Like all sci-fi films, Sci-Fi Horror movies depict incredible circumstances that are tied to scientific advancements or alien technology. They depict things that could happen, in the future or an alternate version of the present.

Often, these films toe the line between horror and action, and the distinguishing question is how much they seek to scare as well as thrill the viewer.

One of the best-loved films in this sub-genre is Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien, a thrilling, claustrophobic monster movie that confines its action to a manned spaceship. Scott dials up the tension and dread until the titular Xenomorph makes a memorable entrance through the chest cavity of an unlucky crew member. Once the creature reaches full size, the film becomes a showdown between the alien and Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, one of cinema’s great heroes.

Seven years later, James Cameron’s Aliens pit Ripley against a whole host of alien baddies, as well as their angry queen. This classic is more action than horror, but it’s the first action movie I recall being nervous to watch.

Frightening aliens are a staple of sci-fi horror. In just the last five years we’ve had a plethora of extraterrestrial terrors grace the big screen. Those include: John Krasinski’s 2018 A Quiet Place, which made excellent use of its “they can’t see you but they hear everything” premise; Alex Garland’s 2018 Annihilation, which used an alien “shimmer” as a gateway to some trippy encounters; 2022’s Prey (directed by Dan Trachtenberg), which staged an encounter by a Predator hunter in a 1700s Comanche village; and this year’s No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield), a movie in which the lead character (played by a great Kaitlyn Dever) doesn’t speak a word as she fights off an alien invader in her home.

My favorite alien horror in a long time was Jordan Peele’s 2022 Nope, a thrilling epic that brought his usual blend of comedy and social commentary to this well-navigated territory. Peele also dabbled in sci-fi horror in his second film, 2019’s Us, depicting a world where the U.S. government created tethered clones of the population before banishing them underground.

Clones play a key role in Brandon Cronenberg’s bizarre Infinity Pool, released this year. If you want to see Mia Goth breastfeed Alexander Skarsgård, this is the movie for you.

I really enjoyed what writer-director Leigh Whannell did with 2020’s The Invisible Man, giving a sci-fi spin to the old monster movie premise. Elisabeth Moss delivers an award-worthy performance in that film (just as Lupita Nyong’o did in Us), continuing the trend of incredible horror turns by women.

As for the sci-fi horror films I still plan to see, David Cronenberg’s 1986 The Fly is high on the list, as are both the 1956 and 1978 versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I’m circling back to horrifying aliens to pick my best in show, John Carpenter’s 1982 The Thing. Misunderstood and dismissed as a failure when it was released, the film achieved cult status after its video release and is now considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time.

That reputation is deserved. The film follows a group of scientists and crewmen holed up in an Antarctic research station when they are visited by a deadly shape-shifting alien disguising itself as a dog. Carpenter uses groundbreaking practical effects to depict the gruesome forms the creature takes, but the film is at its scariest when you aren’t sure which of its characters might already be infected. The Thing is a chilling masterpiece of paranoia and survival.

Coming Monday: Zombies