Top 90s Sci-Fi Cult Classic Movies

Cult classic movies are definitely like fine wine: they get better with age. This is because truly awesome movies have a tendency of growing on people, rather than being instant hits.

Many of the movies that were originally box office flops, vindicated by history, fall into this category of film. Simply put, it often takes us a while to really grasp the awesomeness of some movies.

For many of us, the 90s were a low in sci-fi media. I mean, it's not like we had the sci-fi cult classics of the 70s coming out here; the cult classics of the 90s were grossly underrated and heavily underrepresented at the box office.

However, if you ask me, many of the best sci-fi cult classic movies of all time were made during this time. If you don't believe it, you might want to take a look at this list of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies.

The 90s weren't just a golden age of cult classics; they were the golden age of girl power via the riot grrrl movement. One of the best examples of a tough punk-rock chic with a ton of spunk could be found in Tank Girl — one of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies to star a woman.

Tank Girl follows the story of a rebellious soldier in a post-apocalyptic version of the Australian Outback as she fights the Water & Power Corporation in her giant tank. Did we mention she has a thing for a mutant kangaroo? Cause if you read Tank Girl comics, you'll realize she totally has a thing with a mutant kangaroo.

One of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies to get released at the dawn of the decade was Tremors, a movie that shook the very ground we walked on. In this sci-fi horror classic, people have to defend against giant, alien burrowing creatures that could kill them in an instant.

Can the citizens of Perfection, Nevada survive? Of course, maybe. You'll have to find out by watching this cult classic, and and fall in love with all the cheesy campiness of classic 90s sci-fi.

Edward Scissorhands, without a doubt, is one of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies you can watch. It's part sci-fi, part Tim Burton, part Johnny Depp, and of course, part love story between a strange being with scissors for hands and a "normal" girl.

This tearjerker movie is an excellent social commentary on how society often treats people like novelties, only to throw them away when their different-ness stops being interesting. It's also one of Tim Burton's breakout movies — so you know it has a very strong following that continues to get stronger by the day.

If you're looking for one of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies in terms of sheer campiness, look no further than the comedically campy movie, The Guyver.

Though we never really think of it, The Guyver was groundbreaking in its own right. The character, who wears a biomechanical suit, beats up rubbery Japanese-style monsters. It was also one of the first movie releases to be based on a Japanese anime, while being marketed towards an American audience.

These days, it's not quite as cool as it might have been in 1990...but the campiness and cheese make up for it.

The Rocketeer is one of those sci-fi movies that really doesn't feel like it was made in the 90s. In many ways, this movie feels like it should be one of the first color films of the 60s or possibly one of the better black and white movies of the 30s, especially when you see the hero's mask and jet pack.

Its uniquely artful Art Deco appeal makes it a really beautiful retro-futuristic movie to watch, and if we were honest, the writing and acting isn't bad either. As a result, it's one of the more underrated sci-fi movies of the decade — and deserves a spot on this list as a result.

Perhaps one of the best sci-fi cult classics to have come from Europe during this time was The City of Lost Children. A highly cerebral and surreal take on sci-fi, many would claim that The City of Lost Children was steampunk before steampunk existed.

This movie watches a circus strongman trying to save his friend from the grips of a scientist who steals the dreams of children. It's also got a talking brain, a money-hungry pair of Siamese twins, and an army of cyclopian people with electronic eyes.

It definitely deserves a spot on any respectable list of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies to watch — if only for the sheer aesthetic beauty and creativity of it.

If we're going to talk about one of the best dystopian films of the decade, we'd have to go with Dark City. This entire movie is as gloomy as it gets, with a city that never has sunlight, a man who has a wife he doesn't remember, and a fiendish underworld group that just made the main character's life a living hell.

What's interesting about Dark City is that it's dystopian and cyber-punk as can be — and to a point, actually inspired a lot of cyber-goth fashion. So, it definitely counts as a cult classic. Speaking as someone who loves cyber-goth stuff, I'll count it as one of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies out there.

Lastly, it's worth pointing out that Johnny Mnemonic is not mainstream enough to be considered a typical classic sci-fi movie like Judge Dredd or Waterworld. So, we're going to add it as the last (but not least) entry on this list of the top 90s sci-fi cult classic movies worth watching.

Johnny Mnemonic is classic cyber-punk grit at its finest, and that's why it's one of the most well-known movies on this list. In this world, data is important. When your data is inside you, people will do insane things to get it. The question is, can Johnny Mnemonic survive his latest data courier mission?