TOP 10 SF HORROR FILMS

 

As I said in my special mention entry for SF horror (including body horror and cosmic horror – if you were wondering where Alien or The Thing were in my Top 10 Horror Films, here they are!

My preferred horror films tend to be supernatural or SF horror, but I tend to rank the latter as SF rather than horror. The dividing line is partly my idiosyncratic opinion that the science fiction elements predominate in SF, such as where the sources of horror are aliens or time-travelling killer robots, but is also partly to preserve the SF entries in my Top 10 Fantasy and SF Films.

Alien, The Terminator, and The Thing are my holy trinity of SF horror but I rank all of them as entries in my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films (indeed with Alien and The Terminator as my top two entries and The Thing in fourth place) – except here, where I also rank them as the top three entries in my Top 10 SF Horror Films.

So here they all are – my Top 10 SF Horror Films, in one of my shallow dips or top tens on the spot, although I’ll also note each entry as body horror or cosmic horror where applicable.

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER)

 

(1) ALIEN (1979): BODY HORROR & COSMIC HORROR

 

Alien was essentially haunted house horror IN SPACE, with a spaceship for a haunted house (neatly solving the so-called haunted house problem of why the protagonists simply don’t leave the house) and the titular xenomorph for the ghost. In a sense the whole franchise is this in one way or another, but the first is the most definitive as horror film.

Alien also illustrates the subgenres of body horror and cosmic horror that recur with SF horror, where the titular xenomorph is not just an alien invasion of our space but also an alien infection of our bodies.

 

(2) THE TERMINATOR (1984)

 

The Terminator was essentially robot slasher horror – okay, technically cyborg slasher horror.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(3) JOHN CARPENTER – THE THING (1982): BODY HORROR & COSMIC HORROR

 

The Thing is also another alien haunted house horror story, except with an Antarctic base as haunted house – with the haunted house problem posed by the onset of winter as well as by seeking to avoid the Thing infecting the outside world. It also takes the body horror and cosmic horror of Alien – and turns it all the way up to eleven, making the Xenomorph infection like a minor bug by comparison.

I’m also taking the opportunity to nominate director John Carpenter as one of my two leading SF horror directors

Which brings me to my next entry…

 

(4) DAVID CRONENBERG – THE FLY (1986): BODY HORROR

 

Yes, it’s a remake – but what an entry! Also representative of David Cronenberg, the other of my two leading SF horror directors – and whose work embodies (heh) body horror, so much so that Rick and Morty referenced it (as Cronenberging their world when they turn Earth into a population of body horror monstrosities).

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(5) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978): BODY HORROR & COSMIC HORROR

 

Yes – the original was in 1956 (based on the 1954 novel by Jack Finney and symbolic of Cold War paranoia) but this is my favorite of the “franchise” – that is, the recurring adaptations or remakes – particularly for its downer ending (with that shriek).

A subtler example of body horror and cosmic horror than The Thing, but a similar embodiment of paranoia.

 

(6) TREMORS (1990)

 

Probably more people think of this film (and its franchise) as comedic SF action but there’s enough of a horror element for me to count it. I just can’t say no to giant deathworms!

 

(7)  THE FACULTY (1998): BODY & COSMIC HORROR

 

Fun spin on The Thing in a high school – including a fun spin on that blood sample test for the Thing. Much lighter on the body horror but still cosmic horror (and alien invasion!)

 

(8) SLITHER (2006): BODY & COSMIC HORROR

 

James Gunn does an SF horror alien invasion – with doses of body and cosmic horror (as well as shades of The Thing).

 

(9) CLOVERFIELD / 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (2008-2016): BODY HORROR & COSMIC HORROR

 

I’m counting these as the same franchise for production rather than plot – the first is updated alien kaiju horror, the second is survival horror with one hell of a twist at the end. Touches of cosmic horror in both and body horror in the first (from the kaiju’s parasites)

 

(10) A QUIET PLACE (2018-2024): COSMIC HORROR

 

Shhh – essentially alien slasher horror stalking by sound. Also cosmic horror.

 

SPECIAL MENTION:

 

Yes – that’s right, it’s special mentions within a top ten that is itself something of a special mention in my Top 10 Horror Films!

But it fits for those entries from my Top 10 Fantasy & SF Films (or special mentions), which while they are not quite horror, are adjacent to (or could be adapted to horror)

 

(1) MAD MAX

 

Yes – the whole franchise.

And yes – the Mad Max franchise is not horror but it’s not too far removed from post-apocalyptic slasher horror either, sort of like The Hills Have Eyes franchise, with the same sort of mutant body horror thrown in.

 

(2) THE MATRIX

 

Again – not horror but not too far removed from the robot slasher horror of the Terminator, or touches of body horror (and existential horror, if not quite cosmic horror) of its premise of humanity being farmed.

 

HONORABLE MENTION:

 

And rounding up honorable mention for those SF horror films that didn’t make the top ten, ranked in chronological order of year of release.

 

(2017) LIFE

 

Ah, Calvin – you rubbery rascal. Essentially another alien haunted house horror story IN SPACE – somewhat derivative but it gets stuck in your mind, a little like Calvin himself…