Quentin Tarantino Reveals His Favorite Science Fiction Movies Ever

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Quentin Tarantino is known around the world for his distinctive movies, which are heavily influenced by films from the 20th century. Though he’s famous for loving violent westerns and gangster movies, he’s also interested in genres he hasn’t explored yet.

Tarantino often sets his films, like Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in the past, but he secretly loves the future. On his podcast, The Video Archives, he discussed science fiction and used a term he reserves for truly exceptional movies.

He rarely calls a film a “masterpiece,” only doing so when he believes it truly deserves the label. However, he admitted that the 1974 cult classic Dark Star is exactly that—a science fiction masterpiece and a prime example of the counterculture filmmaking of the early 1970s.

John Carpenter’s first film as director, Dark Star, was written by Dan O’Bannon, who later wrote the screenplay for Alien. It’s a darkly humorous movie about astronauts tasked with destroying planets that are becoming unstable. Quentin Tarantino appreciates the film’s rebellious spirit, but playfully noted that one of the actors, Cal Kuniholm, seemed more like a friend they’d picked up on the street than a trained professional.

Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of director John Carpenter, and especially loves Carpenter’s 1982 film, The Thing. He considers the movie’s practical effects to be some of the best ever created for cinema. Unlike many horror films that simply try to startle audiences, Tarantino says The Thing genuinely terrified him. He praises the film’s focus on building suspense and creating a sense of paranoia, as the characters struggle to figure out who among them is the monster.

His passion for science fiction started in his youth, with the classic films of the 1930s and 40s. He often recounts how Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was his childhood favorite. He was fascinated by the film’s ability to blend horror and comedy, and he believes this early experience inspired his lifelong approach to creatively combining different genres in his own work.

Quentin Tarantino is keeping everyone guessing about his tenth and final movie. He famously canceled his planned film, The Movie Critic, deciding it wasn’t the right story to conclude his career with. Since then, he’s been exploring other projects.

Currently, he’s completing a stage play, which he suggests might be his next big undertaking before directing one last film. He’s also collaborating with David Fincher on a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, called The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which is anticipated to be released on Netflix later this year.

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2026-02-25 00:14