Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a hilarious comedy horror movie. Such a fun take on the genre and so stupidly funny all the way through.
In the same vein, The Cabin in the Woods is one you should go in blind for as well.
"You guys.. eh.. you guys going camping? HEHEHEEHEEHEHE".
For SF, I recommend Primer. Its definitely a challenging movie as there's no clear exposition, but I found myself wanting to watch it several times to piece it altogether.
Dark City
Dark City is intense, but my favorite movie by Alexander Proyas is his first feature film: Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds. The genre of artsy post-apoc is small, and that's one of the best.
Got two sci fis to recommend:
Coherence dinner party among friends gets stuck between alternate realities. One of those really good scripts that was shot on a microbudget. Weird movie, lots of fun to think about
Prospect a western film about a prospector going after a big score which also happens to be a sci fi movie set on an alien planet. Great film, very cool style and very underrated.
Coherence is fantastic!
Enter the Void is the most breathless barrage on the senses I have ever wittnessed. The intro could give you epilepsy. The whole film is shot from the ego perspective of the protagonist that gets shot dead 15 minutes into the film. I have never seen anything remotely similar.
Sounds like The Holy Mountain type vibes.
That movie is such a fucking trip. I love it.
Tampopo - it's not really a comedy but has comedic elements. It's a overview of Japanese food and food culture and is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.
I've been telling people for years what a wonderful film Tampopo is. But when I explain the plot I just get shrugs and whatevers.
I never thought about Japanese truckers being all cowboy'd up until Tampopo.
Kicking and screaming (noah baumbach) not the will ferrel one. Great comedy.
Paprika is an animated scifi.
Arrival and children of men are my 2 favorite movies, bkth scifi, not unknown tho.
The lobster/ anything by yorgos lanthimos.
Children of Men is so fucking good except for the creepy CGI baby.
EDIT: Slavoj Zizek talks about one of his favorite films, Children of Men. Great breakdown of what makes it so good.
And let's do the combination: comedy sci-fi:
Wild zero, holy heck. Bizarre, surreal movie
Weird 70s animated sci fi: Fantastic Planet. The original is in French (which I prefer) but it also has an English dub. It's French sci fi from the 70s so this probably goes without saying, but in case anyone was considering a first watch with their parents or small children: there's a fair amount of nudity and sex.
If you haven't seen Wolfwalkers it's also worth a watch. It's by the same studio that made Secret of Kells, and takes place during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. This one is kid friendly, but I've watched it with a group of adults and we all enjoyed it.
The Girl With All the Gifts was pretty good, based on the book of the same name.
For comedy, one of my faves is Stranger Than Fiction.
For sci fi, Run Lola Run is a fun 90s era take on how small changes in starting conditions results in big changes for different timelines.
For comedy, I'll always recommend Grandma's Boy. It's a stoner comedy that focuses on a game developer and has a strong cast. It's from Adam Sandler's studio so you'll see a lot of familiar faces, but not Sandler.
For animated, try The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Great cast, Wes Anderson asthetic without being too twee, and a great script.
I feel like Galaxy Quest with Tim Allen, Susan Sarandon, Alan Rickman, Rainn Wilson and Tony Shalhoub is a criminally underrated movie.
Huge in China but not much in “the west”: Wandering Earth big budget, wild plot. A bit ridiculous but in an Armageddon or Pacific Rim kind of way. Good popcorn/summer movie.
Not in your genres listed, but Falling Down is a dark comedy / tragedy that is a fun but somewhat depressing watch.
It's about a man who snaps in a traffic jam and he goes a Lil bit crazy.
this little known gem from a major studio directed by one of the most famous durectors in the industry, aslo starying a best actor Oscar winner
I maintain that it’s an allegory for fascism. Defens is the man who has done everything “right” and his life is hell. It must be someone’s fault and it certainly couldn’t have been his. The whole film is him railing against whoever he can cast as the other, the villain. “Oh, I’m the bad guy?”
I really enjoyed "Boss Level". (Sci-Fi Action with some comedy here and there)
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy one of my favourite comedies of all times. Watermelon Man is an old fave.
When I was little boy mother would sing me song. It goes like this "life is short, life is shit, soon it will be over."
Sci-Fi
The Dead Zone (not that lesser known, but old enough that maybe it's getting that way)
Animation
Comedy
One, Two, Three (might be better known than I think, since it's a Billy Wilder movie)
Oh, I got a few:
Wings of Honneamise is an anime from the 80s that I rarely see mentioned that has a special place in my heart. It's about the first space program in some foreign world, with conflict and war that captures the frontier spirit.
Black Rain, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia, is not exactly some small indie movie but I never see it mentioned anywhere. I would describe it as a fish out of water story with two American cops going to Osaka. I love the movie and the soundtrack.
Colossus: The Forbin Project from 1970 is a sci-fi classic that I think really holds up.
A Taxing Woman from 1987, co-incidentally the same year as Wings of Honneamise, is a Japanese movie about a tax collector going after a criminal who is hiding his income really well. I caught this late at night on TV 30 years or so ago and just enjoyed it a lot.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is a French movie, bringing a comic of the same name to the screen. I really liked the comics already and the movie was fun as well. Early 20th century Paris, some fantasy elements.
Forbidden Planet, 1956, is also a sci-fi classic, starring a young Leslie Nielsen in a serious role.
The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is my favorite version of the story. It stars Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum. You might have seen Sutherland from this movie as a meme.
La Haine is another French movie, starring Vincent Cassel, Very intense, very good.
Ladyhawke is a fantasy movie starring Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Broderick. I wish there were more movies like this. Just telling a nice story. A cursed couple, a thief and a lot of adventure.
The Name of the Rose, with Sean Connery, Christian Slater and Ron Perlman, is a lovely version of Umberto Eco's book of the same name, that tells the story in an actually entertaining way.
The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp is another book adaptation that I think is better than the book. Fantasy and mystery and suspense.
Oxygen is a French sci-fi movie with a really minimalistic set and cast that I was pleasantly surprised by.
The Patlabor movies are among my favorite anime movies. Mostly calm and mature characters and nice stories.
The Prophecy with Christopher Walken and Elias Koteas was an indie success in the 90s. Angels, the Devil and mortals caught in between.
Shin Godzilla (2016) is my favorite Godzilla movie of all time. I can see why people might not like it, but it just tickled me in all the right places.
Strange Days is one of the best cyberpunk movies out there.
Top Secret! is brought to you by Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, who brought us, amongst other movies, The Naked Gun trilogy and Hot Shots. It's equally silly and funny.
Fritz the Cat 😉
Ralph Bakshi stuff is a must-watch with a lot of content warnings and trigger warnings.
Fritz the Cat, Coonskin, Wizards, The Lord of the Rings, American Pop, Cool World... I miss animation this fluid and wild.
Predestination
I don't know if it's really "lesser" known but Hardcore Henry (2015) is quite an experience.
It's difficult to know what is less known these days as film recommendation posts happen a lot.
If you told us what you liked we could probably come up with recommendations that let you drill down a bit further.
However:
SF:
Comedy - I'm rather partial to a kung-fu comedy:
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