5 Best Sam Neill Movies That Aren't Jurassic Park

The world has lost a truly great actor. Best known for playing Alan Grant in "Jurassic Park," Sam Neill has died at the age of 78. Neill was a steadily working actor for decades dating back to the 1970s, but he fully began to break out in the '80s thanks to his roles in movies like "Dead Calm." Of course, he cemented his place in cinema history by portraying Dr. Grant in Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking 1993 blockbuster, and he reprised the role several times in the ensuing years.

However, Neill's career was long and fruitful, and he had many great movies under his belt that didn't have the word "Jurassic" in the title. For instance, he played a pivotal role in 1990's "The Hunt for Red October" (one of the greatest movies ever made about the Cold War), and he also had a key role in the Oscar-winning drama "The Piano." But Neill's impressive list of credits didn't die off, as he worked steadily right up until his passing.

In the 2000s and 2010s, he racked up credits in movies such as "The Hunter" and even made a rather memorable cameo in Marvel's "Thor: Ragnarok." The actor's talents were varied and his resume vast, spanning over 150 credits across more than 50 years. As a tribute to his decades of memorable work in cinema, we're going to highlight some of Sam Neill's very best movies beyond "Jurassic Park." Let's get into it.

Sam Neill is a great good guy in movies. He's arguably one of the all-time great good guys in "Jurassic Park." He's easy to root for. But one thing Neill didn't get quite enough credit for was his ability to play a real dirt bag bad guy, and one of the very best, unsung examples of his work in this area came in 2009's criminally underseen "Daybreakers."

Directed by the Spierig Brothers, the movie takes place in the year 2019 after a plague has transformed almost all humans into vampires. With the blood supply dwindling, the fractured dominant race plots their survival. Neill plays Charles Bromley, the cutthroat head of the largest provider of blood in the U.S. It's a role that wholly allows him to chew the scenery alongside other A-class actors like Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe.

"Daybreakers" offers up an ambitious vision of a vampiric future, cementing itself as wholly unique in and amongst other vampire movies. Part of the reason it works so well is that the film's actors takes it seriously and don't treat it as lesser-than. Neill understands the assignment, bringing gravitas and, at times, big time cheese, and he has a blast on screen. It's one of those roles that proves he really did improve everything he touched.

There was never, ever a situation where a movie suffered as a result of Neill's presence. Quite the opposite. Even in this elevated B-movie, which could have just been a paycheck job for a working actor, Neill brought his A game. That's just who he was. (Ryan Scott)

Sam Neill didn't get enough credit for being a scream king in his day. Indeed, he was part of several great horror movies (elevating the material in each and every one of them), and that includes director Paul W.S. Anderson's "Event Horizon." One of the best and scariest sci-fi horror movies ever made yet unappreciated in its time, this 1997 flick has truly earned its place within the canon of the genre nearly 30 years later. Rest assured, Neill's contributions are a big reason for that.

Set in the year 2047, the movie follows a group of astronauts as they venture far away from Earth to investigate and salvage the Event Horizon, a starship that mysteriously vanished seven years earlier during its maiden voyage. Once there, however, the crew quickly realizes that something sinister has happened. Spoiler alert: Those aboard the Event Horizon literally opened a portal to Hell in space.

Part of what makes this movie sing is that it boasts a genuinely fantastic cast, with the likes of Laurence Fishburne ("Boyz n the Hood"), Jason Isaacs ("DragonHeart"), and Joely Richardson ("101 Dalmations") also on board. But Neill really gets to chew the scenery as Weir, the Event Horizon's designer, as his character succumbs to the whims of Hell and goes from being the voice of reason to the villain of the piece before all's said and done.

It's an over-the-top performance, with Neill fully committing every step of the way. He's even decked out in horrific makeup at one point, and it makes for several wholly unforgettable moments. In the hands of a lesser actor, "Event Horizon" could have been too cheesy for its own good. But with Neill at the center of the chaos, it's earned its place as a true cult favorite. (Ryan Scott)

Taika Waititi's "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is arguably his greatest achievement to date. It's a delightful comedy with a perfect balance of emotion and humor, yet it's also a movie that touches on some rather dark and tragic material without ever letting go of its bright, optimistic tone. The film wouldn't work if it wasn't for its cast, which is led by Sam Neill as the grumpy, older Hector and Julian Dennison as Ricky Baker, the youthful, trouble-making foster kid who comes into his care. Together, they make for an incredible unlikely duo that grows to become a real family willing to do anything for one another.

Neill does some of the best work of his career as Hector, his performance balancing unspeakable grief, anger, and a slowly budding sense of joy and hope as he comes to know and care about Ricky. Hector is a stoic, proud man who is dead-set in his ways, and while he could've easily made for an unlikable character in the early going, Neill makes sure to infuse his role with warmth from the very start. The man may not be immediately open to Ricky, but he clearly and deeply loves his wife (who initially takes Ricky is), and he's even clever and quite funny in his own way. Watching Hector as he opens up over the course of "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is a true joy, and the film at large is a wholly heartwarming and hilarious romp that's made all the better by Sam Neill's irresistible charm. (Rafael Motamayor)

In 1992, John Carpenter and Sam Neill worked together on "Memoirs of an Invisible Man," a rather lousy Chevy Chase comedy notable for its special effects, Carpenter's dislike of the project, and little else. Something good came out of the film, though: Carpenter and Neill would work together again on 1994's "In the Mouth of Madness," arguably the last great film Carpenter made. A Lovecraftian pastiche about a horror novelist whose work brings about the end of the world, Neill is in nearly every single scene of the film as John Trent, a no-nonsense insurance investigator.

Neill plays Trent as a chain-smoking skeptic who refuses to believe in the supernatural, even when witnessing it with his own eyes. The late actor always had a great everyman quality to him, and Carpenter is able to use that to full advantage here. Trent's skepticism never seems stubborn or foolish. Instead, thanks to Neill's committed, believable performance, we can sense it for what it really is: fear.

Trent knows that if he gives in and admits that horror novelist Sutter Cane's work is turning people into slimy monsters and bringing about the apocalypse, reality will collapse in on itself, and he'll be doomed for good. Which he does in the film's now-iconic final scene, where Trent wanders into an empty movie theater and watches the movie we just watched, laughing hysterically until his laughter starts to sound like unimaginable pain. (Chris Evangelista)

As riveting as Sam Neill is as a husband who allows jealousy and insecurity to drive him to commit heinous acts in "The Piano," Holly Hunter and a very young Anna Paquin are the real stars of Jane Campion's acclaimed 1993 period piece. (Hence, they each took home an Oscar for their efforts). No, if you really want to watch Neill excel in the role of a guy whose carnal desires and sense of entitlement lead to him wreaking havoc on a loved one, you need to go back further to filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski's utterly bizarro 1981 cult classic flick "Possession."

The movie that first established Neill as a proper force of nature in the horror genre (apologies to "Omen III: The Final Conflict"), "Possession" casts the actor as Mark, a Cold War era spy who reunites with his family in West Berlin only to find that his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), wants a divorce. Now, Adjani's performance in Żuławski's film is rightly the stuff of legend, be it her disturbing physical work in the iconic moment where Anna has a miscarriage or the wild-eyed terror that informs her turn in general. But Neill is just as captivating in his own way as Mark, and he goes to some distressingly dark places as his character grows increasingly toxic and abusive (both emotionally and physically) towards Anna, even as the movie around him flies off the rails entirely into what-the-hell-is-even-happening territory.

It's well known that Żuławski took inspiration from his real-life divorce while making "Possession," and he found the perfect actor to depict his stand-in with Neill. If you want to see the beloved "Jurassic Park" star break bad in an all-too-human way, this one is a must-watch. (Sandy Schaefer)