The Best of 90s Cool - The Genre that Time Forgot

This video for me was a lifetime in the making. When I watched the “Blade” review by Redlettermedia, when Jay mentioned “90s cool” I had a lightbulb moment. There were so many of these movies that I grew up loving, that as Jay described it were all about “leather, sunglasses and techno”.

Digging deeper, I realized that while these films had so many unifying features, there was no genre to unify it. I mean, Blade and the Matrix are clearly so similar, but they’re not both “Cyberpunk” or “dark fantasy”. They’re something different.

I think “90s cool” as Jay called it is a perfect fit for this genre. It doesn’t mean they were released in the 90s. It’s moreso the version of “cool” that was created IN the 90s. I went back and made a list of every film I feel fits in this genre, and will present what I feel are the best movies it has to offer.

Tags

The One, The Punisher (2004), Existenz, XXX, Resident Evil, Vampires, Tomb Raider, Hackers, Romeo Must Die, The Craft, Kiss of the Dragon (2001), The Replacements, Returner (2002), SWAT, Swordfish, Final Fantasy 7, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, Enter the Matrix (the Matrix games), Devil May Cry, Headhunter, Riddick, Metal Gear Solid, bloodrayne, Dark City, Resident Evil, Deux Ex, Fight Club, Doom, Oni, Perfect Dark, Fear Effect, bloodrayne, Postal 2, Shadow Man, red steel, Beyond Good and Evil, WWF: No Mercy, Dead or Alive, stranglehold, The Matrix, Ghostrider, Daredevil 2003, Underworld, X-Men 2000, Blade, The Boondock Saints, Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, Pitch Black, Bulletproof Monk, Spawn 1997, Desperado, Kill Bill Vol 1, Tomorrow Never Dies, Mortal Kombat 1995, Hellboy 2004, Face/off, Blade 1997, The Crow, Highlander, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, I Robot, Constantine 2005, Equilibrium 2002, Ultraviolet,

[MAJR_TOM]

You can generally tell a blockbuster 90s movie apart because it's actually fun and maybe even good.

[ModeSOLOgaming]

Just a few months away from 40, and I gotta say, the 90s were so damn fun aesthetically and musically. Cinema, music, and games hasn't been the same since.

[matman]

One of my favorite things about 90's cool is how any movie made between 95 and 05, regardless of genre or budget, had to have a killer techno/nu metal track over the credits. So many new movies would really benefit from ending with Prodigy.

[grafnosferacula]

I never realised I based my entire personality on 90s cool movies

[Nersys]

You lost me at "Black trench-coat and techno aged horribly"

[ellpo]

"EDM" wasn't a term in the 90s. It was just called Dance Music, or referred to by its specific genre: Techno, House, Trance, etc

[LordVader]

Imagine thinking swords, black trench coats, and techno have aged terribly LMAO

Thanks for the vid showing why 90s cool is STILL COOL

[jonathansimoes]

"The secret to never look older is to never look younger" that sentence works in so many levels!!!

[cjfeather]

Compared to today’s standard the 90s rocked man 😂

[jorahkai]

These were obviously my formative years. I just watched the crow; matrix and Constantine again and realized I could watch those movies forever, whereas many new movies are instantly forgettable

[RealRoknRollr]

Dark City and The Matrix were both shot in Sydney, Australia. This is why you get the art deco along with sterile modernism that is in each of these 2 films. They both get differing but similar urban goth looks from same city. Dark Deco you might call it. Love the 90s, world cant handle cool anymore

[tannerg]

Every single one of these is epic in its own way but the crow has a special place in my heart.

[bdlwpzd]

Techno and black trench coat is making a big comeback

[stephenharris]

The opening scene of the first X-Men movie is still utterly the best character intro ever. Absolutely haunting.

[bigscott]

Funny thing this is my favorite era in movies. I practically have watched every movie you posted that's when I realized I'm really into this genre

[iceman]

I'm 37 and you may say I'm generationally-biased, but IMO this video proves that the 90's were the pinnacle of culture in many different expressions: from music to cinema, but also including comic, videogames or fashion. So glad to have lived these times!

[warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia]

One movie I'm surprised to not see on here is "Men In Black" (1997). It not only had a good amount of gun play, but had weird guns. Sure, the characters weren't leather-clad, but they were your prototypical wise-cracking buddy-cop duo of the time. It featured another theme from the 90s, the period-specific paranormal bent that was popularized X-files. This helped bring about a bunch of movies around that time also cashed in on: Signs (2002), Species (1995), Contact (1997), and Mars Attacks (1996) - a lot of movies focused on alien invasion/discovery dread, with most mixing in conspiracy and distrust of the government, which is often portrayed as impotent.

And, of course, no one can forget one of the 90s main anthems, Will Smith's pop rap banger "Men in Black", from the movie's soundtrack. All and all, this is probably the most "90s cool" movie of that paranormal crowd.

[adammocaby]

I just have to say Hackers should have been high in this list instead of an honorable mention. You cannot get more 90's or dated "coolness". Truly a great and fun video! Thank you!

[dabluflcn]

As a teenage boy when Boondock Saints came out I can confirm with authority that it is indeed what a teenage boy would think is the coolest thing ever. I think my group of friends and I watched that movie once a month at least.

[Bogweed]

I never linked the Brandon Lee ''Crow'' performance to Heath Ledger's Joker. But I think you're totally right. Awesome List, dude!