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![The Blob]()
Released in 1958 and starring the legendary Steve McQueen, "The Blob" tells the story of a gooey alien creature that escapes from a crashed asteroid. After terrorizing a small town and consuming a few people, residents freeze the monster ... and the army drops it somewhere in the Arctic. Let's hope global warming never thaws it out.![The Blob]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: As a marketing scam in Latvia recently revealed, faking a meteor crash is harder than you might think. The meteor in "The Blob" hardly shows the effects of prolonged space travel. But cut the director some slack; movie effects in 1958 hardly compare to today's CGI effects.![The War of the Worlds]()
Science fiction classic "The War of the Worlds" outlines the scary potential of invading aliens — aliens that are really pissed off. In the 1953 version of the film, the spacecraft that go on to ravage the Earth emerge from fallen asteroids, as does the creature in "The Blob." Clearly, 50s Americans had asteroid fever.![The War of the Worlds]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: Is that what aliens would look like? It's hard to tell, of course, but the wide array of outrageous technology in "War of the Worlds" — from death rays to invisble force fields — seems pretty darn far-fetched. After all, in spite of German efforts, we still don't have jet packs.![The Fly]()
The Fly has been remade more times than Madonna, starting in 1957 and culminating most recently in a 2008 opera. But science fiction fans remember David Cronenberg's 1986 version as the definitive telling of the man-meets-fly story.![The Fly]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: David Cronenberg likes to explore the boundaries between man and machine in his films. Consider the bio-implants in "eXistenZ" and the ... well, whatever it was that happened in "Naked Lunch." But is it realistic to suppose that teleportation could lead to crossed genes? Absolutely. Genes rule our lives. Even bad driving may be genetic.![Frankenstein]()
Based on Mary Shelley's gothic novel of the same name, the 1931 horror movie "Frankenstein" is a favorite of Boris Karloff fans — and movie fans everywhere. The poignant story of Dr. Frankenstein's monster (he just wanted to be loved!) influenced a generation of filmmakers, including Mel Brooks, whose "Young Frankenstein" is as classic as the Karloff version.![Frankenstein]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: Are you kidding? Raising the dead with a big jolt of electricity isn't a realistic scenario, although the invention of the defibrillator has saved countless lives. But rest assured, if the dead ever do walk the Earth, physicists have already determined how to save us.![28 Days Later]()
Danny Boyle's shoestring-budget horror film "28 Days Later" took the world by storm in 2002, with the scary tale of a London deserted in the wake of a plague that turns people into infected killing machines. The plague was created by researchers studying the effects of "rage" on monkeys, but it was released by animal activists.![28 Days Later]()
Science Fiction Reality Factor: Ignore the mysterious concept of "rage" that the film's scientists are researching and "28 Days Later" is scarily realistic. Pandemic diseases already threaten the Earth, and have killed millions in the past. Fortunately, most strains of the flu don't turn humans into rage-filled beasts. Yet. Stay away from London to be safe.![The Day the Earth Stood Still]()
The shenanigans of Klaatu and Gort partly reflect Cold-War worries, partly atomic-age angst. The 1951 film about robot-like aliens is a classic of the sci-fi genre. And one thing is certain: Only Keanu Reeves could so woodenly mimic a robot.![The Day the Earth Stood Still]()
Science Fiction Reality Factor: Concerns about the morality and ethics of atomic power persist into today; the ideas brought up in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" are just as vibrant today as they were 50 years ago. But those costumes? Absurd. Aliens don't look like robots, they look like marshmallows and live in Denver.![Aliens]()
The 1979 Ridley Scott film "Alien" was arguably a scarier story than James Cameron's action packed '86 sequel "Aliens." But it had far less science fiction in it, relying primarily on the "alone in the dark" fear we all share. Cameron's film (and HR Giger's critters) broadened the film with guns, beasts, research labs ... and fun.![Aliens]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: The detail Cameron brings to his films — including realistic weather, laboratories, and guns — seem spot-on. And Giger's beasts, with their double-set of slavering jaws and dozens of creepy eggs, have haunted many a dream. But are they realistic? We'll save that answer until man visits the colony on LV-426. But by comparison, Cameron's spaceships look nothing like the UFOs in the recently disclosed British X-files.![Bride of Frankenstein]()
1935's "The Bride of Frankenstein" struck a blow for the rights of women zombies everywhere: Anyone can be a back-from-beyond creature! Sadly, the classic love story ends in tragedy, as the creatures and Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory are all destroyed.![Bride of Frankenstein]()
Science Fiction Reality Meter: We repeat, are you kidding? Raising the dead with a big jolt of electricity STILL isn't a realistic scenario, although the invention of the defibrillator has saved countless lives. But rest assured, if the dead ever do walk the Earth, physicists have already determined how to save us.![Altered States]()
This cult classic film stars William Hurt as a psychologist plumbing the depths of altered states of consciousness through sensory deprivation. After introducing psychedelic mushrooms to his sessions, the professor "devolves" both psychologically and mentally. As if you needed another reason to stop taking those hallucinogens.![Altered States]()
Science Fiction Reality Factor: Sensory deprivation is an intriguing area of research; scientists recently ascertained that subjects in tanks can start hallucinating in as little as 15 minutes. As for the psychedelic drugs, we suggest you skip the mushrooms and maybe unplug your PC: Increasingly teens are using the Internet to get high.![The Thing from Another World]()
An Air Force crew in Alaska discovers a crashed alien space craft; should they study it, or accidentally blow it up? Fortunately, the mishaps leads to the discovery of an alien creature, and "seedlings" from it are bizarrely hatchable here on Earth. We're not making this stuff up.![The Thing from Another World]()
Science Fiction Reality Factor: Is it realistic? Absolutely not. No way. Huh uh. Or is it? Scientists know creatures can survive in outer space. We welcome our incoming alien overlords.10 Scariest Sci-Fi Flicks
Get ready for Halloween by watching one of our favorite scary science fiction films! From invading aliens to anthropological adventures to science experiments gone awry, Hollywood has been as much in love with science as it is afraid of its potential.
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- 10 Scariest Sci-Fi Flicks
