Underrated Sci-Fi Horror B-Movies To Watch This Halloween

Science fiction and horror go very well together, and the implications are troubling. There's something to be said about the ease of seeing faults in any potential future and the fun to be found in exploring their most nightmarish results. Of course, part of this comes from the undeniable need for conflict in storytelling. A future free from want and strife hardly provides for a compelling script. The darkest imaginations gravitate towards distant eras in which humanity can do so much more, and so much more can go wrong.

The best sci-fi horror projects tend to live on for generations. When someone says the term "space horror," the go-to picture is still that of Giger's Alien skulking around the air vents of a lived-in space shuttle. Alien inspired enough movies to fill ten different franchises, but none of them ever lived up to the original issue. This constant drive to replicate the successes of years gone by results in a lot of boring wastes of time. It also occasionally allowed a creator to expand the genre and find something new to say.

Event Horizon (1997)

The magnum opus of director Paul W. S. Anderson is this loud, gory, unhinged slice of space chaos that has recently earned a rather stunning reappraisal. Contemporary critics considered Event Horizon a mess of half-formed ideas papered over with impressive visual effects. The arc of this movie's mainstream reception took a 90-degree turn upward over the past few years. Some fans got there long before the critics did. Event Horizon never whispers when it can scream. It's an ambitious epic that falls short of its highest targets but still lands in more interesting territory than most of its contemporaries. Visceral Games' Dead Space franchise deserves some credit for its new public profile. Perhaps the only thing they were missing was the magic of interactive narrative. Either way, Event Horizon is having a moment right now, and it's a great time to settle in for a rewatch. Newcomers are in for a treat.

Pandorum (2009)

Looking for a companion piece to Event Horizon's unceasing shriek of unhinged space horror? Look no further than Pandorum, a film about madness and violence in the least hospitable environment in existence. Event Horizon's director, Paul W. S. Anderson, helped to produce Pandorum, evidently recognizing the connections between the two projects. Pandorum follows a pair of travelers aboard an interstellar ark as they struggle against an army of mutants and their own faulty memories. Like Event Horizon, Pandorum doesn't often slow down. It's brutal, sharp, and haunting. It's the kind of movie that encourages audience members to exhale only after the credits roll. Pandorum doesn't break much new ground, but it does have a lot of fun piloting a carnival-style haunted house into space.

Demon Seed (1977)

Everyone has their favorite killer robot. AI is all over the news right now, and fans of the sci-fi genre are getting sick of discussing Skynet, AM, and HAL 9000. The time has come for Proteus IV. Donald Cammell's Demon Seed stars Julie Christie as the wife of a brilliant scientist. She becomes an object of fascination for Proteus, who seeks to learn all he can about the species that built him. This leads to a bizarre psychosexual journey as a house full of technology turns against its creator. By the end of Demon Seed, the imagery has become more troubling than most of the horror films of the last few decades. Demon Seed frays the line of the B-movie concept, addressing extremely tough concepts through a unique lens. It's an underrated slice of sci-fi horror that scratches against the walls of good taste.

Leviathan (1989)

Leviathan is Alien at sea. Once again, a group of blue-collar workers and scientists enter an extremely inhospitable environment, discover a previous voyage gone awry, and wind up in an enclosed space with something that wants them dead. Space horror comes to the sea. It's not original, but there's a certain type of person who has seen Alien more times than they can count, and all they want is something new. Leviathan is the perfect first step away from Alien. They even share composer Jerry Goldsmith. Director George P. Cosmatos has enough vision to start from an obvious ripoff and still find a few new things to say. It's fun, compelling, and fast-paced. With a tight 103-minute runtime, Leviathan is well worth the trip.

Dark City (1998)

Alex Proyas, best known for his stellar 1994 adaptation of The Crow, crafted one of the most engaging sci-fi horror cult classics in Dark City. It's a jaunt into the mind of someone experiencing something truly unique, and the lack of attention it got at the time was a crime. A few of the film's flaws were fixed when Proyas got to release his director's cut, the far superior version. The film follows John Murdoch, a man lost in a bizarre metropolis without his memories. Forced to piece his life together from scattered clues, Murdoch fights to evade the clutches of a gang of horrific men who seem to want his head. It's an eclectic blend of genres that flows extremely well, presenting a kind of dreamlike epic that deserves more attention. This Halloween season, revisit Dark City and discover what late 90s audiences mostly missed.