Movies About Cryonics To Watch In Winter
Winter has arrived with its long and cold nights. Perfect for staying in with a wool blanket, a nice movie and some homemade cookies. In case you’re looking for something to watch, we’ve prepared a list of 6 must-see films. Each, in its own way, is about cryonics (aka biostasis). But remember not to take them as scientific evidence, they are just fiction 😉
Sleeper (1973)
Only a couple of years after The Prospect of Immortality was published, the book at the heart of cryonics, Woody Allen directed “Sleeper”, a science fiction comedy. The main character Miles Monroe, played by Woody Allen, is cryogenically frozen by mistake and defrosted after 200 years. The two scientists that wake him up illegally in 2173 are part of an underground group of rebels. They are fighting against a police state that took control after a massive nuclear destruction and want to use Miles as a spy, since he doesn’t have a biometric identity. The movie is hilarious. It is highly regarded as one of the movies with the best banana-skin joke in the history of cinema.
Iceman (1984)
“Iceman” is a sci-fi drama, directed in the US in 1984. On an Arctic expedition, the anthropologist Stanley Shephard (Timothy Hutton) discovers “Charlie”, a Neanderthal man. Charlie has been naturally cryopreserved for 40,000 years and, once thawed, comes back to life.
Fun fact: a frozen man from the Neolithic era was actually found 7 years after the movie came out in the Ötztal Alps bordering Austria and Italy. His body was mummified, not cryopreserved. He was named Ötzi the Iceman and lived between 5000 and 6000 years ago.
Demolition Man (1993)
One of the reasons behind cryonics’ reputation is the fact that it has been used (often incorrectly) in several famous movies. The most famous is surely “Demolition man”. If you have never watched this classic, now it’s time to do it!
It’s 2032 and Los Angeles is now a pacifist utopia called San Angeles, where crime doesn’t exist anymore. Criminals from the past are kept in a Cryo-Penitentiary, where their brain is rewired while they are kept in cryogenic sleep. When one of the thawed criminals manages to escape, police are incapable of facing such a problem. They therefore decide to revive John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), a police officer called “demolition man” because of the destruction he causes while carrying out his work.
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Another movie that made cryonics famous is “Vanilla Sky”, a science fiction psychological thriller. David Aames (Tom Cruise) is a self-indulgent and vain owner of a publishing company, living like a playboy in Manhattan. Everything goes to hell after he’s involved in a car accident, caused by an angry and betrayed lover. Since we don’t want to spoil anything, we won’t say more. Watch this movie and find out for yourself what the connection with cryonics is!
We Will Live Again (2013)
“We Will Live Again’’ is a short 13 minute documentary. It follows Cryonics Institute’s CEO Ben Best and Andy Zawacki while they take care of their patient number 100. Compared to the other movies in this list, this is the only one that portrays cryonics in a realistic way. Yet, it was filmed almost 10 years ago and technology has been improving since then. Starring in this short movie is also the “father of cryonics”, Robert Ettinger, who died shortly after and is now cryopreserved at Cryonics Institute.
Passengers (2016)
How could we not suggest a movie that talks about cryogenic sleep for space travel? “Passengers” is a US science fiction romance film entirely set on a spaceship traveling through space, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. About 5,000 colonists and 258 crew members are kept in cryonics pods while traveling on a 120-year journey from Earth to the planet Homestead II. After just 30 years, a collision with an asteroid damages the spaceship and awakens one of the crew members by mistake. What will he do for 90 years alone, surrounded by so many possible companions in cryogenic sleep?
Conclusion
Cryonics is a very interesting topic and its possibilities are infinite. While currently its main goal is to potentially save lives in the future, by treating diseases that are incurable today, the technology could have more uses in the future. As we can see in the movies above, cryonics could become some sort of punishment for criminals. Or allow us to travel from one planet to the other! But keep in mind that what we see in the movies is fiction, not reality.
For now, we can’t predict if cryogenic sleep will ever be used for space travel. But we know for sure that, the more people join our community, the faster we will see results!
