Space and its vast, existential dread-inducing endlessness has a particular ability to make even the sturdiest viewers quake. Much of what we fear, and what allows certain horror films to buzz with terror, is our fear of the unknown and the worry that what we believed to be true is false. It’s why space makes such a strong setting for stories meant to bury viewers in their thoughts as they contemplate the order — or lack thereof — of the universe, how small and seemingly insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, and the loneliness that has the potential to engulf us.
