When you have a movie franchise, you have to keep it fresh, right? Raise the bar to another level. And sometimes, that level is taking the franchise to space. Fast & Furious did it. Transformers did it. Air Bud should have done it (Space Buddies exist, but that was puppies, not Bud). But regardless of which movies make the leap to outer space, nobody does it quite as hilariously as the horror genre.

It's harder for a horror movie franchise, well-established on Earth, to find a reason to jump into space. Horror movies that already take place in space, like Event Horizon, make sense to take place up there--that's the whole point of the movie. However, what happens when you take familiar killer characters and blast them into the great unknown? Well, more than likely than not, it's going to be really bad in one of those "so bad it's good" kind of ways. So let's take a look at eight horror movies that decided, "Hey, we've done everything we can here on Earth, so let's take the madness to space!"

8. Amityville In Space

First off, no, this isn't connected to the original The Amityville Horror franchise, which began in 1979. This is part of its own beast. It starts with Amityville Death House (2015), which features a house cursed by a witch. The follow-up in 2017--at least we believe it's a sequel because it's the same director--is The Amityville Exorcism, and it focused on the same house, which this time possesses a girl. Same old story. Then, there's a third movie titled Amityville Island from 2020. This one involves sharks, at least based on the cover.

In 2022, the house went to space--with the previous director taking on this weird project. The movie comes in at one hour and 15 minutes. You could watch this three times, and it would be a tiny-bit longer than watching Killers of the Flower moon. It takes place in 3015, and the horror house is in space. Does it make sense? Nope. It's a paint-by-numbers horror movie, and nothing interesting happens. And while the cheesy idea could be fun, the movie isn't, and the CG is underwhelming, to put it nicely. It's exhausting to watch.

7. Cloverfield Paradox

The original Cloverfield was a fun, found-footage horror movie featuring a giant alien smashing New York City. Then, 10 Cloverfield Lane came around, and it was not a found footage movie. It was a more traditional, narrative film. It was about being trapped in a bunker with a possibly insane man who claims there's a war happening outdoors, and as you find out at the end, it's aliens. The movie wasn't originally going to be a part of the Cloverfield franchise, but with Bad Robot producing the film, it was tossed in there. Regardless, it's rad.

Then, with a surprise release on Netflix after it was revealed during Super Bowl LII in 2018, Cloverfield Paradox was released. And much like 10 Cloverfield Lane, it was not written to be a Cloverfield movie until Bad Robot Productions came in. Obviously, the Cloverfield series is about aliens invading Earth, and that element is here in Cloverfield Paradox, but the story revolves around a group of people in a space station in 2028 that want to use a particle accelerator to provide energy to a dying Earth. Turning on the accelerator causes a bizarre sequence of events, including jumping into parallel universes. It's a movie that's very out there and very not good. There's a reason it had a surprise release.

6. Hellraiser Bloodline

The first two Hellraiser movies are wonderful, terrifying, and a great example of high-concept horror films. Then, there are nine more movies, one of which takes place in virtual reality. At its heart, the series revolves around a puzzle box (the Lament Configuration) that, when opened, connects to a hellish world that offers a doorway to Earth to cenobites, who are horrific leather-bound monsters. Again, those first two movies are fantastic.

By the time the fourth movie comes around, Pinhead had to go to space because where else do you go? Hellraiser: Bloodline is all over the place. It's a prequel. It's a sequel. It's also set in between. The movie starts in the year 2127 as a doctor on a space station uses a robot to unlock the Lament Configuration. It then jumps to 1796 and the creation of the puzzle box, then to 1996 and the descendant of the man who created it. Then, it goes back to space in 2127 where the doctor has figured out a way to get rid of Pinhead forever. The end. Then there were seven more movies. Going to space isn't entirely out of the question for Hellraiser; the concepts of Cenobites can exist off of Earth and anywhere in the universe, as long as the Lament Configuration exists in that place. However, the movie, itself, is bad.

5. Leprechaun in Space

Many horror franchises start seriously and then find they have become a parody of themselves without knowing it. Leprechaun knows exactly what it is. It's the most self-aware horror franchise in history--as long as you ignore Origins and Returns. The series follows the mythical Leprechaun, who is very real, and that creature wants his pot of gold and is willing to kill everyone in his way. Warwick Davis played the titular character in the first six films.

For Leprechaun in Space, the Leprechaun goes to, well, space. Taking place in 2096, because space movies have to take place in the future, space marines kill the Leprechaun, but his essense goes up a urine stream and into a space marine's penis--this is real. Eventually, the Leprechaun manifests again, violently, out of said marine's penis. The Leprechaun kills more people, becomes giant, and his sliced-off hand flips people off in space. This movie knows exactly what it is. Does the plot sound completely bonkers? Yes, and you don't even know the weird subplot. Does this movie know how ridiculous it is? Yes, and that's what makes it amazing.

4. Critters 4

Speaking of self-aware horror comedies, that brings us to Critters. It's an entire series about tiny monsters coming to Earth to munch-up humans. There's also a bunch of backstory about these creatures, how they're being hunted by intergalactic bounty hunters, and how these creatures play into a larger space government.

By the time of the fourth entry, it was time for the series to go to space. Taking place in 2045--the future again--a salvage ship finds a pod in deep space featuring two Crite (Critter) eggs. And of course, once upon the salvage ship, the eggs hatch and chaos ensues. The ship becomes stranded in space, one of the Critters is killed, and the other one is made bigger, so it's no longer a tiny monster. Everything about this sci-fi/horror/comedy movie is way over the top, but it knows it. Critters 4 is a fun watch, much more fun than many of the other movies on this list.

3. Invasion of Astro-Monster

Let's travel back to 1965 and take a look at the Godzilla franchise, shall we? Japan's kaiju movies were an exciting, new take on the giant monster genre in filmmaking--for the better in every way--coming out after the atomic bombs that hit the country at the end of World War II. Godzilla is a giant monster, created by radiation, and it smashes cities and fights other kaiju.

In the mid-'60s, Invasion of Astro-Monster arrived. The movie doesn't entirely take place in space, but it does start there. Astronauts head to Planet X for research and find King Ghidorah there, the three-headed kaiju who has attacked Earth before. The aliens from that planet are jerks, and Godzilla and Rodan are transported to Planet X. The aliens take control of said Earth kaiju and threaten Earth. The control is broken, there's a fight, and Earth is saved. It's exactly what you expect from the series, but it has a brand-new location to explore.

2. Predators

There are currently five Predator movies--seven if you count the AVP series--and most of them take place on Earth. 2010's Predators is a shining accomplishment of taking a franchise that lost its luster and bringing it back to life--even though 2018's The Predator killed the series again, up until the Hulu movie Prey made it awesome once again. However, I digress. Predators didn't completely take place in space, but there was some space in it.

This is a really refreshing movie that would easily be number one on this list if it had spent more time in space. It follows a group of humans that find themselves on an alien planet being hunted by Predators. There's more to the group dynamic between the humans.

1. Jason X

It was obvious that everyone knew the number one item on this list. It's obviously Jason X--that time Friday the 13th decided to take its main character into the future and into space. Why? No one really knows. Writer Todd Farmer wanted to take Jason Voorhes to new places, and he revealed in an interview with IGN that he pitched "Jason in space," and that was that. Farmer wanted to incorporate elements of Alien and Blade Runner, but what we got was future-Jason all upgraded but still smashing teenagers in sleeping bags against trees.

Following the story of Jason being dragged to Hell by the glove of Freddy Krueger, Jason is cryogenically frozen--because you can't kill him--until the year 2455, when a researcher took his body, and then everyone went to space. Yes, this is a silly, weird movie. But compared to many other horror movies that go to space, it is self-aware of that weirdness. Jason X knows what it is: a slasher movie in space that features wild kill sequences and a very silly futuristic upgrade on an already supernatural murderer. Does Jason need a metal mask and muscular enhancements? Not really. He's an unstoppable supernatural murderer. Jason X has one of the top kill counts in the entire series--possibly more if we knew how many people died when a space station exploded. It raises the bar in a ridiculous way, knowing that it has to because the plot is so silly.

Should horror franchises go to space?

In exploring this concept of franchises going to space, I wondered if this was something that should be happening with other series, in general. There are tons of sci-fi movie franchises that work in space (Star Trek, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Starship Troopers). Additionally, there are plenty of standalone horror movies that take place in space (Event Horizon being the most notable).

However, if the franchise jumps to space because the producers are seemingly out of ideas, more times than not, it doesn't work. It all really depends on the story, the lore built around it. Predator, Critters, and Cloverfield, in theory, make complete sense to head to space. Still, there's also franchises like Leprechaun and Friday the 13th, which don't seem to fit the bill. However, Jason X is so ridiculous that it works and Leprechaun in Space is just entertaining enough to make you want to go on the ride.

But a haunted house from Earth magically appearing in space? No thanks. That's a hard pass. Eventually, all horror movie franchises lose steam--except for the Conjuring movies, for some reason--so you really can't reinvigorate the love for the characters and world by introducing space. However, Annabelle in space isn't a killer for me. I'd watch that.