As E.T, Arrival, and Paul show, alien movies don’t always have to be terrifying to be good. However, there’s no doubt that the prospect of running into an alien is a pretty scary one, whether they’re destroying the White House or picking off seemingly random victims one by one. The notion that visitors from other planets are going to be antagonistic and dangerous has always been a strong theme throughout space-based sci-fi, but which films about creatures not from this earth will chill you to the bone? Here’s our list of the 10 best scary alien movies of all time!
10. The Fourth Kind
This movie wasn’t exactly a brilliant watch, but it has some truly terrifying moments so it makes it on the list. The Fourth Kind is portrayed as a documentary, and at the beginning of the film it alleges it’s a dramatic re-enactment of real events that took place in the remote town of Nome, Alaska, where various locals were supposedly abducted. A psychologist (Milla Jovovich) uses hypnosis to attempt to recover memories of alien abduction from some of her patients, only to discover that she too might have been the victim of extraterrestrials too. A psychological drama that stalls at points, but will still bring the chills and might make you think twice the next time something strange happens to you.
9. Nope
Jordan Peele’s third swing at a feature length film wasn’t quite as groundbreaking as his incredible debut Get Out, but it was still an intriguing story that was packed full of tension and fear, like all the best scary films are. A weird, viral marketing campaign ratcheted up the intrigue before the movie finally dropped, with fake websites set up to bamboozle viewers. Nope stars Peele favorite Daniel Kaluuya as a horse trainer who discovers that aliens have been visiting his ranch. He attempts to film them to sell the footage for cash, but soon realizes that these are anything but friendly creatures.
9. Under the Skin
Superstar Scarlett Johansson is astoundingly good in this horrifying indie flick about an alien making their way through the men of Scotland. Although it was a box office flop, Under the Skin has since had a bit of a rennaissance, and is now rightly praised for its unique style, uncompromising inventiveness, and the brilliant way in which dialogue is used sparingly. The nature of the creature that Johansson plays is never really revealed, but through a series of beautifully shot scenes we get an insight into how whatever it is lives, and survives on a foreign planet. A mysterious biker who tails her (it?) only adds to the intrigue. A great little indie flick.
8. A Quiet Place
Although it’s never directly confirmed that the sound-searching creatures who terrorize earth in A Quiet Place are aliens, it’s pretty much implied throughout that they’re not from our human world. The movie follows the Abbott family as they try to survive on a planet that’s been overrun by sightless, armored creatures who hunt by sound. The family live life in silence, and often use ASL to communicate, both because one of the children is deaf (portrayed brilliantly by Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress), and because even the slightest sound alerts creatures to their presence and will lead to their deaths. Starring Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, this film is as tense as anything else on this list, with an explosive ending that will have you holding your breath.
7. Signs
Plot twist fetishist M. Night Shyamalan directed this modern classic alien horror about a farmer who discovers his land has been blighted by crop circles. As he digs further into the mystery, he realizes the extra terrestrials that are leaving the patterns are anything but friendly, and are about to show their true colors. Shyamalan raises the tension well during the course of Signs, leading to several heart-in-mouth moments that are as well crafted as anything else he’s done. The film’s resolution does feel a tiny bit like a cop-out, but everything up to that point makes up for the slightly unsatisfying ending. Joaquin Phoenix is particularly spellbinding in his role, although the entire cast does a great job of bringing the script to life.
6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
This color remake of a 1956 black and white film of the same name (which in turn was based on a 1955 novel by Jack Finney titled The Body Snatchers) is as iconic as it is scary, and is packed full of great actors to boot. Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy all put in fantastic performances in the movie, which follows a San Francisco-based health inspector (Sutherland) as he discovers that various city residents are slowly being replaced by alien duplicates who look and sound like their human counterparts, but lack empathy and basic humanity. An absolute classic of the genre, this is a must-watch for any connoisseurs of alien horror films.
5. Alienoid
South Korea’s thriving film and television industry had another smash hit with this inventive 2022 sci-fi horror. Alienoid follows two humanoid robots and a human baby that the pair rescue and then raise as they travel across three separate timelines in an attempt to reverse an alien invasion that led to the planet being taken over. Although it was a relatively big blockbuster in its native Korea, the film has plenty of interesting experimental elements, but most importantly is an entertaining and scary watch, with action sequences intercut with jump scares and more tension-raising scenes.
4. Fire in the Sky
While many scary alien films rely on the unseen to build fear in the viewer, Fire in the Sky is altogether more upfront with its terrifying nature, explicitly showing the audience the horrors that might come alongside an alien invasion. Based on Travis Walton’s book The Walton Experience, which is allegedly a true story, the film follows a group of loggers who come across a U.F.O. (also known as a U.A.P., for “Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena”), only for main character Travis Walton (D. B. Sweeney) to be abducted. His colleagues are accused of killing him and ostracized for their belief he was taken by aliens, only for a naked, confused Walton to appear at a nearby gas station a few days later. Through flashbacks, we then see the horrors that Walton went through while in the alien’s captivity, including a particularly brutal probing scene. It’s not the most artsy film on this list, but it definitely will make you wary of checking out any strange lights at night.
2. The Thing
This iconic film was probably horror legend John Carpenter’s best film, and it is an astoundingly good (and scary) watch. Like many other flicks on this list, the aliens in The Thing take over other life forms. The movie follows a group of American scientific researchers who are in the middle of Antarctica as they come across the titular monster, an alien that assimilates then imitates other life forms. The main way that Carpenter builds the horror in this film is by focusing on the paranoia that knowledge of the extraterrestrial takes, and we soon see the mental state of the researchers unravel as they all believe the others to have been taken over by the thing.
1. Alien
Ridely Scott produced something truly special with this 1979 sci-fi horror about a group of astronauts who discover a deadly alien life form has infiltrated their ship. With one of the most iconic scenes in not just horror but cinema history, it became an instant classic and launched Sigorney Weaver, who played the leading role, into the stratosphere. A stunning piece of cinema that’s been parodied, had sequels, and been given plenty of homages, despite its age Alien remains as fresh as it was the day it was released, and will leave even the most hardended horror fan hiding behind the sofa.