I’ve been a fan of Star Trek for as long as I can remember. I watched reruns of the original series on TV growing up, I saw all the movies and have seen most of the series that have been released over the years. I love the optimism of Star Trek; the idea that humanity is capable of great things. I want to believe that whatever struggles humanity goes through today, we’ll eventually leave it all behind for a brighter future.
But sometimes, it's about monstrous killer aliens stalking you in the dark and murdering you, and it turns out, when that’s the case, Trek is still pretty good. I’ve been working my way through Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the first time, the one series I had never seen, with my Paramount+ subscription, and a recent episode has made me realize that what the world needs is a Star Trek slasher movie.
Empok Nor Is A Star Trek Horror Movie
“Empok Nor” is the 24th episode of Season Five of Deep Space Nine. The plot follows a team from the station, led by Colm Meany’s Chief O’Brien, who travel to another former Cardassian space station to salvage parts that the Chief needs to fix their space station. Because Cardassians frequently booby trap former outposts, Garak (the professional tailor who isn’t a former covert operative, we swear, wink, wink), one of the best Star Trek characters ever, goes along for the ride. They bring with them a bunch of targets...I mean, a team of engineers.
Upon entering the station, it’s discovered the team is not alone. A pair of Cardassians had been left in cryogenic stasis, and they’re being affected by some sort of drug that has made them focused only on killing anybody who dares enter the station. Needless to say, all those extra engineers might as well be wearing red shirts because they’re nothing but fodder for the killers.
It was when the episode included a full-on jump scare that I realized the episode of DS9 I was watching was actually a horror movie. One of the Cardassian killers jumps through a pane of glass to grab one of the engineers who has been quietly trying to figure out what’s going on.
The episode has all the classic horror hallmarks. There’s a dwindling number of survivors, dark, narrow passages where anything could be hiding, and even a surprise killer when Garak, the Cardassian brought along for the ride, is affected by the toxin and becomes a killer himself.
If Star Trek Can Do Comedy, Why Not Horror?
I’m not an anti-horror person, but I’m not a major horror fan either, and yet, watching “Empok Nor,” I couldn’t help but wish I could see more of this. It worked remarkably well. Of course, this was far from the first horror story told in outer space, but the elements that make Star Trek unique were on full display and worked quite well.
The franchise certainly has played with horror before, and likely will again, but usually, the terror is more cerebral and less visceral. It's more about stories that are scary because they're strange and things are unexplained. Here, the horror is physical.
Following the success of the comedic and controversial Star Trek: Lower Decks, it’s clear that these stories can work in genres outside of traditional drama or science fiction action. If Trek can do comedy, surely it can also do horror.
I would love to see more horror with a Trek twist. While it seems that the previously teased Star Trek movie from Quentin Tarantino will never happen, he would be the perfect choice to helm something like this. Since that’s unlikely, a streaming movie on Paramount+ would suffice. There’s potential here, and I want to see more.
