The Best Low Budget Sci-Fi & Horror Flicks That Don’t Feature Cars!

When I wrote movie reviews for my college newspaper I opined on a wide spectrum of genres, but what I fell in love with was low-budget sci-fi & horror. Especially the clever ones with crafty editing/filming that did a lot with a little. During my formative years pics that fit the bill were ones like “Galaxy of Terror” (1982), “Night of the Comet” (1985), “Near Dark” (1987) and “Evil Dead 2” (1987), and due to it touring college campuses: “Phase IV” (1974).

Even as I moved thru my now 20+ year career in making urban transportation film shorts (some guy just called me the “OG Urbanist Youtuber”) I’ve continued my preference for lower budget movies. Some of my favs include: “Primer” (2004), “Timecrimes” (2007), “Pontypool” (2008), “Monsters” (2010), “Another Earth” (2011) and “Attack the Block” (2011).

Now I add a new wrinkle I think you’ll like: a list of those featuring little to no car use in them. With plots driven by characters walking, taking transit, sitting in public space or bicycling - with no dumb car chases or extremely limited car footage. Now this list may not be the top of the mountain of filmmaking, but they range from very good to great. And I didn’t “cheat”, meaning I didn’t select films with a remote setting where it would be impossible to see or use a car, like deep in a forest or in a caveman epic. I hope you enjoy!

Slash/Back (2022): Intuit gals ride bikes and kick alien ass near the Arctic circle

Here’s a charmer of a film at the top of my fav “discoveries” of last five years. It’s an obvious homage to John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982) from first-time feature director Nyla Innuksuk and she really has fun with it. These fearless gals use bikes, boats and feet to make their way in pursuit of an investigation to try and determine what is happening to the people in their icy hamlet.

“Slash/Back” has a nucleus of tough gals all who were all amateurs cast from the tiny city of Pangnirtung near the arctic circle coached by the director!

Diverge (2017): A NYC time twister with great performances on a micro-budget

This one starts out grim. A dystopian future where a ragged man traverses a frozen body of water. As the skyline of NYC comes into view we are thrust backward and suddenly we’re in what looks like (mostly) Manhattan. I don’t want to spoil much of what happens (it reminds me somewhat of “Primer”) but minus a quick suburban trip as a passenger in a car our protagonist rides the subways often and walks about desolate areas of D.U,M.B.O. It’s proof you don’t need a lot of money to pull of a very good sci-fi thriller. And a pleasure to watch a film feel intimate and quiet in a city like NYC.

I Origins (2014): Do the eyes hold a key to reincarnation?

Another NYC film (set mostly in Queens) with an unusual sci-fi exploration of eye patterns as relates to the soul and reincarnation. Our main character rides numerous subway trains, walks often including a journey over the Manhattan Bridge ped path and under the 7 train trestle in Woodside, also jumps on a city bus with his girlfriend and spends the final half hour of the film walking all over the streets of India in search of a girl who could validate his hypothesis! Really good stuff. Great performances. Fascinating science hypothesis.

The Innocents (2022): A batch of Nordic kids develop supernatural powers

A family moves to a new apartment and their two kids (one with nonverbal autism) discover other playmates in their complex are developing supernatural powers. This one is absolutely chilling, and it gets violent, though it’s also a “quiet” movie. The young kid actors are mesmerizing, just perfect.

I love films shot in the Nordic countries. I think I really have seen every Netfilx series or movie located there. “The Innocents” might seem a little unbelievable to American audiences because the youngsters get tremendous autonomy and freedom from their parents and disappear for long stretches. But it’s cultural it’s just how they’re raised in these countries.

Come True (2020): Sarah bikes everywhere in this thriller as she searches for the meaning her complex dreams

This Canadian indie thriller pulls off a tight thriller with its reported 5-person crew! In “Come True” our main character is a teenage runaway who has reoccurring nightmares and enrolls in a university sleep study that offers her money (and luckily also a place to sleep). As her dreams get increasingly weird and threatening she rolls towards the discovery of why she’s having them. It’ll keep you guessing right to the ending which has multiple interpretations and many people celebrate it while others feel it’s a cheat but I relish it, and I’ve never seen a conculsion quite like it. And big ups from this fan boy for the soundtrack from Electric Youth and Pilotpriest, what a team up!!

A shot of actress Julia Sarah-Stone on her bike. how she gets around for the entire film. There’s one brief car scene as a friend at the institute tries to find her but the rest is all her on bike and no cars!

Turbo Kid (2015): It’s Mad Max on bikes!

Like the review reads on the front of the DVD cover it’s “Mad Max on a BMX”, and that’s all that needs to be said. The film pokes fun at apocalyptic films but is colorful, quirky, odd and it’s fun. Is it “good”? Well it depends on your definition but I enjoyed it. There are plenty of two-wheeled battles between the main protagonists and our heroes who are young adults. Parts of it shot in Montreal. Of course, this is not James Cameron filmmaking, just fun. AND NO CARS!

Thelma (2017): Car-free Norwegian university student with psychokentic power

And now back to another Nordic film, as “Thelma” is set in one of my favorite places Oslo, Norway. She has grown up in an ultra religious family but when she embarks to attend college she discovers she has seziures and later when her attraction grows to another female classmate her condition evolves into dangerous psychokinetic powers. It’s another quiet, slow-burn modest budgeted film - ones I think the Nordic countries excel in when it comes to thriller-horrors.

The college setting obviously means the students mostly walk around or lounge around in public spaces which makes for the rare non-car film.

Under Paris (2024): You won’t see one car being driven in the entire film!

A slight cheat as “Under Paris” is by no means low-budget, but at a modest $20 million is not very expensive at all. This film has a large shark swimming around the Seine chomping on people and causing bloody mayhem with the backdrop of a triathlon about to start. It’s well-made

But even cooler is there’s not a single car in the entire film which is wild cause Paris is a major f-ing city! Most people get around walking, swimming and often using boats on the Seine. One main character tracks the shark with her computer while riding a bike along the river bank in the very spot where the pedestrianized Paris Plages happens! Perhaps all of this is purposeful as a nod that Paris Mayor Anne-Hidalgo has created a people-first city. Or maybe it is just cheaper not to have to shut down streets to film complicated car journeys. I loved it all!

Creep Box (2025): Another film from NYC with a city basically empty of vehicles!

Creep Box takes place in NYC, but for budget and simplicity, all scenes outside on streets were shot from above with the main character walking. There are shots of city skyline from within office windows, but that’s it. No taxis. No cars. No hustle and bustle. Once when our main character opts for the subway, they simply show him existing from the Park Place South stop. On micro budgets why even bother getting permits to just shoot a shot on a subway car? Simply save the cash.

Let’s get to the story which seems like it was perfectly timed for the new A.I. world. There’s a company which has developed a wild tech that allows loved ones to have final conversation with the recently deceased via a “simulated” creepy box. And most of these conversations do not go well. It’s a taught, grim movie with zero comic relief. And also zero car scenes.

Attachment (2022): A couple deals with supernatural but with not having to drive!

Two women fall in love when they have a chance, humorous meet up. one a struggllng out of work actress from Denmark, the other a visiting Jewish student from London who breaks her leg while having an odd seizure. She decides to return to home and asks her love to accompany her after their short, whirlwind romance. What she hasn’t mentioned is her mom is mega over-protective, annoying and rooted in Jewish folklore.

Another low-budget success. There’s not many outdoor scenes at all, but journeys from home happen via feet.

So there you go! Ten movies I like/love that are mostly sans cars. No car chases. No violence. I hope you enjoy, I added up the Rotten Tomatoes score for them and the average is 83%. Want more? Hit me up at clarence@streetfilms.org