The Terror of Space: 5 Best Sci-Fi Horror Movies about the Cosmos

Mankind has been obsessed with space for thousands of years. But the last few decades have been different, as we've finally been able to travel into space. But as exciting as the cosmos is, it is also a source of fear for many people. And these five films show why.

The Dark Side of the Moon (1990, 4.9 on IMDb)

Available on: Amazon Prime

Set in the 2020s, this sci-fi horror produced over three decades ago revolves around the crew of a maintenance space shuttle orbiting Earth on a mission to repair malfunctioning satellites equipped with nuclear weapons. But the mission goes awry when the ship becomes uncontrollable and drifts toward the dark side of the moon. There, the characters encounter an abandoned NASA shuttle, which they visit to their doom as a mysterious evil force inhabits it.

Apollo 18 (2011, 5.2 on IMDb)

Available on: Max, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime

This found-footage horror film tells the story of the aborted Apollo 18 mission, which in the film was conducted in secret and classified after the crew never returned from the moon. The movie follows a crew of astronauts who are secretly sent to the moon to install a ballistic missile detector. During the mission, they experience strange events and discover evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life, which ends badly for them all.

Color Out Of Space (2019, 6.2 on IMDb)

Available on: Apple TV+, Amazon Prime

Based on H.P. Lovecraft's story of the same name, this movie is set on Earth, but follows the events after a mysterious, colorful meteorite lands in the yard of the Gardner family farm. After the landing, the water in the farm's well becomes contaminated, affecting everything in the area. It turns out that the meteorite brought with it an alien force that is now reshaping the environment in its image, and it will stop at nothing.

Event Horizon (1997, 6.6 on IMDb)

Available on: Paramount+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime

Set in the year 2047, this sci-fi horror centers on the crew of a rescue spaceship that is sent on a mission to investigate the reappearance of the Event Horizon, another spaceship that went missing many years ago, in orbit around Neptune. To their horror, the crew of said ship seems to have been massacred, and the vessel itself is possessed by a mysterious and dangerous force that begins to affect the new arrivals.

Pandorum (2009, 6.7 on IMDb)

Available on: Apple TV+, Amazon Prime

This sci-fi horror follows two members of the flight crew of the interstellar ark Elysium, which is transporting hibernating human settlers to a remote planet for colonization. Something goes wrong when Corporal Bower and Lieutenant Payton emerge from hibernation, and they begin to suffer from pandorum, a space disease that causes bouts of psychosis and hallucinations. To add insult to injury, the ship turns out to be overrun by cannibalistic mutants.