12 Scariest Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time

7. A Clockwork Orange

Adapted from Anthony Burgess’ infamously impenetrable slang-heavy dark satire novel, this cold nightmare from The Shining director/ emotionless cinematic mastermind Stanley Kubrick is a horrifying glimpse of an uncaring society overrun by wanton violence and amorality, a justice system bent on vengeance and vilification instead of empathy and rehabilitation, and an unsparing world wherein no one comes out morally righteous or anything less than shattered.

So a typically cheery future flick, then.

Following Malcolm McDowell’s terrifyingly cheery criminal/ murderer/ rapist Alex DeLarge as he commits endless horrific acts before being subjected to a cruel and pointless “cure” by the prison system, the film makes sure to elide the hopeful conversion to Christianity which closes Burgess’ original novel, leaving us with an utterly hopeless, brutally scary denouement. Good luck turning on the news after this one, let alone getting a good night’s sleep.