Your favorite Alien like movies
Decs (Daniel Castillo S.)
MemberOvomorphApril 11, 201924668 Views37 Replies
Hey guys. I looked rather quick if there was a discussion on this subject already but I didn’t see any so I’m opening up this one… If there was one already then I’m sorry I guess (most forums I've joined have "Search Topic" buttons but for the life of me I couldn't find it here). If there was one please send me the link of the thread.
So I’m curious to know what are your favorite “Alien” like movies? To see if I discover some cool flick that I don’t know about and so we can all share our picks. It doesn’t have to be a movie with an alien in it, it can be just a sci fi movie with an “Alien” vibe to it.
My picks I´m sure are a bit mainstream and they’ll probably be in most “Alien” fans lists of favorite “Alien” like movies, but I think there’s one or two there that aren’t that well known.
First I have to say one of the most obvious ones, and it’s “Event Horizon”. Ever since I first saw the movie, shortly after it came out, I absolutely loved it and thought it was incredibly atmospheric, creepy, entertaining and just a great flick. I was surprised at the time to see the bad reviews it gardened, and lot of people just dismissed it as a cheap “Alien” clone, but I really never saw it that way… It’s obviously heavenly inspired by “Alien” and other horror movies but I didn´t see it as a cheap knock off. Also, I’ve seen a lot of people talking about it saying they like it in a “so bad its good way”, but that’s not the way I see it at all, to me it’s a genuinely good movie… I mean it’s not perfect, and yeah it’s got pacing issues and problems here and there but all in all I think it’s a very solid flick. In recent years I’ve seen that the movie has gardened a cult status among a lot of horror fans and I think that’s really cool, I think it deserves it.
The next one is another rather obvious pick, and it’s “Pitch Black”. This one has a way more similar plot to “Alien” than probably all of the other movies I’m gonna list here, but despite that I think somehow it worked, it’s a really well done movie with beautiful visuals, a cool protagonist anti-hero, and memorable monsters. Btw, I appreciate the director’s intent for trying new things with the sequels and not rehashing the first one, but sadly, I didn’t think they worked so well (well the second one, because I never got around to see the third one).
The third one I think is a little bit less know and it’s a movie called “Pandorum”. Much like “Event Horizon” it’s a movie I greatly enjoyed despite the fact that it has its share of flaws and that it garnered mostly negative reviews when it came out. The movie has a strong “Alien” vibe to it, I liked the mystery that surrounded the plot, I liked the characters, and I especially really liked the twist ending… I though it did exactly what a good twist ending should do, it surprises you a lot because you don’t see it coming but it totally makes sense in the context of the movie. Sadly I think one of the most forgettable aspects of it were the “monsters”, they were kinda generic and not very menacing to me. When the movie finished I was left with the desire to see a sequel but alas, I doubt it will ever happen.
This next one has more of an “Aliens” vibe than “Alien”, and in this case I do admit it’s one of those movies I enjoyed in a “so bad is good way”, but nevertheless it’s a got a couple of genuinely great moments and really cool vfx for the time, and its “Deep Rising”. I always found that movie incredibly fun in a cheesy way, and I really liked the design of the monster and how it dispatched some of the characters… The scene with the half-digested guy who was still alive was forever ingrained in my brain because of how realistic and creepy it looked. Overall a really fun film if you don’t take it very seriously.
Another one is Danny Boyle´s “Sunshine”; I really liked the movie and although a lot of people criticized the turn it makes in its third act, I didn’t mind it much. A lot of scenes gave off “Alien” vibes to me.
This one the filmmakers openly admitted to being directly inspired by “Alien”, and it’s the Jake Gyllenhal movie “Life”. I really liked it, despite the fact that a couple of scenes and character choices throughout the movie didn’t make much sense to me. Also, for some reason I found the alien way more menacing when it was small than when it grew way bigger later on in the movie.
Guillermo Del Toro's "Mimic" is another one that I really liked and gives off strong "Alien" vibes. As I understand, much like what happened with "Alien 3", Del Toro had a lot of problems with the studio meddling with the movie and I think he was not happy with the final result, I would have love to see his original cut, but as it is I think the movie is really cool and creepy nonetheless and it has great creature design.
And for last, it’s not actually a movie but a vignette. There’s this really cool anime movie called “Memories” made up of three different short stories; one of these stories, the first one in the movie, is called “Magnetic Rose” and it takes place on a derelict spaceship and to me it has a really big “Alien” vibe to it, it’s a really cool animated short (I haven’t seen the other two though so I can’t recommend them).
So, those were my picks for favorite “Alien” like movies, what are yours?
The Last Days on Mars (2013)
What's not to love about a Mars set Sci-fi-horror hybrid! Right?
"Let The Cosmic Incubation Begin" ~ H.R. Giger
dk! I know it’s kinda blasphemous to say that, especially in an “Alien” forum, but yeah, for some weird reason I have never watched it in its entirety. Wanna know some more blasphemous things I’ve done? For some reason I have yet to see other Carpenter classics but somehow I’ve seen their sequels, prequels or reboots… I haven’t seen “The Thing” 1982 but I saw “The Thing” 2011 (I have a soft spot for Mary Elizabeth Winstead), I haven’t seen “Halloween” 1978 (again, blasphemy, I know… I’ve seen chunks of it, but not the whole film) but I saw “Halloween H20” (it was EVERYWHERE in the nineties), I haven’t seen “Escape From New York” but I saw “Escape From L.A.”… Please don’t kick me out of this forum! D:
The case with “The Thing” 1982 is really weird because when I was a kid they used to broadcast “Alien” and “Aliens” all the time on the tv channels I used to watch here in my country and those are movies from the same time period as “The Thing” but I don’t remember them airing “The Thing” that much for some reason or I surely would have seen it and enjoyed it… Later on when I was an adult sometimes I would catch it when I was channel surfing, and by then I already knew of its classic status and I always said to myself “Nah I have to watch this movie from the beginning and pay close attention to it, it deserves it” so I kept postponing my viewing of it and well… That was that lol. Now that I relate this shameful story I’m gonna make a promise to myself to finally watch it this year!
Lone, you know, it’s funny that you mentioned “The Last Days on Mars” because I saw that movie and I thought about putting it on the list because of its obvious “Alien” vibes but I decided against it because I didn’t really liked it… It wasn’t a terrible movie but I thought based on the trailer that it was gonna be way better and more interesting. There are other movies besides that one that I thought off that have very obvious “Alien” vibes that I didn’t mention because I don’t think they’re particularly good either, movies like “The Relic”, “Red Planet” and “Apollo 18” among others.
Daliens, cool! Is a really short story though, if you read it tell me what you think!
Oh and another one for my list, this one isn’t set in space but it definitely has “Alien” vibes and I think it’s a great movie:
Now here's something that is complete and utter shite. It is to Alien, what The Room is to romantic drama. It is so bad that it crosses the line in the sand between unwatchable and, is it really that bad? It is entertainment for all the wrong reasons. Ridley Scott wanted Alien to surpass B-movie effects, whereas this movie aspires to becoming a B-movie. This really is Alien on an incredibly tight budget with a whip round from those hoping it might never see the light of day. Worth a watch just to know that someone actually made this. Repeat viewings tend to occur after the effects of the initial trauma have worn off
Lone, indeed it was! I thought it was a great movie. I didn’t hear very good things about the tv adaption sadly though.
Batchpool, that looks like a fun watch! I have to admit to watching “The Room” twice with friends and it was a super fun experience, so maybe I’ll watch this one too! Those “so bad is good” movies can be fun as hell to enjoy with others.
Chris, woah, thanks for the feature! I just recently joined this forum but it’s fast becoming one of my favorite places on the web right now.
NinXeno426, oh cool! I'll be sure to check that thread out, thanks! About "Ghots of Mars", I thought about that one when I was making my list and I get it's supposed to be a B Movie but sadly I didn't find it very enjoyable at all, but its cool that other people liked it.
So, I just thought about more movies to add to my list that I think have “Alien” vibes to them and that are really good in my opinion… None of these movies are set in space but all of them feature very menacing monsters/aliens/creatures/animals/entities that pose a great threat to the protagonists and that generate a fair amount of tension in several scenes of said movies.
First, another one of my all-time faves, “Cloverfield”. I absolutely love this movie, I remember having so much fun watching it in theaters when it came out and I really loved the mysterious marketing campaign behind it. Terrific special effects, creature design and very tense scenes (the subway scene with the parasites greatly reminded me of “Alien”). I enjoyed the other movies in the “Cloververse” but to me this is by far the best.
This one I have always thought is one hell of a underrated movie, and its “The Ghost and the Darkness”, I think is really awesome, to the point that I always put it together in my mind with "Jaws” among the best killer animal movies I’ve seen. The movie has great scenes of extreme tension (without spoiling much, that dream sequence in this was one of the most horrifying moments I’ve ever experienced while watching a movie), great special effects and terrific acting. A must watch for me.
This is kind of a weird choice, and it’s a movie I recommend with some caution cause apparently is one of those films you either love or you hate, and its “It Follows”. I really loved it and found it very unnerving, creepy and weird, but I’ve read A LOT of people saying it’s a piece of boring art house crap (not unlike the reaction a lot of people had to other indie horror films highly praised by critics like “The VVitch”, “The Babadook”, “It Comes at Night” and “Hereditary”). The foreboding and feeling of unease that the entity in this movie creates in the viewer reminded me greatly of “Alien”.
“The Faculty”: This one is a kinda silly and fun movie that fans of classics like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” should enjoy, and I’m sure most people on this forum must be familiar with it. I think its great fun and it has nice creature effects in it and some self referential humor.
“The Descent”: This movie really left an impression on me when I first saw it, for a number of reasons, one of which was that the movie has very tense moments even before the first creature makes its appearance. The feeling of isolation and claustrophobia the movie gives off reminded me a lot of “Alien” and it has very creepy moments and really good scares.
This one I find really weird that no one have mentioned it already, and its M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs”. I really liked this movie, and how it mixed incredibly tense moments with some humor. I remember being hugely creeped out with the scene of the newscast about the brazilian home video. Really great flick.
“Annihilation”: I had very very high expectations of this one because of how much I loved Alex Garland’s previous feature, “Ex Machina”, and even though I liked it, it didn’t blow me away like I thought it would. Still, it’s a really solid and thought provoking movie, and it has one sequence of immense tension related to a creature that´s memorable as hell and very reminiscent of the “Alien” movies. For quite a while I have been thinking that Alex Garland would be a GREAT fit for the “Alien” franchise in my opinion.
“Sphere”: This one I hesitated a lot of putting it on the list because is one of those movies that for me, it began really REALLLY interesting and suspenseful, but then about midway through it began to lose steam and it ended up being kind of a mess, at least for me, but the movie has its strong points (atmosphere, set design, visual effects, acting) and it has a good score on IMDB so despite my gripes with it I decided to include it because it seems a lot of people enjoyed it. Either way I say, again, I’m sure most people on this forum have probably seen it already.
Of course there Is The Matrix and Equilibrium.
I would not recommend this though:
I never get bored when i watch it.
The Kothoga is an amazing scary Monster that loves to bite.
