The 12 best sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime Video

Sci-fi can do it all: Whether you're looking for a piece of explosion-heavy escapism, an existential meditation on what it means to be human, or a genre-bending laugh-fest, there's a little something for everyone. But let's face it...there are plenty of other-worldly duds out there, too, and when it comes to streaming libraries, it can be difficult to find the diamonds in the rough. That's why EW took the liberty of sifting through Amazon Prime Video to bring you its very best sci-fi offerings, from chilling classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers to recent favorites like Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Here are the best sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime Video, as of January 2024.

After Yang (2022)

How do you fix what's broken in a family? How do you move on from loss? This soft-toned sci-fi drama grapples with many such questions, with a philosophical approach to what it means to live — and die. Jake (Colin Farrell), Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith), and their adopted daughter Mika live with a "techno-sapien" named Yang (Justin H. Min), a robotic caretaker/brother figure to Mika. One day, Yang abruptly stops working, leading Jake to seek out ways to fix him, not just for the benefit of his daughter but for the family unit itself. With this film, director Kogonada imagines a near future with empathy and understanding. "His camera revels in small, exquisite details," EW's critic wrote, "from a car interior lined in intricately carved wood and feathery little tufts of moss to a constellation of stored memories as starry and expansive as any galaxy. And nearly every scene is suffused with a kind of golden analog glow, as if the future portrayed here were already somehow nostalgic for itself." —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch After Yang: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Kogonada

Cast: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Haley Lu Richardson

Related content: The 15 best Colin Farrell movies

Asteroid City (2023)

Wes Anderson doubles down on style, artifice, and metatextual layers with this entertaining (yet profound) confection. The film simultaneously tracks a play about a group of young stargazers and their parents who converge for a convention in the desert town of Asteroid City, as well as the writing of that play by a famed playwright. Within the reality of the play, a UFO descends upon the junior stargazers, causing fascination (and panic) within the community. While science fiction is more of a side dish than the whole meal here, Anderson's thematic ambitions with Asteroid City also relate quite well to storytelling within the genre. As EW's critic wrote of Anderson's thesis, "To find the truth in art, you have to give yourself over to the artifice of the dream." —K.J.

Where to watch Asteroid City: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Wes Anderson

Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber

Related content: Here's what you need to know about Asteroid City, courtesy of Wes Anderson

Coherence (2013)

When old friends reunite for a dinner party in a movie, you know something is about to go terribly awry. In Coherence, that "something" is the arrival of a close-passing comet — and the discovery of a house full of doppelgängers having an identical dinner party down the street. The plot is full of quantum-related twists and turns, but the film is grounded by the talented cast, which includes Buffy's Nicholas Brendon in a fun self-referential role as a former TV star. The production is just as quirky as the premise: Director James Ward Byrkit wanted to make a low-budget film that was so stripped down, it didn't even have a script. Instead, he invited a bunch of actor friends to his living room, gave them basic character motivations, and let them improvise through the entire thing. The result, while occasionally messy, is thoroughly original. —Janey Tracey

Where to watch Coherence: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: James Ward Byrkit

Cast: Emily Foxler, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Lorene Scafaria

Related content: Things get spooky in clip from new sci-fi film Coherence

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Few films in recent memory have lived up to their title as well as Everything Everywhere All at Once. Combining science fiction, action, broad comedy, and heart-tugging drama, the film manages to cohere into an absurdist masterpiece about finding value in the life you have, without giving in to regret. Action superstar Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant living in America with her loving husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), with whom she has a strained relationship. One day, while being audited by the IRS, she accepts an offer to escape her life to help prevent a powerful force from destroying the multiverse, setting in motion a dangerous — yet deeply personal — journey. Everything Everywhere All at Once resonated with both critics and audiences, winning seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress for Yeoh. —K.J.

Where to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Directors: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong

Related content: Back to the beginning: Everything Everywhere All at Once's journey to the Oscars

Interstellar (2014)

After turning a film as cerebral as Inception into an Oscar-winning hit, Christopher Nolan indulged in his sci-fi-loving sensibilities even further with this space epic. Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his most achingly sincere performances as Cooper, a NASA pilot living on a ravaged Earth who embarks on a last-hope mission to an exoplanet that may be capable of sustaining life. What he finds on his trip becomes a mind-bending (and time-bending) testament to humanity's fight for survival, its sense of resilience, and its profound effect on future generations. While the film refuses to hold your hand in exploring such heady themes, those who give themselves over to Nolan's vision will be bowled over by its advanced storytelling on such a grand scale. —K.J.

Where to watch Interstellar: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine

Related content: The science of Interstellar: A primer on black holes, wormholes, and more

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

In this sci-fi classic, an extraterrestrial race is populating Earth with pods that systematically replace humans with alien duplicates. The film follows a quartet of friends who try to uncover the truth and alert the authorities before it's too late, eventually waging war against pod people. Featuring one of the most chilling endings of all time, Invasion of the Body Snatchers remains a tense thrill ride and a powerful commentary on paranoia. This was the second of multiple adaptations of Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, and, as EW's critic wrote of the 1978 film, "this version is the most slitheringly creepy." —K.J.

Where to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Philip Kaufman

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright

Related content: Six movie remakes that are worth watching

M3GAN (2023)

This campy sci-fi spooker doesn't take itself too seriously, even if the titular doll is a serious threat to those who cross her owner. After robotics expert Gemma (Allison Williams) develops an artificial intelligence-powered doll named M3GAN for her grieving niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), the dangerously smart humanoid starts to exhibit possessive qualities. And God forbid anyone who poses even a minor threat to Cady. EW's critic called M3GAN "a scampering Blumhouse caper that turns out to be blithely self-aware, negligibly jump-scary, and mostly very fun," and audiences seemed to agree — the film grossed nearly $100 million at the U.S. box office, leading to an announcement of a sequel, M3GAN 2.0, coming in 2025. —K.J.

Where to watch M3GAN: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Gerard Johnstone

Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Jenna Davis, Amie Donald

Related content: Making M3GAN: How everyone's favorite killer robot was brought to life

Nope (2022)

Jordan Peele continued his hot streak with Nope, his third directorial feature and first cinematic venture into the world of science fiction. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play siblings who own a horse-wrangling business in California and soon discover that their steeds are being consumed by a UFO. They decide to film further incidents as proof, enlisting a tech expert and a renowned cinematographer, but capturing the footage proves surprisingly difficult as the entity does not like being provoked. Of course, Peele injects some horror into the proceedings, using sound to great effect while delivering old-school alien thrills reminiscent of 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind or 2002's Signs. —K.J.

Where to watch Nope: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Keith David

Related content: Nominated for nothing: The Academy should've said 'yes' to Nope

A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

In 2018's A Quiet Place, director and star John Krasinski introduced us to a silent postapocalyptic world, where blind extraterrestrials with super-hearing attack if you make the smallest sound. Part II expands on that premise, as Emily Blunt's grieving widow Evelyn leaves home with her two children and newborn to search for other survivors. They eventually encounter an old family friend, a new character played by Cillian Murphy, but it's Millicent Simmonds' Regan who takes center stage, as her ability to debilitate the aliens with her cochlear implant becomes key to their survival. The movie isn't perfect: Once the characters split into two groups, the plot becomes unwieldy. But, in the end, Part II does everything a great sequel is supposed to do: expand the mythology while doubling down on what was great about the original, especially the nerve-wracking sound design. And even when the film ends abruptly, you know it's only because they already have a Part III threequel and a Day One prequel in the works. As EW's critic put it, "When you've put in the work for this kind of world-building, it's not a one-and-done sequel; it's a franchise." —J.T.

Where to watch A Quiet Place Part II: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: John Krasinski

Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou

Related content: A Quiet Place spinoff will go back to Day One as a prequel film

Train to Busan (2016)

Zombie movies have been done to death, pun intended, though most have moved away from the social commentary that once defined the genre. Enter: Train to Busan. The majority of this South Korean horror movie takes place, as you might have guessed, on a commuter train to Busan, as a workaholic father (Gong Yoo) travels with his estranged daughter while an epidemic breaks out across the country. Along the way, the apocalypse becomes a potent commentary on class divides: think Snowpiercer with zombies. The walking dead are rabid and fast-moving, with terrifying set pieces reminiscent of World War Z. But, as EW's critic writes, Train to Busan boasts "an emotional core the Brad Pitt-starring extravaganza often lacked," namely the central relationship between father and daughter. —J.T.

Where to watch Train to Busan: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, Kim Eui-sung

Related content: Train to Busan sequel Peninsula picks up the zombie action four years later

The Vast of Night (2020)

This underrated sci-fi indie centers on a pair of teenage friends living in 1950s New Mexico who investigate a cryptic audio signal that suddenly interrupts a radio program. Putting the pieces together, they unravel a conspiracy that may suggest proof of alien life. With a budget of just $700,000, director Andrew Patterson pulls off a number of stunning shots, transporting us to a specific time and place. As EW wrote following the film's success, "Just the setting and veneer of the film — it's framed as an episode of a Twilight Zone-esque anthology TV series— should be enough for you to guess more or less where it's headed." —K.J.

Where to watch The Vast of Night: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Andrew Patterson

Cast: Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz

Related content: How The Vast of Night pulled off its stunning tracking shot

The War of the Worlds (1953)

H.G. Wells' 1898 novel The War of the Worlds was one of the first-ever alien invasion tales, and Orson Welles' 1938 CBS radio adaptation famously caused a panic when listeners believed a Martian attack was actually taking place. But when it comes to films based on Wells' work, the 1953 version still reigns supreme. The story, which follows an atomic scientist instead of a 19th-century writer, is updated to tap into Cold War anxieties, but in the end, just as in the novel, the invasion is presented as a natural disaster largely outside of human control. Although the special effects are no longer as groundbreaking as they were in the '50s, they're still incredibly entertaining, especially the manta ray-shaped alien war machines. —J.T.

Where to watch The War of the Worlds: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Byron Haskin

Cast: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson

Related content: Listen to Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds radio broadcast