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These are the films scheduled to play the 50th Annual Boston Sci-Fi Film Marathon. Presented in schedule order:


DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2 CENTURY - our classic opener

GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023). Not only the best Godzilla movie since the 1954 original, but one of the best films of the past year or two. It's a clever hybrid of remake and reboot. Director Takashi Yamizaki smartly uses the perspective of almost eight decades of hindsight (not to mention the previous 30+ entries in the series) to make MINUS ONE feel freshly observed. Yamizaki uses the famed Godzilla roar here if in a souped up form. Throughout MINUS ONE, Composer Naoki Sato weaves in music from original composer Akira Ifukube's masterful score to great effect. Ifukube's famed 'Godzilla Theme' has been used often in the intervening decades in the series. With MINUS ONE there's finally a film truly worthy of using it in full. Yamizaki has made a movie that can stand with GOJIRA. GODZILLA MINUS ONE won an Oscar for its Special Effects.

BETWEEN TIME AND TIMBUKTU (1972) along with a special guest (TBA). The rarely screened Kurt Vonnegut adaptation.
Based on Vonnegut's writings, this PBS adaptation was directed by Fred Barzyk and written by David Odell (supposedly with input from Vonnegut). It co-stars the team of Bob & Ray (Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding), Bob Morrow, Hurd Hatfield and Kevin McCarthy. It involves a time warp, TV contests and Vonnegut's special brand of ironic humor.
Not legally available to stream or purchase (although copies are floating out there). A very rare showing indeed!

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2001, Steven Spielberg) Presented on 35mm Film!
Stanley Kubrick worked on his concept of how to adapt Brian Aldiss' short story 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long' for decades but never felt he quite worked out how to do it so he passed it on to Spielberg.
The reviews were mixed at the time, but its reputation has grown. The SFX, John Williams' music and Janusz Kaminski's cinematography are all top notch. The cast includes Jude Law, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt, Frances O'Connor and Haley Joel Osment (coming off of THE SIXTH SENSE) as David.

ALGOL (Tragedy Of Power) (1920) Restored version of the German alien visitation silent. The film is directed by Hans Werckmeister and stars the great Emil Jannings (Blue Angel, Faust).
Best of all, acclaimed silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will be on hand to provide live music! Jeff has been a friend of the festival for many years and the Somerville Theatre shall rock!

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) Robert Wise's masterpiece has long been the signature film of the event having played at the very first festival in 1976 (and an encore the very next year!). It has also appeared five more times including the 10th, 20th, 25th and 40th anniversary events.

LIFEFORCE – Presented on 70mm Film! Tobe Hooper's sci-fi bash was the biggest budgeted of his career and features Mathilda May as perhaps the sexiest alien ever in cinema. Based on Colin Wilson's novel The Space Vampires it tells a wild tale involving the Space Shuttle, Halley's Comet and zombies! The cast also includes Patrick Stewart, Peter Firth, Frank Findlay and Steve Railsback. The score is by Henry Mancini with some fine SFX by John Dkystra. LIFEFORCE previously showed at SF/11.

ARRIVAL (2016). Denis Villenueve's immersive sci-fi tale that may very well be the most intimate 'alien invasion' movie yet made, becoming an intense experience if one gets on its wavelength. Rarely, has a sci-fi movie (or, just about any other) so thoroughly asked us to question of very way of thinking and 'verbal' expression. Indeed, how many mainstream commercial movies would touch on such theoretical concepts such as Fermat's Theory of Least Time and and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis? And, yet be so entertaining. One of the Best Sci-Fi films of the past decade. ARRIVAL was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress, winning for its Sound Effects.

BARBARELLA (1968) – Rare 35mm Film Print of the cult classic which previously played the 'thon at SF/15 and SF/26.
Jane Fonda stars as the liberated comic strip heroine heading a motley cast which includes Ugo Tognazzi, John Philip Law, Marcel Marceau (in a chatty role), Anita Pallenberg and Milo O'Shea as Durand-Durand (the latter inspired the name of the famous New Wave band a decade later). Terry Southern's original script was re-written by a host of writers including Vadim himself. There are some amusing jokes and gags along the way and the fashions, sets and visuals give it a certain kitschy glamour. Charles Fox and Bob Crewe's music propel it on a cloud of Euro lounge.
BARBARELLA got a fairly significant re-release in the wake of STAR WARS in 1977, albeit with most of the nudity was cut to get a PG rating. They have since been restored. The edited version is subtitled "Queen Of The Galaxy". The Boston Sci will be showing it uncut, of course!

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986) Presented on 35mm Film! Directed by Leonard Nimoy, it's one of the most popular of the Star Trek features. The Enterprise crew returns to earth in the 'present' day and see for themselves how strange us earthlings were in the mid-80s! In San Francisco no less!
  Yes, it's the “Save The Whales” Trek, but it fast, fun and has substance. The full cast is there and deliver their well honed performances. Walter Koenig's Chekov delivers the most amusing line: “Nuclear Vessels” pronounced “Wessels”! Catherine Hicks plays Dr. Taylor. STAR TREK IV did very well at the Box Office and garnered four Oscar nominations including Leonard Rosenman's score, Donald Peterman's cinematography and two for its sound.

GAMERA VS GUIRON (1969) 82 mins. The fifth in the giant turtle series was originally released in the U.S. as "Attack Of The Monsters". 

HER (2013) Presented on 35mm Film! Spike Jonze's witty and wise A.I. film about a writer (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls for his Operating System he's named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Jonze's Oscar winning script is clever and seductive. The supporting cast includes Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde and Rooney Mara. Johansson's vocal performance was so persuasive, there were those campaigning for a Best Supporting Actress Award (she was nominated by won several Awards groups). HER was nominated for Best Picture, two for it's music, Production Design along with Jonze's screenplay win.

BLADE RUNNER (1982) Ridley Scott's classic presented here in it's rarest edit. – the legendary WORKPRINT CUT. The Workprint Cut (also known as the Preview Version) truly set off the second stage of the BLADE RUNNER mythos when it was accidentally shown at the Fairfax Cinema in 1990. That print subsequently was shown in limited release to great fanfare. Ridley Scott got wind of the showings and pulled it from release so that he could muck with, er, 'edit' it to his preferences as the initial 'Director's Cut'. There are a number of changes, both subtle and otherwise that make this a unique presentation. Paul M. Sammon, who wrote the definitive book on the making of the film (Future Noir), believes it to be the best of all five versions – and I agree. The film stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Haue Sean Young, Edward James Olmos and Darryl Hannah. It famously lost the Special Effects Oscar to E.T. and Production Design to GANDHI! Previous Marathon Showings - SF/8 and SF/10 (the 36 hour magilla!) at the Orson Welles Cinema. SF/14, SF/32 and SF/41 (The Final Cut) at the Somerville


Plus! Dan Leblanc's In Memoriam, Sing A Longs, Contests and more for this special 50th Anniversary Celebration!