(Photo by Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection. ALIEN: ROMULUS.)

37 Best Space Horror Movies

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” Yeah, you knew we were gonna hit you with that Alien tagline in a guide to the best space horror movies of all time, and can you blame us? It’s the best one-liner fused to the best movie of this breed, perfectly encapsulating the far-flung cosmic terror that draws horror hounds and audiences to the subgenre.

So what defines space horror? The first rule is a biggie but ought to be obvious: Most of the movie cannot be set on this island Earth, so nothing about space vampires walkin’ on Ventura Boulevard, even if it’s got a killer opening riff or first act set off-world. Then with Alien setting the standard, the label of space horror calls forth a fleet of spacecraft from movie history, like the Nostromo or Covenant or Prometheus, the Event Horizon, and the Icarus II from Sunshine. Often, the way they confine and trap their passengers elevate these interstellar ships as characters in their own right.

And space horror can also go planetside. Within Alien, the sequel was quick to kick Ripley and her Colonial Marine pals off ship and onto a moon colony where the terror xenomorphed into new dimensions. And you can’t run in a straight line in Prometheus if you’re not outside with lots of room around. Predators had unsavory folk waking up in mid-air hurtling towards a hostile game planet, and not even Pitch Black‘s three suns could cool off Vin Diesel.

We ranked our space horror guide by Tomatometer score, with Certified Fresh films first, including Prospect, which maximized its low budget, High Life, a surprising joint effort from Robert Pattinson and director Claire Denis, and popular sci-fi sequel Alien: Romulus.

#1

Aliens (1986)
94%

#1

Adjusted Score: 108993%

Critics Consensus: While Alien was a marvel of slow-building, atmospheric tension, Aliens packs a much more visceral punch, and features a typically strong performance from Sigourney Weaver.

Synopsis: After floating in space for 57 years, Lt. Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) shuttle is found by a deep space salvage team.... [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser

Directed By: James Cameron

#2

Alien (1979)
93%

#2

Adjusted Score: 114454%

Critics Consensus: A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.

Synopsis: In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey... [More]

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright

Directed By: Ridley Scott

#3

Prospect (2018)
89%

#3

Adjusted Score: 91164%

Critics Consensus: Fueled by character development and setting instead of special effects, Prospect is a sci-fi story whose style is defined - and enriched -- by its limitations.

Synopsis: A man and his teenage daughter encounter nonstop danger while searching for valuable gems on an alien moon.... [More]

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, Andre Royo

Directed By: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell

#4

High Life (2018)
83%

#4

Adjusted Score: 95760%

Critics Consensus: High Life is as visually arresting as it is challenging, confounding, and ultimately rewarding - which is to say it's everything film fans expect from director Claire Denis.

Synopsis: Monte and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of... [More]

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth

Directed By: Claire Denis

#5

Alien: Romulus (2024)
80%

#5

Adjusted Score: 106065%

Critics Consensus: Honoring its nightmarish predecessors while chestbursting at the seams with new frights of its own, Romulus injects some fresh acid blood into one of cinema's great horror franchises.

Synopsis: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face... [More]

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced

Directed By: Fede Alvarez

#6

Europa Report (2013)
81%

#6

Adjusted Score: 84041%

Critics Consensus: Claustrophobic and stylish, Europa Report is a slow-burning thriller that puts the science back into science fiction.

Synopsis: When unmanned probes suggest that a hidden ocean and single-celled life exists on one of Jupiter's moons, six astronauts embark... [More]

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Christian Camargo, Daniel Wu

Directed By: Sebastián Cordero

#7

Sunshine (2007)
76%

#7

Adjusted Score: 82552%

Critics Consensus: Danny Boyle continues his descent into mind-twisting sci-fi madness, taking us along for the ride. Sunshine fulfills the dual requisite necessary to become classic sci-fi: dazzling visuals with intelligent action.

Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet,... [More]

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh

Directed By: Danny Boyle

#8

Prometheus (2012)
73%

#8

Adjusted Score: 88091%

Critics Consensus: Ridley Scott's ambitious quasi-prequel to Alien may not answer all of its big questions, but it's redeemed by its haunting visual grandeur and compelling performances -- particularly Michael Fassbender as a fastidious android.

Synopsis: The discovery of a clue to mankind's origins on Earth leads a team of explorers to the darkest parts of... [More]

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba

Directed By: Ridley Scott

#9

It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)
75%

#9

Adjusted Score: 77229%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: It's the future -- 1973 -- and a rescue team is sent to fetch Col. Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson), the... [More]

Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shirley Patterson, Kim Spalding, Ann Doran

Directed By: Edward L. Cahn

#10

Planet of the Vampires (1965)
73%

#10

Adjusted Score: 74232%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An astronaut (Barry Sullivan) and his partner (Norma Bengell) flee from walking-dead astronauts on a volcanic planet.... [More]

Starring: Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Ángel Aranda, Evi Marandi

Directed By: Mario Bava

#11

Aniara (2018)
69%

#11

Adjusted Score: 70870%

Critics Consensus: Dazzling, but a little dull, ANIARA's impeccable production design is undermined by its underwhelming philosophical pondering.

Synopsis: When a spacecraft carrying settlers to Mars strays off course, the consumption-obsessed passengers are prompted to consider their place in... [More]

Starring: Emelie Garbers, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Anneli Martini

Directed By: Pella Kagerman, Hugo Lilja

#12

Life (2017)
68%

#12

Adjusted Score: 82207%

Critics Consensus: Life is just thrilling, well-acted, and capably filmed enough to overcome an overall inability to add new wrinkles to the trapped-in-space genre.

Synopsis: Astronauts (Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds) aboard the International Space Station are on the cutting edge of one of... [More]

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada

Directed By: Daniel Espinosa

#13

Alien: Covenant (2017)
65%

#13

Adjusted Score: 87822%

Critics Consensus: Alien: Covenant delivers another satisfying round of close-quarters deep-space terror, even if it doesn't take the saga in any new directions.

Synopsis: Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony... [More]

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride

Directed By: Ridley Scott

#14

Predators (2010)
65%

#14

Adjusted Score: 73085%

Critics Consensus: After a string of subpar sequels, this bloody, action-packed reboot takes the Predator franchise back to its testosterone-fueled roots.

Synopsis: Brought together on a mysterious planet, a mercenary (Adrien Brody) and a group of coldblooded killers now become the prey.... [More]

Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins

Directed By: Nimród Antal

#15

Pitch Black (2000)
59%

#15

Adjusted Score: 63149%

Critics Consensus: Despite an interesting premise (and a starmaking turn from Vin Diesel), Pitch Black is too derivative and formulaic to fully recommend to sci-fi or action fans.

Synopsis: When their ship crashes on an unexplored planet, the survivors of the crash soon discover that this planet that is... [More]

Starring: Radha Mitchell, Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser, Keith David

Directed By: David Twohy

#16

Forbidden World (1982)
50%

#16

Adjusted Score: 34034%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A space ranger (Jesse Vint) lands at a research station where a flesh-eating mutant is loose.... [More]

Starring: Jesse Vint, June Chadwick, Dawn Dunlap, Linden Chiles

Directed By: Allan Holzmann

#17

Alien Resurrection (1997)
55%

#17

Adjusted Score: 66397%

Critics Consensus: While Sigourney Weaver's feral performance as a resurrected Ripley restores some fun to the Alien franchise, the acid blood running through this fourth entry's veins corrodes whatever emotional investment audiences had left.

Synopsis: Two hundred years have passed since Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) died on Fiorina 161. Aboard the medical research vessel USM... [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon

Directed By: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

#18

Lifeforce (1985)
58%

#18

Adjusted Score: 60511%

Critics Consensus: Brazenly strange and uneven in its execution, Lifeforce is an otherworldly sci-fi excursion punctuated with off-kilter horror flourishes.

Synopsis: When a space mission involving American and British astronauts encounters an alien craft, the humanoids within are brought aboard the... [More]

Starring: Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Mathilda May, Patrick Stewart

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

#19

Alien 3 (1992)
44%

#19

Adjusted Score: 55358%

Critics Consensus: Alien³ takes admirable risks with franchise mythology, but far too few pay off in a thinly scripted sequel whose stylish visuals aren't enough to enliven a lack of genuine thrills.

Synopsis: Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by... [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann

Directed By: David Fincher

#20

Leprechaun 4 in Space (1996)
44%

#20

Adjusted Score: 31586%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Resurfacing on an alien planet, the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) abducts a member of the world's royalty, Princess Zarina (Rebekah Carlton),... [More]

Starring: Warwick Davis, Rebekah Carlton, Debbe Dunning, Brent Jasmer

Directed By: Brian Trenchard-Smith

#21

Doom: Annihilation (2019)
43%

#21

Adjusted Score: 16785%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A group of UAC Marines responds to a distress call from a top-secret scientific base on Phobos, a Martian moon,... [More]

Starring: Amy Manson, Dominic Mafham, Luke Allen-Gale, James Weber Brown

Directed By: Tony Giglio

#22

Event Horizon (1997)
35%

#22

Adjusted Score: 41084%

Critics Consensus: Despite a strong opening that promises sci-fi thrills, Event Horizon quickly devolves into an exercise of style over substance whose flashy effects and gratuitous gore fail to mask its overreliance on horror clichés.

Synopsis: A spaceship missing for seven years finally re-emerges and sends out a distress signal. But when a team is sent... [More]

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson

Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson

#23

Saturn 3 (1980)
33%

#23

Adjusted Score: 33767%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A madman (Harvey Keitel) and his shiny robot chase a May-December couple (Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas) doing food research on... [More]

Starring: Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel, Douglas Lambert

Directed By: Stanley Donen

#24

Pandorum (2009)
27%

#24

Adjusted Score: 29947%

Critics Consensus: While it might prove somewhat satisfying for devout sci-fi fans, Pandorum's bloated, derivative plot ultimately leaves it drifting in space.

Synopsis: Astronauts Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster) awake in a hypersleep chamber with no memory of who they are... [More]

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue

Directed By: Christian Alvart

#25

Screamers (1995)
29%

#25

Adjusted Score: 30952%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Cmdr. Joe Hendricksson (Peter Weller) and new recruit Ace Jefferson (Andy Lauer) set out across the surface of Sirius 6B,... [More]

Starring: Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Charles Edwin Powell, Jennifer Rubin

Directed By: Christian Duguay

#26

Galaxy of Terror (1981)
27%

#26

Adjusted Score: 27661%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Neurotic astronauts (Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston) face a giant worm and other monsters on a distant planet.... [More]

Starring: Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston, Bernard Behrens

Directed By: B.D. Clark

#27

Creature (1985)
29%

#27

Adjusted Score: 21530%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: An alien-thing stalks corporate rivals from U.S. and German spaceships on one of Saturn's moons.... [More]

Starring: Stan Ivar, Wendy Schaal, Lyman Ward, Robert Jaffe

Directed By: William Malone

#28

Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
25%

#28

Adjusted Score: 25275%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Three generations of the same family deal with the consequences of unleashing the forces of hell. In 18th-century France, Paul... [More]

Starring: Bruce Ramsay, Valentina Vargas, Doug Bradley, Kim Myers

Directed By: Kevin Yagher, Joe Chappelle

#29

Apollo 18 (2011)
24%

#29

Adjusted Score: 26327%

Critics Consensus: A boring, suspense-free Paranormal Activity rip-off that feels long even at just 90 minutes.

Synopsis: Apollo 17 was the last U.S.-sponsored lunar voyage -- or was it? Hours of found footage, classified for decades, point... [More]

Starring: Lloyd Owen, Warren Christie, Ryan Robbins, Michael Kopsa

Directed By: Gonzalo López-Gallego

#30

John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001)
23%

#30

Adjusted Score: 26609%

Critics Consensus: John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars is not one of Carpenter's better movies, filled as it is with bad dialogue, bad acting, confusing flashbacks, and scenes that are more campy than scary.

Synopsis: Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people... [More]

Starring: Ice Cube, Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Clea Duvall

Directed By: John Carpenter

#31

The Green Slime (1969)
23%

#31

Adjusted Score: 24036%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Two space-station astronauts (Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel) destroy an asteroid, then face monsters formed from viscous cells.... [More]

Starring: Robert Horton, Luciana Paluzzi, Richard Jaeckel, Bud Widom

Directed By: Kinji Fukasaku

#32

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
22%

#32

Adjusted Score: 30190%

Critics Consensus: Brilliant casting is overshadowed by a muddled mix of genres and storylines that scratch more heads than sci-fi itches in The Cloverfield Paradox.

Synopsis: A crew aboard a space station finds itself alone after a scientific experiment causes the Earth to disappear. When a... [More]

Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, John Ortiz

Directed By: Julius Onah

#33

Doom (2005)
18%

#33

Adjusted Score: 22681%

Critics Consensus: The FPS sections are sure to please fans of the video game, but lacking in plot and originality to please other moviegoers.

Synopsis: A team of space marines known as the Rapid Response Tactical Squad, led by Sarge (Karl Urban), is sent to... [More]

Starring: Karl Urban, Dwayne Johnson, Rosamund Pike, Ben Daniels

Directed By: Andrzej Bartkowiak

#34

The Last Days on Mars (2013)
18%

#34

Adjusted Score: 20025%

Critics Consensus: Neither intelligent enough to work as thought-provoking sci-fi nor trashy enough to provide B-movie thrills, The Last Days on Mars proves as cinematically barren as the titular planet.

Synopsis: Astronauts (Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai) on Mars contend with a microbe that turns those it infects into zombielike... [More]

Starring: Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Goran Kostic

Directed By: Ruairi Robinson

#35

Queen of Blood (1966)
17%

#35

Adjusted Score: 13921%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Astronauts (John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith) go to Mars and return with a green vampire woman.... [More]

Starring: John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper

Directed By: Curtis Harrington

#36

Supernova (2000)
11%

#36

Adjusted Score: 12894%

Critics Consensus: This is an insult to the Sci-fi genre with no excitement and bad FX.

Synopsis: Supernova is a science fiction thriller that chronicles the high-stakes adventures of a deep space hospital ship and its six... [More]

Starring: James Spader, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Lou Diamond Phillips

Directed By: Walter Hill

#37

The Angry Red Planet (1959)
0%

#37

Adjusted Score: 152%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen), Dr. Iris Ryan (Nora Hayden), Professor Theodore Gettell (Les Tremayne) and Col. Tom... [More]

Starring: Gerald Mohr, Nora Hayden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen

Directed By: Ib Melchior