The Best Science Fiction Horror Movies
From dangerous alien invaders to warnings from beyond the reaches of space, sci-fi horror movies will always have something to teach us. The genres often cross over to either scare us of the unknown, warn us of where humanity is headed, or inspire us to do better as a species. We’ve searched across cinema for some of the very best films and curated them here for you.
It’s quite often different film genres blend and when they do it can produce some of the most unique and powerful stories. Science fiction and horror may seem at odds tonally; one about societal advancement and one about the plight of people, but when they come together it’s harmonious. From Alien to Get Out, these are the thirty best sci-fi horror movies! If we miss any of your favorites, let us know on social media. Enjoy!
Alien (1979)
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Rating: R
Alien is directed by Ridley Scott, written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. The first Alien film does a perfect job at keeping the audience in line with a human protagonist.
In our first introduction of the Xenomorph the audience is unclear how this monster works, what it wants, and why is it after our main character. Alien is on this list of best sci-fi horror movies because it embodies the pure nature of scientific exploration while giving us a pulp novel-like monster but with a terrifying new twist!
Aliens (1986)
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Rating: R
Aliens is directed by James Cameron and was written by Cameron, David Giler, and Walter Hill. The film also stars Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, and Carrie Henn. Aliens takes place fifty-seven years after the first Xenomorph attack aboard the Nostromo. It’s revealed Ripley survived and awakens from hyper-sleep. She attempts to warn anyone who will listen about the acidic abominations.
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Rating: G
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 film directed by Byron Haskin. It stars Gene Berry and Ann Robinson. The film is an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel of the same name. After a meteorite lands on Earth, a murderous alien invasion begins. Humanity’s only hope is a group of scientists studying the alien forces to find their ultimate weakness.
The original War of the Worlds‘ film adaptation is perhaps sci-fi horror at its purest form. It’s pulpy, action-packed, vibrant, and has just overall electric energy. Sure big talk right? If it’s any marker of quality, the film recently entered the Criterion Collection which is a distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring, and distributing “important classic and contemporary films.” War of the Worlds is a must-watch picture.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Runtime: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Rating: G
The Day the Earth Stood Still is directed by Robert Wise and written by Edmund H. North along with Harry Bates. The film stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, and Hugh Marlowe. The film follows an alien who lands dead center in Washington, D.C. The alien begins to warn the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. Things take a turn for the worst when the alien’s message is taken as a threat of violence.
One of the first American science fiction works to hold people accountable for their actions rather than making a monster the antagonist. The film was made during the height of the red scare as well which put several of those involved with the production in danger of being blacklisted.
The Thing (1982)
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Rating: R
The Thing is directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster and John W. Campbell Jr. The film stars Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, and Keith David. John Carpenter’s The Thing is an updated adaptation of the short story ‘Who Goes There?‘ by John W. Campbell.
The Thing creeps, crawls, and screams with sci-fi horror goodness. The Thing itself is an unknowable monster that audiences have never seen before. The isolation of the research base leads to our main characters acting out of paranoia, mistrust of your fellow man, and it all crashes down into pure insanity.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Runtime: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction horror movie directed by Don Siegel. It is based on a novel of the same name by Jack Finney. The film stars Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynt, and Larry Gates. It was produced by Walter Wanger Productions.
The film takes place in San Francisco as it becomes the new home for alien seeds and pod-people. I mean Silicon Valley is filled with enough pod-people am I right? Rather than hell-bent on stealing our data, these aliens are beginning to take over the bodies of the living. How do humans survive with this invading horror?
Possessor (2020)
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Rating: R
Possessor is directed and written by Brandon Cronenberg. The sci-fi horror film stars Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, and Jennifer Jason Leign. The film follows a special agent working for an organization that uses brain-implant technology to possess other people’s bodies – ultimately driving them to commit assassinations for high-paying mysterious clients.
Possessor is a very human story surrounding violence, sex, and empathy. What Brandon does so well in Possessor is negate the physical form and instead focus on the small details that make us truly human.
RELATED: Possessor (2020) – Death Of The Self
The Invisible Man (1933)
Runtime: 1 hour, 11 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
The Invisible Man is directed by James Whale and written by H.G. Wells, R.C. Sherriff, and Preston Sturges. The film stars Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, and William Harrigan. The Universal Monster classic follows a mad scientist who discovers a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he falls further and further into his insanity.
The Invisible Man as mentioned prior is a staple in the Universal Monster catalog. The effects were far beyond their time as well. This 1933 black and white film still holds up to modern standards, even in regard to its dark humor.
Annihilation (2018)
Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Rating: R
Annihilation is directed by Alex Garland and written by Garland as well as Jeff Vandermeer. The film stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tessa Thompson. The film follows a biologist who signs up for a mysterious and treacherous expedition into a mysterious quarantined zone. There the laws of nature are mutated. Alex Garland’s film adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer sci-fi novel is a true spectacle in its own regard.
The blend of pure science fiction and horror stems from the ‘Shimmer’ itself and how it’s an unexplained force. The Shimmer is mutating anything it touches, turning even the most precious of fauna into something otherworldly. What Annihilation does is take the old theme of man versus nature and flip it on itself. This is one killer plant movie that should be on your watch list.
Frankenstein (1931)
Runtime: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Frankenstein is directed by James Whale, written by John L. Balderston, Mary Shelley, and Peggy Webling. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, and Boris Karloff. The film follows Dr. Frankenstein who dares to tamper with the seam between life and death by creating a human monster out of severed body parts.
Based on the Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein is the king of sci-fi horror. Period. It’s the ultimate movie monster and perhaps the most visually iconic. The creature’s story is known by nearly everyone and is recreated year after year. There is no other work of sci-fi horror quite like Universal’s Frankenstein!
Gojira (1954)
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Gojira is a giant monster movie from 1954. It was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film was distributed by Toho. This is an absolutely essential giant monster movie, the kaiju film gave the world the pop culture icon we have today. Not only is the monster movie a master craft of the genre but it’s a brilliant example of Japanese cinema.
Released less than ten years after the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Gojira was Japan’s emotional response to the horrors of nuclear war. The character of Godzilla himself is a metaphor for the atomic bomb. The film understands the human suffering the Japanese people endured and as a piece of art it still holds up.
RELATED: The Best Godzilla Movies For Newcomers
Sputnik (2020)
Runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Sputnik is directed by Egor Abramenko, written by Oleg Malovichko and Andrey Zolotarev. The film stars Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, and Pyotr Fyodorov. The film follows the lone survivor of a strange spaceship incident but they haven’t returned home alone. This Russian horror film is one of the most underrated pictures of 2020.
Sputnik‘s setting is period-appropriate, the special effects for the alien are scarily well done, and the tension throughout is palpable. This film feels like The Day The Earth Stood Still but if the humans were right all along. If you have not seen Sputnik yet, it makes a phenomenal movie night watch if you’re looking for something truly scary.
Cube (1997)
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Rating: R
Cube is directed by Vincenzo Natali and written by Andre Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, and Graeme Manson. The film stars Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, and David Hewlett. Cube follows strangers with widely conflicting personalities who are involuntarily placed in an endless maze containing deadly traps.
Shot in twenty days, Cube the indie Canadian sci-fi horror film inspired the likes of Saw and Escape Room. There are not many films that combine the use of mathematics and horror. An odd statement I know but it’s true. What’s so brilliant about the film is its use of space, the tension between characters, and how applied mathematics is there only chance of escaping.
Coherence (2013)
Runtime: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Coherence is directed by James Ward Byrkit and written by Byrkit as well as Alex Manugian. The film stars Emily Baldonia, Maury Sterling, and Nicholas Brendon. The film follows a group of friends who gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead. So what right? The film is probably one of the best independent sci-fi horror films ever made. The budget for Coherence was only that of $50,000, which by Hollywood standards is not much. Regardless, the story of Coherence is what really sells the film.
So at this dinner party between friends, the power goes out and one of the people goes to a neighboring house to see how they still have power and perhaps place a call. When he arrives though, the people inside are exact doppelgangers of the friend group. I’ll leave you with that, now go watch this movie!
The Fly (1986)
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rating: R
The Fly is directed by David Cronenberg and written by Cronenberg as well as Charles Edward Pogue. The film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and John Getz. The Fly follows a brilliant but odd scientist who begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
The Fly is the ultimate science experiment gone horribly horribly wrong. The lead actors steal the show away and when everything turns bad, you genuinely feel for these people. It’s a great application of practical effect work and it’ll make you probably not want to eat for a solid week. My favorite line of the film by far is from Seth who says:
“I’m saying… I’m saying I – I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over… and the insect is awake.”
Scanners (1981)
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Rating: R
If it wasn’t obvious yet, you’re going to be seeing Cronenberg’s name a lot on this list. Scanners is directed by David Cronenberg and written by Jennifer O’Neil, Stephen Lack, and Patrick McGoohan. The film follows a scientist who trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called “scanning”, to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non-scanners. We could say a lot about this movie, but just know… it’ll blow your mind.
Mimic (1997)
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rating: R
Mimic is directed by the monster man himself Guillermo del Toro and written by Donald A. Wollheim, Matthew Robbins, and del Toro. The film stars Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin. Mimic follows an entomologist named Dr. Susan Tyler who genetically creates an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the bugs are out to destroy their only predator, mankind!
Event Horizon (1997)
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
Rating: R
Event Horizon follows a rescue crew investigating a spaceship that disappeared somehow into a black hole. Suddenly the once missing ship has returned…with someone or something new on-board. Event Horizon is pure sci-fi horror at its most perfect state. The film is directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neil, and Kathleen Quinlan.
Under the Skin (2013)
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rating: R
Directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Walter Cambell, Michel Faber, and Jonathan Glazer. The film stars Scarlett, Jeremy McWilliams, Lysney Taylor Mackay. A24‘s Under the Skin follows a mysterious young woman who seduces lonely men in the evening hours. She slowly begins to process some sort of self-discovery. Known for their distribution of slow-burn art house cinema, this A24 sci-fi horror film is an underrated cult classic.
Cloverfield (2008)
Runtime: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Rating: R
Cloverfield is directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard. The film stars Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, and Lizzy Caplan. The film follows a group of friends who have to traverse the streets of New York on a rescue mission as a giant monster attacks the city. Cloverfield has been subbed as one of the greatest found-footage horror movies of all time, and for good reason.
Mysterious alien attacks? Check. Panicky human characters? Check. Cloverfield is one of the best contemporary sci-fi horror movies to date. The characters may make poor choices at times and seem slightly disengaged, the atmosphere of the sci-fi horror film could be cut with a knife. It also features two of the most memorable scenes in giant monster movie history: the Statue of Liberty’s head flying between New York streets and the underground tunnel attack.
The Terminator (1984)
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Rating: R
This sci-fi horror needs no introduction but for the uninitiated, The Terminator is directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, and William Wisher. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn. The Terminator follows a human soldier from the year 2029 who is sent back to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year. The machine has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity’s future salvation. When Terminator first debuted it wasn’t the explosive action franchise it is now.
The series took old school sci-fi pulp novel ideas and form-fitted them in black leather jackets, cyborgs, and hand cannons. Don’t be confused, the first iteration of The Terminator franchise was pure sci-fi horror.
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
Runtime: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Rating: R
From the director of Mandy, Beyond the Black Rainbow stars Eva Bourne, Michael J. Rogers, Scott Hylands. The film follows a young woman under heavy sedation who is trying to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasi-futuristic commune. If you thought Mandy was an acid trip, you have not seen Panos Cosmatos’ feature film. The sci-fi horror of the film derives from the MK-Ultra-like experiments and the vibrant droning drug trip that Beyond the Black Rainbow is.
Videodrome (1983)
Runtime: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Rating: R
Videodrome is directed and written by David Cronenberg. The film stars James Woods, Debbie Harry, and Sonja Smits. The film follows a television programmer at a local station that specializes in adult entertainment who is searching for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast. Videodrome (next to The Fly) is probably the most famous of Cronenberg’s films among movie fans. It’s bizarre and gross in all the best ways a sci-fi horror film could be. Next time you watch Videodrome get the booze ready and take a shot every time someone says “flesh”.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Runtime: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
The Bride of Frankenstein is directed by James Whale and written by William Hurlbut and John L. Balderston. The film stars Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, and Colin Clive. The film follows the return of Victor Frankenstein as he’s persuaded by an even crazier scientist to build his creature a bride! The Bride of Frankenstein is the greatest horror movie sequel ever made. It’s a worthy successor to a legendary sci-fi horror film.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Runtime: 1 hour, 7 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is directed and written by Shin’ya Tsukamoto. The film stars Tomoro Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, and Nobu Kanaoka. The film follows a businessman who accidentally kills ‘The Metal Fetishist’. The man gets his revenge upon his killer by slowly turning him into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal. The Japanese body horror film is a brutal meditation on the future of man and what it means to be human. Think a more brutal Videodrome.
Get Out (2017)
Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rating: R
Get Out is written and directed by Jordan Peele. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, and Bradley Whitford. The film follows a young Black man visiting his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, he slowly becomes uneasy about the family’s reception of him which eventually reaches a terrifying boiling point.
The Girl With All the Gifts (2016)
Runtime: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rating: R
Directed by Colm McCarthy, The Girl with All the Gifts excellently explores a post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world and who the true monsters are. To survive in this world, horrific things need to be done. What The Girl With All The Gifts brings to the sci-fi horror conversation is the positioning of conflict, not as a battle of morality between the remaining humans and monsters but instead as an evolutionary struggle that the humans are losing.
Hollow Man (2000)
Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Rating: R
Hollow Man is directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Gary Scott Thompson and Andrew W. Marlowe. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue, and Josh Brolin. Hollow Man as a film makes my blood itch. It’s an uncomfortable movie to watch is what I’m trying to say. Directed by science fiction film legend Paul Verhoeven, the film asks what if we give those desperate for power ultimate anonymity. It’s not the most original concept but putting it in reference to modern-day internet culture it becomes scarily realistic.
The film follows a brilliant scientist’s discovery that renders him invisible, this act though transforms him into an omnipotent, dangerous megalomaniac. The film is a rocky spiritual successor to the original Invisible Man, but hey if you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe you can see the universe’s greatest warrior (Kevin Bacon) fighting Thanos (Josh Brolin). The only difference is you’ll be rooting for Brolin.
Ex Machina (2014)
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rating: R
Ex Machina is written and directed by Alex Garland. The film stars Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, and Oscar Isaac. The film follows an ambitious young programmer who is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I. The film on its surface boils down to a modern age ‘Turing Test’ but as it goes on, it reveals itself to be something much sinister. This A24 sci-fi horror film may center around one location but it makes the most of its limited locations with a phenomenal story and brilliant performances.
Re-Animator (1985)
Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Re-Animator is directed by Stuart Gordon and is written by Dennis Paoli and William Norris. The film stars Jeffery Combs, Bruce Abbott, and Barbara Crampton. The film begins after a strange new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local, and his girlfriend becomes involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Re-Animator was the first team-up between Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs, this adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft short story, Herbert West Re-Animator, was also the first Lovecraft adaptation directed by Gordon. Jeffery Combs’ performance as the titular mad scientist is one of the greatest villains ever put to celluloid and anchors the craziness of what is on screen perfectly. If you want to see a sci-fi horror with plenty of 80s goodness, Re-Animator is the film for you.
What Are Your Favorite Sci-Fi Horror Movies?
We hope you enjoyed PHASR‘s list of the best sci-fi horror movies. Did we miss any of your favorites? Or maybe you discovered some new films to put on your watchlist? Either way, let us know on social media!
