SyFy used to be one of my favorite television channels as a child. Not surprising, considering I grew up watching horror movies as well. I am honestly not sure why horror and action movies were more appealing to me. If anyone ever asks, my favorite Disney princess is Michael Myers. Anyways, there are some Sci-Fi Horror movies that I became attached to and still enjoy to this day. I even find many that I like to be underrated. I am yet to meet anyone who has also watched Species (1995), Pitch Black (2000) and Hollow Man (2000).
Species
If you have seen either one of the movies in this franchise, then you might be as surprised as me that my parents let me watch this. This franchise has a total of four movies: Species (1995), Species II (1998), Species III (2004) and Species: The Awakening (2007). As the trailer will explain, alien DNA was discovered and scientists experimented with it by fusing it with human DNA thus creating a hybrid being. While she was still a child she was going to be terminated but the attempt fails and she escapes.
Eventually, she is cocooned like a caterpillar and emerges into a fully grown adult. From then on, her natural instinct of finding a mate is her only priority in order to simply procreate. It’s the same plot about a female alien-human character in every movie in the franchise, but with different screenplay because of new characters. I am not sure why I was attached to this franchise, but it’s not a bad watch. The idea itself is nice and fresh in my opinion, up to the point where all four of the movies were just about a main alien female and her natural instinct to try to mate.
Pitch Black/The Chronicles of Riddick
Growing up, I was absolutely attached to actors that were in almost everything. In this case, I loved (and still do love) Vin Diesel as an actor. I liked nearly every movie with him in it, and I especially liked The Chronicles of Riddick. The first movie that I watched was Pitch Black and it’s the first movie that was released, but apparently the franchise itself was coined as The Chronicles of Riddick which includes Pitch Black (2000), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Riddick (2013).
It has been a long time since I have watched the franchise, so my memory is rusty on the plot. However, based on the trailers, Vin Diesel plays as Riddick who is an apparent dangerous criminal. He, as well as several others, on a spaceship crash onto some sort of planet that is infested with creatures that hunt in the dark. Riddick is not a normal being; his vision is different which is why he wears black, lensed, goggles, in order to see through light, or else the light hurts his eyes. He is basically nocturnal as he can only see without them in the dark.
Hollow Man
This franchise only includes two movies: Hollow Man (2000) and Hollow Man 2 (2006). I believe that this franchise is a modern remake of The Invisible Man (1933). Although, I haven’t watched it, so I am unable to compare the two. Hollow Man is basically about scientists funded by the government to experiment with turning life invisible, and of course they began with testing animals. However, the scientists did not have a way to reverse the invisibility until, in the beginning of the movie, Kevin Bacon (as the cocky and egoistic Sebastian Caine) finds a way. Shortly after turning their subject — a gorilla — back to being visible, they report to the government at the Pentagon. Although, he keeps the success a secret because he was suspicious that the government would take the project away from them.
The scientists then undergo a secret experiment where Sebastian volunteers as the first human to be the subject to be turned invisible. In short, he is driven mad by being a subject constantly cooped up in the laboratory, and being the rule-breaker troublemaker he is, he does some unethical things that I’m not going to reveal here.
Hollow Man 2 jumps onto a whole different plot, but it’s the same basis of someone invisible. The difference is- the government used the serum to experiment on war criminals and the like, in order to try and make the perfect undetectable soldier for the United States army. However, after each subject was injected, some of them died earlier than most while two were left still alive, one being the main antagonist. In conclusion , he is trying to find a scientist who apparently made a sort of serum called a “Buffer” that is supposed to help him live.
Overall, these were three of my favorite underrated sci-fi franchises from childhood. You can certainly look forward to hearing about more of my favorite franchises from childhood — that you would probably say a child should not have been watching — whether they are well-known or underrated in the future.
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