5 Space Horror Movies That Make Guys Cry

The goal of this series is to show that being “manly” and being disconnected with your emotions do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. While the approach to these articles is one of comedy and satire, the emotional core of these movies is very valid. Manly movies make guys cry, for example:

Space-Horror Movies

With Interstellar making polarizing waves as to whether it was enjoyable or not, and NASA announcing missions to Mars, this seemed like a good time to talk about how scary space is. Originally I was planning on doing a list on space travel movies, but darn it if we aren’t terrified of space. The best films about space are the ones where things go wrong, and the best course of action is just not to be in space anymore. Whether its mechanical failures, sabotage, or some sort of alien monster trying to eat our eyeballs, space films outside of the main “Wars” and “Trek” franchises are basically horror films. They’re manly, they’re awesome, and they routinely make us cry.

1. Event Horizon A ship that harnesses the power of an artificial black hole to travel faster than light? “Why not? Sounds like a good idea,” say the engineers in this film. I’ll tell you why not: because the ship pulls a Doom 3 and stops off in Hell before coming back to our dimension. Sam “Jurassic Park” Neill takes a group of future dead bodies to recover the ship, not knowing that the ship is basically space-haunted. The ship design in this film is iconic, and the film itself has garnered a cult classic status despite not really being a cult movie to start with. The emotional moments of this film reside in the evilness of the ship trying to drive Sam Neill insane (spoiler alert: it succeeds spectacularly). Granted, he was a little unhinged from the get-go due to his spouse committing suicide. “SUICIDE, YOU SAY?!” says the evil ship, then makes Sam relive the discovery of his dead wife. Once is bad, but to take such a horrible situation and twist it so that the dead loved one mocks you? That’s a low blow. This film mixes a fear of the dark, the fear of bloodthirsty aliens, and the fear of a psycho killer on the loose. Throw in a corrupt cop and add a dash of great visuals, you’ve got cinematic gumbo. The sad part that really gets to me is the Riddick’s temptation for the main female protagonist. With their entire crew either killed or trapped in a cave, Riddick convinces her to get onto the lifeboat. Still guilty about almost dumping the entire crew to avoid crashing her ship, this pilot bawls while crawling onto the ship. Riddick has no qualm about leaving the rest of the crew, but after this horrible moment she convinces Riddick to go back for the others. They successfully do, but then right before getting on the pod, she’s killed by the monsters. It’s a complicated scene, because Riddick’s the good guy but also the bad guy, and we root for him but also he was going to leave them there…it’s sad and confusing, OK? The sad part for me is when the remaining crew tries to leave the planet. Just like in Alien, the promise of hope and then the rug-pull of destruction is the worst. The capsule leaves, the astronauts agreeing that their greatest adventure has gone south and needs to end. Then due to whatever electromagnetic distortions that the life on Europa creates, the ship basically shuts off mid-flight. Within that moment of balance between the thrust running out and the gravity kicking in, utter devastation kicks in. “We’re not going home, are we?” “We’re not living through this, are we?” Picture yourself going through all the stages of grief in the few seconds between hard-fought salvation and hopeless ruin. Like what you see? Secure enough in your masculinity for more? Check out more Guy Cry Cinema or watch Dan on No Right Answer, the weekly debate show that knows what’s really important: Pointlessly arguing about geek culture.