8 Movies That Make Space Seem Absolutely Terrifying

4) 2001: A Space Odyssey

In 2001, Stanley Kubrick takes us from the Moon, to Jupiter, to beyond the known boundaries of our universe. And every single stop is more miserable than the last, full of deceit, extraterrestrial mischief, and robots losing their artificial minds.

It’s the latter that leads to one of 2001‘s most terrifying moments, as the homicidal ship computer HAL 9000 traps astronaut Dave Bowman outside the Discovery One, forcing him to re-enter the ship the only way he can: through cold, oxygen-less space, minus a suit.

After that, 2001 highlights one of the biggest dangers of space of all: the fact that we still don’t really understand all of its mysteries, and aren’t prepared for when it throws a giant, LSD-tinged curveball at us.

Just when Dave has neutralized Hal and he thinks he’s got the Discovery One mission back on course, he enters some kind of alien wormhole, and embarks on the trippiest moment in all of cinema, coming out the other side of an acid-frazzled freak-out as a giant space baby.

Not cool.