Growing up with movies like The Terminator, Predator, Alien, Robocop, and I could go on and on, I often thought maybe the sci-fi genre was limited to America. And I’ll admit I was wrong. I recently came across a whole new treasure chest of films in the genre, Spanish ones, yes, you heard that right.
Having never seen a Spanish sci-fi film before, I’ll be honest, I was skeptical as to whether these films would be worth the while. So, you can imagine my surprise when they exceeded my expectations by a mile. I was left wondering how have I never heard of these films before?
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, I’m going to be sharing some of the best of these films with you. These films get the recognition they deserve, and you possibly find a new favorite, kind of a win-win situation, no?
The best part, these movies are available online; just make sure you have an internet connection that can keep up. You can reach out to Xfinity servicio al cliente if you’re looking for a fast and reliable connection.
Now, without further ado, let’s start rolling!
Timecrimes
Let me warn you, this one will mess with your head massively, which is why it tops my list. It follows the simple concept of going back in time, but kills at doing that. The film follows a man named Hector who lives with his wife in the Spanish countryside and one day witnesses a strange occurrence in the woods, only to go and investigate. Oh, Hector, have you never seen a horror movie before?
He is then attacked by a man wearing bloody bandages on his face, and runs into a building where he is contacted by a mysterious scientist on a walkie-talkie. The scientist tells him to get into a machine, and when Hector exits, he discovers he’s gone back an hour in time. That’s when craziness really kicks up a notch, but since I don’t want to spoil it for you, I’m going to contain my excitement and stop here.
- Released: 2007
- Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
The Last Days
I always find movies on disease breakthroughs amazing and kind of relatable, especially after having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Last Days brings a unique touch to this concept. The film centers around a pandemic called the Panic, where people fear leaving their homes, sound familiar? Unlike COVID, though, the reason people can’t go out is that if they’re suffering from the Panic, they’ll die on the spot.
What I liked about the movie is that despite being a pandemic-related film, it doesn’t limit itself to the panic alone, instead, it also shows us the main character, Marc’s journey of finding his girlfriend with his ex-boss Enrique in an apocalyptic disease-ridden world. The movie touches on themes like friendship, resilience, fear, and survival while giving us a deeper dive into how human nature might evolve in such a situation.
- Released: 2013
- Where to Watch: Kanopy or Plex
Mirage
This film was so good that it inspired a remake in another major film industry, Bollywood. Imagine if somehow you had the chance to go back in time to save a life, but it would cost you everything you know and everyone you love, would you do it? That’s what the film explores. It centers around a woman who is somehow able to interact with a boy named Nico using a TV during a storm. Oh, wait, did I mention that Nico died in an accident while witnessing a murder many years ago?
Knowing his story, she advises him to stay inside, and while she ends up saving him, everything in her world changes, kind of like the ripple effect we’ve seen in many movies over the years. With her husband married to someone else and her daughter gone, she is now totally alone and must find a way to bring her life back. The movie explores her journey in doing so, and packs a large number of unexpected twists and turns, all of which I really enjoyed, and hope you do too. Will she make it back? Is there more to the murder? Will she ever meet Nico? Only one way to find out.
- Released: 2018
- Where to Watch: Netflix
The Platform
I often saw this movie as a suggestion when watching something else on Netflix, and only recently clicked on it, a decision I’ll rank as one of my better ones. The movie centers around prisoners living on more than 300 different floors of an industrial building. The prisoners are fed daily for two minutes using the platform, an elevator-like object that lowers on each floor.
Here’s the catch: the ones on the top floors eat more, and the remaining food goes down, which, understandably so, causes some issues. By issues, I don’t mean those that can be resolved through words; these issues result in dark events like cannibalism, murder, and mayhem. The film explores themes of inequality, exploitation, and morality, giving us a deeper view into the different types of people we may encounter in tough situations.
- Released: 2019
- Where to Watch: Netflix
Hispanic Sci-Fi Films – An Untapped Territory with Unmatchable Potential
While sci-fi is still a rather largely untapped genre when it comes to Spanish movies, the ones shared in this list prove that the creative talents of Hispanic artists know no bounds.
I, for one, sure hope that more Hispanic filmmakers start breaking into the genre and continue to push the barriers of creativity and imagination. Fingers crossed!