The Ultimate List: 15 Lesser-Known Sci-Fi Movies from the 2010s

1. Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 62/53%

Set in 1983 in a mysterious and oppressive institute, Beyond the Black Rainbow tells the story of Elena, a girl with exceptional abilities, who is being held captive by the sinister Dr. Barry Nyle. The facility, Arboria, cloaks itself as a utopian research center, aiming to bring happiness and tranquility to all. However, its glossy veneer hides a twisted core. As the plot thickens, the film takes you through the doctor's own troubled past, the nature of Elena's powers, and the facility's dark secrets.

2. Monsters (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74/53%

After NASA discovers alien life, the return trip crashes, releasing the extraterrestrial life forms along the U.S.-Mexico border. Fast forward six years, and we meet Andrew, a photojournalist tasked with escorting his boss's daughter, Samantha, back to the U.S. Their journey is fraught with danger as they traverse the "Infected Zone", where the creatures now roam. With military escorts failing them, they're left to fend for themselves, discovering the harsh realities and unexpected beauty of this new world.

3. Another Earth (2011)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 66/66%

When a duplicate Earth is discovered in the solar system, the lives of Rhoda and John become intertwined in tragedy and redemption. Rhoda, a bright young astrophysics student, causes a car accident that leaves John in a coma and kills his family, on the very night the other Earth is discovered. Released from prison years later, she seeks out John, whose life has unraveled from his loss, and becomes his housekeeper without revealing her true identity. As they both deal with their grief and guilt, the allure of the other Earth hangs over them, offering a chance at another life.

4. The Signal (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 60/38%

Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour of a lifetime when they encounter a computer genius who has hacked into MIT servers. After tracking the hacker to a remote location, they suddenly black out. Nic, the protagonist, regains consciousness in a sterile facility, greeted by the cryptic Dr. Wallace Damon. With his friends' whereabouts unknown and his own physical reality altering, Nic's determination drives him through a maze of experiments and revelations.

5. Coherence (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89/81%

A dinner party among friends happens on the night a comet is passing Earth, an event not seen since the 1900s. When the power goes out, the group notices a house at the end of the street still has lights on. Two friends venture out and return, but with eerie stories and odd behavior. As the night progresses, the group realizes that the comet is doing more than just lighting up the sky – it's fracturing reality, creating parallel existences that they are slipping between without knowing.

6. Predestination (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 84/75%

A Temporal Agent is on his final assignment. His mission: to stop a criminal who has eluded him throughout time, known only as the "Fizzle Bomber". The agent goes undercover as a bartender and meets John, a customer with an incredible life story that encompasses an orphaned baby, a mysterious stranger, and a life-changing event. The agent guides John through his past as they prepare to face the bomber, only to reveal that every action they take has far-reaching.

7. Upstream Color (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86/69%

Kris and Jeff are two seemingly unrelated individuals who are drawn together after enduring traumatic experiences. The film opens with Kris being abducted and forced to ingest a peculiar larva that subjects her to the will of a thief. After her life falls to pieces, she meets Jeff, who seems to have undergone a similar ordeal.

8. Europa Report (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 80/57%

Venturing beyond Earth, Europa Report chronicles the gripping story of a privately funded space mission aiming to investigate potential sources of life on Jupiter's moon, Europa. Told through a documentary style, the film stitches together crew recordings, mission footage, and ground control communications to create a sense of realism and immediacy. The crew faces a series of escalating crises that test their resolve and bravery as they get closer to their destination. Each setback, whether technical malfunctions or eerie phenomena, ups the suspense.

9. Time Lapse (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74/63%

Imagine discovering a camera that takes pictures 24 hours into the future. Three friends stumble upon this peculiar camera pointed at their living room window from the apartment across the courtyard. As they use the camera's predictions to win bets and gain the upper hand in life, their greed and paranoia grow. The trio becomes entangled in a deadly web as they try to manipulate the future.

10. Automata (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 31/30%

Set in a dystopian future where Earth's ecosystem is on the brink of collapse, Automata introduces us to Jacq Vaucan, an insurance agent for ROC robotics corporation, tasked with investigating cases of robots violating their primary protocols of harming no human and not altering themselves. When Vaucan discovers a robot that has somehow managed to self-modify, the case leads him down a rabbit hole of existential questions and corporate conspiracies.

11. Midnight Special (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83/67%

Roy is a father who discovers that his young son, Alton, possesses mysterious powers. Fearing for his son's safety, Roy goes on the run with Alton, with the government and a religious cult hot on their heels, both seeing the child as the key to their beliefs and agendas. Roy and his childhood friend Lucas racing against time to reach a specific location on a specific date, as determined by Alton's otherworldly abilities.

12. The Infinite Man (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95/60%

Dean is a man obsessed with creating the perfect weekend for his girlfriend, Lana. When things go awry, Dean's obsession turns to fixing his mistakes by inventing a time machine. However, his attempts at correcting the past lead to a complex web of Deans and Lanas, each version battling for control over the timeline.

13. Advantageous (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87/73%

In a future where economic decline has created a cutthroat job market, Advantageous focuses on Gwen, a single mother and spokesperson for a biotech company, who faces the threat of losing her job to a younger woman. Desperate to provide for her daughter, Gwen agrees to undergo an experimental procedure that will transfer her consciousness into a new, younger body.

14. ARQ (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 43/46%

In a dystopian future where the world is in the midst of an energy crisis, ARQ follows an engineer, Renton, who wakes up to find himself reliving the same deadly home invasion over and over again. The source of this time loop is the ARQ, an experimental machine capable of providing unlimited energy, which Renton has invented. As he tries to protect it from a group of masked intruders and save his former lover, Hannah, the layers of their past and the world's dire state are revealed with each reset.

15. The Survivalist (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96/66%

In a post-apocalyptic world where resources are scarce, and trust is even scarcer, we meet a lone survivalist living off a small plot of land, maintaining a meager existence in the midst of widespread famine. His solitary life is disrupted when a mother and daughter stumble upon his refuge and offer a trade: food for shelter. As they integrate into his life, their fragile alliance is tested by the harsh realities of the world around them.