15 Best Gritty Sci-Fi Movies You Need To Watch
In this article, we are bringing you some of the darkest, bloodiest and grittiest sci-fi movies of all time. We do have to warn you, that these movies are not for everyone’s taste, but if you like gritty sci-fi movies, then you are in the right place.
So without further ado, let’s get into the list of the grittiest SF movies.
The Thing (1982)
Earth’s orbit, several thousand years ago. A spaceship crashes over the South Pole… Antarctica, winter 1982. A Norwegian helicopter feverishly pursues a dog that escaped from the base, trying in vain to eliminate it before it runs to the members of the American scientific expedition. In doing so, one Norwegian is killed by a poorly thrown grenade, and another is killed by the American Garry after the distraught man starts shooting with a sniper at the American base.
Assuming that a tragedy has befallen the Norwegian team, the pilot R. J. MacReady and the doctor, Dr. Cooper, immediately fly to the scene, convinced that the team there has experienced real carnage, leaving behind an unusual block of ice. At the same time, the dog that the Americans accepted after a tragic chase turns into a terrible creature whose origin is anything but earthly, and the American base instantly becomes the scene of a bloody battle between humans and an alien that Dr. Blair concludes has the ability to perfectly transform into other life forms. shapes.
Outland (1981)
A federal marshal stationed at a mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy. He gets no help from the workers or authorities when he finds himself marked for murder.
The Thing from Another World (1951)
When he receives information that a meteor has fallen on the North Pole, US Air Force Captain Patrick Hendry (K. Tobey) with journalist Ned Scott (D. Spencer) and colleagues from the base in Alaska head there. There, an unusual round craft made of an unknown metal and the frozen body of a tall and strong humanoid creature await them under the ice.
After managing to get him out of the ice and bring him to the base, Patrick, Ned, Dr. Arthur Carrington (R. Cornthwaite), caring Nikki Nicholson (M. Sheridan) and others conclude that it is a green-blooded creature that is more plant than human and whose blood plasma has an extremely favorable effect on the growth of plants in the base. And when the creature soon escapes surveillance and kills their dog, Patrick and the others realize that their lives are all in danger.
Event Horizon (1997)
The lost spaceship “Event Horizon” has been found seven years after its mysterious disappearance. Now a first-rate rescue crew sets out in search of the truth… Only to discover a world of evil beyond their wildest nightmares.
Dr. William Weir is a scientist who designed a spaceship called Event Horizon that will explore the outer reaches of space beyond the planet Neptune. The ship uses a special transport mechanism that essentially creates a black hole that the ship can pass through allowing it to travel vast distances in seconds. Event Horizon mysteriously disappears mid-mission without any trace of the ship and crew, but reappears in Neptune’s orbit after a seven-year absence and sends a distress signal.
Spaceship “Lewis and Clark” and Dr. Weir were sent to investigate. The crew of Lewis and Clark are convinced that Weir is keeping something from them, and when they discover the Event Horizon, they discover that things are not what they seem, and the ship has been taken over by an evil presence.
Pandorum (2009)
Two astronauts, Payton and Bower, wake up after a deep hiber-sleep in an apparently completely empty spacecraft. I can’t remember anything: who are they? What is their mission? Soon they hear a strange sound coming from inside the ship, so they decide to have Payton stay with the radio receiver and Bower to go investigate the craft. Very slowly, the two friends will discover the terrible secret that the spacecraft keeps and realize that their survival on it is more important than anything they could have imagined.
Pitch Black (2000)
When a spaceship crashes due to a meteor shower, it lands on a deserted desert planet, and among the few survivors is the hardened cold-blooded killer Riddick (V. Diesel). After finding an abandoned facility and water, it appears to the rest of the crew that the only danger on the planet with three suns and no nights is Riddick.
They will soon learn the hard way that there are murderous monsters in the underground that do not come out to the light, and almost at the same time they will learn that an eclipse of all three suns is coming soon, which will cover the planet in darkness for several days, and they will become prey. And the only one who can help them is Riddick.
Sunshine (2007)
The sky has darkened and the outlook for planet Earth is bleak. Although at first the encroaching darkness seems unstoppable, scientists come up with a last-minute desperate plan to buy the human race a temporary escape from the dark destiny lurking beyond the horizon. A crew of eight men and women are given a nuclear device designed to literally re-ignite the Sun and are sent racing through infinity, overcoming obstacles, on the most important space mission ever.
Suddenly, the crew loses radio contact with mission control and everything begins to fall apart. Now, in the darkest reaches of the galaxy, the men and women who may hold the key to ultimate survival realize they’re fighting not just for their lives, but for their sanity.
Daybreakers (2009)
In 2019, the Earth is ruled by vampires, bloodthirsty creatures of the night, who shun the deadly rays of the sun, and who, on the wave of vampirism infection, have created a technologically developed post-apocalyptic society. Vampires make up as much as 95 percent of the earth’s population, and the remaining 5 percent of people serve as a source of their blood, which is drawn from them in large “industrial plants”.
Blood production is controlled by a corporation ruled by Charles Bromley (S. Neill), for whom scientist Edward Dalton (E. Hawke) also works. Tormented by conscience and existential doubts about killing the last people, Edward will soon find out about the existence of a resistance movement led by Lionel Cormac (W. Dafoe). As the supply of human blood rapidly dwindles, causing more and more unrest to break out among the vampires, Edward will discover that Lionel and his associate Audrey Bennett (C. Karvan) have found a way to cure vampirism.
Dark City (1998)
John Murdoch wakes up in an unfamiliar hotel and realizes that he has lost his memory. At the same time, he learns that he is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to remember his past, he encounters a diabolical underworld led by a group of beings known as Strangers, who have the ability to put people to sleep and change cities and their inhabitants. Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him forever.
Mad Max (1979)
In the time after the nuclear disaster, the Earth is devastated. The survivors managed to organize their lives, but anarchy reigns, and various gangs run rampant. The police are powerless. When he loses his partner, police officer Max Rockatinsky (Mel Gibson) decides to retire and live a family life, but in one of his devastating raids, a motorcycle gang kills his wife and child. Since then, his only goal is to catch the killers.
Escape from New York (1981)
In 1988, after a great rise in crime, New York’s Manhattan was turned into a large prison. 9 years later, the presidential plane was hijacked and crashed into Manhattan. The president (Donald Pleasence) survived thanks to a specially designed capsule, but was captured by one of the many gangs there. The authorities have only one hope – “Snake” Plisskens (Kurt Russell) who was convicted of robbing a bank and the warden Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) offers him a deal: if he can save the president, his criminal record will be expunged.
The problem is that the action needs to be completed in just 24 hours in order for the president to arrive at a meeting with the leaders of Russia and China, where they will discuss ending and preventing world wars. To make sure Snake doesn’t escape, Hauk injects him with a lethal substance that will activate if he doesn’t get an antidote in 24 hours.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
The year is 2029. Many people have become cyborgs by replacing some of their body parts with artificial implants. But the brain cannot be replaced. Agent Motoko Kusanagi is one of those cyborgs who works for the police. With the help of a special department, it is possible for her to become invisible and get closer to the target.
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Soon, together with her partner Bato, she gets a new task; find a mysterious “puppet master”, a hacker who manages to break through the armor barrier and directly manipulate the spirit of some citizens, forcing them to commit crimes for him. At first they only manage to capture one scavenger and his hacker mentor, but they discover that they were only implanted with artificial memories and that they were only controlled spies of the “puppet master”.
Blade Runner (1982)
Los Angeles, 2019. The city is overcrowded and dirty. On other planets, so-called colonies are formed. “replicants”, androids created by the Tyrell Corporation in the image and likeness of humans. Replicants develop their own feelings over time and are programmed to live only 4 years. They are stronger than humans, so a false memory of their childhood is implanted in them in order to live in the delusion that they are real humans.
Replicants are not allowed to come to Earth, and the special police organization “Blade Runner” is in charge of liquidating criminals. Rick Deckard from Blade Runner is tasked with eliminating several of them who have come to Earth and killed several people, led by Roy Batty. The problems begin when Rick falls in love with the replicant Rachael and begins to doubt the justification of the mission.
12 Monkeys (1995)
Philadelphia, 2035. After an unknown infectious disease ravaged humanity in the mid-nineties, killing five billion people, the rest of the human race survives deep beneath the Earth’s crust. The surface is ravaged and ruled by wild animals. In order to save the remaining people, the authorities send the prisoner James Cole (B. Willis) to the past to isolate a dangerous virus and thus make it possible to create a vaccine in the future. Cole mistakenly ends up in 1990, not 1996 when the pandemic happened, where he is immediately locked up and assigned to Dr. Kathryn Railly’s (M. Stowe) doctors.
dr. At first, Railly thinks that he has a schizophrenic raving in front of him. Therefore, he places him in a psychiatric hospital, where the distraught James meets the paranoid Jeffrey Goines (B. Pitt), the son of a famous virologist (C. Plummer) and the leader of the so-called The Army of the Twelve Monkeys, which in the future took responsibility for the spread of the virus.
Akira (1988)
In 1988, Tokyo was destroyed by an explosion in the 3rd World War. In 2019, Tokyo was rebuilt and named Neo-Tokyo, but it is full of crime and street gangs. One night, teenage Tetsuo runs into a strange, green boy who possesses telekinetic powers. Soon, both are kidnapped by the military and placed in a secret laboratory researching telekinetic powers.
Soon, Tetsuo also begins to get these unusual powers and in a fit of rage manages to escape from the laboratory and destroy the entire city. At the same time, the teenager Kaneda and the girl Kei are looking for their friend Tetsu and have no idea that he has acquired superhuman powers.