On paper, it might seem as though the science fiction and horror genres are too different to work well together. But sci-fi's love of spectacle and horror's focus on building suspense often results in compelling movies that are full of intriguing concepts and engrossing atmospheres.
It’s a tough line to walk, but there are plenty of great sci-fi horror movies. From the crew of the Nostromo battling against a xenomorph to a found-footage flick about a kaiju attack, the best sci-fi horror movies incorporate a number of subgenres into their stories, making for some of the most inventive and original films ever made.
Updated on October 19th, 2021 by Mark Birrell: The best sci-fi horror movies aren't necessarily the most expensive ones or the most well-known. As times and attitudes change, so too does the impact of the social commentary seen in either genre. Naturally, new modern classics emerge while other older films can be cemented as having timeless qualities even if they were poorly received upon release.
Upgrade (2018)
• Available on Fubo TV
Before putting his own spin on The Invisible Man, writer and director Leigh Whannell stepped from the world of horror into science-fiction for a gleefully gory revenge story about a man who gives control of his body over to an advanced AI program that can turn him into an unstoppable killing machine.
Upgrade doesn't skimp on the graphic kills throughout but the horror of the movie is mostly found in the story, perfectly intermingled with some classically frightening sci-fi concepts about technology's role in the loss of free will, the illusion of control, and the human desire to run from culpability.
Cube (1997)
• Available on Pluto TV, IMDb TV, and Fubo TV
Though it ostensibly appears to be a body horror movie based around characters being horribly killed by the sadistic traps in a highly advanced maze, Cube is a movie predominantly driven forward by its conversations and its dissection of various attitudes and personality types within society.
The characters of the movie each wake up inside a giant structure of interconnected hollow metal cubes with no understanding of how or why they're there. Their arguments, as they attempt to figure out what's happening and how they can escape, delve into ideas as broad and complex as purpose, morality, and the psychology of authoritarianism.
Coherence (2013)
• Available on Tubi, Pluto TV, and Crackle
Dinner parties make great settings for horror movies as it's a potentially uncomfortable situation that just about everybody has some experience with, bringing together an ideally interesting group of people with interpersonal dynamics that can shoot off in all kinds of directions. Coherence takes this idea to its apex through the application of a simple science-fiction concept that has labyrinthian implications.
The group of friends that comes together for a simple dinner party in the movie does so on the eve of a comet's ing and they quickly discover that it has caused a bizarre event in space and time. The movie's theme of indecision, and how it affects possibilities, is played out in a disturbing diorama of a group of encroaching-middle-age intellectuals dealing with their past mistakes and regrets when alternate versions of themselves are all thrust together into the same reality.
Predator (1987)
• Available on Peacock
Though veritably dripping in machismo action, Predator is a much smarter science-fiction movie than it's given credit for and has some similarly underrated stalking horror amongst the bloodier moments.
The impotence of the muscle-bound supersoldier squad against the alien hunting them in the movie reflected the tone of many post-Vietnam War films featuring military-like characters and the final design of the alien itself evoked classic science-fiction concepts like H.G. Welles' use of technology in War of the Worlds, flipping the tables on characters who were used to being the most advanced predators in their ecosystem.
Prometheus (2012)
• Available on Peacock and Prime Video
What is effectively a prequel story to Ridley Scott's iconic sci-fi horror movie Prometheus incorporates more directly philosophical or religious ideas, like the relationship between creator and creation as well as humanity's insatiable hunger for answers and meaning.
There's plenty of disturbing alien designs and body horror in the film but its real horror comes from its true monster, the murderously Machiavellian robot butler, David. The simmering evil lurking beneath the refined mannerisms of Michael Fassbender's performance makes the character a true horror movie villain in the same vein as Universal's classic monsters, like Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster, rolled into one.
Pitch Black (2000)
• Available on Showtime
Vin Diesel’s most popular franchise will likely always be the Riddick franchise also holds a special place in sci-fi fans' hearts thanks in large part to the enduring qualities of the first installment in the series of movies.
Director David Twohy’s Pitch Black focuses on a space crew getting stranded on a planet where bloodthirsty creatures come out at night, and a month-long eclipse is about to take place. With limited weapons and light sources, the crew is forced to rely on Diesel's dangerous outlaw character, Richard B. Riddick, and his augmented eyes that allow him to see in the dark, making for a smart survival horror situation that spawned a lastingly popular cult sci-fi antihero.
Slither (2006)
• Available on Peacock
Before Slither, an underrated monster movie about an alien parasite invading a small town.
Slither acts brilliantly as a spiritual successor to Fred Dekker’s classic B-movie spoof Night of the Creeps, with copious humor and body horror throughout as the space slugs take over people's bodies and mutate them into hideous monstrosities. It may not be the most thought-provoking horror movie or science-fiction story but it fearlessly taps into the funniest and grossest parts of both genres.
The Fly (1986)
• Available on Fubo TV
Body horror pioneer David Cronenberg created one of the subgenre’s finest works with The Fly, the story of a scientist whose teleportation experiment transforms him into a human-fly hybrid. Jeff Goldblum is compelling in the lead role, while Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis’ makeup effects are delightfully disgusting.
Ultimately, The Fly is a tragedy. The film was loosely adapted from a 1957 short story by George Langelaan, but its cautions about the dangers of playing God can be traced back to the themes explored in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Frankenstein (1931)
• Available for purchase on Prime Video
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is widely regarded to be the first science fiction story ever written, while James Whale’s film adaptation was one of the first horror movies ever made. It’s tough for the first of something to hold up after the decades of derivative knockoffs that follow. But 1931’s Frankenstein still stands as a sci-fi horror classic.
From Boris Karloff playing The Monster as a Miltonian tragic figure to terrifying moments that censors tried to cut, Frankenstein is a cinematic masterpiece.
Scanners (1981)
• Available on HBO Max
Scanners is most renowned for the iconic scene in which a man’s head is blown up by a telepath but that’s just the tip of the iceberg; the movie has so much more to offer in not just its outstanding practical effects, including an all-time great movie villain performance by Michael Ironside as Daryll Revok.
The story of an evil corporation targeting mind-readers and one roguish mind-reader fighting back is one of the most riveting in the history of blending sci-fi and horror.
