10 Horror-Themed Star Trek Episodes

 

            Space, the final frontier… is freakin’ scary sometimes! Star Trek is well-known as the bright and shining vision of what humanity’s future could be. Travelling to the stars and building an inclusive society that doesn’t need money or hate. Yours Truly admits to being a super fan and having seen every episode of every series and every movie many, many times.

 

            But… there is a dark side. Not of the force (oops, wrong franchise), but of the soul. Trek doesn’t just flirt with horror, it downright embraces it. Every series has episodes that evoke any and all genres of the macabre, from hauntings to monsters to slashers. On this list, I’ve collected ten of the best offerings, two each from the five legacy shows – The Original Series to Enterprise – showcasing all the greatest thrills and chills from my favorite franchise. Honestly, rating them against each other was pretty damned hard, because there are so many that are soooo good. Anyway, without further ado…

 

­10 Horror-Themed Star Trek Episodes!

 

10) “The Thaw” – Voyager, Season 2: Episode 23

 

            Let’s dive right into the one with the clown. God, I hate clowns. Janeway and the crew happen across a group of colonists in stasis deep under the surface of an asteroid. Turns out they’ve done it to themselves in order to survive a radiation disaster. In a bid to make things less boring, they created a neural-link virtual reality they could all share while in cryo-sleep. The problem is… a sadistic clown program has made himself their captor and he literally scares them to death if they get out of line… with a guillotine. Genuinely unsettling, even if Janeway out-clowns the clown at the end.

 

 

 

9) “Doctor’s Orders” – Enterprise, Season 3: Episode 16 / “One” – Voyager, Season 4: Episode 25

 

            Okay, so… you know horror and remakes? Star Trek did it too. While in the Delphic Expanse, Archer and company have to cross a radioactive nebula that requires all of them but Dr. Phlox be placed into a coma to avoid synaptic damage. It takes days, so Phlox (who, as a Denobulan, isn’t used to being alone) must care for the unconscious crew and the ship by himself. He starts to hallucinate due to the isolation and we get all sorts of creepy happenings. Voyager did the episode first, if slightly less effectively, with Seven of Nine instead.

 

 

 

8) “Schisms” – The Next Generation, Season 6: Episode 5

 

            It seems odd that Star Trek hasn’t done more alien abduction plots, doesn’t it? That’s essentially what this episode is. Riker, Worf, Geordi, and stock crewman #7 among others are experiencing lost time and strange medical problems. They eventually figure out that extra-dimensional aliens are abducting them at night and performing invasive experiments on them! The creepiest scene of the episode involves Counselor Troi taking the victimized crew members to the holodeck to attempt and recreate their hazy memories, resulting a terrifying operating table and noises in the dark…

 

 

 

7) “Revulsion” – Voyager, Season 4: Episode 5

 

            Voyager answers a distress call from someone who turns out to be a homicidal hologram! A murderous manifestation! A piquerist projection! The Doctor and B’Elanna must fight off this psychopathic subroutine in a dark, deserted ship where the program in question has killed his entire crew and possesses a carefully-nurtured hatred for “organics”. It’s half haunted house, half slasher and it’s surprisingly intense. Featuring a typically fantastic guest performance by character actor Leland Orser.

 

 

 

6) “The Devil in the Dark” – The Original Series, Season 1: Episode 25

 

            When I was a kid, I called the silicon-based alien in this episode “The Pizza Monster”. In spite of that, this is the first episode of Star Trek ever to flirt with horror themes. What else do you call an underground creature attacking miners and acid-digesting them to nothing more than a smoking stain on the cave floor? Kirk and Spock arrive on the scene, lose a few red shirts, and ultimately find out that the creature (called a Horta) is just trying to protect her babies from being murdered by the thousands. In the end, the humans and the Horta agree to stop killing each other and work together. Friendship!

 

 

 

5) “Conspiracy” – The Next Generation, Season 1: Episode 24

 

            Here we have one of the most infamous (and most censored) episodes in Trek history! If it was just a bit better in the writing department, it might rate higher on this list… Anyway, brain slugs have taken over high-level members of Starfleet Command and Picard is the only one who can stop them, as per usual. There’s some creepiness and intrigue, but the real draw here is the climax that features a shocking amount of blood and gore! One of the best effects of the franchise, in fact. If only it wasn’t a Season 1 episode, it might have turned out a bit more solid on the story end. Still, there’s enough gruesomeness, suspense, and shock value to help it crack the Top 5!

 

 

 

4) “The Doomsday Machine” – The Original Series, Season 2: Episode 6

 

            The Planet Killer! The Enterprise must contend with a massive, ancient weapon from another galaxy that is systematically destroying and consuming entire planets. The stakes feel real in this life-or-death struggle, and Kirk’s intensity as he battles the behemoth is palpable. The design of the planet killer is simple, yet terrifying. Quite frankly, it’s hundreds of times scarier than The Death Star in Star Wars and seems nearly unstoppable. Unlike the Empire’s technological terror, this devourer of worlds seems to have a mind of its own as it carries out orders from a long-over conflict from far beyond our galaxy. Classic Trek.

 

 

 

3) “The Assignment” – Deep Space Nine, Season 5: Episode 5

 

            We finally come to Deep Space Nine! Well, it is a ranked list, so you have to wait to get to the best, right? The Assignment concerns demon possession and domestic abuse when Keiko O’Brien returns from Bajor and is not quite herself. In fact, she’s been taken over by a Pah-Wraith and her body is held hostage to make Chief O’Brien do what it demands. What follows is a superbly written and well-acted script that examines the realities of abusive relationships while also dabbling in classic possession horror tropes. Everyone involved is firing on all cylinders, and it’s thrilling to watch.

 

 

2) “Impulse” – Enterprise, Season 3: Episode 5

 

            Zombie Vulcans! In one of the best episodes of the best season of the series, the Enterprise crew happen across a derelict Vulcan ship in the Delphic Expanse while searching for the compound Trellium-D to shield themselves from crippling spatial anomalies. On board, they find that the same compound has had a degrading neurological effect on the Vulcan crew, turning them into violent, homicidal ghouls reminiscent of… well… swarming walking dead. Archer, Reed, and a few commandos have to fight to survive the night in the ghost ship, all the while trying to get an infected T’Pol to sickbay. It’s harrowing, thrilling, terrifying, and just plain fun. One of the best horror-themed episodes in all of Star Trek.

 

 

 

1) “Empok Nor” – Deep Space Nine, Season 5: Episode 24

 

            Star Trek does a slasher movie in one of the best-written, best-produced, best-acted episodes of all time. In order to replace much-needed parts on the station, O’Brien, Nog, Garak, and an engineering team must travel to DS9’s abandoned sister station Empok Nor. Once there, they inadvertently awaken a couple of Cardassians left behind for security, hopped up on psychotropic drugs to make them more hostile. Garak is affected as well, and soon, the bodies are piling up! The denouement is supremely creepy, with the bodies of the killers’ victims strung up on the derelict station’s promenade as O’Brien marches to his final showdown with a simple, homicidal tailor. He’s more than a hero, he’s a union man.

10 Underrated 80's Slashers Part V: A New Beginning

 

            Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the blog! You thought it was over… You thought the fourth installment was the final chapter… But if my slasher lists still haunt you, you’re not alone!

 

Between the release of Halloween (1978) and the end of the first slasher boom around 1984, there were literally hundreds of imitations made. Some were instant classics in their own right, like Friday the 13^th (1980), but… well… most were not. And that’s what we have here, folks! The Nots!

 

            Personally, I find the utter ineptitude of these particular films quite charming (though there ARE a few really good ones thrown into the mix). A couple films here have appeared on our list of holiday slashers, but they merit inclusion in this series too. Mostly, this countdown serves to just underscore for the umpteenth time that the slasher movie genre is probably the most endless and enduring of all. Y’all up for some good ol’ hack-n-slash? Here we go…

 

10 Underrated 80’s Slashers Part V: A New Beginning

 

 

10) Schizoid (1980) dir. David Paulsen

 

            We’re kicking things off with a little Cannon Films picture that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Some nonsense about cheating husbands and divorce making a killer go nuts and… um… cut out the competition? It has Klaus Kinski, so that’s always fun (read: looney tunes). The weapon of choice here is scissors, which makes things suitably bloody. At the very least, it’s 80 minutes of WTF to kill an afternoon.

 

 

 

9) Zombie Island Massacre (1984) dir. John Carter

 

            The folks over at Troma Studios picked up this regional oddity for distribution back before they were able to get The Toxic Avenger (1986) off the ground. Very little is known about the production, but Harry Manfredini literally steals from his own score for Friday the 13^th (1980) to fill the gaps, which probably means he really needed a paycheck. Essentially, a group of tourists stop on an island in the Caribbean where they run afoul of a killer, angry natives, and an oddly middle class gang of drug runners. A solid 5/10 that can be pushed to a full 10/10 with a six-pack of your favorite suds.

 

 

 

8) The Chill Factor (1989) dir. Christopher Webster

 

            For hysterical homemade horror, look no further than this weird mashup of slashing, skiing, and Satanism. A group of friends go for a winter cabin getaway, find a Ouija board, conjure some demons, and get picked off one by one. Since most slashers tend to take place in the summer, or on a holiday, this one actually offers something fairly unique in its snowbound setting. The isolation is effective, but the acting is not. A few gruesome kills make The Chill Factor worthwhile, though, especially for aficionados of bottom-barrel cinema like Yours Truly.

 

 

 

7) New Year’s Evil (1980) dir. Emmett Alston

 

            Another Cannon Films offering with all the expected trappings of hammy acting, decent special effects, and off-the-wall weirdness. It’s New Year’s Eve! And a local news anchor finds herself stalked by an obsessive killer who is calling in and dedicating murders to her! The film is an early-boom example of the formula not quite gelling yet, hamstrung by having our villain targeting unlikeable and annoying adults instead of carefree, spunky teens. Still, it has style to spare and a shit-ton of neon and lens flare, so it’s worth checking out!

 

 

 

6) Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984) dir. Edmund Purdom

 

            If Murphy’s Law was a movie, it would be this one. Literally everything that can go wrong does in this example of holiday sleaze. After his successful turn as the villain in Pieces (1982), Edmund Purdom wanted to direct his own slasher flick. He probably shouldn’t have, but since he did, here we have Don’t Open Till Christmas. Unlike most Christmas slashers, the killer is not a Santa Claus. Instead, he kills anyone dressed as Santa Claus! Ho Ho Hoooo Noooo… An infamously troubled production ensures that we get something that kinda reminds you of a plot (sorta like how seltzer water reminds you of a flavor) and a bunch of bloody Santa slayings. Oh, and a healthy dose of titties. Everything a growing boy needs, really.

 

 

 

5) X-Ray (1982) dir. Boaz Davidson

 

            Also known as Hospital Massacre, this little curiosity is a narrative mess. Essentially, it’s the tale of a woman stuck in a hospital on Valentine’s Day because no one will let her leave (?) and she’s stalked by a whiny incel she rejected twenty years ago who has decided to murder everyone in his path. The good news is, it’s very pretty to look at. The camera work, set design, and atmosphere are all top-notch, and the gore is par excellence. So while the story is like a tangled pair of earbuds, and the logic is practically non-existent, X-Ray is still a helluva fun movie that cracks the first spot in the Top 5 on this list.

 

 

 

4) Graduation Day (1981) dir. Herb Freed

 

            Halloween really did set the standard for slasher movies set on every day of celebration imaginable. Graduation Day really is the simplest of set-ups. I don’t even really need to tell you the plot, do I? A killer is offing kids at their high school graduation. Pretty much it. However, we get an early example of Linnea Quigley doing her requisite nudie bit, and the gore quotient is surprisingly high. Add to that an atmosphere of fun that many other installments here are missing, and you have a minor hidden gem on your hands.

 

3) Grave Robbers (1989) dir. Rubén Galindo Jr.

 

            Having found previous success with Cemetery of Terror (1985) and Don’t Panic (1987), Mexploitation maverick Rubén Galindo Jr. directed one of his absolute best films with Grave Robbers. Much like Cemetery of Terror, some unwitting teens accidentally resurrect the body of a serial killer who goes about slicing, dicing, and not-so-nicing everybody he can get his hands on. It’s a remarkably simple setup that happens to work very well, with the director doing his best Lucio Fulci impression with positively wince-inducing, squishy gore all over the place. An unsung classic.

 

 

 

2) Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) dir. Charles E. Sellier Jr.

 

            While it may be more infamous for the campaign of moral majority outrage waged against it by mobs of Karens who saw the poster and drew all sorts of zany and wrong conclusions, Silent Night, Deadly Night is probably the best killer Santa movie out there. Not that it’s a good movie, really, but it’s the best of its kind. Poor Billy saw his parents murdered by a guy in a Santa outfit, then got religiously abused by the mother superior at his orphanage, and finally gets forced to dress as Santa on Christmas Eve for his job at a toy store! Geez oh man… Well, he sets out to punish everyone he thinks is naughty, including skewering poor, buxom and (once again) topless Linnea Quigley on an antlers trophy. This is a truly unique slice of slasher cinema that comes complete with its own earworm of an original Christmas song.

 

 

 

1) Girls Nite Out (1982) dir. Robert Deubel

 

            Okay, hear me out: This movie is not good. It’s not even the best on this list. But it’s number one because of one thing… The killer is dressed in a teddy bear college mascot costume and kills sorority girls on a scavenger hunt using knives that they stuck in the paw like bear claws while Hal Holbrook chases them down from the comfort of the phone in the campus security office. PLUS, the soundtrack is almost entirely The Loving Spoonful. There is plenty of blood, plenty of boobs, and plenty of beer onscreen. This movie is so nutty, there is NO WAY it doesn’t take the top spot.