16 Old Sci-Fi Movies of the 70s That Somehow Still Hold Up in 2024

It's wild; think about it, tech from back then was pretty basic – no CGI, no high-def graphics. Yet, these films? They sure did dare to dream big on what looks like shoestring budgets now.

1. Logan's Run (1976)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 58%

In a utopian future society where life must end at 30 to maintain population and resource balance, Logan 5, a "Sandman" tasked with terminating those who flee their fate, becomes a runner himself after questioning society's rules, embarking on a desperate quest for sanctuary and truth outside the domed city.

2. Silent Running (1972)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%

In a future where Earth's last remaining forests are preserved in domes aboard a spaceship, botanist Freeman Lowell rebels against orders to destroy the domes and kill the plant life, choosing instead to murder his crewmates and risk everything to save the greenery, with only the company of three small robots.

3. Soylent Green (1973)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%

In an overpopulated, polluted New York City of 2022, where the masses subsist on a mysterious food called Soylent Green, detective Frank Thorn uncovers a horrifying truth about its ingredients while investigating the murder of a Soylent Corporation executive.

4. Omega Man (1971)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 65%

Army doctor Robert Neville, immune to a global pandemic that has turned humanity into nocturnal, albino mutants, fights for survival in a desolate Los Angeles, searching for a cure while defending himself against the infected populace who despise his immunity.

5. At The Earth's Core (1976)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 33%

An iron mole drilling machine burrows its way to a prehistoric world at the center of the Earth, where a scientist and his companion find a tyrannical race of telepathic birds enslaving human-like creatures and must lead a rebellion to help the inhabitants and find a way back to the surface.

6. The Asphyx (1972)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

A Victorian scientist discovers the Asphyx, a spirit that appears at the moment of death, and devises a way to capture it to achieve immortality; his obsession leads to tragedy as he experiments on himself and his family, with dire consequences.

7. Rollerball (1975)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%

In a corporate-controlled future where all individual competition is eliminated, Jonathan E., the champion of the violent sport of Rollerball, is urged to retire but instead begins to question the dehumanizing system, leading to a deadly game designed to prove the futility of individual effort.

8. Westworld ( 1973)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

In a high-tech adult amusement park designed to fulfill guests' fantasies through lifelike robots in three different "worlds," a malfunction causes the robots to become deadly, focusing on two guests as they try to survive the relentless pursuit of a gunslinger android in Westworld.

9. Futureworld (1976)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 36%

Sequel to Westworld, survivors of the original park's disaster are invited to the newly reopened and supposedly safe Futureworld, only to discover a sinister plot by the corporation to replace world leaders with android duplicates, leading them on a fight to expose the truth.

10. THX 1138 (1971)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

In a sterile, dystopian future where emotions are suppressed by drugs and sex is forbidden, worker THX 1138's life turns chaotic when he stops taking his medication, leading to his arrest and a desperate escape attempt from a society that monitors and controls every aspect of its citizens' lives.

11. Damnation Alley (1977)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 45%

After a nuclear war devastates the Earth and tilts its axis, creating a radioactive world with mutated creatures, the survivors from a military installation in California set out in armored vehicles to find other survivors, navigating the treacherous "Damnation Alley" filled with dangers.

12. Starcrash (1978)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 33%

In a distant galaxy, smuggler Stella Star and her companion are recruited by the Emperor to find his missing son and stop the evil Count Zarth Arn from using his secret weapon to destroy the universe, leading them on a journey filled with battles, strange worlds, and unusual allies.

13. The Black Hole (1979)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 42%

A research spacecraft finds a missing ship commanded by a mysterious scientist on the edge of a black hole; as they investigate, the crew uncovers the scientist's mad plan to enter the black hole, facing off against a menacing robot army and the ship's sinister intentions.

14. Dark Star (1974)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%

The crew of the spaceship Dark Star, on a 20-year mission to destroy unstable planets to make space safe for colonization, deal with the monotony of space travel, a sentient bomb that malfunctions, and alien encounters, all while questioning their purpose and sanity.

15. The Car (1977)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 30%

A mysterious, driverless black car terrorizes the residents of a small desert town, killing anyone in its path; the local sheriff and his team must find a way to stop the seemingly indestructible vehicle before it claims more victims.

16. Death Race 2000 (1975)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

In a dystopian future America, a violent, televised cross-country race requires contestants to score points not just for speed but for killing pedestrians; Frankenstein, the mysterious reigning champion, competes against ruthless adversaries, uncovering a plot that could change the fate of the race and the nation.