10 Best Sci-Fi Horror Films To Watch Halloween 2020

When discussing sci-fi horror, it's always interesting to return to the story that essentially pioneered the genre, Frankenstein. Most people are aware of the basic premise to the point that the film feels like an incredibly familiar experience to those who have never seen it before. Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) rob graves to harvest various organs and body parts in order to create a human and give it life through man-made scientific means.

A few bolts of lightning later, and it seems as if the experiment has gone well, as the creature is moving and capable of understanding basic commands from Frankenstein. However, after Fritz provokes the creature, it manages to escape Frankenstein's laboratory, terrorizing the inhabitants of a nearby village. After the monster kidnaps Frankenstein's wife Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), Frankenstein is forced to try and take the life that he himself brought into creation.

Whilst the story and imagery of this film (lightning bolts, rampaging monster, angry villagers) might seem very cliché to a modern audience, it is important to note that this is the film that spawned those clichés in the first place. This film was such an extraordinary success that it led to numerous sequels, as well as various cross overs with the other Universal monsters.

For a film made nearly 90 years ago, it's still an entertaining watch, and if anything, the black and white picture helps to emphasise the shadows and darkness and make the film even more eerie when viewed in the right conditions.

Frankenstein might be a tad slow-paced and lacking in violence for some, but it's still significant for being one of the films, along with Dracula (1931), that allowed horror to become the mainstream cinema phenomenon that it is.