What are some of your favorite smaller Sci-Fi Horror/psychological thriller stories/films?
What are some of your favorite smaller Sci-Fi Horror/psychological thriller stories/films?
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?
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.
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!
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
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.
Triangle . The science fiction angle is that it's a time travel paradox. Predestination is another similar film, based off of Robert Heinlein's "--All You Zombies--".
Cube, though pretty well known, still fits 'small' IMHO, Given it's lows budget.
Enemy Mine was pretty trippy. I saw it when I was a kid though so I'm not sure if it was any good or if it fits.
Vivarium was quite odd and different. I appreciated the original take on the age old concept of how alien and weird the suburbs are.
I'm not sure if it counts as smaller but The Thing, god damn, finally saw that one for the first time recently and it really is one of the GOATs.
Altered States comes to mind. It sort of straddles sci-fi and horror without really being firmly in either. Deals with some fringe psychology research during the 70’s going wrong in unexpected ways.
Brainstorm is more obviously sci-fi / speculative fiction… can’t say to much else without spoiling the surprises.
Neither one of these is going to seriously blow your mind, but there’s still food for thought. Bon appétit. 
The first movie that came to mind is Aniara (2019). It's a great film that really goes beyond to show the hopelessness of being lost in space and how tiny we are in comparison. Fair warning though: This film will absolutely destroy you on an emotional level.
I love sci fi movies/books where not many humans are left. Even though not all are small stories: The day of the triffids; I am legend; 28 days; i love those because of the shots you see of cities without people, with overgrown buildings that are falling apart, animals thriving. I also like other sci fi stories, but the ones i mentioned above provide a temporary relief from all the news about wars, hunger, heartless people, news that is caused by greedy, evil people who seem willing to destroy the weak, other species, and even the entire planet.
I feel like Time Lapse isn't on enough people's radar. It's a tightly written sci-fi psychological thriller.
Cube
Prospect (2018, movie) - It steals all the cool you associate with crunchy sci-fi short-stories, and gets away with it. Beautiful, lovingly detailed interior sets. Sparse exposition, leaving your snatching at any little turn of phrase or namedrop wondering if it's world-building, or just how the characters talk. Just the right length. Respect for not making it Yet Another Miniseries (YAM (this is my acronym, you'll never see it again)).
Also wow, I haven't read any reviews until now, and I'm glad I hadn't. If you like sci-fi just watch it. It's 1 and a 1/2 hours long. I've already told you too much.
I've mentioned it before, and I'll do so again! The Signal was a nice surprise, that sorta came and went in theaters, and we've watched it a handful of times since, as a spooky sci-fi comfort film. It's been a long while since the last time, though, so it may not have quite the same impact now, but that kinda makes me want to watch it more.
And not that it's at all smaller, but Shin Godzilla for another to watch over and over. So beautifully done.
Pi, Brainstorm, Moon, Primer.
Society (1989 film) has some amazing 80s body horror practical effects by Screaming Mad George (Joji Tani), who also worked on Predator and some of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. And a general hatred of the rich, which is always nice.
For horror books, my favorite that I've read recently were The Twisted Ones and A House With Good Bones, both by T. Kingfisher.
Years ago, I watched this Korean movie, The Wig, with a friend, and were both so freaked out. It was about a woman who was slowly being possessed by the spirt of the woman from who the hair of her wig had been taken from. It seems kinda hokey, but the woman being possessed had just recovered from cancer (thus, the need for the wig), and the story was from the POV of her sister watching as her sister seems to have a complete personality change after being diagnosed as cancer-free, and was trying to figure out what was happening. Some parts of it might not have aged well (namely, one of the twists), but the way it felt more like a psychological horror than a horror horror really stuck with me.
As for gaming, I can NOT recommend the two games by Red Candle enough. Both games start out seemingly as pure horror, then end up just ripping your heart out and stepping on it as the situation becomes clear.
Detention is a side scroller set during the White Terror period of Taiwan in a high school, and it’s really good. There was a movie made from it that looked to stay really close to the story, and it won a fair number of awards in Asia (I still haven’t seen it yet). There was a Netflix sequel show, but I didn’t really get into it. Detention, though, is really good, and you can get it on pretty much any platform now for only a few bucks.
Their other game, Devotion, is a damn masterpiece and I will never stop being angry it got pulled from Steam after only a week because some idiot accidentally left in a placeholder image that had “Xi Jin Ping Winnie the Pooh moron” written on it - that cost Red Candle’s partner in China their business license, and caused them to pull the game from Steam. It was supposed to go up on GOG, but they backed out a few days after announcing they would be selling it, claiming it was because of the “gamer feedback,” or some such nonsense (but really because Cyberpunk 2077 had just come out in China and they didn’t want to risk upsetting the Chinese government), and they refused to answer anyone asking them about it on twitter back when it happened.
Rant aside, Devotion is set in 1980s Taiwan, and is about a small family that gets destroyed because the father gets wrapped up in a cult. Not a weird murder cult or anything, just a cult promising him easy solutions. It’s basically a “domestic horror,” the horror that happens in a home. The game starts in your living room, with your wife talking about your daughter, Mei Shin, then going, “Where’s Mei Shin?” Then you’re looping through three different years trying to piece together where she is and what happened to her.
Devotion is only on PC, and you can only get it from Red Candle’s webpage. It’s only about $16, and it’s so worth the price.
Edit - This is a really good video comparing Silent Hill 2 and Devotion, on how they both handle the uncanny - Silent Hill 2 with their use of FMVs, and Devotion with it’s use of actual video footage. It has some mild spoilers, but it warns you and gives you a time stamp to skip to avoid them. An Uncanny Reality.
The Tails From the Crypt series is awesome and the directors/producers have an amazing podcast "How Not to Make a Movie" that gives a lot of great insight into the stories, actors, special effects, and more. I like listening to them then watching the episodes later that day.
What a fun coincidence; I just watched RedLetterMedia's review of Event Horizon the other day. Spoiler: Jay kind of enjoyed it. Mike decidedly did not.
I'm generally not crazy about horror/thriller movies, but I did read The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton recently. It's a great book!
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is a book of short stories that are great. I really like the rain and he has a story called The Long Rain which I read a lot. He has a few in there that are actually really spooky though.
The Marionette's Inc was just taken and adapted into a loosely based episode in the last season of Black Mirror (Beyond The Sea)! They're very very different, but it's the same concept applied differently and the book itself shows up in the episode.
13 ghosts
For films, Under The Skin (2013 indie film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johanson in a pretty low-key role for the most part) is fantastic. More on the horror end, but has strong scifi elements. Amazingly crafted film, nothing really gory at all, the horror is all psychological, but it has such disturbing moments that stick in your head (unwanted) for years. I've watched it 3 times though, so that may be part of the problem.
"Yoo Retoont, Sneogg. Ay Noo" and "The Greater Punishment" by Marek S. Huberath (those are must read if you can find translations)
"The Radius Riders" by Barrington Baylay
"A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison
"A Song for Lya" by George R. R. Martin
"The Quickening" by Michael Bishop
"Dying in Bangkok" by Dan Simmons
"Press Enter" by John Varley
"Saliva Tree" by Brian Aldiss
"Catch That Zeppelin" by Fritz Leiber
"Deathbinder" by Alexander Jablokov
"The Last of Winnebagos" by Connie Willis
The Mist (2007)
I did not expect the film's ending to be so crushing.
"Automata", about human-robot interactions in a post-apocalyptic setting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autómata
More "suspense" than "horror", but it's the most realistic depiction I've seen of how future robots will actually communicate. Overall a solid sci-fi movie that flew under the radar.
Andromeda strain, Logan's run, Event horizon, stalker, x-files series 😆
Peace On Earth is a book by Stanislaw Lem, the author of Solaris.
It is my all-time favourite sci-fi novel.
The premise is that mankind builds autonomous war robots and sends them to the moon to fight proxy wars instead of real wars on earth. But the robots evolve. For reasons unknown, contact with the moon is lost, so humanity sends a astronaut up to see what's going on.
The music video for Failure's song Counterfeit Sky
It's such a good package. I only wish it was a fully flushed out story
I watched Circle on Netflix a long time ago (not to be confused with Tom Hanks movie), minimalistic but captivating. A Man from Earth is really deep although even more minimalistic
Always had a soft spot for Impostor (2001) with Gary Sinise based on Philip K Dick's short story. It never is mentioned very much
@Kikkertje 1• Marxism-Fennekinism English2•
A walk in the dark - Arthur C. Clarke
It's a scifi thriller short story. I believe that there is an old radio play available
Annihilation fits within the criteria, but it's not really a "small", indie or less known movie.
"High Life" (2018) by Claire Denis was quite interesting. Dark and poignant with a great cast and unique execution
I rather liked The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt.
I loved The Illuminae Files as a teen, definitely worth a read
I always wanted to watch a full length feature based on Edmond Hamilton's "Exile", but obviously knowing how it ends would kinda ruin it.
Oh man, "Pandorum" is such an underrated gem in the realm of sci-fi horror! The whole idea of waking up in a massive, disorienting spaceship with no memory is already a recipe for tension. Add in the layers of psychological dread and the cannibalistic twist, and you've got yourself a seriously compelling story. I love how it blurs the lines between human sanity, survival instincts, and utter monstrosity. Definitely a must-watch if you're into dark, atmospheric thrillers.
Demon Seed. I like the book mostly, but even the movie has such an outlandish premise that makes for a great watch, especially for first-timers.
Edit: Derp. None of these are horror tho 😖
There are some generally great small(!) / low budget movies, especially sci-fi. Here's one example, this one's basically zero budget but it's a great one (12min): https://tube.instellate.xyz/watch?v=GhDlV9PDw3Y
I just rewatched today and turns out I had already seen it. I got the impression through the whole film that this was a remake from an older movie? Is that possible? Nevertheless, I remember now why I loved this one so much! The story and everything is just awesome :) I'm always trying to find new Sci fi movies that I didn't watch already, it's kind of hard right now, so feel free to leave here any other recommendations you might have!
If you're a fan of atmospheric sci-fi horror, you really need to check out "Pandorum." Imagine waking up on a colossal spaceship, disoriented and with no memory. The tension builds in unexpected ways and keeps you glued to your seat. It masterfully plays with themes of survival, human nature, and psychological dread. Seriously, don't miss out on this underrated gem!
Avalon love this movie! I havent seen it in years but still it creeps up and reminds me how good it was. One of those shows that seems to pull you in and suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand and wow!
Understand by Ted Chiang
Pilot episode of Rakka. It's so well done and has a lot of potential, but alas it's a small studio doing these kinds of things and has no backing of one of woke studios.
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That added nothing to the conωersation, Mich like this.