5 Best Sci-Fi Movies Of 1988, Ranked

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1988 was a great year to go to the movies, no matter the genre. Bruce Willis crawled through Nakatomi Plaza's air vents in "Die Hard." Tom Hanks got a magical wish granted in "Big." Bob Hoskins went to Toon Town in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" There was plenty of action and comedy to be had at the cineplex, but what about science fiction?

This was also a fantastic year for sci-fi fans, whether you like them comedic, horrific, or even animated. After consulting IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Letterboxd, we found that these scintillating sci-fi favorites from '88 reign above all others. Featuring doomed astronauts, invading aliens, creepy psychic children, and so much more, here are the five best science fiction movies of 1988.

• Cast: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson 
• Director: Stephen Chiodo 
• Rating: PG-13 
• Runtime: 86 minutes 
• Where to Watch: Pluto TV

Bulbous red noses. Pale, corpse-like skin. Twistedly toothy smiles. We can all agree that clowns are terrifying, but the cosmically comic villains in "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" are another species entirely. Springing from the imaginations of the special effects gurus known as the Chiodo Brothers, these candy-colored aliens arrive in a spaceship shaped like a circus tent to unleash murderous mayhem on Earth.

Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer) and his girlfriend Debbie Stone (Suzanne Snyder) witness their arrival, but Debbie's cop ex-boyfriend Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson) would rather throw Mike in the slammer than listen to his warnings about, well, killer klowns from outer space. Meanwhile, the aliens use ray guns, balloons, and a popcorn-shooting bazooka to kidnap the locals and turn them (via cotton candy cocoons) into their next meal.

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" is a deliberately joyous, absurd romp and a perfect film for audiences who like their scary movies not too scary. It remains a cult classic among sci-fi and horror fans, and it even inspired a pretty well-reviewed video game (titled, of course, "Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game") in 2024.

• Cast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch 
• Director: Chuck Russell 
• Rating: R 
• Runtime: 95 minutes 
• Where to Watch: Prime Video

Three decades after oozing into drive-in theaters to terrorize Steve McQueen, "The Blob" returned with a goopy, gory, bubblegum-pink vengeance in one of the best horror movie remakes of all time. The amorphous, flesh-eating Blob was among the most memorable movie monsters of the 1950s horror craze, and director Chuck Russell gives his remake a cynical, anti-authority update appropriate for the waning Reagan years. No longer is the Blob an alien amoeba crashing to Earth in a meteorite; it's a man-made bioweapon that's returned to the planet that banished it after absorbing cosmic radiation on a military satellite.

Three California teenagers — cheerleader Meg (Shawnee Smith), football player Paul (Donovan Leitch), and rebellious biker boy Brian (Kevin Dillion) — try to survive the night when the Blob invades their small town. It consumes and (as seen in several gnarly close-ups) dissolves everything and everyone in its way. Featuring a screenplay co-written by "The Mist" director Frank Darabont, "The Blob" is a far cry from the nostalgic campiness of "Killer Klowns from Outer Space." It's full of shocking surprises (don't look down that drain!) and eye-popping practical special effects that still look amazing today.

• Cast: Andrzej Seweryn, Michał Bajor, Jerzy Trela 
• Director: Andrzej Żuławski 
• Rating: Unrated
• Runtime: 165 minutes 
• Where to Watch: Eternal Family

An ambitious adaptation of his great-uncle's "Lunar Trilogy" of novels, Andrzej Żuławski began filming "On the Silver Globe" in the 1970s but production was shut down by the censorious Polish government. Over a decade later, Żuławski completed the futuristic film with the narrative gaps filled in by commentary. The result is a chronologically displaced, mutated masterpiece.

"On the Silver Glove" follows a trio of astronauts who escape our decaying planet for a new world. Decades later, video footage of their mission is received on Earth and a disaffected scientist travels to their colony to see what became of them. He discovers that their descendants, who rapidly age in the new atmosphere, have developed their own pagan society. They greet him as the messiah prophesied to save them from the world's native inhabitants — the telepathic, bird-like Sherns.

"On the Silver Globe" is an astoundingly beautiful and philosophically challenging space opera that could have predated 1977's "Star Wars" had it not been for government meddling. Żuławski, best known for his Cold War horror film "Possession," presents a daring exploration into the black hole of the human soul. It's a must-see for science fiction fans who like to be left thinking when the credits are done rolling.

• Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster 
• Director: John Carpenter 
• Rating: R 
• Runtime: 93 minutes 
• Where to Watch: Prime Video

A man walks into a bank wearing sunglasses and wielding a shotgun. "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick a**," he announces, adding, "And I'm all out of bubblegum." You probably already know this famous line, even if you've never seen a frame of the brilliant John Carpenter movie "They Live," the filmmaker's acidic attack on the conformist status quo.

The man with the shotgun is our hero, an unnamed drifter (professional wrestler Roddy Piper, credited only as "Nada") whose life is changed when he discovers a mysterious pair of sunglasses that reveal ghoulish extraterrestrials (among the most hideous aliens in movie history) secretly walking among us. Occupying the highest echelons of society, the aliens are taking over Earth and brainwashing humanity with subliminal orders to "CONSUME" and "OBEY." Now Nada is on a mission to expose the invaders and free our minds.

A sly and subversive cult classic, Carpenter's punchy script and unforgettable iconography (plus a memorable six-minute fight scene between Piper and Keith David) have left an indelible impact on video games, television shows, and other feature films. "They Live" may be as subtle as a shotgun blast to the face, but it's one of the most entertaining films of the 1980s, and its anti-consumerist themes have grown only more powerful over time.

• Cast: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama 
• Director: Katsuhiro Otomo 
• Rating: R 
• Runtime: 124 minutes 
• Where to Watch: Crunchyroll

"Neo-Tokyo is about to EXPLODE," warns the U.S. poster for "Akira," Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk anime classic. True to its tagline, "Akira" is an explosive cinematic experience and a historic breakthrough for Japanese animation in the West. In post-World War III Neo-Tokyo, teenage biker punks Kaneda (Mitsuo Iwata) and Tetsuo (Nozomu Sasaki) are drawn into an apocalyptic conspiracy involving blue-skinned psychic children, the Japanese government, and a group of resistance fighters. Tetsuo develops devastating psychic powers after a run-in with one of the aforementioned kids, unleashing a wave of telekinetic destruction on Neo-Tokyo as he searches for a godlike power known only as "Akira."

This is just a fraction of the film's labyrinthine plot, adapted from Otomo's popular manga series. A box office success in Japan, "Akira" was an underground sensation in the United States and one of the first anime films to win mainstream cultural attention (film critic Roger Ebert even named it his "Video Pick of the Week"). "Akira" is a slick, neon-lit shock to the senses, featuring intense violence, hyper-detailed animation, and the coolest motorcycle slide you've ever seen. Hollywood has tried and failed to adapt it several times, with famous names like Taika Waititi and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to aborted live-action "Akira" projects at different stages. That's probably for the best, as it's unlikely anything could surpass the original.