October may be the time when everyone is looking for great horror movies to watch as Halloween creeps ever closer and the crisp autumn air makes the leaves fall. One of the great things about horror, though, is how malleable it is with other genres in the big picture. Films like Shaun of the Dead are clearly defined horror comedies, while the Brendan Fraser reboot of The Mummy proves that horror action is clearly a thing as well. The best combo for horror movies that may exist, though, is horror and science fiction. Not only does this lead to some galaxy-brained ideas, but they go to some extreme places traditional sci-fi won’t tread.
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The good news for science fiction fans is that there are plenty of examples from the genre that intersect with horror in a big way, giving you plenty to watch on Halloween. Now we can’t promise that some of these won’t absolutely terrify you in the same way as a proper horror film, but these science fiction movies very much belong in that genre, even if they overlap with horror in big ways.
4) Chopping Mall
The title might have you thinking that this is a slasher movie, and that was the intention, but Chopping Mall is absolutely a sci-fi horror movie, as its primary killers aren’t an undead zombie with a hockey mask and a machete, but instead malfunctioning security robots. Now, to be frank, you’re not getting a smart take on the sci-fi genre with this one, but a pure grade B movie that knows exactly what it is and isn’t aiming for anything above that.
Now, despite this perhaps making the movie sound like something worth skipping, Chopping Mall is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish and sitting at a brisk 76 minutes long, that’s saying something. Sci-fi fans will almost certainly fall in love with the killer robots that are found in the film, not only do they have a compelling design but a hilarious way of speaking, both of which give them a unique place in the history of movie robots. It also helps that they have no qualms about killing annoying human characters, something sci-fi and horror fans can both get behind.
3) The Fly
David Cronenberg’s remake of the 1950s classic may very well be one of the best examples of body horror ever produced, but at its very core are science fiction concepts that any genre nerd should be eager to see explored. Yes, The Fly may very well be one of the grossest movies ever made, but it satisfies major science fiction curiosities all the way through.
Not only does it engage with its teleportation technology in a fully realistic manner, but its characterizations of Jeff Goldblum’s Seth Brundel are well in line with a scientific perspective. At the end of the day, even though it’s a movie about a messed-up mutant guy that becomes half-man and half-fly, the film treats its science fiction ideas completely seriously and uses that as a springboard to terrify the audience.
2) The Mist
The big piece of The Mist that clearly makes it sci-fi, or at the very least straddles the line between the genre and horror, comes from the horrifying monsters that make their way out of the mist and attack the cast. These monsters belong to the sci-fi genre because of their bizarre natures, but also how they interact with humans. From giant tentacles that reach in and rip people apart to spiders that lay their eggs inside human stomachs, and giant flies with scorpion tails that make their victims swell to abnormal sizes, The Mist‘s monsters would fit in well with almost any other science-fiction creature.
This 2007 Stephen King movie may not seem like it has a science fiction core, but the plot of the film is quite literally that the monsters and titular mist all come from an army experiment gone wrong. When you add on to it that filmmaker Frank Darabont was actively channeling 1950s monster movies, a staple of science fiction, when directing the project, then its genre roots become even clearer.
1) Xtro
Harry Bromley Davenport’s 1982 film clearly straddles the line between science fiction and horror, and even though it has moments where it clearly leads into the latter, much of its bigger plot machinations fully belong to the former. Xtro is a movie about aliens and invasion, but not in a “Take me your leader” or even a War of the Worlds-style attack; it’s one that breaks all the rules of Earth biology and never stops to explain “Why?” at any point.
In the film, Sam Phillips is abducted by aliens in the middle of the day from the family farm, only to return to Earth three years later, or, at least, an alien disguised as him returns. Now, does Xtro make much sense in the slightest when its plot its put under a microscope? Not especially, but between its bizarre visuals, story beats that are near impossible to wrap your mind around, and an ending that will leave you completely baffled, Xtro is a science fiction experience that will leave you as entertained as you are confused. There’s nothing quite like it, and a film that must be seen to be believed.
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