5 Great Cyberpunk Movies Nobody Remembers

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Cyberpunk is a truly captivating branch of science fiction, and it’s given us many unforgettable films. Movies like The Matrix, Blade Runner, Akira, RoboCop, The Terminator, and Total Recall all showcase the genre’s compelling blend of futuristic technology, crumbling societies, powerful corporations, cybernetic bodies, constant surveillance, and resistance movements. This unique combination makes for incredible stories. Cyberpunk has also become popular on television recently, and Apple TV plans to release what they hope will be the ultimate cyberpunk series in 2026.

While films like The Matrix and RoboCop became iconic, many other cyberpunk movies haven’t achieved the same level of success. In fact, quite a few simply didn’t resonate with audiences, and many genre-influenced films were overlooked. These often-forgotten movies deserve a second look, as they demonstrate the surprising variety and flexibility within the cyberpunk subgenre.

Hardware is the Definition of a Cult Classic Cyberpunk Film

As a film fan, I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Richard Stanley. He’s had a really rough time in Hollywood. Most people remember him as the director famously fired from the set of The Island of Dr. Moreau after just three days – it was a total disaster that basically derailed his career for twenty years! But before that, he made this cool, low-budget cyberpunk thriller called Hardware back in 1990. It actually did pretty well for itself, earning almost four times its $1.5 million budget at the box office. Though, to be honest, critics weren’t exactly kind to it back then.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, a dedicated fanbase grew around Stanley’s wild story about a space marine who unintentionally gives his artist girlfriend a deadly, unstoppable cyborg. This cyborg, known as M.A.R.K. 13, is a fantastic science fiction character. The marine quickly realizes the discarded machine he found in the desert is a government project designed to wipe out humanity, a drastic solution to the overpopulation problem plaguing the ruined, radioactive Earth.

Now, this robot is following his girlfriend home and even watching her apartment, all after fixing itself with spare parts and things found around the house. That’s classic cyberpunk material, and it’s a shame the film didn’t find a wider audience. It likely would have appealed to many more people.

Possessor Mixes Body Horror and Cyberpunk to Stomach-Churning Effect

Brandon Cronenberg, though early in his directing career, has quickly established himself as a fan of body horror, much like his famous father, David. His films, Antiviral and Infinity Pool, are full of disturbing and graphic imagery that will appeal to dedicated fans of the genre, especially because he blends these elements with a cyberpunk aesthetic.

The movie Possessor centers on Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), a highly skilled assassin who uses advanced technology—a virtual reality headset and a brain implant—to take control of other people’s bodies and carry out corporate hits. However, when she targets Colin (Christopher Abbott), their minds begin to dangerously intertwine. While its disturbing and graphic nature likely won’t appeal to everyone, Possessor is sure to be a hit with cyberpunk enthusiasts who can handle intense horror.

Ignoring the unsettling physical transformations, the film’s vision of a bleak, technologically-controlled future will resonate with fans of cyberpunk and science fiction. While some moments feel like distant imaginings, others – like the scenes of data collectors using virtual reality to spy on people’s homes just to sell them curtains – feel disturbingly relevant to our current world.

Repo Men is a Shamefully Lesser-Known Entry in Jude Law’s Filmography

Before winning an Emmy Award for directing a drama series, Miguel Sapochnik started his film career with Repo Men. This darkly humorous and action-packed cyberpunk movie features Jude Law and Forest Whitaker as Remy and Jake, repo men who work for a corporation to reclaim artificial organs from customers unable to pay their bills.

After Remy receives an artificial heart from the company he used to work for and experiences the same struggles as those he once pursued, he begins to question his past actions and goes into hiding. Repo Men is a really fun and exciting movie that deserved to do better in theaters. Sadly, it wasn’t a hit with audiences or critics, and it ended up largely forgotten on DVD. That’s too bad, because the film was full of interesting ideas, had a cool style, and featured great performances from Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Liev Schreiber, John Leguizamo, and Alice Braga.

Fans of cyberpunk would likely enjoy this film, as it features many classic elements of the genre – like biotechnology, powerful corporations, the gap between rich and poor, virtual reality, and futuristic technology – all wrapped in a dark, stylish visual package. Plus, it has plenty of exciting action to distract from any weaknesses in the story.

Split Second is Both a Bad Blade Runner/Alien Ripoff and a Fun Cyberpunk Hidden Gem

Let’s be honest: Split Second isn’t a great movie. It’s easy to see why some people call it a copy of Blade Runner and Alien. In fact, the film even stars Rutger Hauer, who famously played Roy Batty in Blade Runner, likely to draw a connection between that classic cyberpunk film and this story of a rogue police officer chasing a brutal killer in a future London that’s largely underwater.

It’s not surprising that the film’s monster – a creature resembling a mix of the Xenomorph and Venom – clearly shows the influence of Scott’s other famous sci-fi work. But even though Split Second borrows heavily from better films, it still has value. Despite its low budget, the movie effectively creates a gritty, cyberpunk London, filled with dark, noir visuals, bright neon lights, and wet, rainy streets.

The movie deserves praise for its imaginative ideas – a city underwater because of climate change and a psychic link between the main character and a strange creature. While the film doesn’t fully succeed, it was surprisingly forward-thinking for its time. If you’re in the mood for a fun, slightly cheesy cyberpunk thriller, Split Second is a solid choice.

Upgrade Was Overshadowed by its Director’s Follow-Up Film

Leigh Whannell, an Australian writer and director, has become a leading figure in the horror genre over the past twenty years. He’s best known for co-creating the popular franchises Saw and Insidious with James Wan. Using the success from those films, he transitioned into directing, starting with 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3. However, it was his 2020 film, The Invisible Man, that truly established him as a critically and commercially successful director.

Between his horror films, Whannell briefly explored action and science fiction with Upgrade, a movie about a man paralyzed until a high-tech chip restores his ability to move. Driven by revenge, he then uses this newfound ability to hunt down his wife’s killers. Upgrade clearly demonstrated Whannell’s talent for directing action, featuring impressive and fast-paced fight scenes. He also drew a fantastic physical performance from Logan Marshall-Green, who played the lead role with intensity.

This movie is a thrilling and surprisingly funny ride, with a script that offers more depth than you’d initially expect. It cleverly uses familiar cyberpunk themes, particularly around the power of corporations. The story initially leads you to believe a tech company might have caused a character’s accident to test an implant, but then takes a fascinating turn: the implant itself becomes aware and is actually manipulating events, all in a complex plan to achieve humanity.

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2026-02-05 21:14