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Part four of this five-part series. Numbers 20-11.

20. Solaris (1972)

Based on the sci-fi novel of the same name, this pensive, therapeutic Russian film by Andrei Tarkovsky is subtly, yet extraordinarily stimulating and addresses classic sci-fi themes—such as the purpose of human existence—through psychologically and philosophically challenging scenarios. It’s as visually rich as its intellectual facilitation is deep and it features a calm and arresting performance by Donatas Banionis, whose character, Kris Kelvin (played by George Clooney in Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 remake), is haunted by delusional sights of his dead ex-wife (Natalya Bondarchuk, then 18 years old) after boarding a ghostly space station—he finds three scientists aboard, one dead and the others absent of their sanity—located near the planet Solaris.

19. Frankenstein (1931)

Advertised as “The Original Horror Show,” the first film of director James Whales’ 1930s horror movie succession (The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein), which accompanied Universal’s early monster flicks like Dracula, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man, is a successful blend of terror and science, conceiving it’s antagonist through an unsanctified experiment conducted by a genius madman named Henry Frankenstein. It’s uncomforting, disturbing measure of sacrilege is certainly a milestone, and opened the doors of exploration for subsequent films of horror, sci-fi, and all other genres.

18. Stalker (1979)

In his return to the sci-fi genre, seven years after Solaris (#20), Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky delivers another stupefying vision. This time, it’s of a world in ruins following the strike of a meteor, which has left in its wake an area called “The Zone,” wherein there is a room that is said to have the ability to grant one his or her most intimate desires. Permitted to enter and exit “The Zone” are guides called “Stalkers,” one of which is the film’s main focus, a man played by Alexander Kaidanovsky who goes into “The Zone” with two others (credited simply as “Writer” and “Scientist”). As great sci-fi films are often able to do, Stalker presents its central idea through sequences of beauty and metaphorical poetry. Its central idea is faith, which, in the film, contends against science and technology.

17. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Though Roger Ebert gave this film 2 out of 4 stars—he called it “…a paranoid…fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning,” and suggested that it was misled by the notion that it was deep and meaningful—Stanley Kubrick’s vile, disgusting, and masterful (and very close) film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange (which is one of TIME magazine’s 100 best English-language novels of the past 80 years) was and still is received as precisely what Ebert thought it was misguided by the thought of being. A study of youth violence and psychiatrics (and a disturbing one, to say the least), A Clockwork Orange remains as one of Hollywood’s most torturous and resilient gems, and succeeds even personalities as revered as Roger Ebert.

16. Aliens (1986)

In this remarkable sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien, director James Cameron continues the franchise seven years after the first film (the story takes place more than five decades following its predecessor’s events), again helming Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. In this go-around, Ripley seeks out the alien colony from which the alien she previously faced came. Backed by a fleet of “Colonial Marines” (a troop that includes Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein as Private Vasquez, another hard-core female character), Ripley makes a terrifying discovery: a Queen alien has nested/continues to nest hundreds, maybe thousands of hostile aliens, which have decimated a human colony that once was.

Weaver received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her part in the film, while Cameron drew affirmation as to whether he would make it as a Hollywood director. Furthermore, despite being more action-minded than its precursor, Aliens made a wave at the box office and is arguably better than the original (but, for the record, I’m not one to argue that notion).

15. Forbidden Planet (1956)

Featuring the illustrious “Robby the Robot” and the first on-screen showing of the flying saucer UFO, this Oscar-nominated (Best Special Effects) sci-fi classic was inspired by, and loosely based off of, Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The most glorious facets of this Fred Wilcox-directed wonder, however, are its hailed set and art design and its electronic score—both of which revolutionized Hollywood film production and musical compositions.

14. The Matrix (1999)

The Brothers Wachowski produced one of cinema’s largest cult followings with their Matrix series (not worth mentioning past the point of its first installment), mind-bending films about an uprising of sentient machines, which simulate a human reality different from that which we know in order to suppress humanity until it’s helpless to an overtaking. Interweaving religious ideas with philosophy and computer-wiz subcultures, The Matrix exhibits a keenness for hair-raising action and visual and aural stimulation (for which it won four Academy Awards), perhaps its most notable function.

13. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Ten years after the events of the first film, Arnold’s Terminator character is again sent from the future to track Sarah Connor and her now-born son, John. Yet, rather than terminating them, his mission is to ensure their survival against the most deadly Terminator yet: the liquid metal-composed T-1000 (Robert Patrick).

As he did in the original, director James Cameron once more delivers an intense, enormously entertaining movie spectacle. Though, what makes Judgment Day a stand-out influence on today’s movies is its ground-breaking use of computer-generated images (CGI), which to this day are some of the best visual effects in cinematic history.

12. Brazil (1985)

Directed and co-written by Terry Gilliam, this black comedy beholds Brazil as a somewhat utopian place, in which women and fantasies come hand-in-hand and problems are negated upon entrance. The product of inspiration Gilliam got from a song (the film’s theme song), Brazil envisions a completely fictional world of totalitarianism and bureaucracy—though it does so with the accessory of silly machines and droll whit. Starring Robert De Niro and Jonathan Pryce, Gilliam’s fantastical sci-fi picture delivered both big stars and big money-visuals, which are beyond surreal in their beauty and peculiarity.

11. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Robert Wise’s translation of a short sci-fi story called Farewell to the Master reached social undertones of cohabitation and burned with anti-war connotations via an alien named Klaatu (played by Michael Rennie, who supposedly won the part over Claude Raines and Spencer Tracy), who lands on Earth as a representation of an inter-planetary war to come if Earth’s violent manner is forced upon outer worlds. Released during the start of the Cold War, it exploited our nation’s fear of diabolical warfare and helped instigate the demand of the U.S. government’s honesty, in particular, answers regarding questions of conflict with other nations and explanations for such mysteries as UFOs and Area 51 (which, of course, never came). A remake, starring Jennifer Connely as the female lead, Helen, and Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, is due for a mid-December release later this year.

Stay tuned for the ten most definitive sci-fi films of all time, which will be revealed tomorrow.

Check out rest of the count down.  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5