The 10 Movies That Define The '90s
Being a film fan during the ‘90s was fantastic. From the rise of independent filmmakers, to massive sci-fi hits and hugely popular rom-coms, we had it all back then.
Whereas the modern movie landscape sees time and attention poured into blockbuster movies with a heavy onus on existing IP, the ‘90s seemingly had far more freedom. The decade had an overwhelming amount of originality and ingenuity in terms of story and effects; watching movies during the ‘90s was truly magical. But, with so many movies that captured the imagination, which ones best define the era?
James Cameron’s Titanic was the highest-grossing film, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense had the greatest twist, and Tom Hanks won back-to-back Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, and yet there are even more impeccable films to choose from. For those of you who have a ‘90s blindspot, here follows a selection of some of the decade's best offerings, all of which work as a perfect ‘90s starter-pack – and these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Although it was Reservoir Dogs that made audiences take notice of director Quentin Tarantino in 1992, it was his 1994 follow-up, Pulp Fiction, that best defines the ‘90s. Packed with stars like Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction told the interconnected stories of several characters of the crime world, and became an instant classic.
Watching Pulp Fiction is a rite of passage for film students, with Tarantino’s movie appearing on almost every film studies syllabus at some point. Student life in the ‘90s also dictated that all student housing had a Pulp Fiction poster somewhere in their accommodation. Nowadays, the film lives on in popular culture thanks to the iconic looks of Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega, who have inspired countless fancy dress costumes since the movie's release.
1999 was one of the most perfect years in movie history. So many movies released within that 12 month period have gone on to become stone cold classics (like Eyes Wide Shut, The Green Mile, and The Phantom Menace), but of them all, The Matrix shines brightest. Not only does the sci-fi action movie posit the idea that the world we are inhabiting is merely a simulation, and humans are battery packs for sentient machines, it also revolutionised action cinema.
Stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne spent months learning a variety of martial arts and wire-work so that their characters, Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus, could seemingly bend the laws of physics to do battle with the machine overlords. The Matrix gave cinema slow-mo ‘bullet time’ and jaw-dropping action set-pieces, while also diving into some deep existential philosophy to get the grey matter churning.
Throughout the ‘90s the rom-com reigned supreme. The decade is stuffed full of them, with Four Weddings and a Funeral often cited as one of the best. Set over the course of the five titular occasions, Four Weddings and a Funeral follows British bachelor Charles as he slowly falls for American love interest Carrie.
Full of decidedly British humour and a smattering of heartache-inducing romance, Four Weddings and a Funeral more than earns its status as a titan of its time and genre. One of the most successful British comedies of the era, the film also helped launch the career of Hugh Grant from familiar face to A-list staple.
After the boom of the horror movie during the ‘80s, the genre quickly fell into disrepute during the ‘90s. For the first half of the decade, horror films were overwhelmingly cheesy, often simply rinsing and repeating the films of the ‘80s with little original thought. Then, in 1996, came Wes Craven’s Scream.
A post-modern slasher that played with a knowing wink to its horror movie status; Scream proved that the genre wasn’t dead yet. Both frightening and funny, with a tonne of gore to boot, Scream became the gateway movie for a generation of horror fans, with the franchise still going strong seven movies in.
Before Pixar partnered with Disney and became a formidable animation house, they were an independent studio producing films that looked very different to the ruling Disney cartoons. Although 3D animation was still in its infancy, one film quickly won over audiences in the ‘90s, and that film was Toy Story.
Featuring Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the voice of main toy character, Woody the Cowboy, Toy Story captured the imagination of adults and children alike with its tale of a cluster of toys who came alive whenever their owner, Andy, wasn’t around. It’s packed with some of the most quoted lines of the decade, such as “to infinity and beyond”, and audiences were smitten. This love has continued through the merger of Disney and Pixar, with a fifth film in the franchise due out in 2026.
After transforming what a movie sequel could be with Aliens, in 1991 James Cameron did it again with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A sequel to his own The Terminator, Terminator 2 did the unexpected and made the villain of the first film – the killer T-800 cyborg – the hero.
Set in 1995, Terminator 2 saw John Connor become the target of a new liquid metal terminating machine, the T-1000. One of the best sequels in existence, Terminator 2 was also a pioneer of SFX, and it still holds up 35 years later. Cameron’s masterstroke also gets bonus ‘90s street cred for featuring Guns N’ Roses on the soundtrack.
While it might have needed subtitles for some, Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting was an integral part of UK pop culture during the ‘90s. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting told the story of a group of heroin addicts living in the slums of Edinburgh.
The film made a star of Ewan McGregor, the soundtrack was pure Britpop and techno, and the poster was another standard item of student residence decoration. An immediate hit, Trainspotting quickly entered the zeitgeist, and for some, it is most fondly remembered for its mention in one of several anti-piracy ads that used to haunt VHS tapes.
The ‘90s was a fantastic time to be working within independent cinema, with several of today’s best known directors all getting their big break with indie movies. Quentin Tarantino did it with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Robert Rodriguez did it with El Mariachi and Desperado, and Kevin Smith broke into the world with Clerks.
A black and white slacker dramedy, Clerks is set over the course of a day in the life of the clerks of Quick Stop Groceries. The film introduced not only Kevin Smith, but also the characters of Jay and Silent Bob, who instantly ascended to cult god status.
During the ‘80s, thanks to the work of John Hughes, the teen movie became exceptionally popular. This trend continued into the ‘90s and of all the high-school-set films released, Clueless totally screams the time in which it was created.
If you weren’t around during the ‘90s but want to get a glimpse into what teenagers were like, Clueless nails the aesthetic and vocabulary. A loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel ‘Emma’, Clueless follows Beverly Hills brat Cher as she navigates high-school, heartache, and being fabulously rich. It would be absolutely criminal to have a list about ‘90s cinema that doesn’t include Clueless.
In 1993, director Steven Spielberg did the impossible: he made audiences believe that dinosaurs could be real again in Jurassic Park. Based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park follows a group of experts as they visit a soon-to-be opened theme park where the star attractions are resurrected dinosaurs.
However, after a security snag and a tropical storm take out the power, the visitors find themselves in a fight for their lives against the newly regenerated prehistoric animals. One of the rare examples of a truly perfect movie, there was life before Jurassic Park, and then life after, with audiences all irrevocably changed after their first encounter with Spielberg’s masterpiece.
