The 13 best scary sci-fi movies on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and HBO Max

How do you like your horror? With ghosts and demons? Serial killers and angsty teens? Or do you like some science fiction in your scary movie?

Combining futuristic technology or alien invaders with traditional spooky cinema can be as delicious as mixing chocolate and peanut butter. With that in mind, here are 13 scary sci-fi movies you can watch this October on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or HBO Max.

Scary sci-fi movies on NETFLIX

13. Splice — Adrien Brody stars in this 2009 sci-fi thriller about a pair of genetic engineers who create a stunning-but-terrifying creature that's part human and part... something else.

12. Unfriended — Released in 2014, Unfriended revolutionized the horror genre by setting the entire movie within the bounds of a computer screen. This genuinely scary movie might not technically be science fiction, but it took modern technology and gave it a spooky spin. (You can watch Unfriended on Netflix starting on Friday, October 16.)

11. Killer Klowns from Outer Space — This 1988 cult classic gained popularity as a VHS tape. (Remember those?) The title pretty much says it all, but this movie still has plenty to offer.

Scary sci-fi movies on HULU

10. Overlord — Produced by J.J. Abrams, this 2018 Nazi zombie thriller isn't part of the director's Cloverfield universe, but it's a fun movie nonetheless. After all, the only thing better than a dead Nazi is an undead Nazi you can kill all over again.

9. Hellraiser — Both the 1987 original and its 1988 sequel are streaming now on Hulu, and they make an excellent double feature. While the original, directed by famed novelist Clive Barker, is a classic thriller with some sci-fi seasoning, the sequel delves much deeper into the terrifying parallel dimension occupied by Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites.

8. Species — Half action movie, half thriller, all science fiction, Species (1995) follows a group of scientists and military agents (played by Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, and more) while they track down a beautiful alien-human hybrid (Natasha Henstridge) as she attempts to mate with a human man.

Scary sci-fi movies on AMAZON

7. Coherence — This underrated 2013 thriller focuses on a group of friends at a dinner party who begin acting weirdly after a comet passes by the earth. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will also enjoy seeing Nicholas Brendon (Xander) in one of the lead roles.

6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers — The story has been adapted multiple times, but the 1978 version is an undeniable classic. The premise is simple: a race of aliens arrive on Earth and are replacing humans with doppelgangers grown in pods. The cast is incredible: Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy. And the final shot alone makes this Invasion of the Body Snatchers an all-time classic.

5. Phantasm — This low-budget indie thriller spawned a franchise, but the original is always worth revisiting. Phantasm revolves around the Tall Man, an evil undertaker who's been turning dead people into zombies before sending them back to his home planet for slave labor. 'Nuff said.

4. Bad Taste — From Peter Jackson (yes, that Peter Jackson), Bad Taste is a horror parody about soldiers in New Zealand fighting against a race of aliens harvesting people to serve as food at a chain of intergalactic fast food restaurants. Released in 1987 on a budget of just $25,000, Bad Taste is an impressive feat of filmmaking — even if it's not exactly a great movie.

Scary sci-fi movies on HBO Max

3. Scanners — David Cronenberg's 1981 classic imagines a world where a select group of humans has developed telepathic and telekinetic powers. For the most part, they use them for good, but an even smaller subset of "scanners" has other ideas...

2. Alien — What can be said about this Ridley Scott classic that hasn't already been said? The Alien franchise has had its ups and downs, but 1979's Alien will always be a classic.

1. Invisible Man — The 2020 reimagining of this early horror classic took the original story and gave it a high-tech update. Director Leigh Whannell does a lot of things right here, but his best decision was putting the focus on Elisabeth Moss as the Invisible Man's victim who struggles to convince anyone to believe her.

BONUS! Re-Animator on Tubi — It's worth downloading this underrated streaming service just to watch Stuart Gordon's pulpy '80s classic. Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, 1985's Re-Animator follows a young scientist who invents a serum capable of reanimating the dead. Almost immediately, everything goes very wrong. If you haven't seen this movie before, I beg you to watch it immediately. Even better, Tubi is totally free, though you will have to suffer through a few ads.