5 Best Space-Based Horror Films
Image Source: IGN
As we continue through the spooky season, it’s always a good reminder that in space, no one can hear you scream. Therefore, putting a horror movie in space is a great location and mood-setter. Two big things working for the space setting in horror are the vastness of space, meaning we have to stay in an isolated environment, and the fear of the unknown. Space is wide-open; you can’t just step out from the capsule and go for a stroll, so where you are, is where you stay. The isolation alone is maddening. There is no escaping into the outdoors or running off into the woods to hide from the killer; you are in there with nowhere seemingly to go.
Additionally, there is still so much we do not know about space that anyone or anything you encounter, you don’t know. Are they helpful? Are they hurtful? In a previous article, I talk about the lack of trips to space we seem to take now in the modern horror era. But what are some of our best ones over the years?
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We must set the ground rules to get how this list was made. The first rule, the movie has to be set in space. Films like The Thing, Predator, and Lifeforce don’t qualify. Secondly, the movie has to be horror-centric. Don’t get me wrong, Aliens is a great movie, but I classify it more as an action movie akin to Starship Troopers than a horror movie. Also, this list is provided without any particular ranking but simply a must-watch list in the space horror genre.
5. Alien (1979)
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Many movies from the 50s and 60s were set in space, but the focus was more on science fiction because the general public understood technology and the Cold War, so the fear of tech was more centralized on our planet. It wasn’t until this movie from director Ridley Scott and writer Dan O’Bannon that we genuinely understood how frightening a place space could become. The film focuses on a crew from the USS Nostromo, a salvage ship for the corporation Weyland-Yutani, who arrives on a planet to investigate a distress signal. Unfortunately, things happen during the salvage mission, and now the crew is fighting a mostly unseen force with an apparent thirst for blood. The movie is dark and atmospheric and, frankly, the blueprint for the rest of the movies on this list. It was the originator and shouldn’t be one to miss.
4. Screamers (1995)
Image Source: IMDB
Screamers starring Peter ‘Robocop’ Weller, written by Dan O’Bannon, is based on a short story by the grandad of sci-fi Philip K. Dick and directed by Christian Duguay. In this story, on a distant planet, Sirius 6B, two warring mining colonies are fighting over the planet. One warring faction created a set of robots called Autonomous Mobile Swords (AMS). At their inception, they were tiny robots burrowing underground; however, they have evolved to be more humanoid, and now Weller and his crew need to determine if the people they meet can be trusted because they are either fellow humans or the evolved AMS. It is a gritty story with elements of The Thing. While not received well at the release, it has gained quite a cult following.
3. Event Horizon (1997)
Image Source: IMDB
In 2047, the rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched to retrieve a long-lost ship, the Event Horizon. The ship was using an experimental warp drive that was taking explorers to Proxima Centauri, a distant solar system, but when the crew utilized the drive for the first time, it wasn’t the best idea. The movie, written by Phillip Eisner and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, is a cult classic and favorite for many horror fans and represents a perfect blend of the genres. The best comparison is Hellraiser in Space (but not THAT Hellraiser in space movie), and the film’s lasting legacy is that the movie’s original cut was more graphic and apparently much more frightening. Still, Paramount cut the movie so poorly that it lost audiences but gained popularity through video rentals and word of mouth. Unfortunately, due to poor film management, the original cut will never see the light, but this is what people want to see in their Sci-Fi/Horror.
2. Creature (1985)
Image Source: IMDB
Written and directed by William Malone, well-known in the horror business, Creature is about researchers who travel to Jupiter’s moon Titan to investigate a situation where people are dying. Upon arrival, an alien creature turns the facility into the undead. While not a direct rip-off of Alien, the movie holds many of the same tropes. The movie has excellent practical effects; in fact, the special effects team would go on to help James Cameron in Aliens. The film was released in 2021 with a director’s cut through Vinegar Syndrome.
1. Pandorum (2009)
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Directed by Christian Alvart and written by Travis Milloy, Pandorum is set aboard the Elysium, which was a space ark set to rescue people from Earth that is slowly dying due to overpopulation. Two crew members are awoken from hypersleep with amnesia and discover that while most of those on the ship are still in hypersleep, there appears to be an unknown force killing people off but is there something killing people, or could it be the hypersleep disease Pandorum which is causing things to not be what they seem.
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