10 Hidden Sci-Fi Movie Gems On Netflix

Netflix has thousands of movies, and it’s easy to get paralyzed by your options. This is especially true for science fiction movies, because you’re not just selecting a story, but an entire universe. From dystopias to alien invasions to psychological thrillers, finding what’s worth watching in Netflix’s vast sci-fi library can be daunting.

Thankfully, we’re here to help. You already know the big names in sci-fi, but here are 10 hidden gems currently streaming on Netflix. They may not (currently) be on the platform’s top 10 lists, but they’re underrated adventures overlooked by Netflix’s own algorithm.

10. Skylines

Skylines is the rare sequel you can watch before any other projects in the franchise. It’s actually the third movie in the series, after 2010’s Skyline and 2017’s Beyond Skyline. Those two movies were set concurrently, so Skylines is the first true sequel, and the opening narration handles all the worldbuilding you’ll need.

What follows is a classic alien adventure involving brainwashed human hosts, survivor’s guilt, and a heist for the ages. It may start like something unremarkable you’d stumble across on Syfy, but you’ll be hooked by the end.

9. AI Love You

One of the biggest advantages of Netflix and other streaming services is the increased accessibility of international movies. Thanks to subtitles, dubbed audio, and good internet connections, movies from around the world can stand toe to toe with Hollywood blockbusters. This 2021 Thai rom-com takes a classic tale of humans falling in love with technology and turns it on its head for a story equally influenced by romance novel tropes and Spike Jonze’s Her.

AI Love You is a love story between a young woman and the AI hologram agent of the building where she works, so technically it’s a story about a woman falling in love with a building, but there are some genuinely sweet moments amid the familiar comedic notes. Just note that the English dub is a lot bluer than the subtitles, so choose your approach accordingly.

8. Spectral

Spectral is a sci-fi fusion movie, but instead of a sci-fi romance like AI Love You, it’s a sci-fi ghost story. In it, a futuristic military squad stumbles across a mysterious threat that seems like an alien invasion, only to learn there may be supernatural forces at work.

This was one of Netflix’s first original action movies, and you can see shades of future Netflix hits like Extraction or The Gray Man in it, but the way it balances sci-fi alongside other genres is worth watching in itself. Besides, it’s spooky season, and who doesn’t love a ghost story?

7. iBoy

What is it about a British accent that makes us think “dystopia?” Maybe it’s old movies like A Clockwork Orange or Logan’s Run, or maybe it’s just the authority the intonation gives you. Tech dystopias, specifically, will forever be associated with British culture thanks to Black Mirror, but that’s far from the only example.

This 2018 sci-fi movie follows a young boy who ends up with part of a smartphone embedded in his head, giving him technological powers. Eight years later, it’s interesting to see how iBoy looks in retrospect as AI has grown more popular. Today, seeing Tom (Bill Milner) use his powers to text his best friend Lucy (Maisie Williams) anonymously as “iBoy” comes across as creepier than intended... but when you’re watching a dystopia, that can be part of the appeal.

6. Code 8

Code 8 is mostly about surveillance, as shown by the mechanical police officers who look just like security cameras. But it’s a movie with a little bit of everything: superheroes, allegories, an illicit substance driving a criminal empire... it’s a grab bag of sci-fi thriller tropes, so there’s something for everyone.

This movie actually started as a short film, then a (massive) Kickstarter, so you know it’s a labor of love. The Amell brothers, who also appear in the film, pour their soul into this in a way that’s impossible to ignore, and if you like it, know that it sparked a sequel, Code 8: Part II.

5. The Door Into Summer

Sometimes, you need to look to the past for an interesting view of the future. This 2021 Japanese movie was actually based on an American book from 1957, but updates the time and setting to make it more localized. It’s about a young scientist who, frustrated with his life, puts himself into cryosleep for years. When he re-emerges, he realizes that life is nothing like he expected, and he needs to take drastic measures — time travel — to put things right. It’s a bit more lighthearted than the other movies on this list, but it shows that every genre, even J-Drama, can make for a great sci-fi movie.

4. In the Shadow of the Moon

The term neo-noir gets bandied about a lot, but this is indisputably a solid example. Michael C. Hall leads this twisting story of a beat cop who discovers a mystery involving bodies with identical marks and a haunting prophecy about his wife. Much like The Door Into Summer, this story turns to time travel to make things right, but it draws on classic crime procedurals for the rest of its inspiration, making for what feels like a feature-length episode of The Twilight Zone or The X-Files.

3. The Discovery

The Discovery is, appropriately enough, not a sci-fi movie you’ll forget about. Its premise is simple: what if someone discovered that the afterlife was vastly superior to life itself, leading to a rash of suicides? How would you convince people to stick around, and how would you feel about people who decided to check out early? That’s the heartbreaking setting for this sci-fi drama starring Jason Segel and Robert Redford, a twisting, cerebral story that will dumbfound you by the end.

2. Space Sweepers

This Korean sci-fi is a social satire set in the distant future, and with a Cowboy Bebop-esque theme of ragtag space cowboys. Its production design may be dingy and grim, but its story makes it feel like a classic 1980s family thriller that was accidentally left in someone’s attic. It’s a relic of a time when Netflix was attempting to create truly global cinema, and it’s fascinating to watch how it balances multiple languages and target demographics now that so much of the platform’s output feels laser-focused, for better or worse.

1. The Soul

Like In the Shadow of the Moon, The Soul is a sci-fi noir. Like Space Sweepers, it shows a unique brand of international filmmaking. But The Soul finds its own niche, and it adds enough depth to its subject matter that you’ll likely forget it’s a sci-fi film until the movie (very blatantly) reminds you.

A Taiwanese film that starts with an investigation into the murder of a CEO who’d been working on a miraculous cancer treatment, its story is offbeat enough that it can’t be succinctly described on a streaming menu. This is the epitome of a Netflix hidden gem and is worth the investment, especially for its final twist.