02x05 - Space Horror

[bunniefuu]

[eerie music]

[wolf howling]

[gate clicking]

[rope creaks]

[metal thuds]

[doll thuds]

[projector whirring]

TANANARIVE DUE: I think a lot
of these films set in space

are representing that
pioneering spirit,

like overcoming the unknown,
the adventurous part

of our human nature.

But you've sort of reached
the end of everything

once you get to space.

Most likely if things
are going badly,

you are going to die alone in
the most horrible possible way.

[dramatic music]

[flames hissing]

[groans]

Space is perfect for horror
because you have isolation.

It's one of the best tools.

You're usually
trapped on a spaceship

and there's nowhere you can go.

[chuckles] That builds
tension, and scares,

and it works every time.

TANANARIVE DUE:
Space is horrible.

[groans]

TANANARIVE DUE:
Space is the worst.

[expl*si*n]

[meat squiggling]

[glass shattering]

[monster roars]

As I gaze into
the stars at night,

I often ask myself,
what are the must-see

space horror films of all time?

[monster roars]

[dramatic music]

[eerie music]

[monster screeches]

MICHAEL GINGOLD: You
go into outer space,

any possible
species could exist.

[monster screeches]
[groans]

MICHAEL GINGOLD: And
the prevailing idea

is that they're hostile and they
want to k*ll us and/or eat us.

[monster screeches]

All those possibilities
are kind of endless

when it comes to horror films.

[eerie music]

[dramatic music]

It, The Terror From Beyond
Space, this, of course,

is the granddaddy of the
alien is loose inside a ship

and picking off the
crew members movie.

[dramatic music]

[monster roars]

[screams]

The way that film
started, you're immediately

engaged because you're dealing
with the trial of an astronaut

who had just returned
from Mars and he's

on trial because
they suspect that he

m*rder*d his entire crew.

JUDGE: And Colonel Carruthers
is being brought back

for a court martial to
face trial for the murders

of the rest of the crew.

[dramatic music]

RYAN TUREK: You
discover what actually

happened on the spaceship.

And this crew went to Mars.

They accidentally left
like a hatch open,

as maybe you do because this is
your first time going to Mars.

[chuckles] And on their
way back, they discover

there was a stowaway alien.

[dramatic music]

I'm sure many a drive-in movie
viewer screamed with dread more

by the sight of the shadows
coming around the corner

or just the edges of this
beast's feet or hands

much more than the full-on shots
of that weirdly-shaped horror.

[g*nshots]

That's what makes
this a special movie.

It's fantastic the imagination
that went into filmmaking back

at that time and the commitment
of these really like dedicated actors.

[dramatic music]

In a way this is sort of a
cousin to things like the thing

from another world
where you have

a very isolated
setting where people

absolutely can't get out.

In that case, you know you're
in the middle of the Antarctic.

You know, you're stuck in
this research facility.

[dramatic music]

In this case, you're
stuck on a spaceship.

But at the heart, it's
basically the same idea.

It's 10 little Indians.

You know, you're all
going to die one by one.

You don't know why or
what's attacking you except,

it's a monster from
outer space in this case.

[dramatic music]

Sounds like Ridley
Scott's Alien.

And it reportedly was an
inspiration for Alien.

But obviously, Ridley
Scott rolled up his sleeves

and said I could do this better.

[dramatic music]

[screams]

[glass shattering]

JOE HILL: What's the best
space horror of all time?

I don't think there's any doubt,
it's Ridley Scott's Alien.

[monster screeches]

[screams]

Alien is as scary as
a hand on your throat.

[ominous music]

ERNEST DICKERSON:
They were sleeping.

They were on their way home.

They felt they had
already made their money.

But to be awakened and
thrust into the middle

of a horrific situation has
got to be the ultimate, I

don't know, insult, you know?

[chuckles] It's like,
is the universe really

like f*cking with me or what?

[monster roars]

[monster screeches]

When it came out, people
kept debating like, is it

science fiction, is it horror?

Obviously, it's both.

You can have both of
them in the same movie.

[chuckles] But people
wanted to pigeonhole it

because they want to know
how they're supposed to process this.

It is unquestionably
horror though.

I mean the chestburster scene
alone is one of the all time

greatest horror scenes.

[groans] [grunts]
[groans] [screams]

[screams]

My mother took...

I was too young to see it at
the time because it was an R.

So my mom went with me and
she watched the entire movie

through her fingers.

Once the chestburster happened...

[skin bursting]
[screams]

[screams]

Oh, god.

Oh, god.

[sobs]

STEVE NILES:... I
was just in love.

[chuckles] I just thought
it was the greatest thing

I'd ever seen in my life.

[glass shattering]

NATHANIEL THOMPSON:
The genius of alien

is that like the
chestburster is not where...

it's not the high point
and like the rest of it

is a letdown at all.

Because I think this thing
is paced just so well.

Really, the movie keeps yanking the carpet
out from under you over and over again.

[eerie music]

Barking mad.

NATHANIEL THOMPSON: You
thought Tom Skerritt

was the star of this movie.

And in a normal sci-fi
film, the male captain

would be the guy that you
would follow because he's going

on this hunt through
the ducts trying

to find you know this alien.

And we don't even know what
it looks like at this point.

Last time we saw it,
it was a little thing

that came out of his chest.

- So how fast does it grow?
- We don't know.

[dramatic music]

Am I... am I clear, Lambert?

I want to get the
hell out of here.

It keeps cutting between
Tom Skerritt on the hunt

in the dark and then you have
especially Veronica Cartwright

is among the group
watching him because nobody

does hysteria
better than Veronica

Cartwright in any movie ever.

[device beeping]

Move.

Get out of there.

Her performance is so calibrated

because it's supposed to match
our own sense of suspense.

And so it keeps like going up,
and up, and up, and up, and up.

LAMBERT: Oh, god.

It's moving right towards you.

NATHANIEL THOMPSON: You know,
and that's when you really feel

just how truly trapped he is.

If something goes
wrong, that's it.

And the very worst
thing does happen.

LAMBERT: Wait.
The other way, god.

[monster screeches]

[device beeps]

[ominous music]

JOE HILL: I actually
think that I'm not

the only one that
the sequel, Aliens,

is actually a better picture.

[screams]

[body crunches]

JOE HILL: Funnier, more intense,
more relentless, more exciting.

But the original, the first film
Alien is a better horror film.

[monster screeches]

[g*nshots]

To me, Aliens is one
of those perfect movies.

[g*nshots]

[monster screeches]

[pants]

[g*nshots]

What's great about Aliens is
there's so much great character

stuff in that film.

I only need to know one
thing, where they are.

Go, Vasquez.

Kick a*s.

When I was a kid watching
that movie and we see...

you know, my Latino household,
we see Vasquez show up,

we're like, thank you.

It's about time.

We're here.

We're in space too,
dog, in the future.

We made it.

OK.

Hell yeah!

[ominous music]

I had never seen anything like
that before, a well prepared

group of soldiers
to go in and take

down the creature, the villain
of the movie, you know?

It's just like, oh, man,
we're going to watch an a*s

whooping for a while here.

[dramatic music]

MICHAEL GINGOLD: For the
first at least an hour,

you don't really
have any alien action

aside from a brief
nightmare that Sigourney

Weaver's character has.

No!

No!

It's all about
building up the suspense,

building up the
situation, and letting

you get to know
this great ensemble

of colorful characters.

And then about 65,


RICKY CARMONA: sh*t
starts to get real quiet.

And they run into that poor
woman who's just attached

to the wall of the ship.

[dramatic music]

[ominous music]

And we see again
creature come out.

[monster roars]

[shouts]

RICKY CARMONA: It's
like, oh, that's right,

this alien don't f*ck around.

[chuckles] And boom.

[groans]

RICKY CARMONA:
They all come out.

And it's like, oh, there's...

[chuckles] there is
a plethora of aliens

and it becomes a sh*t show.

[screams]

[g*nshots]

The action is just beyond pure.

[g*nshots]

[monster screeches]

[groans]
MICHAEL GINGOLD: It is horror.

It is very frightening.

But also, a great
action movie too.

[monster hissing]

DAVE SCHILLING: The Alien movies
are so important to the genre

because it's the
greatest monster.

[monster growls]

It's the best monster in
the space horror genre

and it's iconic for a reason.

[monster growls]

[eerie music]

The design of that
monster, the Xenomorph,

is so terrifying and so
unnatural and yet natural.

[monster hissing]

[eerie music]

I think across the board when
you talk about space horror,

you're talking about technology
being perverted or technology

overwhelming nature.

And nature is the thing that
they are the most afraid

of, which is this alien.

[screams]

But then of course in
the sequels you find out,

it's like a bio-engineered
weapon and all this stuff.

[monster roars]

It's a much more
interesting idea

to think of the alien as
something that we just

discovered, a natural resource.

Ambiguity is so important
to horror in general,

but especially in space horror
because the more you get bogged

down into exposition, and
lore, and explanation,

the less interesting
the ideas become.

And the Alien movies got so
complicated as they went on.

And it's unfortunate because
those first two were perfect.

[eerie music]

[dramatic music]

TED GEOGHEGAN: So following
the success of Alien,

Roger Corman was
like, OK, there's

clearly money to be made doing
sci-fi horror stuff in space.

So he comes up with this
idea for Galaxy Of Terror.

[audio logo]

And it is insane.

[monster growls]

[dramatic music]

[monster growls]

[eerie music]

[spaceship whirring]

[eerie music]

This is insanity.

What a magnificent
piece of work.

[monster screeches]

[screams]

[monster screeches]

[monstrous chuckle]

[laser fires]

Look, Roger Corman
is an essential.

I don't... you know, I know
people go, oh, low budget,

schlock, and you know, and his
weird monsters and the boom

mic might be in the film.

But Roger Corman is
part of the horror canon

and you have to see him.

And Galaxy Of Terror
has its moments.

[spaceship whirring]

It's essentially about
a group of adventurers who

get onto a spacecraft,
go into deep, deep space,

and end up on this
supposedly barren planet.

They enter this
creepy giant pyramid

and there they start to realize
that all of their worst fears

are coming true.

It was my own fear
that attacked me, brought

to life somehow by this place.

Everyone's worst fears aren't
being left by a loved one

or getting cancer.

No, no, no.

Their worst fears are like,
what if my crystal throwing star

turns on me and attacks me?

[groans] [grunts]

[dramatic music]
- OK.

I was a 12-year-old kid.

I'm at the Culver theater.

And there's a very
intense scene where

it looks like glass in the
movie but it's clearly plastic,

breaks off and goes
into a character's arm.

And it's moving up
the inside of his arm.

[high-pitched beeping]

And my dad comes out of
nowhere and puts his hand on my

shoulder to ask me if I was OK.

And I scream.

And I go, hell, no, I'm not OK.

[chuckles] And you know,
it was a packed theater

so everybody's busting
up laughing around me.

So it made Galaxy Of
Terror a classic for me.

[dramatic music]

[groans]

This being Roger Corman, one
of his mandates in his films

is that you had to
have bare boobs.

[eerie music]

I don't know why around
that time though they

decided that what
people wanted was

to see boobs covered in slime.

[ominous music]

[screams]

TRACEY SALISBURY: It's
got the bizarre scene

where the buxom
woman who can't act

has all of her clothes torn
off by this space centipede.

And that kind of
goes on for a while.

[screams]

[dramatic music]

I guess somebody enjoyed that.

I don't want to
know who they are.

[groans]

[dramatic music]

As troubling and as
difficult as that sequence is,

it's followed up by
seeing Erin Moran,

Joanie of Joanie Loves Chachi...

[flesh squiggling]

...getting strangled by
tentacles until she literally

explodes from the pressure.

[screams]

[head bursts]

So this is a film
that walks both lines

in terms of absurdity.

[eerie music]

DAVE SCHILLING: Pitch Black
is, I think, one of the best

alien ripoffs of all time.

[chuckles]

[monsters screeching]

Pitch Black takes
that basic idea

of there are aliens out
there and they're hiding

and they'll eat you.

[dramatic music]

But it creates a reason
why they are attacking.

They only come out
when it's dark.

[monsters screeching]

And there's an eclipse.

And there's a crashed space
transport with a convict.

And the convict, of course, is
Riddick played by Vin Diesel

and he has special eyes
so he can see in the dark.

[dramatic music]

[monster growls]

Riddick is the perfect
protagonist for this movie

because I think a
lot of space horror

needs to have this
gritty feel to it.

That it needs to
have anti-heroes.

I don't truly know
what's going to happen when

the lights go out, Carolyn.

But I do know once
the dying starts,

this little psycho
f*ck family of horrors

is going to rip itself apart.

DAVE SCHILLING: It can't
have the swashbuckling Luke

Skywalker or Captain Kirk types.

Looks clear.

[monster screeches]

I thought you said clear.

I said it looks clear.

Well, what's it look like now?

Looks clear.

The whole world of Pitch
Black and the franchise

that spawned from it is gritty.

It is tactile and dirty.

[monster growls]

And the monsters are
a reflection of that.

[dramatic music]

The monsters are
grotesque and strange.

And I wouldn't say they're
iconic the way the alien

is but it is this really
fascinating world where it is...

a lot of the things are vague.

[eerie music]

[monster screeches]

[flesh ripping]

[monster screeches]

[knife slices]

[body thuds]

It's a very nuts and bolts space

horror film in
terms of delivering

the shocks you paid for.

[monster growls]

And running the story
briskly on rails towards the

desperate final confrontation.

[monsters screeching]

It works.

It's a well-oiled machine sort
of like Vin Diesel himself.

[dramatic music]

[shouts]

[ominous music]

Ooh, what a mean movie Life is.

[laughs]

It's behind you!

[chokes]

NATHANIEL THOMPSON: Kind
of strange little trend

for a while where we had these
really nihilistic science

fiction movies
and Life, I think,

is probably maybe
the cruelest of them.

[eerie music]

I don't think we were
really prepared for just

how like dirty this movie
was willing to play.

[dramatic music]

Life is essentially about this
very small outer space crew

and they wind up acquiring
what is essentially

just a glorified microbe.

My god, we're looking at
the first incontrovertible

proof of life beyond Earth.

NATHANIEL THOMPSON: A life
form that they wound up

taking onto the ship and
trying to keep it confined

and study it.

But it starts growing
exponentially at a very,

very, very fast pace.

[dramatic music]

At first it seems like
this very cute thing.

Then it's not so cute.

[electricity crackles]

[dramatic music]

It is incredibly lethal.

It will absorb
any kind of matter

that it touches, any
kind of organic matter.

[shouts]

Life really works because
not only is this a dangerous

entity, it's getting bigger.

[dramatic music]

And then on top of it,
it attaches itself to you

and you're not quite
sure when it does it.

And so it's just a very
unpredictable creature.

[dramatic music]

[gasps]

It's almost kind of like
The Thing actually in space.

MAN: Bryn.

[gasps]

JOE BEGOS: The Thing in space
without as many makeup effects,

that's a good way to put it.

[dramatic music]

WOMAN: [pants]

JOE BEGOS: It's just a
really tight, you know,

nice piece of filmmaking
and there's CG in it.

But again, it's minimal
and really smartly done.

And the cast is... the
performances are really good.

[dramatic music]

What really sets this one
apart though, is the ending.

[dramatic music]

It does a little narrative
switcheroo at the end

that is just so sadistic.

I mean, it is such a middle
finger to the audience

that you just have to admire
just how audacious it is,

for essentially, you have our
two survivors wind up going off

on separate stellar lifeboats.

[flames roaring]

TRACEY SALISBURY: They
come up with a great plan

and then it just
goes haywire, which

is why I just think
that movie is just

kind of an instant classic.

That ending is just devastating.

MIRANDA: No!

TRACEY SALISBURY: It
makes perfect sense

that this woman ends up
spinning off into space.

[screams] No!

No!

TRACEY SALISBURY: And he's
down there in the thing.

DAVID: No!

No, no, no!

Yes, you're going to open
that and Jake Gyllenhaal

is going to end the world.

[dramatic music]

[eerie music]

[upbeat music]

[monsters groaning]

[screams]

[monster screeches]

[grunts] [shouts] Oh, my god.

[monster screeches]

[monster roars]

[liquid fizzing]

[monster roars]

[face bursts]

[screams]

[body bursts]

[ominous music]

The silly trope
of jettising slasher

villains into space started
with Hellraiser Bloodline...

[ominous music]

...where the final
chapter of that

actually takes Pinhead and
throws him onto a space station

that is eventually
revealed to be the lament

configuration itself.

That was the film
that was finally

supposed to k*ll
Pinhead and finally

supposed to destroy him in this
gigantic expl*si*n of light.

[eerie music]

Of course, I think we got
like six or seven equals after

that so clearly, sending
Pinhead into space

did not work for him.

I am forever.

[dramatic music]

[eerie music]

DEWAYNE PERKINS: I remember
Leprechaun In Space

and I was like, why is all
these villains going to space?

[chuckles]

[eerie music]

[groans] [screams]

DEWAYNE PERKINS: There
is a lot of people

just still terrorize on Earth.

But I was on board.

I need flight.

Speaking of tropes
of sending K*llers

into space for another movie,
like I really enjoy Jason X.

[ominous music]

Todd Farmer like with
the script took an idea

that could have been just really
bad and cheesy and infused

enough of the Friday the 13th elements
into it to make it interesting.

[dramatic music]

[knife slashes]

Jason has been cryogenically
frozen and put on this ship.

But nothing can stop Jason.

That's the last place
you want to be is

in a closed capsule with Jason.

We're going to be safe here.

[glass shattering]

It's the same formula for all
the Friday the 13ths, they just

put a bunch of young kids
in tight fitting clothes on a space ship.

[eerie music]

[screams]

But the fact that they have
regeneration machines means

that here is this
creature that has

always been indestructible now
gets to be new and improved.

[dramatic music]

DEWAYNE PERKINS: To
take Jason who's already

such a big terrifying figure
and then like upgrade him,

I was like please, keep going.

The most brilliant
part of Jason X

is that there is a Holodeck.

[whooshing]

The way they are able to keep
him from k*lling everyone

for a little bit,
you see they put him

in a hologram version
of Camp Crystal Lake

and he gets to k*ll teenagers.
[laughs]

WOMAN: [groans] [groans]

That distracts him for a while.

And I think that's
brilliant writing.

[screams]

DEWAYNE PERKINS: When he
put the head in the hydrogen

and then crushed
it, I said, wow,

we are doing something here.

[head shatters]

[dramatic music]

There's also a
scene in this movie

where the space ship
actually smashes

into an entire space station...

[expl*si*n]

[screams]

TED GEOGHEGAN:... k*lling I think
tens of thousands of people.

[expl*si*n]

It's Jason's biggest
k*ll of all time.

[head smashes]

DEWAYNE PERKINS:
That's what I find

very interesting about horror.

You're following the bad person.

Yes, we're on the side
of the protagonist

but this is an
antagonist's game.

That's why we're here because
we're following this antagonist

and seeing how they're
antagonizing these people.

Because without that,
what do we have?

Like, that is what
horror is to me.

[dramatic music]

[projector whirring]

Oh, my god.

Colonel Dan McCready
commanding Mars Gravity Probe 1.

[dramatic music]

[laser firing]

I have no way to contact NASA.

[alarm buzzing]

[air whooshing]

And even if I could,
it's going to be

four years until a manned
mission can reach me.

Oh, f*ck you, Mars.

VINCENT: The entire
crew of Tantalus base

was infected by some sort
of virulent bacteria.

[electricity crackles]

MAN: Open the panel.

Pretty good chance
I'm infected too.

[monster screeches]

Come on, you
mindless m*therf*cker!

[g*nshots]

[monster roars]

MAN: Mars, the Angry Red Planet.

Sounds so
foreboding, doesn't it?

Help!

Help!

[monster roars]

[device beeping]

[monster growls]

[ominous music]

Current estimates are that the
universe is 13.7 billion years

old and that there are roughly


which means there's so
much in the universe

and we're just a little,
little tiny part of that.

And what is out there?

[dramatic music]

Are happy nice things waiting
for us in the universe?

Or is the universe just a
much larger version of what's

happening here on the
planet, which is to say it's

filled with death
and horror at a scale

that we can't possibly imagine?

[monster growls]

[screams]

[body thuds]

NATHANIEL THOMPSON:
Planet Of The Vampires,

probably the greatest of
all Italian sci-fi movies

and horror movies.

It does both very well.

This, of course, is the one
excursion into pure science

fiction from the
great Mario Bava, who

was a maestro of Gothic horror.

[dramatic music]

Also the granddaddy
of the giallo.

[dramatic music]

ERNEST DICKERSON: It's two ships
that crash land on a planet.

And some unknown
alien force is taken

over the crew members that are
k*lled and bringing them back.

[eerie music]

[metal clanging]

And it's about the
astronauts trying to fend off

these alien forces
that are also trying

to take possession of them.

[eerie music]

This is a film that transports
us into a brightly-colored,

weirdly-explored
space in space...

[objects clattering]

...in which the costumes,
the world is so gorgeous.

I could watch this
film silently with just

like Pink Floyd playing
and get a lot out of it.

He was a true artist,
not just a craftsman.

So when he did Planet
Of The Vampires,

you get a train wreck of emotion
mixed with a train wreck of violence...

[dramatic music]

...that is mysterious.

There's no answer for it.

[eerie music]

The horror in the film is really

a lot of like the crew trying
to grasp and figure out and find

what can't really be found.

[ominous music]

[whooshing]

Did you see anything?

I don't know what I saw.

I don't even know if
I saw anything at all.

There's nothing to
like k*ll and slay.

But it's still like
very classical space

horror in that
there's the threat

of colonialism and imperialism.

And I suppose you
need our dead bodies.

No, they must be
willing only to submit.

Lose their bodies, as
well as, lose their will.

The vampires on The Planet
Of The Vampires are seeking

dominion over the universe,
as is usually the case

[chuckles] in these films.

It was [STUTTERS] like another
will fighting my own in my mind

trying to take over control.

Their hope is that
they could create

some kind of symbiotic
relationship between themselves

and the humans.

If you've ever been a part of
a dysfunctional relationship

or in an a*usive relationship,
you can see yourself fully

and validly attaching
yourself to another person

in what you believe is a
mutually beneficial, symbiotic,

healthy bond.

But what is actually draining
of one of the parties involved.

[dramatic music]

LEA ANDERSON: And
so it kind of works

as a possession film,
as this kind of play

on what a vampire can be.

[laser firing]

[groans]

LEA ANDERSON: It really
demonstrates the malleability

of space horror for all of
the different possibilities

that the unknown of
outer space opens up.

[ominous music]


is a horror movie.

It is incorrect to
view it as anything

other than a horror movie.

[audio logo]

It is structured exactly
like a horror movie.

It brings the villain
in at the right time.

It keeps the villain sort of
at arm's length for a while.

It starts to go in for the
k*ll at exactly when it's

supposed to go in for the k*ll.

I mean it's structured
exactly the same as Jaws.

[dramatic music]

There's five astronauts.

Three of them are in
hibernation and two of them

are just minding the ship,
Dave Bowman and Frank Poole.

HAL 9000: The crew
of Discovery 1

consists of five men and
one of the latest generation

of the HAL 9000 computers.

KURT SAYENGA: The
antagonist of 2001

became HAL 9000, the
sentient computer.

The 9,000 series is the most
reliable computer ever made,

foolproof and
incapable of error.

It's a very calmed
voice and probably

be like the AIs who
are soon doing our jobs

and will be feeding
off of our life energy

to power their
mainframes in the future.

Can you hold it a bit closer?

Sure.

I think there's a
lot of similarities

between that film and Psycho...

[ominous music]

...in terms of how
it works and how

it keeps the objective
use of who is the bad guy

and they're watching
you all the time.

HAL is always watching the guys.

Perkins is always
watching, you know,

his next victim you through
an eye hole or whatever.

A lot of that is coming
out of Hitchcock and very

successfully.

KURT SAYENGA: The astronauts
realize that something

is wrong with HAL.

If he were proven
to be malfunctioning,

I wouldn't see how we'd have
any choice but disconnection.

But what they don't realize
is that HAL can read lips.

[dramatic music]

So HAL's going to do something.

But what can HAL possibly do?

Well, HAL can do is
remotely take control of one

of these pods while the
astronauts are outside

and he uses the pod
to k*ll Frank Poole.

[air hissing]

Meanwhile, inside kills the
astronauts in hypersleep

just by turning them off.

[alarm beeping]

DAVE: Do you read me, HAL?

HAL 9000: Affirmative,
Dave, I read you.

A lot of great horror
movies, especially

haunted house movies, stillness
is a huge element of it.

Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

HAL 9000: I'm sorry, Dave.

I'm afraid I can't do that.

That is so much a part of
why 2001 works and why HAL

is so bone-chilling as an idea.

[ominous music]

HAL 9000: Just what do you
think you're doing, Dave.

HAL is one of the great
villains in horror history.

HAL 9000: Stop, Dave.

JOE HILL: In some
ways, HAL is becoming

more scary with
every passing day

now that we're all walking
around with HAL in our pocket.

HAL 9000: I'm afraid, Dave.

JOE HILL: HAL is Siri.

HAL is Alexa.

It's fair to be afraid of
what will happen on the day

he decides we're expendable.

[air hissing]

[metal whirs]

[dramatic music]

After Dave Bowman
is able to defeat HAL,

the next sequence Jupiter
and beyond the infinite,

it always gets me.

[eerie music]

Being taken by an
unknown force that

transformed him into the
next step in evolution.

Talk about being taken
out of your comfort zone.

[eerie music]

[dramatic music]

That is another aspect
of cosmic horror,

I think, being transformed
against your will

into something
ultrahuman, superhuman,

or even less than human.

[dramatic music]

You don't know.

DANA GOULD: Arthur C. Clark who
wrote the novel and co-wrote

the screenplay said either
we're alone in the universe

or we're not alone
in the universe,

both options equally terrifying.

[eerie music]

[thunder rumbles]

[projector whirring]

[upbeat music]

Beam me up.

[SINGING] Ooh, la, la, la

[high-pitched whirring]

[SINGING] Ooh, la, la, la

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music]

[SINGING] Ooh

[flames roaring]

[groans]

[ominous music]

MAN: Skipper, no.

Please stop.

Let go.
WOMAN: Jesus.

- MAN: Get off him.
- Skipper!

[dramatic music]

So there's a whole subset of
films that are about isolation

in space and what happens
to people when they're put

into these extreme conditions.

[eerie music]

Usually, something bad happens.

And the bad thing that happens
is that you bring your problems

with you wherever you are.

[screams]

No matter how far
you are from Earth,

you're still a human
being and you still

have all the drama, and
conflicts, and jealousy

that come with that.

I warned you while your
ship was still in space,

I begged you not to
land on this planet.

A great example of
this is the early science

fiction film Forbidden Planet.

[audio logo]

Forbidden Planet is probably
the most important science

fiction movie of all time.

I know some people would say
Star Wars is more important

but Forbidden
Planet was the thing

that created the template
for pretty much every space

adventure you'll ever see.

[dramatic music]

DANA GOULD: A precomedy
Leslie Nielsen playing it

straight as the mission
commander, which

is the only thing
about it that makes

it hard to watch now
because you keep wanting

to laugh at Leslie Nielsen.

Captain to crew, all hands
square away to decelerate.

Ship's beeper will as
usual sound 10 times

after lights dim.

He's a sort of Captain Kirk type

leading this kind of
quasimilitary crew of spacemen

landing on the planet
called Altair 4 to check

up on a colony of settlers.

Welcome to Altair 4, gentlemen.

I am to transport
you to the residence.

It turns out everybody
is dead in the colony

except for one man,
Professor Morbius.

[eerie music]

We so terribly wanted
to meet a young man

and now three of them at once.

KURT SAYENGA: And Morbius
has a very alluring daughter

and she and the
captain developed

a little sexual chemistry.

[dramatic music]

As it happens the professor has
found the remains of a machine

built by an ancient civilization
that makes your thoughts

become reality.

He hasn't quite
mastered this but

what he doesn't realize is
that his subconscious mind has

mastered it, and is
actively at work,

and has created a creature that
k*lled all the first settlers

and is now starting
to pick off the crew

who have landed on this planet.

[laser firing]

[screams]

DAVE SCHILLING: It is invisible.

You can't see it.

It is a manifestation of
your villain's desires.

It's his needs, what he wants
and what he wants to create

and what he wants to destroy.

I think that's pretty
accurate to most

of our problems in the world.

When you thought
we were threatening

your little egomaniac empire,
your subconscious sent it's

Id monster out again.

More death, Morbius,
more m*rder.

[dramatic music]

DAVE SCHILLING: When you
think about space horror,

often, that genre is
about the human desire

to be more than what
they are biologically,

to overcome, to evolve.

I am not a monster, you.

DAVE SCHILLING: And
certainly Forbidden Planet

is a movie about that.

And I think a lot of the
great examples of space horror

have that theme of man's
overreach, humanity desiring

to be more than what it is.

[dense warbling]

[device beeping]

[screams]

Ikarie Xb1, of course, is one
of the great Eastern European

science fiction
films, although we

didn't get to see it in its
intended form until much,

much later.

But it's very much
a serious kind

of philosophical horror film.

[eerie music]

JOE LAMATTINA: I think Ikarie
Xb1 like Ingmar Bergman making

a movie via the Czech new wave.

[dramatic music]

[ominous music]

KURT SAYENGA: It's about a
kind of international crew sent

on a mission to Alpha Centauri.

And even though
it's a full crew,

there's lots of
people on this ship.

They're still all
kind of plagued

by just the heaviness
of being out

in space, alone in the
vastness of the universe.

JOE LAMATTINA: They're
trying to have normal lives,

and have normal discussions,
and have Fellini dance parties...

[upbeat music]

...so they can keep
themselves from going crazy.

Unfortunately, that's
still not enough.

[eerie music]

[ominous music]

From the start in Ikarie Xb1,
one of our lead characters,

Mikhail has already gone crazy.

KURT SAYENGA: One of the
key parts of the film

and that's pure space horror
is when they encounter

a derelict vessel that turns out to be
an American ship launched years before.

[dramatic music]

First they discover that
the pilot and the co-pilot

k*lled everybody on board.

[ominous music]

But then they discover
that there's both chemical

and nuclear weapons on board.

JOE LAMATTINA: Any time I'm
watching a space horror movie

and they're like, we've got to
board this derelict spacecraft,

I just...

I just have a panic
attack because I'm like,

don't go in there.

Like, it's a perfect
horror trope.

Do not go in the
abandoned spacecraft.

You don't know what's in there.

[dramatic music]

And sure enough, those guys are
not getting out of there alive.

[shouts]

[phone beeping]

Event Horizon is
one of those movies

that I tell myself I don't
like but I keep watching it.

[audio logo]

Like every once in a
while, there's an itch

that only Event Horizon
will scratch because there's

so much it does well in
the first half to even

really 2/3 in the movie.

I loved the crew.

I loved Laurence
Fishburne as the captain.

We're sure that you appreciate
being here, doctor, but you

must understand that we don't.

We were taken off a
well-deserved leave

and sent into Neptune space.

We are now 3 billion klicks
from the nearest outpost.

Talk about feeling
like you're in safe hands

on a dangerous journey.

Everyone just feels like
well-rounded characters

that you believe, and you
want to hang out with,

and you're rooting for.

[dramatic music]

BREA GRANT: And there is
no one scarier in a horror

movie than Sam Neill.

[dramatic music]

[metal clinks]

He always brings it.

And he's just great
at losing his mind.

Hell is only a word.

The reality is much, much worse.
[dramatic music]

WOMAN: [screams]

[ominous music]

DAVE SCHILLING:
The Lewis & Clark

is the ship that's going to
rescue the people that are

on the Event Horizon, right?

Because you can't just
bring the ship back.

You've got to go have
people like discover

what's up there because.

It's been gone for a long time.

[device beeping]

So they arrive at
the Event Horizon

and there has been
a m*ssacre there.

It's horrifying.

What happened here, doctor?

[dramatic music]

[screams]

BREA GRANT: There was
both orgies and people

ripping their eyes out.

And the captain was saying
this weird Latin phrase.

[speaking latin]

And it turns out the
Event Horizon somehow

opened this sort of portal
into a hell dimension

and brought it into the ship.

[dramatic music]

And gradually, all of the
people who were on this ship

start to hallucinate,
and see their worst

fears and their worst
traumas come true,

and lose their minds.

[knife slices]

[dramatic music]

I kind of felt that in a way
they wanted to retread material

that Solaris had dealt with.

[eerie music]

I have such wonderful,
wonderful things to show you.

ERNEST DICKERSON: I think
it just kind of fell

apart for me towards the end.

[eyes crunching]

[screams]

I guess I wanted more out of it.

I wanted more Solaris.

[eerie music]

JOE LAMATTINA: When humans
decide to explore outer space,

they're asking for
trouble because we don't

know what's on the other side.

And we don't know what's
going to happen to us.

And the one thing we
don't take into account

is what it's going
to do to us mentally.

And Solaris is a
perfect example of that.

KURT SAYENGA: Solaris
is the name of a planet

with a sentient ocean.

It's vast, and large,
and unknowable.

We can't really
understand it and we can't

really communicate with it.

[eerie music]

The film follows the
psychologist named Kris Kelvin

who comes to find out what's
happening on this faraway base

on this planet.

And what he finds is the leader
of the expedition has k*lled

himself and the two other
scientists that are there are

acting very, very strangely.

And there are other people
but they're not real people.

They're people created by this
planet drawn from the memories

of the men on this base.

ERNEST DICKERSON:
It's the planet's

way of trying to communicate.

It was just trying to
respond to like these brain

waves that it was picking up from
these humans that were around it.

It takes the strongest
image that it has

and that strong image is of his dead wife
who committed suicide.

And it creates her.

KURT SAYENGA: He pretends
he's cool with this

but he is not cool with this.

So he tricks her into
getting into a rocket

and blasts her into space.

[air gushing, wheezing]

Next morning, she's back.

Not the same one, just
another copy of her.

[eerie music]

KATE SIEGEL: I've
lost people in my life

and if they showed up again,
you think in your head like,

well, wouldn't it be
wonderful, and we would hug,

and oh, there's my dad again.

But it wouldn't.

It would be deeply
disturbing in a way

that you couldn't express
because it comes with joy.

Knowing that something is
terribly wrong but you want it

so badly, living with that just
puts your insides in a twist

and having to make... like,
do I want to keep this?

Of course, you want to keep it.

It's a Faustian bargain
that nobody can resist.

But you know it's not
going to end well.

[dramatic music]

ERNEST DICKERSON: She
even drinks liquid oxygen

at one point and it kills her.

But while they
were watching, she

starts to come back to life.

Starts to revive.
[metal clinks]

JOE LAMATTINA: So in
the original book,

Chris's character is able
to work through his feelings

of guilt around
potentially being

responsible for
his wife's suicide.

But Tarkovsky takes a little
bit of a different approach

and decides to have
his character spiral

into complete insanity and
buckle under the pressure

of the guilt that he feels.

KURT SAYENGA: By
the end of the film,

he seems to be back on Earth.
He's at his father's house.

But then it starts pulling
out and you realize

that he's still on Solaris.

He's had a nervous collapse
that the planet has made real.

If Alien is in space, no
one can hear you scream.

[dramatic music]

Then in Solaris,
it's in space, no one

can hear you contemplating
your existential dread.

[ominous music]

[birds fluttering]

[gasps]

KURT SAYENGA: Aniara,
a film from 2018,

is a Swedish-Danish
co-production based

on a novel-length epic poem
that was very popular in Sweden,

a place where you can
publish novel-length epic

poems about space travel
and they're very popular.

[ominous music]

Aniara is basically the
nightmare version of WALL-E.

[screams]

[dramatic music]

This enormous cruise
ship spacecraft

gets knocked off course and goes
drifting off into deep space.

[crowd exclaims]

KURT SAYENGA: And the
film kind of chronicles

what happens to all the people
aboard the ship over the course

of about 30 years.

MAN: [groans]
[non-english speech]

BREA GRANT: You're stuck in
this space with other humans

and they can be very scary.

[ominous music]

Much more scary than aliens
because humans are reactive.

We don't know what
they're going to do.

[screams]

[non-english speech]

[screams]

ALEX WINTER: There's been
a lot of great sci-fi

literature that looks at the
insanity of being isolated.

Looking at just the human
psyche and how it starts to get

impacted in terms of
a group of people who

are in isolation going crazy.

[groans]

There's no escape.

There's nowhere you
can go, you know?

It's not like, oh, man, I
guess I'll go back to Chicago.

[laughs] It's like,
well, I guess,

you're going to go to that part
of the spaceship and die there

or are you going to go to
that part of the spaceship

and die over there.

You can't go outside
the spaceship

because you're going
to die out there.

If it was me, I'd
be like, man, just

put me in the chute and
eject me out of here, y'all.

I ain't going to make it.
I ain't the one.

[ominous music]

TANANARIVE DUE: We already
feel like little pinpricks

in the course of history and
space just makes it so obvious

that we are so insignificant
in the vast scheme of things.

And it's just unfolded
around you with this darkness

everywhere.

I would never be
caught dead in space.

[laughs]

[thunder rumbles]

[screams]

[projector whirring]

[eerie music]

[ominous music]

RICHARD RIDDICK: I
absolutely believe in god

and I absolutely
hate the f*ck.

MAN: We have been attempting to
summon you here for centuries.

We're all part monsters
in our subconscious.

WEIR: A dimension of pure chaos.

Now let me show you.

WOMAN: [screams]

MAN: You're on the
express elevator to hell.

Going down.

HAL 9000: It can only be
attributable to human error.

My mind is going.

MAN: It's got a wonderful
defense mechanism.

You don't dare k*ll it.

[screams]

[eerie music]

[audio logo]

[screams]