No one can see every movie that comes out in a year. Heck, no one can even see all the good movies that come out in a year. These days, even if it’s literally your job, so many movies come out from all across the world, and on so many different platforms, that even if you spent all day every day watching, you’d probably still miss a few.
Even so, we know there are movies that, if you love movies, you probably didn’t miss. Movies like Barbie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Godzilla Minus One. Those films were all big hits so they are not on this list. This list is made up of 21 sci-fi/fantasy/horror movies that we loved and, for one reason or another, didn’t get that love back. Maybe they quietly debuted on a streamer. Maybe they played the festival circuit. Or maybe they came and went in theaters much too quickly. Either way, they’re all now available to watch on the device you’re reading this on and we’d recommend checking them out.
Here they are, in alphabetical order.
Birth/Rebirth
This chilling blend of Frankenstein and Re-Animator imagines what ghastly horrors might occur when two women who work at the same hospital—a grieving nurse and an antisocial pathologist—join forces to make cheating death an attainable goal.
Birth/Rebirth is streaming on Shudder.
The Boogeyman
In this film based on Stephen King’s short story, Rob Savage (Host) amps up boogeyman lore with his modern terror flair. If you’ve watched Host, his lockdown-era Zoom horror film, you know he’s not messing around when it comes to building tension and monstrous moments.
The Boogeyman is streaming on Hulu.
The Creator
With the hype over the trailers to Gareth Edwards’ The Creator, you might have expected more people would have gone to see it. Alas, they did not, and it bombed at the box office. But it didn’t fail for lack of quality. The movie is a sci-fi love letter done right, telling the story of a futuristic soldier risking his life to save an AI child who can save, or destroy, the world. Very worth your time.
The Creator is streaming on Hulu.
A Disturbance in the Force
A notorious artifact among pop-culture fans, The Star Wars Holiday Special will likely never see the light of Disney+ or even a release in non-bootlegged form. But the next-best thing is this very fun documentary, which investigates what went wrong, using clips and lively interviews—and provides context reminding us the 1970s were a moment in time when tacky TV specials were all the rage, and that Star Wars, not yet the cultural behemoth it is today, happened to get caught in the tractor beam.
A Disturbance in the Force is available to rent or buy at numerous places.
Dream Scenario
It sadly went under the radar a bit but Nicolas Cage gives one of the best performances of his career (for real) as a college professor who becomes the most famous person in the world overnight, only to have an epic fall befitting a world of social media. Dream Scenario is a surprising, funny, awkward, scary, and great movie.
Dream Scenario is available to rent or buy on various sites such as Prime Video.
If You Were the Last
This sci-fi dramatic rom-com from director Kristian Mercado gives When Harry Met Sally vibes, but if they were the last two people alone in a shuttle stuck in space. Zoe Chao (The Afterparty) and Anthony Mackie (Twisted Metal) have out-of-this-world chemistry in this poignant film that explores two best friends on the verge of becoming more. It’s a celestial take on the old Hollywood will they, won’t they since they’re the last two people of their crew marooned among the stars. Together they face the moral dilemma of if exploring a relationship counts as cheating on marriages they may never get back to. It’s hilarious, challenging, and a sweet trip that explores the complexities of love.
If You Were the Last is streaming on Peacock.
Influencer
Don’t read any plot summaries of Influencer beforehand, but make sure to add this sly, smart, twist-filled, and genuinely alarming take on the dangers of social media to your to-watch list. You may never open Instagram again.
Influencer is streaming on Shudder.
Kids vs. Aliens
This sci-fi horror comedy, a feature-length expansion of one of V/H/S/2’s found-footage segments, is exactly what the title promises, as a gang of kids face down the ultimate slumber-party horror. There are also some hellish teenage bullies who might actually be worse than the aliens, and a gleeful subplot about wrestling and DIY moviemaking.
Kids vs. Aliens is streaming on Shudder.
Landscape With Invisible Hand
There are so many movies out there about alien invasions. But what would happen if the alien invasion worked and humans became their playthings? That’s the starting concept of this deep and interesting film co-starring Tiffany Haddish.
Landscape with Invisible Hand streams on MGM+ and can be bought or rented on Prime Video.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Yes, it’s a movie whose entire premise boils down to “Dracula on a Boat.” But Last Voyage of the Demeter finds some fun in that simple premise as the poor crew on the titular vessel slowly wisen up to the fact that they’re completely doomed. There’s a charming “lost relic” vibe to the whole thing, like it was made specifically to be watched on TNT back in the late 2000s or early 2010s. It’s an atmospheric, lovably mean-spirited flick with a great take on Dracula that deserved more of an audience.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter is available to rent or buy on platforms including Prime Video.
Nimona
Nimona’s long, strange road to adaptation from the smash hit ND Stevenson comic finally came to an end this year on Netflix, and it was well worth the wait. A queer, punk-rock testament to rebellious self-expression, it’s sumptuously animated, funny as hell, and incredibly touching. We’re very lucky that this movie got the chance to be seen at all.
Nimona is streaming on Netflix.
No One Will Save You
A stripped-down tale of terror, No One Will Save You uses almost no dialogue to craft its tale of an alien invasion that happens to dovetail with a young woman’s very slow-moving grieving process. It was made for streaming but we’d love to see it on the big screen someday.
No One Will Save You is streaming on Hulu.
Polite Society
When her free-spirited older sister agrees to an arranged marriage, Ria Khan sees it as very out of character and suspicious. Thinking something is afoot with the groom’s mysterious family, she embarks on an action adventure to save her family from danger that may or may not really be there.
Polite Society is streaming on Prime Video.
Shin Kamen Rider
The best superhero movie of the year didn’t come from the seemingly declining era of Marvel and DC Comics at the box office: it came from Japan. Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno’s latest re-imagining of a legendary Tokusatsu franchise saw him take on one of his own heroic influences, Kamen Rider, in a gripping, brutal, and unflinchingly sentimental examination of power and how people wield it. And yes, the action is unlike anything you’ve seen on top of all that good stuff, to boot.
Shin Kamen Rider is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Suzume
It’s a little difficult to describe Makoto Shinkai’s latest film—the anime director behind the smash-hit sensations Your Name, Weathering With You, and more—as something you might have missed, considering it’s one of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time. But if its April release slipped past you, right now is the perfect time to catch up with this madcap fantasy adventure about a young girl exploring mystical doorways throughout Japan and the relationship that sparks up when she meets someone who can help her use them to save the world. It’s as beautiful as the rest of Shinkai’s oeuvre, and wrapped around a compelling relationship between its unlikely leads.
Suzume is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Tetris
This year was packed with films based on real-life events or people, so much that it may have been easy for Tetris to fade from memory. While not as 100% truthful as other biographical movies, it’s genuinely charming and has a shining star in Taron Egerton’s Henk Rogers that it becomes an entertaining, fascinating look at a pop culture staple.
Tetris is streaming on Apple TV+.
Totally Killer
What would happen if Scream and Back to the Future got together and had a baby? It would be Totally Killer, a time travel slasher whodunit about a girl who goes to the past and has to save her mom from a serial killer. The film is very aware that its DNA is from those (admittedly) superior movies, and plays with that in a very entertaining way.
Totally Killer is streaming on Prime Video.
There’s Something in the Barn
Since we haven’t had a Chevy Chase Vacation movie in a very long time, here’s the next best thing. Martin Starr plays a Clark Griswold-esque dad who has to help his family when their new house is invaded by elves. Half funny, half scary, all enjoyable.
There’s Something in the Barn is available to buy or rent on sites including Prime Video.
They Cloned Tyrone
They Cloned Tyrone has a premise that would have you think it’s a spring movie you missed in theaters. While the film is perfectly great as is on Netflix, it feels like such an instant crowd-pleaser that you can’t help but wish you got to see it on the big screen. Its playful Blaxploitation vibes are further boosted by a great cast, and the eventual unraveling of what it’s all about makes it feel like a future cult classic.
They Cloned Tyrone is streaming on Netflix.
We Have a Ghost
David Harbour plays Ernest, a lonesome, goofy ghost haunting a family with Anthony Mackie as the dad who accidentally helps the specter go viral. Such an underrated family film with Amblin energy and lots of laughs.
We Have a Ghost is streaming on Netflix.
When Evil Lurks
Released right around the same time as the underwhelming Exorcist: Believer, this Argentinian import delivers a frenzied, highly original, bleak-as-all-hell possession nightmare that feels like the true successor to William Friedkin’s original Exorcist.
When Evil Lurks is streaming on Shudder.