One of the best genres out there, sci-fi horror has birthed some of the greatest and most terrifying films to ever hit the screen, including classics like The Thing and Alien and even more modern films like Prometheus and The Mist.
It is a genre that combines the fear of the unknown, eldritch beings, and vicious aliens with the ideas of space travel, futuristic tech, and worlds that don’t have much love for their occupants.
So, without further ado, here is a list of the best sci-fi horror movies and why you should watch them!
The Thing (1982)
First up on the list is the 1982 classic The Thing, one of the greatest sci-fi films. Directed by John Carpenter, this film stars Kurt Russel, Keith David, and A. Wilford Brimle.
The Thing tells the story of a spaceship discovered in Antarctica by a team of Norwegian scientists who are then killed by “The Thing.”
A team of American scientists come along and unwittingly bring The Thing back with them, which results in some of the most brutal but effective body horror ever to hit the big screen.
As the story progresses, this strange creature from outer space takes on the appearance of multiple of the team members, leading to paranoia and mistrust ensuing amongst the characters.
Why You Should Watch It
The Thing is one of the best horror films ever created and still holds up incredibly well today.
It tells an intense and gripping story that deals with paranoia in a way not often seen in horror movies anymore.
The characters have no idea who is or isn’t infected, and everyone could be the creature pretending to be their friend.
Plus, it doesn’t have a happy ending, which is typical for John Carpenter films.
He is a phenomenal director and has given us some of the best films ever.
This is a film that will leave you feeling grossed out, maybe a little paranoid, but ultimately impressed with the practical effects and the story that is told.
The Mist (2007)
Next on this list is the 2007 film adaptation of Steven King’s hit thriller The Mist, one of the greatest films in the science fiction genre.
The general plot of this film is that a father and his son, along with other people, get stuck inside a grocery store as a strange thick fog, filled with unspeakable eldritch horrors, rolls over the entire town.
At first, just general terror is instilled in the folks trapped.
Still, as some of their numbers get picked off, true terror and paranoia begin to spread throughout the group, leading to the father teaming up with several other group members to get his son out of the whole mess safely.
Why You Should Watch It
The Mist is a truly terrifying experience to watch, combining eldritch horror, body horror, and the fear of the unknown to craft a story that will leave you shaking in your boots.
Eldritch horror is not easy to do in films, and many movies before and after The Mist have failed to craft a horror as creepy properly.
It is a longer film, but every moment is worth it, with the slow burn first half leading into a fast-paced second half that will have you holding your breath as you wait to see if the father, his son, and their little group will make it out alive.
Don’t expect a happy ending because this film is based on a Steven King book, and happy endings do not exist here.
Godzilla (1954)
By far one of the most famous sci-fi franchises of all time, the Godzilla franchise began back in 1954, with the very first film being released less than two decades after the horrific bombings by the USA on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As a film, it was meant to capture the nuclear horror of those bombings, hence why Godzilla’s main weapon is the atomic breath.
It represents the destruction that was wrought upon Japan and the pain and trauma its citizens were trying to process.
While that is what it started as the Godzilla franchise has developed into one of the greatest monster horrors ever to exist.
Why You Should Watch It
You are missing out if you haven’t seen the original 1954 Godzilla monster movie or any dozen-plus films that came after it.
These films have an unfortunate backstory and feature one of the coolest monsters ever on the big screen.
While the first film may not have the greatest special effects and is not the scariest, it still boasts impressive practical effects.
It tells a story that deeply touches the soul, especially when you know what Godzilla represents.
So, if you are looking for a movie that instantly turns you into a fan, you must try Godzilla and its sequels.
Cube (1997)
What could be better than watching a film where a group of people is thrown together in an ever-shifting cube filled with deadly traps where the slightest misstep will result in their death?
If that sounds like your type of movie, you’ll enjoy the 1997 Cube, which Vincenzo Natali directed and Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, and David Hewlett starred in. In this movie, the main characters have lost their memory and find themselves in a cube-shaped room, which connects to several more cube-shaped rooms.
Each room has a puzzle above the door to help the players determine whether it is safe, and unsafe rooms are filled with some of the most inventive traps in the horror genre.
Why You Should Watch It
It is hard to beat the original Cube film when it comes to puzzle-themed sci-fi horror.
The traps are just so creative in their function and have been a basis on which many other similarly themed films have been based.
It is unique and fun to watch in terms of storyline, so long as you only watch the original film.
After the first one, the films fall very flat and don’t have the same nitty-gritty and intense feeling.
Each character feels distinct and alive with personality, and it is easy to root for them as they solve problem after problem.
It’s an exciting film with a fun concept and believable characters that make the world feel real.
Prometheus (2013)
Next up on the list is the 2013 sci-fi horror film Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, which is a prequel to the first Alien film.
It deviated from the style that Scott had used in his previous films and ended up being controversial amongst fans, bringing in nearly as many new fans as it alienated.
This was primarily due to it being a much crazier film, featuring perhaps one of the most iconic spaceship styles of all time: a giant donut.
That is right, the spaceship in this film is a rolling circle, and honestly, it makes very little sense but is still cool to see in action.
As for the film’s plot, Prometheus follows a group of astronauts and scientists looking for humanity’s origins on a distant planet, but instead, they find nothing but horrors and death.
Why You Should Watch It
If you are looking for a film that expands upon the lore of the Alien franchise, or you really enjoyed Alien and want more from Ridley Scott, you will probably not like this movie.
It makes some weird narrative decisions that can confuse things, so it won’t be an enjoyable watch if you are a lore enthusiast.
However, if you put that aside and take the goofy and out-of-this-world insanity throughout the story for what it is.
This is a fantastic film because the characters are likable, the story is primarily cohesive, and the special effects look great and are used effectively.
Plus, the movie is by Ridley Scott, and while he may not have put his best foot forward with this film, as a director, he is still one of the greatest sci-fi directors of all time.
Cloverfield (2008)
Found footage has been a popular horror subgenre for the last two decades, blowing up in the last five years, especially with indie creations.
While it arguably started with the 1999 Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield was another major player in the found-footage genre, introducing the medium to sci-fi.
In this film, an unknown monster known only as the Cloverfield Monster begins to attack New York, where our main characters, a group of friends, are enjoying themselves at a going-away party.
However, the good times would not last as the monster begins to wreak havoc on the city, causing untold damage and death, all captured by one of the friends on a video camera.
It is an intense monster film, and even 16 years later, it is still one of the best found-footage films ever created.
Why You Should Watch It
Directed by Matt Reeves and produced by JJ Abrams, Cloverfield is a must-watch for all sci-fi and found-footage horror fans.
The story is told so well, the actors play their parts perfectly, it doesn’t rely on jump scares to terrify you, and it feels like something you would watch on your local news as you look in horror.
The monster is also among the coolest monsters ever to cross the big screen.
For the brief moments that we see the living creature, it is a terrifying, massive beast capable of causing earthquakes and tsunamis as it stomps through the waters surrounding New York.
However, if you enjoy your films to have a happy ending, you won’t find that here, but even though it may be a gutwrenching ending, it is so worth it.
If you enjoy Cloverfield, you should check out Cloverfield Paradox and Cloverfield Lane, both spiritual successors to the 2008 Cloverfield.
Alien (1979)
One of the best sci-fi movies of all time, Alien, was directed by Ridley Scott and starred Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerrit, and Veronica Cartwright.
The general plot of this film is that a crew of astronauts aboard a spaceship named the Nostromo, after beginning a rescue mission in response to a distress call they receive, are forced to battle an unknown yet powerful creature that begins to hunt them down individually.
During this time, we get one of the most well-known scenes in sci-fi, the fist of an alien parasite punching out of a crew member of the Nostromo’s chest after he incubated the egg of the Xenomorph with his own body.
It is terrifying, and the effects are so well done that it is still considered one of the best uses of practical effects in a sci-fi film.
Why You Should Watch It
Regarding space horror movies, few are more worth watching than the 1979 classic Alien.
It is a film brimming with story and frights and tells a tale of humanity’s darkest fears.
What if human beings weren’t alone in the universe, and what if whatever else enjoys hunting us for food?
The actors portray the fear and horror that most of us would likely feel in this situation if it occurred in real life, and it feels genuinely real, which is why it so quickly became a cult classic after it was released.
Between that, the amazing practical effects, and the story’s intensity, this is one of the best sci-fi films ever and is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys the genre.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Next, we have the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, released in 1956, and Jeff Goldblum stars in it alongside Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams.
It is a film that focuses on instilling a sense of paranoia and fear in the main characters and the viewers themselves, and it does this extremely well.
In this movie, a small town is attacked by an alien invasion of malicious shape-shifters who slowly replace the townspeople. This causes the main characters to become ever more paranoid as everyone around them is slowly replaced with a race of human-eating aliens.
Why You Should Watch It
If you love your movies to make you distrust everyone around you, then you will love Invasion of the Body Snatchers because it is quite literally paranoia incarnate.
Even though it is a classic movie released in the late 50s, it utilizes practical visual effects and the fear of the unknown in ways that not many other movies can do.
You should not expect to walk away from this movie the same as before you watched it, and if you suffer from paranoia already, you should stay away from this movie.
Otherwise, you need to watch it because the story, characters, and effects are out of this world (just like the alien invaders).
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
The Cabin in the Woods takes a new approach to the genre and introduces us to a comedic and heart-wrenching story with a cast of characters that are impossible not to love.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connoly, and Fran Kanz, the film was directed by Drew Goddard.
It starts with the usual group of main characters in every horror film going to a cabin in the middle of the woods, but that is where the stereotypes end.
Instead of a psychopathic serial killer attacking them, the main characters are subjected to various horrors by a family of resurrected zombies in the name of preventing the world apocalypse.
Why You Should Watch It
The Cabin in the Woods is one of the best films to ever exist in the sci-fi genre, with a unique spin on the tropes seen in horror movies to create a film that simultaneously feels different and the same.
It has a story that draws you in, and just when you think you have it figured out, it throws in a twist, making you doubt your understanding of the horror genre.
While at its heart, it is a comedic film, you should not come into this expecting a happy ending because you will not find this here, but if anything, that just makes this movie even more worth a watch.
It has a way of making you fall in love with even the douches of characters, and you’re left wondering who is truly in the right in this scenario, as one group is some college-aged students who were unknowingly chosen to hold back the apocalypse, while the other group is trying to prevent the apocalypse.
The film has no black and white but explores the huge gray area in between, making it an amazing film.
World War Z (2013)
One of the most famous zombie films of all time, World War Z stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and Daniella Kertesz in a world infected with a virus that turns the infected into speedy, somewhat intelligent, and terrifying zombies capable of getting past any obstacle.
This is where the scene of zombies piling over each other to clamber over the walls of a city comes from, and if that isn’t terrifying, then I don’t know what is.
As a story, it is mediocre, honestly, but what saves it is the actors’ performances and the zombies themselves.
It is an intense sci-fi horror that will make you question whether you want the zombie apocalypse ever to occur.
Why You Should Watch It
The main reason you should watch World War Z is because it is simply an impressive zombie film.
From the special and practical effects to how the actors show the raw emotion that would come with such a terrifying event, it does a great job of immersing you.
As I said, the story is nothing special, but it has a cool ending that is far more unique than 90% of zombie films.
So, if you are looking for a movie with a gut-wrenching story, this is not the movie for you, but if you love overpowered zombies, you’ll want to give this movie a watch.
The Fly (1986)
Do you love body horror?
Do you love movies that make you wonder what you just watched and cause visceral reactions as your mind and body try to make sense of the horrors you witnessed?
If that sounds like you, you must give The Fly a watch.
Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and Joy Boushel, this movie combines body horror with sci-fi horror. It creates a terrifying love child that can turn even the strongest stomach.
The story follows Seth Brundle as he attempts to discover teleportation, only to be turned into a strange fly-human hybrid.
Why You Should Watch It
There are endless reasons to watch The Fly, with one of the main ones being how effective the body horror is and how practical effects are used to make everything feel far more real than special effects ever could.
The story is also poignant and raises questions about how far we should push science and at what point we must realize that the benefits may not outweigh the downsides.
While Brundle’s transformation may have been unintentional, it still brings to mind the statement, “We never asked ourselves if we should, only if we could.”
Whether you feel touched, disgusted, horrified, or saddened by this story, you will love it, so if you haven’t already seen this masterpiece, what are you waiting for? Give it a watch!
Conclusion
Sci-fi horror invokes strong feelings in many people because it shows a darker potential for humanity’s future and can make one question the truth in some cases.
It causes you to think, and while that is never bad, sometimes thinking can send people down fascinating and disturbing rabbit holes.
If you enjoyed this article, check out the Best Russian Sci-Fi Films (And Why You Should Watch Them) for some great underrated and foreign sci-fi films!