When it comes to the best settings for horror movies, there is one environment that offers all kinds of content. Movies set in "the future" have birthed some of the best horror movies precisely because there isn't any kind of real limit to what those films can offer. There isn't a real need to be hampered by something like "realism" because the technology or monsters that are featured in these films don't even exist yet.
It's always been true that the best horror movies around are the best because they're rooted in creativity. Not really having any bounds to what can happen can spur the best creativity, even when the basic plot of the horror movie might be something people have seen before. Having them set in the future allows that even if something has been seen before, the movie can put a brand new spin on the subject. That also tends to be why there's no real shortage of horror movies that are set in the future.
Pitch Black
Pitch Black is one of those sci-fi horror movies that has flown under the radar for the last several years, despite the fact that it was quite popular at the time and starred an actor who has also forged quite a successful career. Pitch Black even spawned a franchise that includes several movies and some video games. The movie stars Vin Diesel as a convict in the future who had his eyes surgically enhanced so he could see in the dark because the prison he's supposed to spend the rest of his life in doesn't have any light. When monsters that also live and survive in the dark start attacking a planetary outpost, Riddick is the only one who can give them a chance of survival thanks to his ability to kill at an alarming rate and those special eyes.
In addition to Vin Diesel, Pitch Black had a pretty star-studded cast that included Radha Mitchell - who seemed to be in every movie that hit theaters during this period - Keith David, and Yellowstone's Cole Hauser. There was a time when Riddick seemed like he was going to be one of the biggest central figures in science-fiction movies and then it ended. Pitch Black is still a pretty decent horror movie set in the future, even if it didn't get the franchise to take off.
Event Horizon
There are plenty of horror movies out there where there is some sort of danger on a spaceship. There aren't that many movies where the danger is the spaceship. Event Horizon might not have gotten the greatest critical reviews, but the film starring Sam Neil and Laurance Fishburne has plenty of spooky atmospheres. The ship in question is one that has a new kind of drive that is changing the way human beings travel the universe.
However, when this future tale takes a turn, it takes a big one as the people on board the ship are slowly driven mad. Not wanting to spoil the entire plot, suffice it to say that this science-fiction horror also has some interesting takes on the afterlife and how that sort of thing works. Event Horizon simply doesn't get enough credit for what it was when it hit theaters.
Life
Life is one of those movies that flew under the radar despite the fact that it had a pretty A-list cast in Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds as well as Rebecca Ferguson. The film centers around a space expedition in the near future that is bringing back some soil samples from Mars. It turns out that in those soil samples, there's some sort of living organism. That organism starts off as just a kind of blobby thing until it morphs into a full-blown creature. Quite frankly, the premise of this movie actually sounds a lot like if Prey had gotten a film adaptation.
There's horror around the corners of the international space station thanks to it taking a little while for the crew to understand just what's happening. Then there's the tension of wondering whether or not they can stop the creature from reaching Earth. It's not entirely clear why this one flew under the radar so much, other than it didn't have the best marketing campaign but with the well-known actors on board, it's a movie that's absolutely worth checking out.
Alien
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Simply one of the best science-fiction horror movies out there. There's a reason Alien has been followed by so many spinoffs and sequels. Moviegoers love the idea of this kind of alien and they want to see it on screen as much as they can. What makes the original Sigourney Weaver-starring flick interesting is that that Alien really isn't on screen all that much until the third act. This movie starts out as a kind of mystery because the crew doesn't understand what exactly it is going to run across. It, of course, turns out that their employers actually have a pretty good idea. The film also has one of the most iconic scenes in horror movie history, when the small alien bursts out of the dude's stomach. It's hard to remember when there was a time when that was something people hadn't actually seen at this point. But there was a time when that was an entirely new concept.
Jason X
Jason X is one of those films that needs to be taken for what it is, in the long run. This is basically a horror comedy that takes Jason Voorhees centuries into the future and into space. The scares are actually few and far between, though it's a safe bet that the many, many people he kills were scared enough by the unkillable murderer when he took them apart. The premise of the film is that Jason has finally been captured but when he starts to escape again, an accident cryogenically freezes him.
In the distant future, a team of anthropology students finds the body and takes him back to their ship. There they unwisely figure out a way to wake him so that he can begin his killing yet again. He even manages to get a big-time upgrade thanks to the tech on the ship. For those who just love slasher horror, this certainly offers that. There is one scene above all others that can't be missed and that's when he beats one camper to death with another.