12 Hidden Sci-Fi Movies You've Probably Never Seen

Honestly we could have showcased almost any film from cult sci-fi hero Larry Cohen on this list, with everything from bonkers curio God Told Me To to the stop motion animation showcase/ classic monster movie Q: The Winged Serpent serving as perfect introductions to the underrated director’s oeuvre. But the marriage of gory special effects and witty social commentary attempted throughout Cohen’s career was never better realized than in 1985’s The Stuff.

A horror comedy with a satirical twist, The Stuff predates Carpenter’s They Live by a few years in its gross out condemnation of consumer culture and the rapacious capitalism of Reagan-era America. The film follows an amoral food company’s successful attempts to market the titular ooze to American consumers, only for those who eat the eponymous foodstuff to suffer spectacularly gory fates as a result.

The special effects alone make this one worth the watch, but beneath the inventive nastiness there’s a smart parable about unregulated consumption and its moral and ethical implications. Told via the tale of, you know, a tasty goop that turns people inside out.