If you’ve grown tired of rewatching The Office for the fifth time, you may start to wonder what else your Peacock subscription is good for. As it turns out, though, there’s plenty on Peacock worth exploring, including a number of sci-fi movies that you may never have heard of before.
Science fiction is a fairly underserved genre in modern Hollywood, especially outside of major franchises, but these gems are a great reminder that great sci-fi can expand your imagination in ways that few other genres are capable of.
The Double (2013)
Based on a story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Double stars Jesse Eisenberg as a man who suddenly finds that his life is being usurped by a man who looks identical to him. The movie is set in a fairly grounded universe, but as the two identical men begin to interact, they realize that their fates seem to be linked in some way that neither of them can fully reconcile.
At the same time, the contrast between the two men is striking, as one character is a recessive introvert, and the other is extroverted, capable of doing all the things that the first man can’t. It’s a smart, thoughtful piece, and Eisenberg is stellar in both roles.
Freaks (2018)
Set in a world filled with people who have superpowers, Freaks focuses on a young girl and her father as they live entirely within the confines of their house. As the girl becomes curious about the world outside her house, her father repeatedly tells her that leaving is risky, because it leaves them exposed to the “bad men.”
Eventually, the girl discovers that she’s in a family filled with superpowered people, and they’re being hunted by agents who want to destroy them. Freaks is an unsettling twist on the superhero genre, but one that feels like it exists in a fully fleshed-out universe.
Coherence (2014)
One of the more mind-bending sci-fi movies of the 21st century, Coherence is set at a dinner party where eight guests show up. When a passing comet causes some pretty strange phenomena, though, the guests at the party begin to question both their identities and their reality.
Part of the fun of Coherence is the way it unfolds when you have no idea what’s going to happen, so we’ll leave it there for now. If you’re someone who likes sci-fi that really makes you think, Coherence is the perfect movie for you, even if you have to watch it twice to catch all the details.
Triangle (2009)
A psychological horror film with a distinctive sci-fi bent, Triangle tells the story of a young woman on a yacht that encounters bad weather, forcing them to jump to another ship. When she arrives on the other ship, though, she begins to have the eerie sense that she’s been on the ship before, and mayhem ensues from there.
Part of the fun of Triangle is the way that the mystery unfolds, but the movie’s massive imagination is one of its greatest assets. Few films take better advantage of the premise they start with, and wring more questions and genuine thrills out of their plots than this one.
The Endless (2017)
Following a pair of brothers who escaped from a cult focused on both UFOs and death, only to return a decade later and begin to reevaluate their beliefs, The Endless is a movie about the nature of reality and questions that don’t always have answers.
As the brothers race to find answers for the unexplained phenomena that are taking place around the cult’s camp, their lives become intertwined with the cults in ways they could never have anticipated. The Endless may not be perfect, but it’s a pretty compelling, ambitious work of sci-fi, and that counts for quite a bit.
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