Monsters, aliens, time travel and scientific gadgetry have long been trademarks of the science fiction genre during the course of the last two hundred years or so. While science fiction literature have a long history reaching back to the ancient times, sf films are more current for they only began to take shape on the silver screen around the turn of the century. A key period and milestone in its development, namely the long 1950s, will be in the foreground of this paper where the potential power of science fiction film, as one of the most successful means of social criticism, will be proved. The main hypothesis of this paper is that science-fiction films of the long 1950s carried deep social commentaries in themselves by touching upon all aspects of the American society. Therefore, science fiction is the only genre capable of a meaningful social criticism. I will provide historical and theoretical background as well as some film analyses in order to prove my point, thus giving the reader a chance to observe and witness the essence, purpose, and methods of social criticism in science fiction films.