Calling a movie good or bad is difficult because it always includes a subjective rating. That's just as true for science fiction movies as it is for any other genre. However, it's still possible to find out a general opinion about a movie based on its overall ratings online or the movie's status.
Some science fiction movies go on to become iconic thanks to their high quality. Then there's another category, often much more bizarre. This one includes science fiction movies that are so bad they're good. As such, it's possible to call the movies guilty pleasure and enjoy them despite their lack of quality... or because of it.
5 Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Ed Wood is called the worst director who has ever lived. Whether that's the case or not, Wood never managed to become a successful director. He created many low-budget movies that had low ratings as well. His most infamous piece is Plan 9 from Outer Space. In the movie, aliens decide to attack Earth, and to do so, they bring back from the dead a few people. Literally, just a few since the movie didn't have enough budget to pay more actors or create a believable spaceship, so it's obvious everything that appears in the movie is fake.
Special effects aren't everything, after all, multiple low-budget movies did well, but Plan 9 from Outer Space fails also as a story because it just doesn't make sense. One example - in some movies, instead of Bela Lugosi, the iconic Dracula actor, the audience sees another person who's just pretending to be Lugosi and is covering his face. It's mistakes like these that make the movie hilarious so even though it could never win an Oscar, Plan 9 from Outer Space does have a certain type of charm.
4 Barbarella (1968)
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The comic-book-inspired movie Barbarella is the purest essence of a C-list 1960s science fiction movie. The titular Barbarella is often a barely clad heroine who's tasked to find the scientist Durand Durand. Durand invented a weapon that could destroy many if it fell into the wrong hands. While on paper, the movie sounds like a traditional space adventure, the way Barbarella solves some of the problems she faces along the way is unorthodox.
Instead of fighting her way out like a lot of action heroines would do, Barbarella uses love and intimacy to stop her enemies and spreads these feelings across the universe. The movie has many strange moments and doesn't always make sense, but it became a cult classic nonetheless as it shows space exploration isn't always all about fighting. An interesting fact is that Barbarella was the first comic book character that got her solo movie, the likes of Superman and Batman made it onto the big screen after her.
3 Just Visiting (2001)
When American filmmakers decide to create a remake of a popular European movie, it doesn't always end well and such movies can receive a lot of criticism from the audience. The time-travel adventure Just Visiting is based on a successful movie Les Visiteurs (1993) starring Jean Reno and Christian Clavier. Unlike many other American remakes, Reno and Clavier reprised their roles in this movie. Even their presence couldn't save the movies from negative reviews.
However, if the audience looks away from the French original, Just Visiting is an entertaining movie even though it copies its predecessor, and is nowhere near as tension-filled as the French movie. The movie offers more than one funny joke and Reno and Clavier are once again solid, despite the fact that the script doesn't always give them a lot to work with. Overall, Just Visiting has multiple weaker spots (such as a predictable story) but also several solid jokes and good actors in the leading roles.
2 Jupiter Ascending (2015)
After the success of The Matrix series, the Wachowski sisters created several less successful movies. Other than Speed Racer (2008), it was also Jupiter Ascending, a space opera gone wrong. The main problem with the movie is probably the fact that it would work much better as a TV series since there were so many things to explore, but the movie just didn't have time for it. The world had a rich background, yet its story didn't captivate the audience.
Despite its critical reviews and lacking box office gross, Jupiter Ascending has several strong points that make it worth watching. It's visually beautiful and features more than one remarkable action sequence. Jupiter Ascending would fit better in the second half of the 1960s since it's so wonderfully campy at times, but in the 1960s, it wouldn't be possible to create such astonishing special effects.
1 Terminator Genisys (2015)
The Terminator franchise is one of the classics but despite its cult status, not all of its movies did so well. The 2015 reboot was originally supposed to start a new series, but after its reviews and box office performance, subsequent movies with the same cast didn't happen. Terminator Genisys brings new actors into the roles of beloved characters, such as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, which not all the fans appreciated.
The story that offered more than one nonsensical twist also didn't help. Yet Terminator Genisys does function as a guilty pleasure thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger who reprised his role for the first time in 12 years (the digital cameo in Terminator: Salvation doesn't count) and he proved once again that his Terminator had a sense of humor and an emotional capacity larger than many human movie heroes.