Six Flix: This Week in Horror Movies (1/12-1/18)

We gear up for a year of highly anticipated sci-fi horror by watching a killer week of aliens, monsters, invasions, and terrifying visitors.

Editor’s Note:

2024 is the year of the big-budget sci-fi spectacle, with many of the year’s most anticipated films following into the sci-fi/alien subgenre. Fans can look forward to the return of major franchises like Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, Ghostbusters, and Mad Max.

Perhaps the most anticipated will be the much-buzzed-about Dune: Part Two from Denis Villeneuve (concluding the story established in Dune: Part One and bringing the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel to a close) and the newest installment of the Alien franchise. Alien: Romulus lands in theaters on August 16th and will be directed by horror favorite Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead).

Fans of Parasite will also want to be seated for the newest film from Oscar-winning South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Mickey 17 will star Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse), Toni Collette (Hereditary), and recent Emmy and Golden Globe-winning (and Oscar-nominated) actor, Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Mayhem).

This horror movie-watching week was full of sci-fi scripts and Alien assailants.

1. NOPE (2022)

Nope is one of the most unique movies we have seen, not in concept but in the details.

The characters were different and felt genuine, and the Alien looked different than any depiction we’ve seen, which was cool. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer carry the film and play their characters wonderfully. Keke Palmer’s character keeps it light and provides good comedic relief when things get tense.

The screams coming from the sky were a creepy and cool touch. There are a lot of ominous and eerie vibes throughout, and it keeps you guessing. This movie reminded us of a mix between Signs and a Wes Anderson Film. The design of the Alien was so intricate and beautiful, we loved getting to see it at the end.

Although at times it felt slow and was definitely not enough of a horror film for us, Nope is worth watching if you like unique movies — and of course, it will always be worth watching a Jordan Peele movie at least once.

2. WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)

War of the Worlds is such a classic, and it is one of Marissa’s all-time favorites.

Based on the H.G. Wells sci-fi masterpiece, this story follows Ray (Tom Cruise), a divorced father with a young daughter, Rachel (Dakota Fanning), and an angsty teenager, Robbie (Justin Chatwin). A lightning storm starts and machines rise from the ground and begin to attack.

The images in this are so impressive and creepy. The giant machines towering over the town and blasting people left and right is just a terrifying thought, and Spielberg does a wonderful job of making you feel the fear from the characters’ point of view.

This movie has some really great anxiety-filled moments, and it keeps you on your toes the whole time.

Although it is action-heavy and not strictly a horror movie, it sure has a lot of horrific elements that make this worth a watch.

3. CLOVERFIELD (2008)

Cloverfield feels like a mix between the aforementioned War of the Worlds and The Blair Witch Project.

The shaky camera work is excused because it is found footage. However, if you get nauseous this one might be tough. The whole thing is shot by a handheld camera by one of the friends in the group this movie follows (T.J. Miller). He was recording for a going away party and just kept recording once chaos ensued.

The friend group is pretty believable. Some are more annoying than others, but it is a fine group to follow along with this wild ride.

We get to watch Lizzy Caplan throughout this one, and she is always phenomenal. T.J. Miller also does a great job of being the obnoxious videotaping friend Hud; you definitely don’t like him, but you are rooting for him.

It is a pretty straightforward monster attack movie. The action starts fairly quickly once the movie starts, which is always a plus.

We love the Monster in this movie, though, we do wish we saw a little less of it. Regardless, it’s a good one.

The monster is reminiscent of War of the Worlds in the big structure and the fact it drops little things down that also start to attack. There is a great attack scene in a subway tunnel where they get overrun with the little monsters, and we love the way it is done; it feels genuinely creepy and frightening.

There are a few inconsistencies throughout, but if you don’t take the movie too seriously, it doesn’t take away from the film. The final attack scene was fun, but we think they should have left a little more to the imagination and not shown the close-up face shots of the monster.

Overall it’s a really fun monster flick and worth a watch if you like found footage horror films.

4. EVENT HORIZON (1997)

Event Horizon is one of our all-time favorite sci-fi horror films. The film gives Alien and Leviathan vibes, and Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill give fantastic performances.

We follow a crew on a search and rescue mission in deep space. They are tasked with finding a ship that has been missing for years and boy do they find it. The Event Horizon is the ship from hell. They start to have issues as soon as they find it. They have to board it because of damage to their ship, but Event Horizon has a mind of its own.

The special effects in this film are insanely good, so realistic and repulsive looking.

We love the scene where gravity hits the ship, and all the liquid falls and hits the ground. It looks so real.

The ship begins to psychologically torture the crew while they attempt to leave. It knows their secrets and it gets into their heads, unraveling them emotionally. The footage they find of the last crew is BRUTAL.

This is one of the best horror sci-fi movies out there, it is definitely worth a watch.

5. UNDERWATER (2020)

Underwater is another fun one and a film where the action starts right away. This one kinda gives a space horror vibe because of the isolated location and crew aspect.

Our main character (Kristin Stewart) is trying to survive an underwater disaster at her rig that is more complicated than we know. The flooding scene at the beginning is great; it’s done very well and feels terrifying.

The anxiety you feel throughout this movie is so uncomfortable. The actors really wore airtight suits for the underwater scenes, and it made it feel incredibly realistic.

We get to see our buddy T.J. Miller again for some comic relief for part of the film.

The score does a great job of perpetuating a sense of dread throughout and setting a dreary and anxious tone.

The underwater swimming scenes are creepy, but we could’ve seen less of the monsters during the attack scenes; it would’ve made it a little better. Nonetheless, the creatures are cool-looking. There is a great shot of them looking at it through the glass of a different rig and it looks beautiful.

Ultimately, this is a great underwater sci-fi creature feature.

6. ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)

Alien: Covenant is everything you want out of a Sci-fi thriller! It is fast-paced and smart, and the killer Alien in it is AMAZING; you get to see it just the right amount.

The premise is simple. A team headed for a new planet in a beautiful giant ship to colonize somewhere new. They are led by their new captain (Billy Crudup) into danger. There is an awesome scene where one of the sleep pods essentially explodes from the inside with someone trapped inside, and it’s absolutely terrifying. They hit some bumps in the road and ended up making the foolish decision to land on a different planet that seemed similar to Earth.

What they find is pretty much the worst-case scenario.

If you are an Alien fan, this one is especially cool because you get to see a bunch of artwork and research that the character David (Michael Fassbender) did on the Xenomorphs, and it’s super interesting and one of our favorite parts of the film.

It’s “go go go” the entire time and definitely doesn’t feel like a 2-hour movie. We also LOVE the ending, which is pretty rare for horror movies.

The kill of the week goes to the chest burst scene in Alien: Covenant.