The Other Best Movies About the ‘Future’

September 16, 2011, 1:20pm

Nothing beats the future as a narrative premise. Not only does it force us to consider technologies that, for one, were hatched in the mind of goofball filmmakers, rendering them immediately erroneous (see: a DeLorean time machine), but they also beg us to consider that big if. They send us spiraling into debate and inspire us to wax philosophical about how awesome it would be to have a remote control-powered fist. Every film that comes out with the word “future” in the title is a byproduct of one of these existential arguments. With that, let’s have a look at the best movies ever made with the word “future” in the title. Well, except for the ones you already know about.

Future War (1997)

Future War is doubtlessly the greatest Malt Liquor Movie Night subject ever produced. Let me break this down: in flannel-clad Los Angeles, cyborgs from the future return to enslave the human race with their tamed dinosaurs that they use as watchdogs. A Jean-Claude Van Damme lookalike comes back from the future to save the humans. This film was produced for $150. It’s fucking amazing.

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Brother Future (1991)

Here’s a concept I’m surprised hasn’t been done more: a punk rapper from Detroit gets hit by a car and transported to the pre-Civil War colonial South where he winds up in the middle of a slave revolt.

Futuresport (1998)

Dean Cain. Vanessa Williams. Lots of lightning bolt effects. Neon clothing. An obsession with apocalyptic death skateboarding sports. Generic pulsing electronica. Futuresport may be the most 90s movie in history.

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future (1973)

Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future is some sort of slapstick comedy bit from Soviet Russia. Ivan is some sort of futuristic chemist with a stoned stare and a crazy cat. I honestly have no fucking clue what’s going on here. Definitely worth watching though.

Futureworld (1976)

Futureworld centers on a 70s resort with a trio of theme parks based on various interesting periods in history. It’s all run by computers, and because computers are evil, it all goes HORRIBLY WRONG. The film is apparently known for being an early user of CGI effects. It also has a large number of cyborgs and plastic-wrapped models.

Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)

This is one of those movies where the VHS cover art was designed specifically to be so bad ass that you absolutely have to make your mom rent it for you. Once that was done, they wrote the script and did everything else. Also, according to YouTube comment arguments, Yor, the Hunter from the Future is an Italian movie filmed in Turkey.

Future Force (1989)

Oh, David Carradine. How low you were willing to sink. This is basically a rip-off of the Knight Rider concept but instead of a car, Carradine controls a flying robotic hand that enjoys meting out some serious street justice. Also, the “They said you were the best. I’ve killed women tougher than you.” line is phenomenal.

Future Fear (1997)

This is such a 90s future. It reminds me of all those daytime Stargate-style actions shows of that period. The evil military releases an alien virus to kill off the world’s population for some reason. A rogue long-haired scientist saves the day. There are a lot of explosions, which is key to making this movie easy to set rules to for a drinking game.

Future Hunters (1986)

Future Hunters is proof that action movies, token Asian martial artists who wear exclusively tank tops, grunt faces and mustaches all peaked in the latter half of the 80s. I think I’ll just let IMDB explain this one: “2025 A.D. A lone adventurer searches the post-nuclear wasteland for the most devastating, godless artifact in history.”