I have been active in the Science Fiction field for over 50 years. In that time I have read many books and seen countless movies. My favorite SF movies of all time are probably Blade Runner and 2001. These were popular movies, but there were many more that I liked that did not receive much attention at the time. I was paging through Amazon used movies on DVD and saw one of my favorites- Puppet Masters- for only nine cents (plus postage)! When I found that great movies are available for such cheap prices, I decided to publish my personal list of underrated movies.

.	Number	Movie Title	Starring	Year Rating
	1	Quiet Earth	Bruno Lawrence Alison Routledge Peter Smith	1985 unrated
	2	Soylent Green	Charlton Heston Leigh Taylor-Young Chuck Connors Edward G. Robinson	1973 PG
	3	A Boy & His Dog	Hal Baylor, Susanne Benton Don Carter Ron Feinberg Michael Hershman	1975 R
	4	Brazil	Jim Broadbent, Ray Cooper (II) Robert De Niro John Flanagan Kim Greist	1985 R
	5	Gattaca	Danny DeVito Gail Lyon Georgia Kacandes Joshua Levinson Michael Shamberg	1997 PG-13
	6	Puppet Masters	Donald Sutherland Eric Thal Julie Warner Keith David Will Patton	1994 R
	7	The Thing from Another World	Bruno Lawrence Kenneth Tobey Margaret Sheridan	1951 unrated
	8	Black Sheep	Nathan Meister Danielle Mason Peter Feeney Tammy Davis Glenis Levestam	2006 unrated
	9	Starship Troopers	Casper Van Dien Dina Meyer Denise Richards Jake Busey Neil Patrick Harris	1997 R
	10	Repo Man	Jennifer Balgobin Olivia Barash Susan Barnes Emilio Estevez Tom Finnegan	1984 R

• Lloyd Bullard. My favorites- some of yours plus these:
  • Starman
  • A.I.
  • Threads
  • Dark City
  • Robots (animated)
  • Immoretal
  • Alien
  • Matrix
  • Terminator
  • 5th Element
  • Monolith Monsters
• It would be hard to describe some of these movies such as Terminator, Alien or Matrix as underrated as they were seen by millions
• Richard Blackwell, Lafayette, LA
  • My suggestion is "Brainstorm" (1983) starring Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher and Cliff Robertson.

    In the movie Dr Michael Brace (Walken) and Dr. Lillian Reynolds (Fletcher), perfect a method of recording one person's experiences and playing them back in another's mind. Cliff Robertson is Alex Terson, the director of the company funding the research and Natalie Wood plays Karen Brace, Michal Brace's soon-to-be ex-wife.

    The movie itself is badly flawed because Natalie Wood died before primary filming was completed, because it has a really horrible ending and because the computer technology depicted has not necessarily aged well. But the handling of the technology is marvelous because in a "scientists vs. the military-industrial complex" subplot, we get to see a number of idea of how the technology could be used, from tapping into a persons' mind as a means of controlling an aircraft to using the technology to induce psychotic espisodes. On the other hand, we see the Braces use the technology to save their marriage and in one scene Dr. Brace describes the device to his son by saying, "That? That could teach you the entire sixth grade in about twenty minutes."

    There's also a "scientists vs designers" subplot which shows the rapid development of the device from half a roomful of equipment to something that fits in a briefcase.

• Ed Ives
  • In addition to many of my favorites that have already been mentioned ...

    Don't forget "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," the 1953 low-budget Ray Harryhausen spectacle that started the whole "creature feature" craze. It was a box-office success thanks to a huge advertising blitz and its scary special effects. It is seldom seen today, perhaps because grainy black and white films don't translate well to television.

    Also in black and white, the well-regarded first of the "big bug" movies, THEM had a scary-as-hell opening and marvelous special effects for 1954. Planned for color and 3-D, it still made a mint in black and white.

    A British entry from 1962 that is often overlooked is "The Day of the Triffids," based on the great storyline of John Wyndham's novel. Howard Keel as you have never seen him before. See it if you can find one of the rare showings.

• Lyle Stephenson
  • The 12 Monkeys
  • THX 1138
• Larry, Philadelphia
  • Here are some of my thoughts, they are not in any special order. I had a hard time separating an under-rated movie from one that my warped mind would like but probably wasn't under-rated.
    1. The Time Machine 1960 - Probably shouldn't be on the list because I think it's pretty well regarded. But I'm putting it anyway.
    2. This Island Earth 1955 - Classic aliens and the scene of them kidnapping the woman and putting her in a tube of preserving fluid was priceless.
    3. Dr Who & The Daleks 1965 - The Daleks voices were scary and I liked the plot.
    4. The Time Travelers 1964 - Scientists develop a time machine to explore the past but end up going into the future of an apocalyptic earth.
    5. Seconds 1966 - Great performance by Rock Hudson. The final scene of him screaming was terrifying.
    6. Countdown 1968 - NASA discovers that Apollo won't get to the moon in time and sends James Caan to the moon in a hastily modified Gemini spacecraft. The ending was pretty exciting.
    7. The Satan Bug 1965 - Similar plot to Andromeda Strain.
    8. Marooned 1969 - Apollo astronauts are stranded in orbit, rescued just in time by the russians.
    9. Kronos 1957 - Aliens send an energy absorbing robot to earth to absorb all of earth's energy. So the scientists cleverly throw an atom bomb on it. Of course, Kronos loves it and grows even more powerful. Years after seeing the movie, it occurred to me that the Westinghouse headquarters building in Pittsburgh built in 1970 looked earily similar to Kronos. Now I realize that the building also looks a lot like a nuclear fuel rod assembly. I have a feeling that was the architect's inspiration.
• Jacob Thomas, NYC
  • My vote is for Idiocracy. This underrated movie received little attention because its basic premiss is so un-PC that the mainstream media could not support it
• Kevin Breen
  • THIS ISLAND EARTH was underrated. It certainly didn't deserve the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER treatment.
  • KILLERS FROM SPACE was not only a classic but it introduced a lot of elements that were later incorporated into the alien abduction mythology: disembodied eyes, missing time, implants.
• Roger Blondin, Evansville, IN
  • The Thing was one of the scariest movies I ever remember seeing. If you can find the origigal 1950's version, I highly recommend it
• Dave Merrill, Branford, CT
  • One of my all-time favorites is Silent Running, starring Bruce Dern. It's a bit heavy on the conservation message and ends with a really sappy 70's song, but it has good special effects for its time and the robots, Hughie, Dewey and Louie that must have inspired R2D2 from Star Wars.
• M Karam, Nashua New Hampshire
  • How about Black Hole? You either love it or hate it, and I'm still in love after all these years
• Paul Zielinski Port St Lucie FL
  • How can you have a list of Sci Fi movies without the Star Wars Trilogy?
  • It would be hard to describe those movies as underrated since they were seen by millions
• daddyof007@comcast.net
  • aelita-queen of mars 1924 silent-

• Rich
  • I am hoping you might be able to tell me the name of a 1960's sci fi movie. I just remember it being about a flying saucer in a field. The "captain" of the ship was bald with eyes made up to look slanted like chinese. He also had long red finger nails. The aliens on the ship were abducting females and bringing them back to the ship. I remember them putting the females on some type of conveyor belt and they would disappear into a hole in the wall. Sorry if I sound crazy. I remember the movie when I was a little kid. I've been trying to find out what the movie is for awhile. Thanks for your time. Rich