Directed by John Boorman • 1974 • Ireland, United States
One of the most singular film experiences of the 1970s, John Boorman’s Tolkien-on-acid sci-fi head-trip is auteur cinema in the extreme, a fascinating melange of hallucinatory images and metaphysical musing. In the twenty-third century, society has been divided into two sects: the Eternals, a group of rarefied immortals who live in a state of luxurious ennui, and the Brutals, oppressed barbarians who live by the violent code of their floating stone god Zardoz (“The gun is good! The penis is evil!”). When a Brutal named Zed (Sean Connery, memorably rocking a ponytail and crimson loincloth) comes to understand the truth of his own exploitation, he launches a rebellion that takes him into the forbidden realm of the Eternals.
Up Next in AI
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Demon Seed
Directed by Donald Cammell • 1977 • United States
Starring Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit GrahamSusan Harris (Julie Christie) is alone in the house when, suddenly, doors lock, windows slam shut, and the phone stops working. Susan is trapped by an intruder—but this is no ordinary thug. Her...
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Electric Dreams
Directed by Steve Barron • 1984 • United States, United Kingdom
Starring Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell CaulfieldThis awesomely ’80s comedy puts a sci-fi spin on the classic love-triangle premise with the tale of a man who finds himself in a romantic rivalry with his PC. Nerdy archi...
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Making Mr. Right
Directed by Susan Seidelman • 1987 • United States
Starring John Malkovich, Ann Magnuson, Glenne HeadlySusan Seidelman’s follow-up to DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN is a witty sci-fi screwball, with John Malkovich in a memorably offbeat dual role as the ambitious scientist Jeff Peters and his remark...
