5 Netflix-Exclusive Sci-Fi Movies That Everyone Needs To Watch At Least Once

It's no secret that most Netflix-original movies are mid at best. More often than not, the streaming platform has yet to figure out the recipe to make films that are as prestigious and high-quality as its original shows can be. There's just something off about the movies that premiere on this streaming giant or, at best, have a limited theatrical release before being added to the online library. Worse yet, Netflix has been canceling some of its critically acclaimed shows way too early, such as "The OA" and "The Boroughs."

Luckily, there are exceptions that pop up every so often and show Netflix is indeed capable of producing great movies. Just think of examples like Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story," Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," or the multiple Oscar-winning "All Quiet on the Western Front" from a few years ago. Today, however, we're focusing on five Netflix-exclusive sci-fi flicks that deserve a watch from both genre fans and casual viewers.

Two years before Bong Joon Ho became a global sensation with one of the best K-thrillers ever made — "Parasite," of course — he delivered a fascinating eco-satire with "Okja." A co-production between South Korea and the U.S., the film boasted a stacked cast from both countries, including Ahn Seo-hyun, Byun Hee-Bong, Steven Yeun, Tilda Swinton, and Paul Dano. The plot follows a young South Korean girl, Mija (Seo-hyun), and her genetically modified super pig Okja as the latter gets taken away by Americans to New York City. Mija goes to the U.S. to save her beloved pet, and she soon finds out that her rescue mission will be a lot more complicated than she anticipated. She'll need to face zoologists, a devilish CEO of an environmentalist corporation, and members of the Animal Liberation Front movement to get Okja back to the mountains where she belongs.

"Okja" is both a heartfelt adventure and an intelligent satire that plays on our heartstrings, and it's also a biting social commentary on capitalism, greed, consumerism, and the meat industry. It's one of the most original stories of the past decade, and another staple of the director's talent as a visionary filmmaker who's been elevating South Korean cinema well over two decades now. If you're unfamiliar with his work beyond "Parasite," "Okja" isn't a bad place to start — and a must-watch if you have a Netflix subscription.

Greg Jardin's feature debut was one of the best sci-fi horror comedies of 2024. "It's What's Inside" leans heavily into essential genre tropes and dark humor with a bonkers sci-fi twist that is simultaneously hilarious, sexy, and nerve-wracking. It follows eight close friends who meet in a house to celebrate the upcoming wedding of one of them. Things get off the hinges when an old college friend none of them has seen in ages turns up with a mysterious machine and offers to play a game that will be the type of fun they've never had before. The device grants the possibility to swap physical bodies with each other, and when they do, all hell breaks loose.

Relationships get shattered, secret desires flare up, and manipulations kick into overdrive with all the possibilities that one could do in another person's body. Replete with wild twists, sudden bursts of physical and emotional violence, rampant jealousy, and even murder, "It's What's Inside" isn't just a relentless blast of horror but a stimulating one at that, too. Featuring an ensemble of young up-and-coming talents (from Brittany O'Grady to James Morosini to Alycia Debnam-Carey and more) with a ridiculous amount of sex appeal (virtually everyone in this movie is hot in one way or another), "It's What's Inside" has everything going for it to become a cult favorite among young viewers if it hasn't already.

In 2021, writer-director Adam McKay took one of the most hot-button topics from the last ten years for a spin. With "Don't Look Up," he made climate crisis funny, and making an Earth-destroying comet uproarious isn't as easy as it might look. McKay and David Sirota's script has the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and a terrific cast that features an eclectic sort of acting legends and young talents from Meryl Streep to Timothy Chalamet.

This black satire follows two small-time astronomers, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), who discover that a gigantic comet is heading toward Earth with a real possibility to eviscerate the planet. But when they go to the White House to brief the current president, Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep), about it, they're brushed off and taken too lightly, considering that in six months, the comet will reach and obliterate the planet. Along with Orlean and her people, the majority of the rest of the world also believes this is just another publicized "threat" blown out of proportion — until it becomes frighteningly real. With its satiric tone, "Don't Look Up" makes a commentary on greed, outrageous politics, and the overwhelming stupidity that often surrounds celebrity and media. You won't forget the revealing ending!

Out of all the movies on this list, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman's 2020 "Project Power" is the most blockbuster adjacent. It's flashy and fast paced with a visual style that brings to mind superhero movies and other lightweight sci-fi actioners. It's also a flick that goes down easy without requiring much thinking from the viewer — everyone needs a "turn-your-mind-off-and-enjoy" movie every once in a while.

"Project Power" kicks off as a drug crime thriller set in a future New Orleans, where a new substance (that grants its user a certain superpower) is going rampant on the streets. As officer Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) chases bad guys, he's also ordered to find out where the drug comes from, although he's a user himself. When his dealer, Robin (Dominique Fishback), gets kidnapped by Art (Jamie Foxx), a US Army Major with a personal connection to the substance, the three of them inevitably find themselves tangled up in a mission to hunt down the people responsible for the production of the drug and its distribution.

It doesn't take long until "Project Power's" initial drug drama turns into a high-octane actioner on steroids. There's nothing you haven't seen elsewhere before in "Project Power," but it's still a slightly different take in the overcrowded superhero genre for those who need a break from the Marvel and DC universes.

Following in the vein of one-location thrillers such as Ryan Reynolds' "Buried" or Colin Farrell's "Phone Booth," director Alexandre Aja pulled off a similarly tense and claustrophobic feat with 2021's "Oxygen." Mining his own schtick for suspense that he perfected through a series of horror movies early in his career, Aja proves once again that he's a better director than many give him credit for.

The French feature stars Melanie Laurent as Liz from "Inglourious Basterds" as a woman who awakens trapped in a cryogenic chamber and stripped of her memories with a gradually decreasing oxygen level. With the unit's AI assistant, M.I.L.O. (Mathieu Amalric), she attempts to recover her memories, figure out how and why she got there, while also desperately looking for a way out of that death tank before it turns into her coffin.

Laurent's spellbinding screen presence, Christie LeBlanc's twisty screenplay, and Aja's taut and confident direction quickly turn "Oxygen" into a gripping 90-minute trip that will leave you breathless while it lasts. We don't get a ton of quality one-location thrillers anymore, so if you're into them, you'll likely treasure this forgotten gem as much as I did on my first watch. It's easily one of the finest sci-fi movies Netflix has to offer.