Movies with supended animation
This is part of a personal project I'm doing on SF films. I invite and encourage any suggestions as my knowledge is limited to what I have already listed. Anything before 1964 would be especially helpful. Thanks for checking out!
Alternate terminology: Cryosleep, hypersleep, cryogenic hybernation.
Alternate terminology: Cryosleep, hypersleep, cryogenic hybernation.
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- DirectorNathan JuranStarsEdward JuddMartha HyerLionel JeffriesWhen a spaceship lands on the moon, it is hailed as a new accomplishment, before it becomes clear that a Victorian party completed the journey in 1899, leading investigators to that mission's last survivor.The moon creatures called Selenites place themselves in a sort of hibernation state to preserve energy.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsCharlton HestonRoddy McDowallKim HunterAn astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.Co-written by Rod Serling, who had explored the use of suspended animation in his Twilight Zone series. This is one of the earliest movies to show astronauts in hypersleep during a long space voyage. Unfortunately one of the four astronauts does not make it when the chamber malfunctions. Like a similar TZ episode the consequence of a chamber that fails during hibernation can be gruesome.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Three astronauts are shown in a sort of frozen hibernation state aboard the Jupiter bound spaceship 'Discovery'. The hazards of suspended animation are shown again when a temperamental computer is given full control over the process.
- DirectorJohn Llewellyn MoxeyStarsAlex CordMariette HartleyTed CassidyA scientist who has been preserved in suspended animation wakes up to find himself in a primitive society in the future.One of the first movies to show someone in suspended animation who sleeps a bit longer than intended.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.The first of what would become a franchise of 'Alien' sequels all featuring suspended animation as a plot device to tie them together. This is also the first movie I know of that has a cat being put under.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.See also 'Alien', pretty much used as a plot device in the same way.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsSigourney WeaverCharles S. DuttonCharles DanceReturning from LV-426, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on the maximum-security prison Fiorina 161, where she discovers that she has unwittingly brought along an unwelcome visitor.Ripley and some companions are again found in suspended animation. Unfortunately there is yet another reminder of the grim consequences when the machinery goes bad.
- DirectorRobert FuestStarsVincent PriceRobert QuarryValli KempThe vengeful doctor rises again, seeking the Scrolls of Life in an attempt to resurrect his deceased wife.To make this sequel to 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' more technically plausible the narrator states that the fluids pumped into Dr. Phibes's body were preservatives meant to induce suspended animation, and were not embalming fluids as suggested in the first movie. Shows how a little revisionist writing can be used to bring a character back from the dead.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSam WorthingtonZoe SaldanaSigourney WeaverA paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.Hyper-sleep has pretty much become the plot device for traveling to other worlds. Any film that wants to be close to plausible stays away from things like warp drive or space folding. Besides, I think those are proprietary ideas, not quite in the public domain of distant space travel methods.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsNoomi RapaceLogan Marshall-GreenMichael FassbenderFollowing clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.The ships are getting slicker, but the travel time is still a pain. Sweet dreams, cryo-nauts.
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsRoy ScheiderJohn LithgowHelen MirrenA joint USA-Soviet expedition is sent to Jupiter to learn exactly what happened to the "Discovery" and its H.A.L. 9000 computer.A crew again sleeps through a voyage to Jupiter. Fortunately their sleep chambers are not controlled by a computer with issues.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.Han Solo is placed in a block of 'carbonite' which looks like one of the nastiest ways to be put out for awhile. The advantage is that you're easy to transport.
- DirectorMarco BrambillaStarsSylvester StalloneWesley SnipesSandra BullockA police officer is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent nemesis who is loose in a non-violent future society.Criminals in this near future film are put in cryogenic suspension for the duration of their sentences.
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsRadha MitchellCole HauserVin DieselA transport ship crashes and leaves its crew stranded on a desert planet inhabited by bloodthirsty creatures that come out during an eclipse.Another storyline about frozen criminals accidentally revived. But from the plot description it sounds like their enjoyment of freedom is short lived.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsMike MyersElizabeth HurleyMichael YorkA world-class playboy and part-time secret agent from the 1960s emerges after thirty years in a cryogenic state to battle with his nemesis Dr. Evil.A spy and his evil nemesis from the 60s are brought back to the 90s through two separate cryogenic freezing episodes. Myer's earthy sense of humor shows us what someone would probably really need to do after a really long sleep.
- DirectorMike JudgeStarsLuke WilsonMaya RudolphDax ShepardCorporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.Another suspended animation experiment that goes on much longer than intended. Similar to 'Sleeper' it is another satirical look at how things will probably get worse - as if it hasn't already.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsLaurence FishburneSam NeillKathleen QuinlanA rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.Vertical high-tech bathtubs serve as the suspended animation chambers. You can also dream while under, and unfortunately also have nightmares.
- DirectorSteve MinerStarsMel GibsonJamie Lee CurtisElijah WoodDuring a cryogenics test, a pilot frozen in 1939 awakes in 1992 but time is running out, as his body starts to age rapidly.A secret government project (aren't they all secret?) offers to place a test pilot in cryogenic freeze. Typical bureaucratic mix-ups have him sleeping a few years more than anticipated. There is also a new twist to the consequences of a long rest.
I'm guessing that maintaining a cryo chamber is one of the most boring jobs ever because in the movies they always end up abandoned and forgotten. - DirectorChristian AlvartStarsDennis QuaidBen FosterCam GigandetTwo crew members of a spaceship wake up from hypersleep to discover that all their colleagues are missing. Despite this, it appears that they are not alone.More hyper sleeping during a long space voyage.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonJohn BeckA nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.Woody's one SF film (unless you count Zelig or Midnight in Paris). Waking after 200 years the protagonist (Woody himself, of course) gets to satirize our current culture by showing where it is heading.
- DirectorKevin ConnorStarsMargaret ColinLila KayeConnie BoothSherlock Holmes is brought back to life by Watson's female descendant after being cryogenically frozen for eighty years.How do you get a beloved historic character to live again in contemporary times without the more implausible time travel device tropes? Just break out the cryogenic chamber. Apparently they've had the technology for years.
- DirectorJuliusz MachulskiStarsWieslaw MichnikowskiJerzy StuhrOlgierd LukaszewiczTwo scientists are placed into a 3-year hibernation, but when they wake up, it turns out to have been 50 years, and they are the only two males in a new underground society composed exclusively of women.It seems the future is always mixed up in some way, but if you're a randy male this future just might be worth being frozen for.
- DirectorIvan EnglerRalph EtterStarsAnna Katharina SchwabrohMartin RapoldRegula GrauwillerDr. Laura P. takes a job on a cargo spaceship for 4 years plus 4 years back. She'll join her sister on Rhea. 44 months later, in Laura's shift, strange things happen in cargo. The crew is reanimated and the captain dies mysteriously.Cargo spaceship crew gets to wake up periodically from their cryogenic sleep to take care of ship maintenance, and presumably to stretch a bit.
- DirectorJaco Van DormaelStarsJared LetoSarah PolleyDiane KrugerA boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsRobert LansingMariette HartleyEdward BinnsBefore leaving on a decades-long solo mission into deep space, astronaut Douglas Stansfield meets attractive Space Agency employee Sandra Horn, and they both fall deeply in love. But what kind of a future can there be for them?Though not a movie, this is one of the first uses of suspended animation for a long space voyage. It would be a technological template for all interplanetary sub-light travel movies.