When was the first time you’ve ever heard about aliens? Whether it’s from your childhood bedtime stories or your teacher’s horror stories, it serves as the first image you have of these creatures. For many, movies play a role in what they believe aliens look like.
Here are the top alien movies to explore.
1. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
The sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow centers on military officer Major William “Bill” Cage (Tom Cruise) and his exhausting day caught in a time loop. As the plot unravels, he discovers the loop’s connection with humanity’s enemy, the alien Mimic invaders.
The alien in the movie is brilliant, with a strong self-preservation system that easily wins battles.
2. Arrival (2016)
Arrival tells the story of humanity’s efforts to understand the language of extraterrestrials. Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads the mission to communicate with foreign beings called Heptspods.
These aliens have complex non-linear communication, high intelligence, and unexplained power waiting to be discovered.
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
In the Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfus) encounters a UFO, which completely changes his life. In his obsession, he joins hands with other people who have similar experiences and tries to decode the encounters.
The movie delivers an alien characterization closer to what many claim to encounter, making it more realistic and weirdly exciting.
4. Cloverfield (2008)
Cloverfield describes a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a mysterious being. The sci-fi thriller delivers the perfect set-up for the scary hunting ground of a dangerous extraterrestrial creature.
Its alien character is colossal, adding to its scary and horrific look.
5. District 9 (2009)
The sci-fi movie District 9 introduces “Prawns,” an alien race trapped in the slums of South Africa’s refugee camp in Johannesburg. The dystopian movie delivers a story of discrimination and abuse that parallels South Africa’s history.
Unlike alien films, this movie dives into humanity’s empathy, even for other species and creatures.
6. Alien (1979)
Alien offers a horrifying look at extraterrestrial creatures—aliens coming out of a person’s chest forever engraved in the viewers’ minds. The iconic movie follows the story of the Nostromo crew. The group follows a distress signal on a deserted planet, only to discover a Xenomorph.
A parasitic creature that grows inside the human host and bursts out once it becomes an adult, ultimately killing its host.
7. The Iron Giant (1999)
The animated movie Iron Giant narrates a heartfelt drama that follows Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marenthal) and his friendship with a gigantic alien robot. The tall alien destroys the image of a robot as a deadly weapon and the alien as a dangerous creature.
Suffering from amnesia, the robot acts unexpectedly humanely.
8. 2001: Space Odyssey (1968)
The classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey delivers a story of adventure and expedition. The movie follows the story of a spacecraft sent to Jupiter to learn about its origins and mysteries. It features an alien race unknown to man, with only monoliths as proof of its existence.
The mystery keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.
9. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
In Star Trek: First Contact, the movie introduces the Borg Collective, a cybernetic alien race capable of changing the Earth’s history. Hardcore fans rejoice over the introduction of this intelligent race in the movie and its expansion into the origin story many love.
10. The Thing (1982)
The Thing by John Carpenter introduces more frightening space aliens in the universe. The movie tells the story of the unseen extraterrestrial infiltration on Earth.
This kind of alien is scarier, unlike the scary and showy types of extraterrestrials that burst from humans. They infiltrate people without notice, so you don’t know who to trust anymore.
11. Solaris (1972)
The complicated sci-fi film Solaris follows the crew assigned to explore the planet Solaris and its moon. Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) and his team discover sentient life on the planet’s seas, capable of accessing human memories and creating physical manifestations of what they saw in the memories.
12. Aliens (1986)
The second installment of the Alien franchise, James Cameron’s Aliens, shows a better and stronger version of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). In the movie, Ripley courageously goes head-to-head with the alien race’s queen.
The second movie is more action-packed, with the main character capable of leading the battle on the alien-infested moon.
13. Midnight Special (2016)
Midnight Special follows Roy (Michael Shannon) and Alton (Jaeden Martell), a father-son duo with special abilities the government and religious cult are hunting. The movie’s on-the-edge storytelling adds to the mystery of where their powers come from. It stretches to the possibilities beyond our planet and all the unknowns waiting to be discovered.
14. Predator (1987)
In the movie Predator, Dutch Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a rescue team to save hostages only to encounter the titular character Predator (Kevin Peter Hall). The creature is a deadly extraterrestrial known as Yautja, a race of intellectual and technologically advanced hunters. Schaefer’s next mission is to survive and safely walk away from the Predator.
15. Prometheus (2012)
Ridley Scott’s Prometheus offers an interesting perspective on mankind’s origins. Scientists Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) go on a truth-seeking adventure to learn about the race of godlike beings taught in their religion. These beings turn out to be the Engineers, an intelligent extraterrestrial race planning to eradicate humans on Earth.