Forget Alien, These 5 Sci-Fi Horrors Deliver a Whole Different Kind of Scares

Sci-fi elements blend perfectly with just about every other genre, including horror, to put a fresh spin on familiar tropes.

But while such masterpieces as Ridley Scott 's Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing remain staples of the genre, let's take a look at five other great sci-fi horror films that may have flown under your radar.

Event Horizon (1997)

Let's start with a relatively obscure classic, because despite being almost three decades old, this movie directed by Paul W. S. Anderson never came close to the level of fame that Alien or The Thing did, although it was pretty good.

Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill and others, it follows the crew of a rescue ship that is sent to investigate the prototype spaceship Event Horizon, which suddenly reappears near Neptune after having been missing for several years.

Soon they begin to understand that the ship's disappearance was not a mere technical malfunction, but caused by something far more sinister, resulting in the gruesome deaths of the entire crew.

Life (2017)

Although it is definitely not the best horror movie ever made, Life can provide you with some great scares and a gripping atmosphere of constant tension if you are willing to tolerate a few questionable story choices.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds, the film revolves around the crew of the International Space Station who discover a new life form in one of the Martian soil samples that begins to evolve at an alarming rate.

Possessor (2020)

Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, son of the legendary David Cronenberg, this sci-fi psychological horror set in an alternate 2008 follows Tasya Vos, who lives a double life as a wife and mother and a professional assassin.

Using a special device, she possesses other people's bodies, killing her targets by proxy and leaving no trace behind, but a sudden malfunction leads to a cascade of catastrophic events that threaten her family.

M3GAN (2022)

Much to everyone's surprise, the 2022 sci-fi horror became an unexpected hit, even if it wasn't particularly scary, with a sequel, M3GAN 2.0, now scheduled for release on May 16, 2025.

The story follows Gemma, a roboticist working on the childlike android M3GAN, who becomes the caretaker of her niece Cady after the girl's parents are killed in a car accident.

After deciding to kill two birds with one stone, using Cady to perfect M3GAN's algorithms while providing the girl with a companion, the situation begins to spiral out of control.

No One Will Save You (2023)

Combining the genres of home invasion and alien invasion, this movie manages to deliver good scares and suspense despite having very little dialog.

Brynn lives on the outskirts of a small town after a tragedy caused the rest of the townspeople to despise her, so when she receives a visit from uninvited guests from outer space, Brynn can rely on no one but herself to stay alive.