Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Not all remakes are bad! While Invasion of the Bodysnatchers is based on the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, and had already been adapted into a 1956 film, this 70s version joins The Thing as one of the great cinematic reimaginings of our time.
Starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers is a 10/10 sci-fi classic that explores post-60s counterculture fallout through the lens of a strange alien invasion, when a race of gelatinous creatures travel to Earth from their expiring homeworld, take the form of plant pods with pink flowers, and slowly set about replacing humans with duplicates. As Matthew Bennell (Sutherland) aims to stop the takeover of our planet, there are horrifying consequences of the invasion afoot.
Available on UK service
Stalker
Sci-fi classic Stalker should be right up your street if you’re after something from the world of cinema past. Made in 1979, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Soviet art film is based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and they were in charge of turning it into a screenplay here. In the film, the “Stalker” of the title (Alexander Kaidanovsky) has to take a hazardous journey with his two clients. Their destination is a mysterious area known as the “Zone”, where they will supposedly find a room which will grant them their innermost desires. At 161 minutes long, you’ll definitely need time on your hands to finish Stalker, but it’s considered a classic for a reason!
Available on US service
Kill Switch
In what’s sure to be a divisive addition to this list, sci-fi actioner Kill Switch will appeal to you if you’re looking for something different! The film is for sure a hot mess, but it at least tries to do something interesting with the genre, even if that “something different” is using futuristic flashbacks in the style of a fps video game.