Do you know some scary scifi movies?

I have watched Event Horizon, the film had a good horror atmosphere and it feels like Dead Space but the story is weak. War of the Worlds had my heart beat like a drum and the Alien series had me glued to the edge of my seat. Prometheus is more of a suspense but it had some jump scare moments too. It made me tense and pale. Sometimes made me jump out of my seat like that moment where the worm burst out of nowhere during the cave scene.

Those are pretty old. Do you know some new ones? I need some inspiration for a short CG animation to show-off to my colleagues this coming November .

Well, define “new”…:wink:
Some movies that cross my mind, although “scary” or “scifi” may be arguable in one or the other:
Pandorum (2009)
Sunshine (2007)
Serenity (2005)

Try an IMDb advanced search. If Prometheus is pretty old you won’t find many good ones that are new.

Event Horizon was very well done.

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Sphere was kind of cool.
Leviathan from the same year was another.
The Abyss, while not scary had a few suspenseful moments and some brilliant visual design.

Water was a big deal in 98’ I guess.

For science-fiction horror, I would recommend studying Forbidden Planet(1956).

At heart it is a reworking of Shakespeare’s The Tempest(the great Bard’s last play) and a triumph of imagination and creativity. Vfx, sfx, sound, music, pacing, mystery…Forbidden Planet has it nailed but is still accessible to the whole family. For the audience to feel threatened, you need to first lure them into a false sense of security(Alien). Then, when the horror is revealed you have to make the audience understand and believe that there really is no escape(Terminator). Also, Forbidden Planet only required a single scene to show the “stalker” and leaves the rest of the film to the audience to fill in the blanks. And that is food for thought: how do you overcome the challenge of visually unmasking a threat that doesn’t exist visually?

Watch the film, get reactions of others who have seen the film(critics or even other movie-goers), explore the documentaries on the making of the film, and you will have a stronger understanding of how to make your short sci-fi horror animation. Obviously, you don’t need to recreate Forbidden Planet nor any sci-fi horror film for that matter, but do take away from it that good horror requires a damn good imagination.

I wish you the very best on this project and hope you show us the result. :slight_smile:

Forbidden placnet I s ineed a good movie, one that has been tribute many times with it’s color ful caracters who play groups who actually were meant for other.

Before watching Serenity make sure you have seen the tv series Firefly

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Thanks for the reply lads. I check those out this weekend.

check out ‘The Thing’.

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Dark Star has it all. Cabin fever, murderous alien, malfunctioning technology, insane AI, people getting flung out into space, explosions, death, and really scary music.

Well, maybe not so scary and not so new but you should include the cinematic release of Dark Star in your research if you’re looking for inspiration. There are some good (scary) ideas touched on in this movie. Ever heard of Dan O’Bannon and John Carpenter?

Dark Star trailer:

Dark Star alien mascot attacks Dan O’Bannon:

Wiki:

-LP

Hey what about 2001? It has a psychopathic space ship.
+1 Modron suggestion, but Carpenter’s The Thing. Original Thing isn’t bad either, it has that oldy worldy black and white charm for authenticity.

And there are the Vin Diesel movies… Pitch Black etc.

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The Langoliers
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The Thing (John Carpenter’s version) is by far my most favorite horror/sci-fi film.

The Mist : isn’t exactly entirely sci-fi, but definitely edge-of-your seat stuff.

If you like Joss Wheden, the man behind Firefly/Serenity/Avengers, then you’ll love The Cabin in the Woods. Has a sci-fi feel to it, but it’s closer to campy horror – until you realize something else is going on. :slight_smile:

I also really liked, Slither, which is campy horror/sci-fi with a lot of cringing moments, as well as lots of laughs.

My current favorite pure horror is the remake of Evil Dead, which is really well done and has LOADS of stomach-churning moments and is truly scary stuff.

Event Horizon is one of those rare Paul W. S. Anderson films. I’ve never seen a film of his I liked except that one.

The Mist and Half Life games could easily be in the same Universe.

I would recommend you watching 2001 Space Odyssey, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus (Alien Prequel), Cube Series, Resident Evil, 12 Ghosts, and The Thing just to name a few. I’ve seen soo many more but I forgot the names.

I watched Pandorum and 2 Dead Space animated movies on YouTube. They gave me ship interior design ideas for my flagship project.

Haven’t seen Europa Report but it fits the criteria I think?

Pitch Black hasn’t been mentioned yet, and what about books? Arkadi and Boris Strugatzki, “Страна багровых туч” - I don’t know the title of the english translation, in german it is “Atomvulkan Golkonda”.
_
Edit: it is “The_Land_of_Crimson_Clouds”

another edit: I forgot the name of the movie, but it plays on a mars colony where things went wrong, people examine the case and find some mind-controlled colonists that do some sort of self-mutilation, and in the end there is something with a train. Not meant as a spoiler but maybe someone remembers the title?