Nothing is better for instant escape than watching a spur-of-the-moment science fiction or fantasy film. We poured through Netflix Instant’s “Sci-Fi & Fantasy” category (along with films we thought should have been categorized that way), picked the best and weeded out the many stinkers. From superhero flicks to space dramas, time travel to fantastical rom-com, here are the 20 Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies on Netflix Instant. (We’ll update this list as Netflix updates its Instant movie selection.)

20. Troll Hunter
Year: 2010
Director: André Øvredal
There’s no denying that at its beginning, Troll Hunter seems like another Blair Witch Projectknock-off. The first 20 minutes show us a young camera crew investigating some unexplained bear deaths and a suspicious man who may be poaching them. But rather than drawing out the mystery, it takes a sharp turn and tells us matter-of-factly that of course it was trolls killing the bears, and not only that, here’s one of them ready to bonk you on the head. The titular Troll Hunter extraordinaire is played by the affable comedian Otto Jespersen, who brings the entire monster premise to an entirely different level through his nonchalant attitude. In every sense, Troll Hunter lives up to its ridiculous name and premise.—Sean Gandert

 
19. The Crow
Year: 1994
Director: Alex Proyas
Spawning three more films, the goth-favorite original morphed into a cult classic, aided by its stylish cinematography, slick soundtrack and the tragedy of star Brandon Lee (the actor and son of Bruce Lee), who died during the final days of production when he was accidentally shot by an improperly loaded stunt gun on the set.—Angela Pham

 
18. WarGames
Year: 1983
Director: John Badham
Before Ferris Bueller took the day off, Matthew Broderick’s career was launched with WarGames, a film about an innocent, young hacker (Broderick) who plays with the computer in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal and inadvertently starts the countdown to World War III. This is all resolved with a friendly game of tic-tac-toe, an infinite number of computed stalemates, and the message that you can’t hug your children with nuclear arms.—Matt Goodlett

 
17. Timecrimes
Year: 2007
Director: Nacho Vigalondo
The plot of Spanish film Los Cronocrímenes (akaTimecrimes) emulates classic pulp science fiction, redolent of Alfred Bester or Philip K. Dick, as a middle-aged man finds his quiet afternoon disturbed by an intruder. Soon, he begins stalking, and being stalked by, a mysterious figure whose face is disguised in pink medical gauze. There’s also a naked girl involved, and a research scientist (Vigalondo) in an adjacent office park who happens to be testing out a new time machine. The bogeyman is an homage to James Whale’s 1933 film, The Invisible Man, but his identity doesn’t stay secret for long. Watching the Chinese Box-like narrative unravel is the whole point, and Vigalondo choreographs the action with a suspenseful touch.—Steve Dollar

 
16. Vanilla Sky
Year: 2001
Director: Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe’s follow-up to Almost Famous was confusing, aching and beautiful, and the music and that played throughout its disorienting scenes—eerie selections from Radiohead and Jeff Buckly, plus oddly jaunty moments thanks to Peter Gabriel Todd Rundgren—perfectly augmented that off-kilter mood. As a bonus, Crowe tossed Sigur Rós in the mix three years before Steve Zissou and his crew confronted the jaguar shark to the tune of “Staralfur.”—Rachael Maddux

 
15. Highlander
Year: 1986
Director: Russell Mulcahy
A cult favorite, Highlander spawned a TV show and several even-campier sequels, but this first film is all you need to grasp the mythology. There can, after all, be only one. Christopher lambert stars as one of Earth’s last Immortals, trained by Sean Connery and hunted by an evil rival.

14. Planet of the Apes
Year: 1968
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
With one of the greatest final reveals of movie history, this sci-fi classic stars Charlton Heston as an astronaut on a strange—and strangely familiar—planet, where the apes are in charge and the humans are in cages.

 
13. Thor
Year: 2011
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Thor is a very well-executed superhero movie, offering corny one-liners and plenty of muscle-bound heroism to whet fan appetites. Featuring characters taken from the Marvel comic universe, the film stars Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman and is directed by Kenneth Branagh (a guy more normally associated with the Great Bard than with Stan Lee). The story has warrior Thor (Chris Hemsworth) exiled by his father Odin (Hopkins) to Earth from his fantastical home of Asgard. It’s surprisingly literate and even sharp in places, while never losing its tongue-in-cheek tone.—Jonathan Hickman

 
12. Super 8
Year: 2011
Director: J.J. Abrams
Proving that star power isn’t limited to those in front of the camera, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams delivered a little bit of old-school, mainstream, pop-corn, sci-fi summer fun. The film is as much a celebration of filmmaking and a coming-of-age story as it is an action alien-invasion flick. It feels like those sci-fi movies of the ‘80s (the decade of its setting). You know, the ones made by folks like Spielberg.

 
11. The Thing
Year: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Starring a never-more-grizzled Kurt Russell and his epic beard, John Carpenter’s remake of 1951’sThe Thing from Another World is a different beast altogether. An horrific, slimy, pissed-off beast at that. Perfectly evoking Reagen-era Cold War paranoia, Carpenter’s Thing also boasts creature effects that remain as grotesquely terrifying 30 years later. And hey—how many other films do you get to see with the Quaker Oates guy going berserk with an axe?—Scott Wold

Nothing is better for instant escape than watching a spur-of-the-moment science fiction or fantasy film. We poured through Netflix Instant’s “Sci-Fi & Fantasy” category (along with films we thought should have been categorized that way) and weeding out the many stinkers. From superhero flicks to space dramas, time travel to fantastical rom-com, here are the 20 Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies on Netflix Instant. (We’ll update this list as Netflix updates its Instant movie selection.)

10. The Brother From Another Planet
Year: 1984
Director: John Sayles
During the ’80s, John Sayles established himself as a smart indie writer/director with a knack for social commentary. But only one of his films embedded said commentary into a zany sci-fi plot. The result is the story of a mute alien who looks like a black man with weird feet, who crash-lands in Harlem and meets and observes the people of New York City. Joe Morton gives a stellar silent performance that, like the film itself, seamlessly moves from comic to empathetic.—Jeremy Mathews

9. Robocop
Year: 1987
Director: Paul Verhoeven
We’ve been following news and rumors of aRobocop remake for years now. But the only reason we care is that the original was so much fun. Sure it’s campy and ultra-violent, but it was also a prescient critique of mega-corporations and technology run amok. Plus, who can forget, “Dick…You’re Fired!”

8. Batman: Under the Red Hood
Year: 2010
Director: Brandon Vietti
When a violent figure known as the Red Hood throws Gotham’s underworld into chaos, Batman must track down his connection to the late Jason Todd, who became Dick Grayson’s successor as Robin until being beaten to death by the Joker. The darkest and most intense of the DC animated films culminates with a three-way battle between Batman, the Red Hood and the Joker that evokesThe Good, The Bad and the Ugly in its conflict between three comparably-matched opponents, each of whom embodies a different moral worldview.

7. Serenity
Year: 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
We may have never gotten a Season 2 of Firefly, the much beloved alien-free space-travel show from Joss Whedon. But at least we got a movie. InSerenity, River Tam (Summer Glau) got to really stretch her legs, kicking the asses of all kinds of Alliance baddies. And Browncoats everywhere rejoiced.

6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Year: 1982
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Evoking the most memorable anguished cry in cinema, Khan is Nietzschean nightmare. Ricardo Montalbán’s Khan is a science-grown Übermensch bent on causing interstellar calamity, and arguably captain Kirk’s most memorable adversary (Gorn included). What’s more scary than a villain designed to be better than you…at everything. Eleven movies in, including an admirable remake from J.J. Abrams, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is still the greatest of them all.—Darren Orf

5. Being John Malkovich
Year: 1999
Director: Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze’s true gift is creating moments of the truly unexpected. Just as he did in music videos like Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” and the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” where he got his start, Jonze proves that the true essence of wit is to never go for the obvious. And Charlie Kaufman’s screenplays follow that same mind-bending motto.—Tim Sheridan

4. Metropolis
Year: 1927
Director:Fritz Lang
Though in hindsight the actual story proves pretty wacky, Fritz Lang’s last silent film—before his second masterpiece M—could be called the blueprint for all sci-fi films that followed it. Whether the groundbreaking special effects, the visual scope or the intricate set design, greats such as Ridley Scott, George Lucas and Stanley Kubrick have borrowed from it (Lucas modeled C-3PO directly after the Maria robot). Metropolis, heavily influenced by the books of H.G. Wells, also stands as the first dystopian film in history.—David Roark

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Year: 2004
Director: Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry’s debut feature, Human Nature, was a whimsical dud, but his follow-up suggested a mature, disciplined director with his playful side intact. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindtraffics in his signature sleights of hand, which serve two touching and tragic love stories: between red-haired Kate Winslet and a supremely sad Jim Carrey, and between headstrong Kirsten Dunst and a pining Mark Ruffalo. All of their performances—including Gondry’s—stay in your memory long after the credits have rolled.—Stephen Deusner

2. Donnie Darko
Year: 2001
Director: Richard Kelly
Richard Kelly was just 25 when he got funding for his first full-length feature, Donnie Darko, but it became a cult classic, thanks to mind-bending twists and a gigantic talking bunny named “Frank.”

1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Year: 1991
Director: James Cameron
That rare sequel that trumps its predecessor, James Cameron and co-writer William Wisher Jr. crafted a near-perfect action-movie script that flipped the original on its head and let Ahnold be a good guy. But it’s Linda Hamilton’s transformation from damsel-in-distress to bad-ass hero that makes the film so notable. Why should the guys get all the good action scenes? This may not be the best film on this list, but it’s the best sci-fi movie. It hits the target it’s aiming for squarely in the bullseye.