Editorials
Breaking Down the Space Horror Formula
Prior to release, Daniel Espinosa’s Life was criticized for appearing to be yet another an Alien rip-off. The review out of SXSW confirmed as much with the criticism that it was a technically efficient paint-by-numbers space-set thriller. Though Life seemed to borrow elements from Gravity as well, and several other space thrillers, the core plot setup bears a striking resemblance to the influential 1979 classic that changed the sci-fi genre for good with the introduction of serious space horror. Granted, Alien took many cues from ‘50s B-Horror movies, but drawing inspiration from films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and killer designs by H.R. Giger, Ridley Scott set the pattern for the endless string of space horror films that would follow.
Naturally, the surprise box office success gave way to multiple sequels, prequels, and a variety of merchandise, which caused an influx of immediate copycats hoping to ride the wave of Alien’s success. While the influence of Scott’s seminal space horror can still be felt today, if Life is any indication, the unsurprising peak of copycats hit right after Alien proved to be an international hit; the early ‘80s.
Some would borrow blatant design cues and elements from Giger, as in 1980’s Contamination. Directed by Luigi Cozzi, this Italian production features a former astronaut trying to track down the source of acid filled alien eggs that causes victims in the vicinity to explode. Bonus: the victim explosions landing this one on the Video Nasty list. The alien that’s hatching them is a silly derivative of a Giger-like design. Even the U.S. release tried to lure in Alien audiences by distributing the film under Alien Contamination as a tie-in attempt. Though an argument can be made that the plot is different enough, there’s no denying this Italian film banked on the iconic imagery of its predecessor.
Most rip-offs, though, would hone in on Alien’s plot formula. Take one part isolated space setting, throw in one tight-knit group of doomed characters, and add one or more deadly creatures to pick off said group of characters with no easy way to escape. Optional ingredient: toss in a smart female protagonist of which group should have listened to before things got rough.
The first half of the ‘80s churned out low budget rip-offs that borrowed heavily from this formula, albeit with much sleazier style. Take 1981’s Inseminoid, a flick by British cult horror filmmaker Norman J. Warren that sees his interplanetary archaeologists being picked off one by one when an alien creature assaults and impregnates one of their crew members, forcing her to become homicidal. Yeah, super sleazy. B-movie king Roger Corman, who nearly produced Alien before co-writer Ronald Shusett realized he could sell his script to a much bigger fish, produced two copy cats of his own in 1981’s Galaxy of Terror and 1982’s Forbidden World. The former is so wacky that it’s difficult to discern ties to the source material it’s borrowing from and is most memorable for the sequence that sees one member of the doomed space ship crew meet her death by rape of a large worm creature manifested by her imagination. Oh, and it also features Sid Haig and Robert Englund. Forbidden World much more closely aligns with the Alien formula, while still wearing its trashy heart on its sleeve with cheese and an abundance of nudity.
The latter half of the decade tried a different approach; forgoing the pure trash flick approach in favor of tweaking the original formula by trading in the isolated space setting for an isolated deep sea setting. Though neither Deepstar Six or Leviathan, both released in 1989, fooled anyone. Directed by Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th), Deepstar Six saw its cast of characters fighting off an alien menace at the bottom of the ocean instead of deep space. Beyond a wider array of creatures and a lower budget, the core formula remains the same. Leviathan attempts to further mask similarities by trading in the intelligent female protagonist, Ripley, for Peter Weller (a worthy attempt to deviate if you ask me). Giger’s designs were traded in for Stan Winston’s creature effects. In other words, Leviathan is a pretty fun, forgivable ‘80s rip-off, but it’s still a carbon copy of Alien. Even later marketing touted it as such.
From there, many space set horror films would continue to tweak the formula in hopes of setting itself apart from the 1979 classic. What if the evil entity stalking the doomed crew wasn’t an alien, but hell itself? Or what if the creature was a person driven insane by overexposure to deep space, or even the sun? The truth is that the extremely isolating deep space, or deep sea, setting that was mined initially in Alien doesn’t allow for much deviation. There’s an inherent, intense claustrophobia about being trapped on a space ship with deadly forces closing in, but that’s also the problem in subsequent films; there’s not much room left for exploration or growth. Even when filmmakers are actively trying not to emulate Alien, it circles back around anyway. With the space horror formula as claustrophobic as its setting, it begs the question; is it possible to reinvent space-set horror the way Ridley Scott did in 1979?
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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