Houston We Have a Problem: Why did so many horror franchises go to space?

In 1979, 14 years after man walked on the moon (allegedly…), we were introduced to a terrifying premise: “In space, no one can hear you scream.”

With that tagline and a new monster, the Xenomorph, to haunt the audience’s nightmares for decades to come, “Alien” helped launch space-based horror from B-movie camp fare to terrifying blockbuster status. In the decades to come, space became less like “the final frontier” and more like oft-treaded territory shown onscreen to various degrees of quality and scientific accuracy by standalone movies and franchise horror films alike.

But what was the draw towards sending our spooky stories into space? Why did we see terrestrial slasher icons and goofy creature features leaving our atmosphere into the vastness of the universe?

The equation used to make this decision seemed to be that the higher the altitude you went, the higher the stakes of even the most basic horror movie plots. 

Space stations and rockets only have so many people on them, and there’s only so many places one can hide. Unless you’re one of the lucky ones with a working spacewalk suit, your options are limited and the claustrophobia sets in. These settings are often filled with unfamiliar technology and chemicals that can lead to creative and interesting kills that may not quite be as possible in space.

The isolation itself can often become a villain in its own right in so many of these stories. The long hours staring out into veritable nothingness, knowing most anyone you may know or love is millions of lightyears away. No one is coming to save you when the bloodbath starts. 

And, despite outer space becoming a common setting for so many of these horror movies, there’s still a lot that the general public (as well as the filmmakers) didn’t know about it. So, when things get a little too fast and loose with how science and physics work, it was easy enough to shrug it off as “space stuff” and away we went to the next extra-terrestrial kill.

Above all else, it seems as though the franchises were taking a rocket up to space when ratings and public appeal seem to be falling hard back to Earth. They were running out of creative ideas, BUT what if they rehashed old gags, kills and plot lines and added zero-gravity and space suits? Suddenly it was a brand new story with a space-age level shine to it and even if audiences had already counted out their franchise favorites as past their prime, they were likely still going to go to the movie theatre or rent it from Blockbuster (RIP) on a Friday night.

But, whether you are pro-blast off into space or prefer your horror movies firmly planted Earth-side, let’s examine some of our favorite movies where our familiar horror favorites go to space (even if they probably don’t belong there…)

• Jason X 

• • Best “Space-Themed” Moment: Murdering Adrienne Kart whose face was frozen in liquid nitrogen, then smashed against a counter by Jason.

• Leprechaun 4: In Space

• • Best “Space-Themed” Moment: Dr. Mittenhand injecting himself with some weird serum that turned him into a freaky human-spider hybrid. (He also dies by the liquid nitrogen freeze and smash combo BTW)

• Amityville in Space

• • Best “Space-Themed” Moment: I mean, it was a house that was so demon-ridden that Earth literally expelled it from its atmosphere…

• Critters 4

• Best “Space-Themed” Moment: The entire subplot of using these alien lifeforms as potential bioweapons.

Live long and prosper, folks. May the force be with you (and your horror movies.)