The year 1986 was a profoundly different era. It was a time of questionable fashion, sprawling paper road maps, and appointment television. Long before the era of smartphones, endless social media scrolling, and hyper-sanitized playgrounds, the world felt a bit looser. While nobody is eager to surrender their modern conveniences, there is one undeniable triumph from that year that only gets better with time: an incredible slate of science fiction cinema.
As we look back nearly four decades, it’s clear that 1986 was a banner year for the genre. From terrifying body horror to time-traveling whales, here is the definitive ranking of the top 10 sci-fi movies released that year.
10. Howard the Duck
When a cigar-smoking, interdimensional duck is accidentally pulled into Cleveland following a lab mishap, bizarre cinematic history is made. Joining forces with rock singer Beverly (Lea Thompson) and scientist Phil Blumburtt (Tim Robbins), the titular Marvel character must thwart the sinister Dark Overlord.
While nobody will claim Howard the Duck is high art, it doesn't deserve its legendary status as a total cinematic disaster. Produced by Lucasfilm—marking George Lucas's first real stumble after a streak of massive blockbusters—the film has cultivated a passionate cult following thanks to its quirky practical effects, bizarre tone, and unashamed absurdity.
9. Black Moon Rising
When professional thief Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired by the FBI to steal sensitive corporate data, things go sideways. He hides the stolen intel in a cutting-edge experimental vehicle known as the Black Moon, only for the car itself to be pinched by an aggressive auto-theft ring, forcing Quint into a high-octane retrieval mission.
Penned by sci-fi legend John Carpenter around the same time he developed Escape from New York, this film serves up a delicious blend of high-tech corporate espionage and gritty action. While Carpenter didn't sit in the director's chair, his distinct cyberpunk flavor makes this a must-watch for fans of neon-lit, 1980s automotive thrillers.
8. Flight of the Navigator
Throughout the 1980s, Disney churned out numerous live-action adventures, but Flight of the Navigator stands the test of time better than most. Balancing a genuine coming-of-age narrative with ambitious sci-fi exploration, the film remains a visual and emotional triumph. It also offers a fun blast from the past by featuring a young Sarah Jessica Parker long before her Sex and the City days.
7. Short Circuit
Decades before artificial intelligence dominated our daily news feeds, Short Circuit gave us a charming, humorous take on machine sentience. Number 5—better known as Johnny 5—captivated audiences with his endearing, childlike fascination with the world. Packed with memorable one-liners, the film transformed a military robot into a lasting pop-culture icon and sparked a beloved 1988 sequel.
6. The Manhattan Project
Arriving in theaters just a few months after the real-world tragedy of Chernobyl, The Manhattan Project tapped directly into the era's palpable Cold War anxieties regarding nuclear proliferation. Co-written and directed by Marshall Brickman (an Oscar-winner for Annie Hall), the film is a taut thriller about unchecked scientific boundaries. Though it flew under the radar upon release, it stands today as one of the most compelling and underappreciated thrillers of the decade.
5. Big Trouble in Little China
Another entry with John Carpenter's fingerprints, this mystical action-comedy initially floundered at the box office before ascending to top-tier cult status. The film’s brilliance lies in its subversive framing: swaggering trucker Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) fully believes he is the story's tough-guy hero, when in reality, he is little more than a bumbling sidekick. Four decades later, it is celebrated as an undisputed classic.
4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Following the dramatic events of the previous film, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his loyal crew must travel back in time to 1986. Their mission? To rescue a pair of humpback whales—the only species capable of answering an alien probe that is devastating a future Earth. The fish-out-of-water comedy of the Enterprise crew navigating 1980s San Francisco is pure cinematic joy.
3. The Fly
In this tragic masterpiece of body horror, eccentric genius Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) invents a flawless teleportation device. However, a single housefly sneaks into the pod during a test run, splicing their genetics together. What starts as a scientific marvel devolves into a grotesque, heartbreaking transformation that seamlessly blends romance, science fiction, and terror.
2. Highlander
Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is an immortal Scottish warrior locked in a centuries-spanning war against others of his kind. Under the tutelage of the charismatic Ramírez (Sean Connery), MacLeod prepares for a final, modern-day showdown with the brutal Kurgan (Clancy Brown).
Though it spawned a massive franchise across multiple mediums, the original remains the undisputed king of the series. Bolstered by an epic, custom-crafted soundtrack by Queen—featuring stadium anthems like "Princes of the Universe"—the film proves that, ultimately, there can be only one.
1. Aliens
More than half a century after her nightmarish survival, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is sent back to the doomed moon LV-426, this time flanked by heavily armed Colonial Marines. A standard rescue op swiftly deteriorates into a claustrophobic, pulse-pounding war against a relentless horde of xenomorphs and their towering matriarch.
It is incredibly rare for a sequel to outshine a groundbreaking original, but James Cameron’s Aliens rewrote the rulebook for action cinema. Earning Sigourney Weaver an incredibly rare Best Actress Oscar nomination for a genre film, this masterpiece remains just as exhilarating, terrifying, and iconic today as it was the day it premiered.