There are a whole lot of supernatural things going on. There has to be. Why else would Hollywood produce so many science fiction, fantasy, supernatural and other paranormal movies? Why would both the television and movie industries go out of their way to put out so much fiction? I don't know, but most of it's fun to watch. Regardless of what category these stories should fall under, I classify them all as science fiction. Some have less science than others and some have more fantasy than others, but I think science fiction is broad enough to cover them all.

The 1950s

The 1950s has come to be known as the decade of B-movies in the movie industry. There were so many movies made about UFOs, monsters, aliens, robots, supermen, mutants (and a whole slew of other things I can't even think of off the top of my head) that it was utterly ridiculous.

Much of the material has been recycled into present-day movie remakes and TV shows. I'm going to take a few minutes and concentrate on a few that I deemed worthwhile to watch, starting with the 1970s, out of more than I can shake a stick at. Some are new concepts and some are recycled. I leave it up to you to figure out which is which.

UFO (1970-1973)

This was a British-made TV series that I only got to watch a few episodes of us. I think it was about an attempted invasion by aliens, but I can't be sure. A lot of the set pieces ended up being used for Space 1999 (1975-1977), a television series I couldn't stand to watch.

The Manitou (1978)

I was going to skip this movie when it came out, but it had Tony Curtis and Michael Ansara in the lead roles so I figured it had to be good. The special effects of the time weren't that great, but they managed to pull off an interesting story with a small touch of humor added in for good measure.

In this story, an ancient medicine man decides to be reborn courtesy of an external tumor on a woman's back. When he makes his appearance, Tony and Michael (I really can't remember the character names) have to enlist the aid of machine "manitous" in order to destroy him.

Phantasm (1979)

This was apparently a low-budget movie that became somewhat of a cult classic. An alien slave trader, masquerading as a mortician (and a strong guy at that), is having people killed, shrunk, reanimated and taken to an alternate universe where they're used as slaves.

Two scenes are seared into my memory forever: The time the mortician lives a casket (with a body in it) by himself and puts in the hearse and the time when a cylindrical, flying ball runs into a guy's forehead and starts drilling a hole through his head.

Most of the movie is lame, especially the weak ending scenes, but for some reason it was worth watching more than once.

Teen Wolf (1985)

Forget about the origins of werewolves and vampires. This story takes being a werewolf to whole new level, as being hereditary versus a disease of some kind. It was supposed to be a sort of comedy, but only a few scenes were funny. I never watched the sequel, Teen Wolf Too, because I didn't find the first one interesting enough. If Michael J. Fox hadn't been in the movie, I probably wouldn't have watched it at all.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

This is one of my all-time favorite movies about a trucker and his sidekick (or the son of a Chinese restaurant owner and his trucker sidekick) taking on an immortal Chinese guy and his proteges.

This movie has humor, action, and fantasy all rolled into one movie. You have to see it to believe it. The funniest part is that Jack Burton (played by Kurt Russell) always talks about himself in the third person, quote:

"Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says, 'Give me your best shot. I can take it.'"

The Lost Boys (1987)

This is one of the best horror comedies I have ever had the pleasure of watching. The tag line is: Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire.

After moving to a new town, two brothers are convinced that the area is frequented by vampires. They become involved with those vampires, as well as some vampire hunters.

The Frighteners (1996)

After a car accident which kills his wife, Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. This is a fun thriller, one of my favorites. Maybe I get a kick out of seeing him die two times in one film.

Contact (1997)

Based on a book by the late Carl Sagan (I think), this one is about a single person making contact with an advanced civilization. She worked for SETI. I don't know why I enjoyed watching this movie. Perhaps it's one of the few movies I've seen in which Jodie Foster actually played an interesting person.

Although contact was made, no one on Earth believes it besides the main character. That is, until the very end when two people involved in the inquiry discuss the missing time on the recording. This movie deserves a sequel as much as any other.

Pleasantville (1998)

Talk about an alternate reality! A teenager who like to watch vintage TV shows, along with his sister, get sucked up into his favorite show. During the course of the story, they alter the reality for the characters of the show.

While this is pure fantasy, many people believe that pictures (and TV is a collection of pictures) can capture the soul. If that was true, then this would be considered as supernatural as anything else.

The 10th Kingdom (2000)

A long miniseries, this was all about the stories of childhood coming to life in an alternate universe on the other side of a magical mirror. There was quite a bit of humor in this movie or I wouldn't have watched it past the first installment.

Twilight (2008) and New Moon (2009)

A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire. She then uses a werewolf friend to manipulate her vampire boyfriend. These are two chick flicks (more romance than action) that I actually enjoyed. There will be more to come in the "Twilight Saga", I just don't know when. I'm sure I'll watch those too.

That's All Folks

I could go on and on, but I don't want to write a book. There are many more where those came from and perhaps I'll visit the topic again in a future article (or perhaps not). Maybe I'll just add to this page as I see fit, what do you think?

• Video Games Turned Into Movies
• Movies with Religious Undertones or Overtones
• Cartoons Turned Into Movies
• Parody Movies (Spoofs) – The Good, The Halfway Decent and the Disasters
• Professional Wrestlers in the Movies