Alien/Aliens is a given for most people. I have been watching Event Horizon during the spooky season for years. What are some of your favorite books and movies with a horror/psychological thriller lean?
Sphere from Micheal Crichton. Both the movie and the book are pretty good.
It is more sci-fi than anything else, but i think it fits the thriller category as well. Without going into spoilers, it is a story about scientists being deep down in the ocean, and strange things happening.
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Sphere was my favorite book in high school. I didn’t like the movie so much, but it might have been that I was already too hyped for it when it came out. I should probably watch it again.
I was so hyped, a book I loved and that cast. The result was so underwhelming.
What does smaller mean in this context because most replies here are anything but in my opinion. Aliens? Small?
Well small is the prompt, but people are allowed to answer whatever they want. If they answer Aliens, they are just recommending a movie that we have all seen multiple times to the group. Not really useful in this context.
SOMA by frictional games.
It explores some of the usual questions about what exactly the human mind might be, if it ever becomes possible to scan, simulate, copy and transfer consciousness.
But it does so in video game form, in a way that makes you face those questions from a visceral, personal, first hand experience perspective.
It’s a science fiction masterpiece.
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This is one that i bought but never got around to.
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Do eet. Just go in dark, that’s the best way to experience it.
This one annoyed the piss out of me. The protag is dumb as rocks
::: spoiler He’s an average dude, the games message wouldn’t exactly hit the way it does if both central characters had Catherine’s level of understanding of the situation. If you can’t deal with stupid, that’s fine, but having the two lead characters contrast each other in this way is how the game makes its point. They each represent one possible perspective. Catherine accepts that peoples minds can be reduced to data-files on a computer, copied, whatever. She knows that in tech, there is no “moving” data, only copying and then deleting.
To Simon this is an idea so foreign he can’t even understand it when told point-blank. Hell, he only barely gets it the first time it actually happens to him. He’s like the people who killed themselves after their brain-scans, in his understanding of reality, there can only be one instance of a person, because there is only one soul per person to go around. To him, the real Simon is dead, and he refuses to consider the thought further, because the conclusion he’d come to is that he is a “fake”.
In contrast Catherine is content with being a copy. To her a copy is just as valid and real as the original, but Simon doesn’t feel that way. They are the embodiments of the two sides of the speculative philosophical debate that is central to the game’s plot. Simon isn’t supposed to have intelligent things to say. He is the emotional response to the events of the Pathos facility, while Catherine is the intellectual one. :::
Is it spooky I won’t be able to sleep at night type of scary? It looks really interesting but I’m really not a fan of horror.
It’s very atmospheric. There is a “story mode” difficulty setting that disables all the monster encounters, leaving only scripted scares, the soundscape, and the plot.
On the wishlist it goes! Thanks for the fantastic recommendation.
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Omg this game is so good. Right after I beat it I went to Reddit and the discussions there helped me answer even more questions and think about it even more deeply. I wish we could copy those communities over to here.
The first movie that came to mind is Aniara (2019). It’s a great film that really goes beyond to show the hopelessness of being lost in space and how tiny we are in comparison. Fair warning though: This film will absolutely destroy you on an emotional level.
This movie fucked me up and I go through horror and sci-fi films like candy. After it was over, I just sat there, my brain fully blue screened to protect itself from too deeply considering what I watched. Even thinking about it now, years later, it gives me chills. Such a good movie!
Yup, same here. I went in totally blind on a sci-fi binge and I really didn’t expect it to take such a turn.
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That was one of my favorite parts as well, it kinda reinforced that this was not a typical plot with a lifeline for the main characters.
It didn’t hit me as strong as the trailers made it look like it would. It’s a really good movie; I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again.
Event horizon is one of the few movies I actually find a bit frightening.
I’ve always liked the fan theory that Event Horizon took place in the Warhammer 40k universe, and that the ship went into the warp without the necessary gellar fields.
I hadn’t heard of that up until a few weeks ago and now it’s hard for me not to view it as canon.
It reminds me a little of the Reavers in Firefly. We have this notion that when we are far removed from our familiar surroundings and isolated in bleak emptiness, that we will somehow stare into the void and lose our minds, turning savage and cruel as we go insane.
But if it’s any consolidation, outer space is far too dangerous for it to ever get to that point. Even highly qualified professionals who are trying their best can find it difficult to survive in space. There’s no way a violently insane person would last 30 seconds there.
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Typical ghost/demon etc supernatural films and even a lot of sci-fi horror are snoozefests in comparison to Event Horizon because this film really puts it all together on a scale that makes it horrific. It plays with the supernatural angle and actually even explains it in such a way that puts it closer to reality, and then compounds that horror with the crushing isolation, unfamiliarity and unknowability of space.
I really wish there were more movies that got horror THIS RIGHT.
If you enjoyed the unsettling mix of supernatural and science fiction elements in Event Horizon, you might want to check out House on Haunted Hill (1999). While it’s not set in space, it combines psychological horror with a bit of tech flair, employing a modern (for its time) setting full of gadgets that can manipulate reality. It’s a fun ride if you’re looking for a horror film that tries to blend different elements together.
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I get your point and totally agree that direction isn’t followed NEARLY often enough, but I personally find it to be open to interpretation whether what they encounter is truly “hell” in a biblical sense or just an alternate dimension that can be construed in such a way that anyone who’s ever heard of the concept would define it as hell, and I prefer the latter at least in my own head.
If you look at it through the lens of it not really being Hell Original ™ it becomes almost Lovecraftian, given that everyone who comes into contact with the dimension loses their minds and that the ship itself gains a kind of sentience having just passed through it, but the comparison to Hellraiser is definitely valid given all we see of it is just wanton violence amongst the ship’s original crew, so for all we know it could be straight up Satan driving the boat.
It’s because Larry Fish does everything right, makes the best possible moves in his situation, and still has problems. There’s a strong case to be made that Capt Miller is the one of the smartest protagonists in a horror movie and that’s why the movie is so haunting.
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“We’re leaving.”
“And then we’re gonna nuke this ship”
Also chilling: he doesn’t die.
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I like to share this link whenever I come across a discussion about Event Horizon-
It’s fun to imagine what could have been
That movie is scary enough. I dont need to see the violence orgy from the original crew.
Gore has it’s place in horror films. Personally, I feel like it’s best used sparingly and to maximum effect, but there’s something to be said for the “gore fest” film types (e.g. Dead Alive), I suppose. Still, after a certain point, things stop being about horror and veer closer to torture erotica. Nothing against torture erotica either (again, not my thing, but to each their own), but it’s not horror. The violence orgy scene was literal torture porn, and I think it serves the film best as brief flashes, just enough to make it clear what’s going on, but not enough to function as an actual torture porn clip.
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I think it serves the film best as brief flashes, just enough to make it clear what’s going on, but not enough to function as an actual torture porn clip.
Agree. My partner list this film as one of their top scary picks, mostly due to this scene.
I feel it is perfect the way it is. It leaves a lot to the imagination while still leading the viewer in a direction of true horror.
Gives me shivers just thinking about it.
That’s crazy that they went through all the trouble to film all that and just cut it out. Sounds like they were expecting it with how crazy the footage was though.
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More gore is more fun!
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Thanks!
I’ve come to like Pandorum a lot over the years. I now make sure I watch it every once in a while.
I watched it a lot as a kid. Came back to it a few years ago and it didn’t feel the same. Still a great movie
Oh man, haven’t watched this in ages. Definitely enjoyed it though
The first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes are great. That guy who trapped them in the crucible was also great. Most of the rest of the movie was meh, influenced too much by other popular movies monster cliches at the time. I will always love that ending though. Didn’t expect the glass to crack and reveal that twist.
Saw this the other day.
This movie is awesome.
I agree, Pandorum is a great one. I loved the twist at the end - I thought they’d go into a totally different direction with it.
I feel like Time Lapse isn’t on enough people’s radar. It’s a tightly written sci-fi psychological thriller.
I saw this movie a few years ago and enjoyed it but couldn’t think of the name again. Thank you! I’m going to give it another viewing.
I loved The Illuminae Files as a teen, definitely worth a read
Dark City 1998 Very cool. With Sutherland.
About the world
It has of those situations/worlds you couldn’t know you’re trapped in it, if you were, like Matrix etc… I like those.
PSA: As is commonly recommended, watch the director’s cut if you can, especially if it’s your first time. The main difference is that the regular release has a voice over in the beginning explaining a lot (too much).
Great movie. Make sure it’s the directors cut.
Came for this, nice
I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll do so again! The Signal was a nice surprise, that sorta came and went in theaters, and we’ve watched it a handful of times since, as a spooky sci-fi comfort film. It’s been a long while since the last time, though, so it may not have quite the same impact now, but that kinda makes me want to watch it more.
And not that it’s at all smaller, but Shin Godzilla for another to watch over and over. So beautifully done.
Shin Gojira is the best fucking monster movie and the best daikaijuu movie of all fucking time. Everything about it is PERFECT.
The one with Fishburne?
Yeap! I didn’t even think to specify dat Fishburne. 🤌
Triangle . The science fiction angle is that it’s a time travel paradox. Predestination is another similar film, based off of Robert Heinlein’s “–All You Zombies–”.
The guy who directed Triangle also did a movie called Creep that’s absolutely worth a watch.
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Predestination is amazing. I read the book right after watching the movie, and the movie is just so much better.
They did a really great job with it, especially considering how dated a lot of Heinlein can feel now, what with all his relatively benevolent sexism (among many other things). Not many Heinlein stories have been made into books–I think that this is only the 3rd–so it was quite pleasing to see.
Agreed, if I read the book first I would not have thought someone could make it into such a great movie. Interesting observation about film adaptions. The only one that comes to mind is Starship Troopers. What are the others? Also, it’s interesting that they chose this little novel to make Predestination instead of his more well-known books.
IIRC he did a short story about a stowaway on a ship that threw off the fuel calculations by adding an extra 75kg of mass, so that they wouldn’t reach their destination if the stowaway wasn’t thrown out of the airlock. (And the ship couldn’t land without the captain, so…) I’m pretty sure that was a movie plot on Netflix, but I’ll be damned if I could tell you the title of either.
Philip K. Dick on the other hand… His books have been turned into tons of movies, and since he was asking questions about humanity (versus being harder science fiction), they’ve aged much better.
I am genuinely curious why Philip Dick is so popular among the film makers. I think I read somewhere that the reason might be because his books are not very detailed, just sketches, which allows movie-makers to bend his stories to their liking. One author I would like to see adapted more, though, is probably Ted Chiang. Love his stories.
I think it’s because he had such interesting ideas, things that were extremely original, but also stories and ideas that readers and audiences can relate to in some way. Some of the best science fiction can be very dense; The Diamond Age, or Solaris. Even Roadside Picnic is difficult to film, because how do you visually depict something that’s entirely beyond human understanding? (Tarkovsky gave it a helluva try though!) Dick is focusing more on the people; the science fiction setting is a way to get at his ideas about things like what defines humanity.
That’s my take anyways.
Right, although I never really enjoyed reading Dick. Just too dry and depressing af. Interesting ideas, though. On the point about difficulty to film, that’s where games come in! I’ve never player Stalker, but I think it is well regarded. Same with the Metro series. And yeah, Tarkovsky is hard to watch. I don’t think I finished either Solaris or Stalker
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Definitely going to watch some of these. I think Occulus is better than it gets credit for.
I don’t have much of an idea on if it was small but the movie Sunshine (2007) comes to mind. Loved that movie. It’s well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.
I only heard about this movie a couple months ago and actually got around to watching it just last night. Loved it!
I think it counts because for some reason not many people have heard of it. Very unrated and a great movie.
I really enjoyed 4/5 of that movie
I love the movie but you’re not wrong!
The Icarus 1 distress beacon is still one of the most unsettling sounds I’ve ever heard.
Yes! Im glad someone said it because everyone I tell about this movie ends up loving it.
Years ago, I watched this Korean movie, The Wig, with a friend, and were both so freaked out. It was about a woman who was slowly being possessed by the spirt of the woman from who the hair of her wig had been taken from. It seems kinda hokey, but the woman being possessed had just recovered from cancer (thus, the need for the wig), and the story was from the POV of her sister watching as her sister seems to have a complete personality change after being diagnosed as cancer-free, and was trying to figure out what was happening. Some parts of it might not have aged well (namely, one of the twists), but the way it felt more like a psychological horror than a horror horror really stuck with me.
As for gaming, I can NOT recommend the two games by Red Candle enough. Both games start out seemingly as pure horror, then end up just ripping your heart out and stepping on it as the situation becomes clear.
Detention is a side scroller set during the White Terror period of Taiwan in a high school, and it’s really good. There was a movie made from it that looked to stay really close to the story, and it won a fair number of awards in Asia (I still haven’t seen it yet). There was a Netflix sequel show, but I didn’t really get into it. Detention, though, is really good, and you can get it on pretty much any platform now for only a few bucks.
Their other game, Devotion, is a damn masterpiece and I will never stop being angry it got pulled from Steam after only a week because some idiot accidentally left in a placeholder image that had “Xi Jin Ping Winnie the Pooh moron” written on it - that cost Red Candle’s partner in China their business license, and caused them to pull the game from Steam. It was supposed to go up on GOG, but they backed out a few days after announcing they would be selling it, claiming it was because of the “gamer feedback,” or some such nonsense (but really because Cyberpunk 2077 had just come out in China and they didn’t want to risk upsetting the Chinese government), and they refused to answer anyone asking them about it on twitter back when it happened.
Rant aside, Devotion is set in 1980s Taiwan, and is about a small family that gets destroyed because the father gets wrapped up in a cult. Not a weird murder cult or anything, just a cult promising him easy solutions. It’s basically a “domestic horror,” the horror that happens in a home. The game starts in your living room, with your wife talking about your daughter, Mei Shin, then going, “Where’s Mei Shin?” Then you’re looping through three different years trying to piece together where she is and what happened to her.
Devotion is only on PC, and you can only get it from Red Candle’s webpage. It’s only about $16, and it’s so worth the price.
Edit - This is a really good video comparing Silent Hill 2 and Devotion, on how they both handle the uncanny - Silent Hill 2 with their use of FMVs, and Devotion with it’s use of actual video footage. It has some mild spoilers, but it warns you and gives you a time stamp to skip to avoid them. An Uncanny Reality.
Absolutely checking out all your suggestions, they all look awesome!!!
I really hope you enjoy them!
Not necessarily horror but Severance and Mr. Robot forever changed me. I’ve never been a TV person (except for Star Trek) so maybe those are bigger than you’re looking for.
Oh, and Alan Wake + Control. God, I love anything made my Remedy.
I think they COULD count as psychological thrillers. Nice choices.
