10 Movies That Perfectly Blend Horror & Sci-Fi

Rarely have two such distinct genres as science fiction and horror come together so well. Since the dawn of the technological age - long before Black Mirror or John Carpenter - we have known on an almost instinctual level that technology, space, the future and aliens have the potential to turn dark. Indeed, way back in the early 20th century, H.P. Lovecraft was penning horrors that would long outlast him, and inspire generations of writers and filmmakers to build the rich landscape of otherworldly horrors we have at our fingertips today.

But the balance struck onscreen is not always perfect. Some directors marinate their movies in one element or the other and forget that they were supposed to have both in their pot, leading to films where either the science fiction or horror elements feel tacked on.

Indeed, there is something of an art to getting it right, and some filmmakers have a knack for marrying technology, science and space with our deepest real- and other-world fears, deftly tapping into the tropes of each genre. Trust the Cronenbergs to meld machines to murder, Nacho Vigalondo to wed time machines and terror, Jonathan Glazer to send Scarlett Johansson onto the streets of Glasgow…

Whether you prefer big studio features or international arthouse flicks, whatever your favourite flavour of either sci-fi or horror, these 10 films have the perfect blend for you.

A deep space, ship-based horror that is neither Alien or Event Horizon, Pandorum manages to tread familiar territory while delivering a unique, and uniquely rewarding, experience.

The film opens on the Elysium, an interstellar ark sent to colonise a habitable planet across the universe. But something has gone terribly wrong: the power is out, most of the ship’s inhabitants are dead and gangs of monstrous mutant creatures roam the corridors. It's up to two members of the flight crew, Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) and Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid) to find out what happened and get the ship back on course.

You can be forgiven for never having heard of Pandorum, as, despite starring Quaid and Foster, it released in 2009 to no fanfare and didn't even make its modest $33 million budget back. One half of the problem was the distributor's uncertainty in how to market it, as it doesn't seem a fit for either the Star Wars or Halloween crowds; the other half was the fact that both sci-fi and horror were stuck in a strange in-between at the time - untethered from big franchises and yet to find success in the indie revival. 

Nevertheless, the film expertly enmeshes its sci-fi and horror elements, making smart use of technology to keep the action contained and the characters lost in post-cryo fugue states, alongside consistently unspooling horrors pertaining to the creatures, the ship's fate and the space psychosis known as pandorum, which threatens to doom them all.