The 10 bleakest space movies of all time

Do you like your space movies marinated in misery? Then you’re in the right place, because we’ve rounded up the ten bleakest space movies of all time.

It’s satisfying when the evil empire gets its comeuppance, but there’s a grim appeal to sci-fi that wallows in the worst. Why? In part, it’s the acknowledgement that space can be a scary, desolate place. As gorgeous as distant galaxies may be, it would take just one catastrophic hyperdrive failure for a hot-shot pilot to end up drifting helplessly in the void.

With private spaceflight continuing to ramp up, the notion of corporations carving out their own lawless cosmic fiefdoms, Weyland-Yutani style, doesn’t feel that far-fetched. Grim movies can be a reassuring reminder that no matter how bad your day has gone, it could be much, much worse. And who doesn’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling from seeing Edward Cullen exiled to a black hole? So, read on for ten of the grimmest interstellar nightmares ever committed to film.

10. Solaris

Release date: 1972 | Cast: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky

This Russian movie, based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel, is a slow burn compared to some of the other movies on this list. Like Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 version, it sees psychologist Kris Kelvin travelling to a space station above the planet Solaris, where he encounters a ‘hallucination’ of his late wife that is surprisingly solid.

Kelvin’s fate is, however, more heavily telegraphed than in 2002’s Solaris. We learn early on that Solaris is alive and generating these phantoms, and early scenes like Kelvin burning his thesis underline the weight he’s carrying on his shoulders. We’re invited to follow him as he descends into a spiral of grief and guilt.

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9. The Black Hole

Release date: 1979 | Cast: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Yvette Mimieux

The first-ever live-action Disney movie to receive a PG rating, The Black Hole sees a deep space crew stumbling across a spaceship, the USS Cygnus, positioned within the event horizon of the titular phenomenon.

Admittedly, this movie’s black hole science might not stand up to scientific examination, but between the eerie music, the dreamlike special effects, and the faceless ‘robotic’ drones, the whole movie oozes unease. The all-but-constant presence of the black hole, lurking in the background, seeds the idea that no one on-screen will escape its maw. And, all these years later, the ending still lives on in our nightmares.

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8. Silent Running

Release date: 1972 | Cast: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint

Silent Running delivers a double whammy of environmental devastation and isolation, bolstered by a brilliant performance from Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell. Earth’s forests are gone, and the only hope of restoring them lies in several multi-domed spaceships in orbit around Saturn, each dome containing a swathe of woodland.

However, this glimmer of hope is dashed when the ships receive the order to destroy their domes and the greenery within. Just what lengths is Lowell prepared to go to safeguard this travelling greenhouse? Disobeying orders is one thing, but murder? And what can he do with a bounty of greenery that no one wants?

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7. Alien 3

Release date: 1992 | Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Brian Glover

You’d think that after losing her daughter and discovering a new one, Ellen Ripley, the Alien series’s badass and Xenomorph-battling hero, would be due for a rest. Maybe in William Gibson’s unproduced screenplay, but the version of Alien 3 that made it to screens is ultra-grim from the get-go.

As if crash-landing on a largely weaponless prison planet isn’t enough, David Fincher’s sequel kills off Hicks and Newt, Aliens’ only other human survivors, and even the android Bishop has seen better days. Add in a mid-movie revelation that seals Ripley’s fate, and you’re on an express elevator to hell, going down.

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6. Sunshine

Release date: 2007 | Cast: Cillian Murphy, Benedict Wong, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh

Sunshine is a beautiful film and is one of the best space movies of all time. But being from the director and writer of 28 Days Later (and featuring that movie’s lead), it’s also predictably one of the gloomiest. The Sun is dying, and Icarus II is on a last-ditch mission to reignite our star with a colossal bomb.

The demeanour of the crew, which includes a pre-MCU Chris Evans and Benedict Wong, makes it clear they know this could be a one-way trip. However, that doesn’t prepare you for the sheer volume of tragedy and misfortune on display, which also reveals the fate of the previous, failed mission.

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5. Moon

Release date: 2009 | Cast: Sam Rockwell, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong

Moon is, at first glance, a film about the rigours of isolation. Astronaut Sam Bell is the sole human inhabitant of a helium-3 harvesting moonbase, having signed up for a daunting three-year contract. His only company is a robot named GERTY, and while you can see the cracks starting to form, his contract is nearly up.

Or is it? Because he finds himself face to face with.. Sam Bell, revealing he’s not the original, but one of several clones, which transforms Moon into a riveting exploration of identity and memory. The movie also floats the unsettling idea that corporations don’t need to be a thousand light-years away to get away with unethical and/or illegal behavior. As exciting as space settlement is, don’t expect unions to be a big deal on Mars.

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4. Gravity

Release date: 2013 | Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney

Poor Sandra Bullock doesn’t even get to the Moon before running into every astronaut’s worst nightmare; a spacewalk gone wrong. After the Space Shuttle Explorer is struck by debris, she’s flung into space on the shuttle’s arm, forced to uncouple herself or face being pulled even further into the void.

While both Bullock and fellow actor George Clooney are known for their more upbeat roles, the pair still convey the chilling desperation of being lost in space. The Earth looms beneath them thanks to some stunning special effects, but it might as well be a million miles away, and you’ll be right up there with them. Gravity may take some minor liberties with realism, but the mental image of Bullock spinning off into space will haunt you long after the credits have rolled.

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3. Love

Release date: 2011 | Cast: Gunner Wright, Bradley Horne

If Moon touches on themes of isolation, Love plunges right in and doesn’t come up for air. Filmed on a surprisingly low half-a-million-dollar budget, it features Gunner Wright (Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke) as Lee Miller, a solo astronaut aboard the ISS who loses contact with Earth.

What seems like a simple communications error is anything but; the cause is never disclosed, but humanity is just gone, leaving Miller looking down on a planet he has no means of returning to. It makes those Boeing Starliner astronauts‘ extended ISS stay look like a spa weekend, and unsurprisingly, his sanity soon starts to suffer.

Bonus entry: Iron Lung

If that scenario gives you the chills, it’s also worth keeping an eye out for Iron Lung. Made by and starring YouTuber Markiplier, and based on the game of the same name, Iron Lung takes place in a universe where every star and habitable planet has suddenly disappeared. The only remaining humans are those who were on spaceships or space stations. Iron Lung crashed into theaters on January 30, 2026.

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2. High Life

Release date: 2018 | Cast: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth, Andre Benjamin

We think High Life is one of the best space horror movies, and for good reason. There’s not an alien lifeform in sight, but this alternative deep-space tale, from French director Claire Denis, is still deeply discomforting from beginning to end.

Presented in non-chronological order, it follows a group of convicts — Twilight and The Batman’s Robert Pattinson included — who are sent to extract a black hole’s leaked energy. At least, that’s the official explanation; a more practical one is that it’s just a means of disposing of them all, Juliette Binoche’s unhinged doctor included.

While I won’t spoil things by giving you the death count, if you’ve ever wanted to see the gruesome effects of spaghettification, this is the movie for you.

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1. Aniara

Release date: 2018 | Cast: Emelie Garbers, Arvin Kananian, Bianca Cruzeiro, Anneli Martini

Aniara is such a bottomless pit of gloom that it, and it alone, deserves the title of bleakest space movie of all time. Based on Harry Martinson’s epic poem, it sees a luxury starship, originally destined for Mars, drifting off course and out of our solar system.

And.. that’s it. With life support but no propulsion, the vessel is little more than a floating coffin. We view this grim situation through the eyes of a relatively minor crew member, who operates the ship’s holodeck analog.

Her role becomes increasingly crucial as the passengers descend into despair and, as they increasingly clutch at straws, don’t expect a happy or even an ambiguous ending. If you want a movie that drives home the pitfalls of space travel, this is it.

Those are the bleakest space movies you can watch right now. Wasn’t that fun? Why are you crying? Oh all right, for some cheerier viewing material, we’ve also investigated the best sci-fi movies, the best sci-fi action movies, the best asteroid movies, and the best time-travel movies.