10 Scariest Alien Movies Ever, Ranked
“What happened? You look like her, but you’re not her. You have her toes… you have her toes. You have her knees. You have her thighs. You smell the same. You taste the same. But you’re different. You’re different.”
Humans have been fascinated with the idea of life existing on other planets for as long as we have been looking up at the sky. This has been reflected in the stories we tell through film since sci-fi adventure A Trip to the Moon (1902), inspired by Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon. The number of movies about aliens increased dramatically in the 1950s when the US and the USSR began a “space race” which resulted in the Soviet Union successfully launching a satellite (Sputnik) in 1957, the Soviet Union achieving the first manned spaceflight in 1961 and the United States’ moon landing in 1969.
Modern films and television shows about aliens have centered around government coverups and conspiracies. Some of the biggest contributors to our current collective thinking around UFOs and aliens come from the 90s blockbuster Independence Day (1996) and the hit sci-fi drama series The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016-2018). Both portrayed the United States government as denying the existence of alien life to the public while secretly amassing evidence to the contrary.
These are what we consider the 10 scariest alien movies ever made, ranked from least to most scary:
10. Annihilation (2018)
A sci-fi psychological horror movie written and directed by Alex Garland. Natalie Portman stars as a cellular biology professor and Army soldier who volunteers for a dangerous mission into a mysterious quarantine zone where plants and animals have mutated following a meteor crashing in the area. With no communication to the outside world, the explorers find the quarantine zone filled to the brim with nightmares.
9. Fire in the Sky (1993)
A sci-fi drama based on Travis Walton’s true story. Walton was a logger working in the White Mountains of Arizona with five other men in November, 1975. They saw an unidentified flying object (UFO) and Walton disappeared after getting out of his truck to investigate a beam of light emanating from the object. When his coworkers report Walton’s disappearance, they are humiliated by local police even after passing lie detector tests. Walton returns five days later and his abduction is shown through excruciating flashbacks.
8. The Faculty (1998)
An iconic sci-fi horror movie about a covert invasion of parasitic aliens in a small Texas town. Ground zero for the invasion is the local high school where teachers and students are becoming infected. An ecclectic group of teens are all that stand between the aliens and the rest of the world.
See also: The best horror movies of the 90s
7. Honeymoon (2014)
A horror movie about a newlywed couple, Bea and Paul, who spend their honeymoon at a remote cabin in the woods. One night Paul discovers Bea has sleepwalked into the woods and rescues her. However, she behaves strangely after the episode and Paul begins to suspect something sinister has happened to his bride.
6. Dark Skies (2013)
A sci-fi horror movie starring Keri Russell as a suburban mom whose family starts experiencing unexplainable events — their kitchen is rearranged overnight, birds crash into their home, and their security alarm goes off for seemingly no reason. When they install cameras in the house, they discover three entities standing over them while they sleep. An expert they consult calls these entities the “Greys” and associates their appearance with child abduction. Desperate to keep their children safe, the family boards up their home and prepares for a final confrontation.
5. The Fourth Kind (2009)
A sci-fi horror pseudodocumentary that purports to be based on true events. In the remote town of Nome, Alaska psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) uses hypnosis to help clients dealing with trauma. During her sessions she uncovers her patient’s accounts of alien abductions and begins to believe she was abducted as well.
See also: Is ‘The Fourth Kind’ Actually Based On A True Story?
4. Signs (2002)
One of M. Night Shyamalan’s best films is this sci-fi horror movie about an alien invasion from the perspective of a widower (Mel Gibson), his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and his two children (Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin). At first in denial about the covert invasion, when video evidence of the aliens is broadcast the family accepts that they must protect themselves. Inspired by films like The Birds (1963) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), the family retreats to the cellar of their farmhouse.
3. Aliens (1986)
James Cameron co-wrote and directed Aliens, which is widely considered to be one of the best sequels of all time. 57 years after the events of the first film, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is sent to a colony on the moon with a unit of Colonial Marines. The crew discovers the colony destroyed due to the same alien species that Ripley previously battled on Nostromo. Sigourney Weaver earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in this film.
2. Alien (1979)
In the year 2122, the space ship Nostromo receives a distress call and its inhabitants are woken out of hypersleep to investigate. Following the call to a moon, the crew discovers alien eggs and a crew member is attacked by a facehugging creature. Evacuating back to the ship, it becomes clear the injured crew member has become a host and the alien is released on board.
1. The Thing (1982)
One of the best and scariest horror movies of all time. The Thing follows a team at a research station in Antarctica who come into contact with an alien life form who can transform and absorb other life forms, including humans. Unsure whether their colleagues are actually “the thing” the team dissolves into paranoia and chaos.
