it the movie trades much of the suspense/horror for "awe" so I'll stick with the books. I disliked stuff like Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, The Core, The Day After Tomorrow, The Day the Earth Stood Still (remake), Minority Report, Timeline, etc and I grew to dislike Cube/Hypercube but I actually liked the modern remake of Planet of the Apes as much as the classic (though none belong on my list). Yeah, more heresy. 😉

I liked Blade Runner, but I'm not a Philip K. Dick fan and the movie is not in the same vein as thriller/suspense/horror sci-fi.
 
Contact is a GREAT novel, I highly recommend it. But our tastes differ, since I don't much care for Event Horizon.

Have you seen Frequency? Check it out if not.

EDIT: The original Terminator could fit nicely into this category as well, but I assume everyone has seen that already.
 
for something different you could watch:

Outland

Death Race 2000 (very weird movie)

Heavy Metal (animated movie)

 
wow you liked sunshine?

that movie was cool for like 75% but the last 25% was so terrible it completely ruined the movie.
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
wow you liked sunshine?

that movie was cool for like 75% but the last 25% was so terrible it completely ruined the movie.
Click to expand...

+1 Well said...this movie could've reached the level of greatness.
 
I can't believe I forgot Pitch Black! Yeah, the follow-up Riddick films were trash, but the original PB wasn't remotely like them... I liked the 1.5 Riddick games though. 😉

Originally posted by: Pheran
Contact is a GREAT novel, I highly recommend it. But our tastes differ, since I don't much care for Event Horizon.

Have you seen Frequency? Check it out if not.

EDIT: The original Terminator could fit nicely into this category as well, but I assume everyone has seen that already.
Click to expand...

Yup. Seen 'em both (thanks). I will be watching the Terminator flicks again on BD before watching T4 Salvation. That said, I'll be pulling Contact out when I can make time for it. 😛

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
for something different you could watch:

Outland

Death Race 2000 (very weird movie)

Heavy Metal (animated movie)
Click to expand...

Yes! Very surprised that I haven't seen any of these. Despite my love of Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon, I never saw his remake of Death Race either.

I've seen Heavy Metal 2000, played through Heavy Metal Fakk 2, and watched the South Park homage to Heavy Metal, but I never saw the original (mostly because HM2K didn't do it for me).

Originally posted by: Insomniator
The Returner

Its Japanese but not stupid anime or anything like that, go find it. Awesome movie.
Click to expand...

I'm not opposed to anime if the story/art (err... entertainment value) stands on its own, I just refuse to watch/like anime "because" it's anime. Hence, Memories EP1 is the only one on the list (a short story portion of an animated feature film; would work just as well as a live-action film if someone were so inclined).

Originally posted by: purbeast0
wow you liked sunshine?

that movie was cool for like 75% but the last 25% was so terrible it completely ruined the movie.
Click to expand...

I liked that it was about as close as you could get to Event Horizon without being a remake. 😀 That said, I considered it worth watching at least and I'm looking for more similarly "worth watching" movies. I liked the backstory (not seen in the film) which is almost like reading a theoretical particle physics article in Discover Magazine. I don't need a satisfying ending as long as a movie keeps me entertained until the end (something I realized with No Country for Old Men).
 
Primer
Logan's Run
The Time Machine (both versions)
War of the Worlds (the old version, as the Tom Cruise remake is awful)
Time Bandits
Starship Troopers
12 Monkeys
Westworld
Futureworld
 
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