10 Recent Sci-Fi Movies You Probably Haven't Seen

Available on: Netflix

Spectral centres on a supernatural black ops team who fight ghosts. Based on the premise alone, you'd think this is the sort of trashy B-movie churned out by Asylum Studios.

But Spectral works because everything is played straight. When the military first detect the phantoms on a spectral camera, they assume they're just a glitch. When the apparitions begin attacking soldiers, the government officials assume they're dealing with a human enemy with cloaking technology.

When the officials realise the threat is supernatural, they refuse to tell their men, believing they won't take the mission seriously. Unsurprisingly, this lack of communication prevents the soldiers from being prepared for the metaphysical threat, causing many of them to die needlessly.

Instead of filling the run-time with excessive backstories and forced banter, Spectral jumps into the action straight away and rarely lets up. Since the enemy is invisible and can kill anyone it touches, every scene is dripping with tension. Even though once respected sci-fi franchises like The Terminator and The Matrix have been chucking out pointless and bloated sequels in recent years, creative films like Spectral prove the genre still has plenty to offer.