Some of the most wonderful Hollywood film scores have come from sci-fi movies, helping to add an evocative flourish to the futuristic visuals, dynamic characters, and imaginative worldbuilding.
Iconic music composed for classics like the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” franchises, “Dune,” “Blade Runner,” “Alien,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is part of our collective experiences and seems inextricable from the iconic silver screen imagery.
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7. “The Matrix”
Composer: Don Davis | Release Year: 1999
An instantly recognizable score that plugs you into the surreal simulated reality of “The Matrix.”
With swelling brass accompaniments and a full orchestration complementing the sinister strings and memorable synthesizer themes sprinkled throughout, composer Don Davis created a sexy techno-classical score for The Wachowskis’ sci-fi magnum opus.
It’s old-fashioned and modern at the same time, enhancing the striking visuals and set pieces. A huge shout-out to Davis’s addictive scores to “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” too; that Chateau fight scene score is an absolute bop.
6. “Oblivion”
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Composers: Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese | Release Year: 2013
Before “Top Gun: Maverick” and “F1,” director Joseph Kosinski and Tom Cruise brought us this highly underrated (and slightly derivative) film that benefited greatly from a propulsive original score by French composer Anthony Gonzalez of M83 and musician Joseph Trapanese.
It’s a moody and majestic score, fusing electronic instruments with classical compositions to create something that bridges traditional action film scores with an edge of experimentalism.
Sure, the score does feel a little bit too similar to Hans Zimmer’s more high-profile work at times, but it’s a splendid effort regardless.
5. “Ash”
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Composer: Flying Lotus | Release Year: 2025
Composed by this grindhouse-style sci-fi flick’s director, Flying Lotus, this retro synthwave score will teleport you straight back to the awesome ‘80s and ‘90s.
Miraculously, the popular Grammy-winning DJ and musician holed up with his laptop computer and a MIDI controller in New Zealand to conjure up these nerve-jangling tracks to match up with and enhance his Lovecraftian horrors on a hostile remote exoplanet.
What he created was a psychedelic tapestry of eerie Carpenter-esque electronica that serves as a killer after-hours aural cocktail to sip and savor.
4. “Tron: Legacy”
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Composer: Daft Punk | Release Year: 2010
One of the truly great movie soundtracks of the last few decades, and one that’s on permanent rotation in my SUV’s CD platter.
The French electronic musical duo known as Daft Punk manifested an unreal synthesizer score that instantly plunges us into the digital realm of the sensational sequel to 1982’s “Tron.”
85-piece orchestral tracks arranged by Joseph Trapanese are paired with driving electronic pieces, thrusting you onto The Grid. Fifteen years later, it’s still unsurpassed for its cyberpunk originality and catchy riffs that energize and enlighten.
3. “Annihilation”
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Composers: Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury | Release Year: 2018
I wish I had better things to say about Alex Garland’s screen-uneven adaptation of the first book in author Jeff VanderMeer’s freaky sci-fi series, “The Southern Reach,” about a quarantined zone of the USA where alien biology has taken root.
Despite my feelings on the movie itself, the unsettling score is something else entirely and is a strangely evocative listen. Conceived by British musicians Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, who also did the music for Garland’s “Ex Machina,” the score employs a chilling blend of acoustic guitar, synthesizers, orchestra, and even a ’70s sound effects instrument called a waterphone.
Turn off the lights and surrender yourself to its haunting notes.
2. “Event Horizon”
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Composers: Michael Kamen and Orbital | Release Year: 1997
Techno meets classic orchestral passages in this hybrid sonic sensation for one of the best space horror movies of the decade, and perhaps even all-time!
Director Paul W.S. Anderson chose Hollywood veteran composer Michael Kamen, then paired him up with Orbital’s (Phil and Paul Hartnoll) grim-dark electronic apparitions. What emerged was an outstanding union of musical influences that act as two great tastes that taste great together!
“I felt like they elevated Kamen’s works and he kept them on track as far as what was required for a movie,” Anderson told Space in a 2022 interview for “Event Horizon’s” 25th anniversary.
1. “Blade Runner 2049”
Composers: Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch | Release Year: 2017
Threaded with those ethereal Vangelis themes created for 1982’s “Blade Runner,” Zimmer discovers a gritty dystopian vibe working in close collaboration with Englishman Benjamin Wallfisch.
Director Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Dune”) enlisted the pair of Zimmer and Wallfisch to construct tracks that would elevate his brilliant visuals and galvanize the somber tone embraced in Ridley Scott’s original masterwork.
Zimmer’s signature booming drums are juxtaposed with softer electronic interludes that, amazingly, dovetail perfectly into “Blade Runner’s” palpable melancholy emotion.
