Skip to main content

15 Free Book-Based SFF Movies Leaving Soon

A flying saucer beams down light from underneath itself.
Credit: Pixabay

With production companies such as Paramount and Disney hoarding their properties under their own paid streaming services, it can be tough to watch our favourite sci fi, fantasy and horror films. You may not want to pay several bucks a month for a streaming service just to see one or two movies that you like while you might care less about the others. But still, there are a lot of good flicks online that you can watch for free! And you don’t have to go to a pirate site to see them. The only payment required is the endurance of the commercials like with broadcast television. However, unlike broadcast commercial television, many of these films are uncensored and so play like they did when they were in theatres. 

Tubi is the video streaming service that has one of the best variety of movies of this sort, including science fiction and fantasy ones based on books. But also like broadcast television, they don’t stay available forever to watch. With the exception of a “Leaving Soon” category, Tubi doesn’t tell you when they’ll stop streaming these movies. That's why yours truly put together a list of science fiction/fantasy book-based flicks that, as of this writing, are streaming on Tubi now but will be going off the site soon. A couple of these have been reviewed here at the Fantastic Site in the Book-To-Movie series. I've linked those movies' titles  to the reviews so you can check out their details. Some of the other movies on the list I've seen but have not yet done a Book-To-Movie for them. I'll tell you which ones those are when you get to them down the list. The movies are not listed in any particular order. 


A Tyrannosaurus rex steps out from a rectangular portal toward a young woman.
Credit: Pixabay

15 Sci-fi/Fantasy Movies Leaving Tubi Soon

1. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961, Vincent Price) 

2. The Hound of the Baskervilles, (1959, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee):  As you'll see in the Book-To-Movie for this one, it was already on Tubi's Leaving Soon back in June. If you haven't seen this one yet and want to for free, I strongly suggest to make it a top priority on your To-Watch list!

3. Moby Dick (1956): I've seen this one and it was really good. It’s not sci fi or fantasy but a sci fi/fantasy writer wrote the screenplay for it--Ray Bradbury! 

4. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

6. The Thing (2011): This is, said to be, the prequel to John Carpenter's 1981 movie of the same name. I think this is the only movie I know of of all movie prequels and sequels that uses the same name as its original. (That is, original in a given series of movies. The original one was actually the 1950s version, "The Thing from Another World".)

7. Carrie (1976): This is one that I've seen once too many years ago to remember the details. I would really like to read the book by Steven King and watch the movie again to do a Book-To-Movie on the two.

8. Carrie 2: The Rage (1998): This one I haven't seen nor am I sure if I'll ever bother. It doesn’t seem much more than a rehash of the first movie.

9. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009): I saw this one more than five years ago and read the YA book it's based on. Maybe I'll read it and watch the film again and do a Book-To-Movie on them, if I can ever get a hold of a copy of the book.

10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): It's not as good as the 1950s original but comes very close. Leonard Nimoy ("Star Trek") is super at playing his part in this. 

11. The Raven (1963, Vincent Price): This one is good and creepily funny. That's all I'm saying for now because there may be a Book-To-Movie on it coming soon! 

12. The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977): I also saw this one and liked it.

13. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1988): This is neither of the two that I reviewed in a Book-To-Movie back in May of 2020.  I have not seen this version. 

14. Buried Alive (1990): Based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Premature Burial”. Like “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, this is not one that I reviewed in a past Book-To-Movie and neither have I seen it.

15. Dracula (1931, Spanish)


With all the holiday shopping and other busy activities that comes at this time of the year, I know it will be next to impossible for many of us to watch all these before they leave Tubi. So, the best thing to do is pick and choose which ones most appeal to you and watch them in that order. Just a suggestion. 


Coming Soon (but Not to Tubi)

The December/Holiday issue of my author newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call", is on its way. I just have a few more pieces to write and revise and then it should be out by the end of the upcoming week. If you haven't subscribed to my newsletter then you can do so here. "Night Creatures' Call" features updates and behind-the-scenes of my latest projects, such as my short story collection "Bad Apps". It also offers discounts on books and even free short stories! So sign up now so you can receive the holiday issue! 

Beginning this Friday, December 17th, my books will be discounted as part of Smashwords’ End of Year Sale! So you’ll have another outlet to shop thrifty for those holiday gifts!

Also coming soon: because the fourth Saturday of the month falls on Christmas Day, this month’s Book-To-Movie review will be next Saturday, and so one week early. So be here for that! 


Have you seen any of the above movies or read the books they’re based on? Which ones do you plan on watching/reading?

Until next time . . .


Comments

  1. I'll have to check out Tubi.
    What did you think of the most recent The Island of Dr. Moreau?
    Mostly offline until next year, so Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've heard about it but I haven't seen the most recent Dr. Moreau movie yet. I'll have to check that one out. Yes, Merry Christmas and we'll talk to you in the new year!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today.  I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic Bri

Book-To-Movie: ‘I Am Legend’

A vampire similar to the ones in 2008's "I Am Legend" which starred Will Smith. Credit: Pixabay.com It’s time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, I review a book and its movie adaptations. This month’s book and its movies based on it is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. While vampires were no longer in in the American pop culture of the the 1950s, science fiction horror in general was. So Matheson’s I Am Legend brought the scientificising of vampires into the pulp literary scene of that era. Not too long after, in the early ‘60s, the first of three book-to-movie adaptions appeared and was renamed The Last Man On Earth which starred Vincent Price. The other two were The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in the ‘70s and I Am Legend starring Will Smith in the 2001s. Even though each one debunked the myth of the vampire as a supernatural being, each had its own depiction of the creature. ‘I Am Legend’, The Book Set in a near post-apocalyptic fu

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least