11 Hated Sci-Fi Movies That Became Cult Classics

11. The Thing

When Guillermo Del Toro sat down for lunch with director John Carpenter for the first time, he couldn't help but geek out. He burst with admiration, talking about how he grew up loving Carpenter's alien invasion thriller The Thing. Carpenter shrugged, seemingly bitter about how poor it did upon release, damning him throughout the 80s to scrounge for money to finance his films.

How, one wonders, could a masterpiece like The Thing fail at the box office? Some credit the popularity of E.T. and other, more optimistic spaceman movies of 1982, which look and feel like idealistic fantasy compared to the stark, brutal and cynical Carpenter film.

Since, however, it's undergone re-evaluation and retained a fanbase strong enough for a video game sequel (in which Carpenter provides a voice), a prequel and a series of imitators throughout the following two decades. None nailled down the chilly, paranoid atmosphere that Carpenter brought to the picture, at once both gorily extreme and quietly eerie.