44 Unmissable Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies Still To Come In 2013

29. R.I.P.D. (August 30)

Here's a film that's definitely going to be either fantastic, or totally awful, and going from what we've seen so far, I'm going to tend towards the latter. Based on the comic book Rest In Peace Department by Peter M. Lenkov, the film revolves around two officers in the R.I.P.D., played by Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges. They are essentially part of a dead police force who help to protect the living from malevolent spirits who won't go quietly into the afterlife. Despite a strong supporting cast including Kevin Bacon and Mary-Louise Parker, it remains to be seen whether this one can nail the right kitschy tone, or is a bust waiting to dive into the cinematic abyss.

28. Upstream Color (August)

Upstream Colour Shane Carruth's mind-bending minimalist sci-fi has already been out in the U.S. for months, and I saw it as part of the Sundance London festival, yet it still doesn't have a firm UK theatrical release date beyond "August 2013". Hopefully it'll trundle itself out soon, because I guarantee that you've never seen anything quite like this, a romance wrapped inside a peculiar sci-fi storyline about the life-cycle of a maggot, and how this permeates through to both people and pigs. If you're confused by that, you're probably supposed to be; the film is wildly ambiguous and leaves plenty for the audience to decide for themselves, but it's beautifully shot and scored, continuing to make Carruth (who does pretty much everything, even distribution, by himself) a fascinating talent to watch.

27. About Time (September 6)

About Time Richard Curtis' first film since 2009's underwhelming The Boat That Rocked has the makings of an incredibly promising project, taking his usual romantic comedy framework and infusing it with a quirky science-fiction twist. 21-year-old Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers that he is able to time travel, and goes about trying to sort himself out a girlfriend, yet after accidentally erasing this timeline, he has to try and win the girl in question, Mary (Rachel McAdams) back one more time. Appearing to have a dash of the ol' Groundhog Day charm, hopefully this one can restore Curtis' reputation and give him another smash hit for his career.

26. Riddick (September 6)

Few ever expected we'd actually end up with a trilogy of these films when Pitch Black first hit our screens back in 2000. A visually stunning, extremely entertaining B-movie, it was followed by the underwhelming, over-produced The Chronicles of Riddick in 2004, and now, 9 years later, we finally have the third chapter, simply titled Riddick. This time, the titular character (Vin Diesel) finds himself stranded on an alien planet, where he has to face off against both the dangerous indigenous population, and also a gang of bounty hunters who are keen to collect his head. If the trailers released so far demonstrate anything, it's that this looks like a fun, mad ride that will make the most of its modest $38 million budget.

25. Insidious: Chapter 2 (September 13)

Insidious Insidious is one of the better horror films to come down the pipe in recent years, delivering some potent scares within the framework of a fairly standard horror set-up. Against a $1.5 million budget, it made almost $100 million, and as such, it's no surprise that a sequel was soon enough put into production, in the unimaginatively titled Insidious: Chapter 2. The first film ended with the terrifying poltergeist having transferred itself from the body of the Lambert family's young son to the father, Josh (Patrick Wilson), and Chapter 2 will apparently pick off right where we were left hanging last time. Though horror sequels are rarely any good, this could be one that, under director James Wan's steady hand, very much breaks the mold and helps build a franchise.
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.