Nov. 10, 2004

Scared Yet?

Still in the mood for Halloween?

Everyone likes a little chill down the spine once in a while. Do you like to be really scared? Or do you huddle under a blanket when an unsuspecting character decides to go into the basement? (I confess. I grab the blanket.)

And science fiction is always getting into the action. If you check the most popular movie rentals around this time of year—or even what's playing on TV—you'll find a wide selection of scary science fiction. Something for every taste in fright, gore, and monsters!! (I'm heading for my blanket!!)

So here's a little quiz to test your scariness factor. The answers that go with the following clues are popular science fiction TV shows or movies that do their best to scare and shock viewers. If you haven't seen any of them . . .

. . . you might like to check them out . . .

. . . or . . .

. . . you might NOT . . .

. . . at least not until you're older.

The Ominous Clues

1. On this X-traordinary TV show, a pair of sleuths spent an awful lot of the time going into basements. (What were they thinking?)
2. This animated show, like Halloween, saves up its scares for just one outing a year—a visit to a treehouse of horrors.
3. A poor, manmade fellow, who wanted only to be left alone, is the lumbering monster in this movie (and several sequels).
4. In this movie, the common cold turned out to be the real scare during an invasion from Mars.
5. A woman, her cow, and a scenic, serene lake are all part of this horror scifi movie.
6. A piece of green rock scares the young superhero of this TV series.
7. Afraid of snakes? How about a gargantuan snake with a mouth large enough to swallow a house in the jungles of Borneo?
8. What about a killer robot? It's 2035 in Chicago, and the suspect is an NS-5 robot.
9. A deep dread of sharks, perhaps? What if you become a tasty treat for a trio of intelligent sharks?
10. Then there's spiders . . . especially a deadly South American spider that panics a small California town.
11. Beware of climate change. In this film, the weather is the fright.
12. Never let zombies in the door is the motto of this movie (and several other recent films).
13. Scared of being on a dinosaur's menu in a forbidden place where man has tampered with nature?
14. In this tentacled tale, a mad scientist sets out to destroy a mild-mannered student and superhuman crime fighter.
15. So it's dark. How bad can that be? Throw in some vicious, nocturnal aliens and a marooned space ship, then see what happens.

The Horrifying Answers.

This week's recommended scifi books

Art gallery

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