Alien/Aliens is a given for most people. I have been watching Event Horizon during the spooky season for years. What are some of your favorite books and movies with a horror/psychological thriller lean?

    • shininghero@kbin.social
      58·
      1 year ago

      I’ve always liked the fan theory that Event Horizon took place in the Warhammer 40k universe, and that the ship went into the warp without the necessary gellar fields.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
        22·
        1 year ago

        I hadn’t heard of that up until a few weeks ago and now it’s hard for me not to view it as canon.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      39·
      1 year ago

      It’s because Larry Fish does everything right, makes the best possible moves in his situation, and still has problems. There’s a strong case to be made that Capt Miller is the one of the smartest protagonists in a horror movie and that’s why the movie is so haunting.

    • 00Sixty7@lemmy.world
      34·
      1 year ago

      Typical ghost/demon etc supernatural films and even a lot of sci-fi horror are snoozefests in comparison to Event Horizon because this film really puts it all together on a scale that makes it horrific. It plays with the supernatural angle and actually even explains it in such a way that puts it closer to reality, and then compounds that horror with the crushing isolation, unfamiliarity and unknowability of space.

      I really wish there were more movies that got horror THIS RIGHT.

      • notfromhere
        7·
        1 year ago

        If you enjoyed the unsettling mix of supernatural and science fiction elements in Event Horizon, you might want to check out House on Haunted Hill (1999). While it’s not set in space, it combines psychological horror with a bit of tech flair, employing a modern (for its time) setting full of gadgets that can manipulate reality. It’s a fun ride if you’re looking for a horror film that tries to blend different elements together.

        • 00Sixty7@lemmy.world
          5·
          1 year ago

          I get your point and totally agree that direction isn’t followed NEARLY often enough, but I personally find it to be open to interpretation whether what they encounter is truly “hell” in a biblical sense or just an alternate dimension that can be construed in such a way that anyone who’s ever heard of the concept would define it as hell, and I prefer the latter at least in my own head.

          If you look at it through the lens of it not really being Hell Original ™ it becomes almost Lovecraftian, given that everyone who comes into contact with the dimension loses their minds and that the ship itself gains a kind of sentience having just passed through it, but the comparison to Hellraiser is definitely valid given all we see of it is just wanton violence amongst the ship’s original crew, so for all we know it could be straight up Satan driving the boat.

        • Tedesche@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          1 year ago

          Gore has it’s place in horror films. Personally, I feel like it’s best used sparingly and to maximum effect, but there’s something to be said for the “gore fest” film types (e.g. Dead Alive), I suppose. Still, after a certain point, things stop being about horror and veer closer to torture erotica. Nothing against torture erotica either (again, not my thing, but to each their own), but it’s not horror. The violence orgy scene was literal torture porn, and I think it serves the film best as brief flashes, just enough to make it clear what’s going on, but not enough to function as an actual torture porn clip.

          • Discoslugs@lemmy.world
            7·
            1 year ago

            I think it serves the film best as brief flashes, just enough to make it clear what’s going on, but not enough to function as an actual torture porn clip.

            Agree. My partner list this film as one of their top scary picks, mostly due to this scene.

            I feel it is perfect the way it is. It leaves a lot to the imagination while still leading the viewer in a direction of true horror.

            Gives me shivers just thinking about it.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        That’s crazy that they went through all the trouble to film all that and just cut it out. Sounds like they were expecting it with how crazy the footage was though.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      It reminds me a little of the Reavers in Firefly. We have this notion that when we are far removed from our familiar surroundings and isolated in bleak emptiness, that we will somehow stare into the void and lose our minds, turning savage and cruel as we go insane.

      But if it’s any consolidation, outer space is far too dangerous for it to ever get to that point. Even highly qualified professionals who are trying their best can find it difficult to survive in space. There’s no way a violently insane person would last 30 seconds there.

  • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
    60·
    1 year ago

    SOMA by frictional games.

    It explores some of the usual questions about what exactly the human mind might be, if it ever becomes possible to scan, simulate, copy and transfer consciousness.

    But it does so in video game form, in a way that makes you face those questions from a visceral, personal, first hand experience perspective.

    It’s a science fiction masterpiece.

    • VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.socialEnglish
      17·
      1 year ago

      Omg this game is so good. Right after I beat it I went to Reddit and the discussions there helped me answer even more questions and think about it even more deeply. I wish we could copy those communities over to here.

    • clearedtoland@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Is it spooky I won’t be able to sleep at night type of scary? It looks really interesting but I’m really not a fan of horror.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
        7·
        1 year ago

        It’s very atmospheric. There is a “story mode” difficulty setting that disables all the monster encounters, leaving only scripted scares, the soundscape, and the plot.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
        9·
        1 year ago

        ::: spoiler He’s an average dude, the games message wouldn’t exactly hit the way it does if both central characters had Catherine’s level of understanding of the situation. If you can’t deal with stupid, that’s fine, but having the two lead characters contrast each other in this way is how the game makes its point. They each represent one possible perspective. Catherine accepts that peoples minds can be reduced to data-files on a computer, copied, whatever. She knows that in tech, there is no “moving” data, only copying and then deleting.

        To Simon this is an idea so foreign he can’t even understand it when told point-blank. Hell, he only barely gets it the first time it actually happens to him. He’s like the people who killed themselves after their brain-scans, in his understanding of reality, there can only be one instance of a person, because there is only one soul per person to go around. To him, the real Simon is dead, and he refuses to consider the thought further, because the conclusion he’d come to is that he is a “fake”.

        In contrast Catherine is content with being a copy. To her a copy is just as valid and real as the original, but Simon doesn’t feel that way. They are the embodiments of the two sides of the speculative philosophical debate that is central to the game’s plot. Simon isn’t supposed to have intelligent things to say. He is the emotional response to the events of the Pathos facility, while Catherine is the intellectual one. :::

  • Arotrios@kbin.social
    49·
    1 year ago

    Short Stories:

    I have no mouth and I must scream - Harlan Ellison - this story was the apogee of sci-fi horror in the 70s and 80s.

    We Can Remember It for You Wholesale - Philip K. Dick’s original short story and the inspiration for Total Recall.

    Weird French Shit:

    Fantastic Planet - Animated french scifi about humans being kept as pets by giant blue aliens.

    City of Lost Children - steampunk cybercultists

    Classic Movies:

    They Live - In case you’re out of bubblegum

    Tremors - broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn’t ya?

    Scanners - Pop!

    • solstice@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 year ago

      Friggin love Tremors man, it’s redneck Dune, awesome example of a low budget movie made amazing by good writing and creativity.

    • swan_pr@lemmy.ca
      4·
      1 year ago

      Fantastic Planet is one of my all time favorite movies and I think it ages dreadfully well.

      • Arotrios@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        Agreed. I did a rewatch before I posted it to the @13thFloor and I was amazed (hadn’t seen it since I was a kid). Some of the most intriguing and beautiful surrealistic animation ever, and the story is remarkably good - generating a sort of slow clinical terror in the viewer that flows and builds beneath the bright alien landscapes.

        • swan_pr@lemmy.ca
          1·
          1 year ago

          The expressions of the humans really struck me as a kid, I could feel their terror (and anger) without really understanding the whole thing. Side-related but I’ve the 13thfloor tab opened for a few days and I haven’t explored it yet. Guess I should do that now :)

    • daneBramage@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 year ago

      Not scifi but still dark and very funny - the film Wild Tales from Spain is a collection of shorts with the common theme being revenge.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    45·
    1 year ago

    Moon - really good psychological element and great acting.

    Pandorum - fun (and a bit hammy) action horror romp.

    Twelve Monkeys - really tight and suspenseful plot with great acting.

    Being John Malcovich - not sure if this fits in, but a great mind-bender of a sci-fi movie.

    • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
      22·
      1 year ago

      Man, Moon is such a good movie. Sam Rockwell absolutely killed it which I was quite impressed by considering the last thing I saw him in was as Zaphod Beeblebrox in Hitchhikers. Quite a different set of acting chops he exercised.

    • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      Pandorum was a damn good film, a little goofy sure, but a really interesting idea based around what would happen if someone in that situation really did go off the rails and turn a colony ship into their own personal fantasy/hell for everyone else.

    • solstice@lemmy.world
      9·
      1 year ago

      Being John Malkovich is easily one of the weirdest most different interesting movies I’ve ever seen. The writer, Charlie Kaufman, also wrote Eternal Sunshine, another great one.

      Adaptation is worth watching too, with Nicolas Cage playing two roles, based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orleans.

  • Headbangerd17@lemmy.worldEnglish
    42·
    1 year ago

    I haven’t seen anyone mention it but The Man From Earth is fantastic. It’s literally just about a guy saying goodbye to his friends and telling an unbelievable story. There aren’t any flashbacks or visuals illustrating the story. Just him talking and their reactions but it’s so well written that it really draws you in.

    Granted it’s not horror but more people should see this gem

  • maniajack@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    1 year ago

    I don’t have much of an idea on if it was small but the movie Sunshine (2007) comes to mind. Loved that movie. It’s well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it.

    • Hubi@feddit.de
      6·
      1 year ago

      I agree, Pandorum is a great one. I loved the twist at the end - I thought they’d go into a totally different direction with it.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      The first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes are great. That guy who trapped them in the crucible was also great. Most of the rest of the movie was meh, influenced too much by other popular movies monster cliches at the time. I will always love that ending though. Didn’t expect the glass to crack and reveal that twist.

    • nodimetotie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I watched it a lot as a kid. Came back to it a few years ago and it didn’t feel the same. Still a great movie

  • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
    25·
    1 year ago

    Pi (π)

    Smart shut-in builds an implausibly powerful computer in an attempt to discern a pattern that is responsible for all things. He uses the golden spiral as evidence of such a pattern, and believes he will eventually take pi out to so many decimal places that such a pattern emerges there.

    The psychological thriller aspect relates to what he experiences along the way, and how it ends. I have a theory about the ending, but no idea if it’s an opinion shared by the creator or any others.