There’s something truly unique about alien pictures. When written and directed by the right people, these genre movies can be great places to show pictures of people, evolution, and morals.
Sometimes they look like love dreams about finding your true worth. Sometimes they’re vivid epics where people are fighting for their lives against attackers from other worlds, stories about good-hearted people making friends with strangers, or mind-boggling visual feasts where dense metaphors are the main course.
To sum up, there isn’t just one kind of alien movie, but there are a lot of themes that run through these science fiction stories.Here is a list of the best alien movies ever made, spanning many decades and a huge range of styles.
The Best Alien Movies
1. Arrival (2016)
A interpreter works for the military to talk to aliens after twelve strange spaceships show up all over the world.
2. Alien (1979)
The crew of a commercial spaceship comes across a dangerous living thing while looking into a strange signal whose source they don’t know.
3. The Thing (1982)
A group of researchers in Antarctica are being chased by an alien that can change its appearance and look like its victims.
4. Aliens (1986)
Years after escaping the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent to get in touch with a colony that is changing the planet’s surface, but she ends up fighting the Alien Queen and her children.
5. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
A child who is having a hard time finds the strength to help a nice alien get away from Earth and go back to his home planet.
6. District 9 (2009)
When an alien race that has to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a fellow human being in a government spy who has been exposed to their biotechnology, violence breaks out.
7. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
![Edge of Tomorrow - Official Trailer 1 [HD]](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/vw61gCe2oqI-hqdefault.jpg)
A soldier facing aliens lives through the same day over and over again. Each time he dies, the day starts over.
8. Predator (1987)
A group of commandos on a mission in the jungles of Central America are chased by a fighter from another world.
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
An alien comes to Earth and tells the people there that they must live in peace or be destroyed because they are a threat to other worlds.
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
A doctor in a small town finds out that the people living there are being replaced by heartless alien copies.
11. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Roy Neary, an electric lineman from Indiana, has a close experience with a UFO that turns his quiet and normal daily life upside down. This leads him on a crazy cross-country search for answers as a big event approaches.
12. Contact (1997)
After years of looking, Dr. Ellie Arroway finally receives radio signals that clearly show aliens are sending plans for a strange machine.
13. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Man locks a young woman in an underground bunker and says that the surface of the Earth is unsafe to live on because of an attack.
14. Men in Black (1997)
![MEN IN BLACK [1997] - Official Trailer (HD)](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/UxUTTrU6PA4-hqdefault.jpg)
An agent from a secret government agency that keeps an eye on alien life on Earth hires James, a police officer in New York City. They have to work together to get back something that an intergalactic bad guy stole
15. The Mist (2007)
A freak storm brings a species of bloodthirsty animals to a small town. People in the town hide in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
16. Super 8 (2011)
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends sees a train crash and then looks into strange things that have been happening in their small town.
17. Transformers (2007)
A long-ago battle between the good Autobots and the bad Decepticons on Cybertron comes to Earth, along with a clue about a teenager’s ultimate power.
18. Independence Day (1996)
Aliens are on their way, and they want to take over and destroy Earth. The will to live is the best weapon that people have against better technology.
19. Paul (2011)
Outside of Area 51, two English comic book fans going across the U.S. meet an alien.
20. Signs (2002)
A former minister who is now widowed and living on a farm in Pennsylvania with his children and brother sees strange crop circles in their fields. This makes them think that something scarier is about to happen.
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21. Chronicle (2012)
After making a huge find underground, three high school friends get superpowers. As they accept their darker sides, their lives quickly get out of hand, and their relationship is put to the test.
22. Mars Attacks! (1996)
Martians with deadly weapons and a mean sense of humor have taken over Earth.
23. No One Will Save You (2023)
One night, a woman wakes up to find someone in her home. She lives alone and feels cut off from her neighborhood. This stranger is not human, and she has to face it by herself since no one can hear her cries for help.
24. Avatar (2009)
Avatar is different from most movies about aliens because it shows that the aliens might not be the ones to be afraid of. In Pandora, the Na’vi, who are very advanced, have to protect their holy place from people who want to take their natural resources.
25. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Funny how the Marvel world makes us root for a group of misfits who are bad guys from other planets.
26. Nope (2022)
Nope is directed by Jordan Peele and is about a man and his sister who find something scary in the sky above their California land. At the same time, the owner of a nearby theme park tries to make money off of the strange event.
27. Prey (2022)
A skilled warrior keeps her group safe from an alien predator that has evolved a lot and hunts people for fun. She is determined to keep her community safe, even though it means fighting the wild, dangerous newcomers, and this strange creature.
28. The Fourth Kind (2009)
People in and around Nome, Alaska, have been lost for more than 40 years. Even though the FBI is looking into it, no one knows where they are. But Dr. Tyler, a psychologist, might be about to blow the unsolved cases wide open when she finds scary proof of alien abductions while she is helping her patients.
29. Space Jam (1996)
If you grew up in the 1990s, you already know how important this song was. An evil alien who owns a theme park wants to add a new ride. When his gang comes to Earth to take Bugs Bunny and the other Looney Tunes, Bugs invites them to a basketball game to see who will win. As soon as the aliens agree, they take NBA players’ skills, which makes Michael Jordan help Bugs.
30. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
David Bowie plays an alien who looks like a person and comes to Earth to get water for his world, which is dying. Because he knows so much about technology, he comes up with successful ideas that help him pay for building a spaceship to return to his planet. One thing he wasn’t ready for was to fall in love.
31. Men in Black: International (2019)
Both the Men in Black and the bad guys in the universe have grown to cover the whole world. That’s where Agent H and the sharp newcomer M team up. They don’t seem to go together, but they might work. When aliens that can look like any person show up on Earth, H, and M go on a trip around the world to save the agency and the world.
32. Paul (2011)
A funny alien named Paul has lived in a top-secret military base for the past sixty years. When he’s had enough of Earth, he breaks out of the compound and gets on the first car he can find: a rental RV driven by two British sci-fi fans. Feds and the father of a kidnapped person are after them, so they come up with a crazy plan to help Paul get back to space.
33. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Roy Neary is an electric lineman in Indiana. He has a close experience with a UFO that turns his quiet and normal life upside down. This makes him obsessed with finding answers as a life-changing event approaches.
34. The Vast of Night (2019)
In The Vast of Night, which takes place in New Mexico in the 1950s, a radio DJ and a switchboard operator try to find the source of a strange sound frequency that may have come from space. There you go, a spoiler: it is.
35. Rim of the World (2019)
![Rim of the World | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/xkvBpKHL99k-hqdefault.jpg)
This book will make you think of Stranger Things. It’s about four teens who don’t fit in and are asked to stop an alien attack that is taking over their summer camp and the world.
36. The Tomorrow War (2021)
In this sci-fi thriller set shortly, stars like Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, and J. K. Simmons play important roles. The story is about what happens when a group of soldiers and normal people are sent into the future to fight aliens.
37. Extinction (2018)
![Extinction | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/-ePDPGXkvlw-hqdefault.jpg)
In this action movie, an engineer who keeps having nightmares about being invaded by aliens goes to see a therapist for help and meets another patient who has been having the same dreams. They both had the same vision, which turned out to be a warning (!).
38. Spectral (2016)
![Spectral | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/rmC3ZhIHHi4-hqdefault.jpg)
What will happen if the US military finds out that creepy ghostly aliens are killing US troops in Moldova? Of course, they kill the aliens to keep the city from being destroyed.
39. A Quiet Place (2018)
Yes, A Quiet Place is an alien movie, and I think the Death Angels are some of the craziest aliens ever seen in a movie. Don’t forget to read A Quiet Place Part II after this one.
40. Captive State (2019)
In this fun thriller, people in a Chicago neighborhood decide if they want to overthrow the alien takeover after living under alien rule for 10 years. Oh, and did I say that this movie has a great cast?
41. Under the Skin (2014)
In this movie, Scarlett Johansson plays an alien who tries to trick guys into getting into her van by dressing up as a beautiful woman. Really, who could blame them?
42. Annihilation (2018)
Natasha Portman plays a biologist and former soldier in Annihilation. She is trying to figure out what happened to her husband in “Area X,” a strange US zone where nature doesn’t seem to apply (because aliens, of course).
43. Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
In Battle: Los Angeles, the world’s biggest towns are destroyed one by one by an alien invasion that has been predicted for a long time. Only Los Angeles is left as the final battleground. A Marine staff sergeant and his platoon are then given charge of humanity. So, don’t put too much pressure on them!
44. Attack the Block (2011)
Attack the Block is a funny movie about a teenage gang boss in South London who has to protect his group from aliens who are breaking into their housing complex. John Boyega (Finn from Star Wars) plays the role of Finn.
45. Oblivion (2013)
Another movie with Tom Cruise fighting aliens, Oblivion takes place in 2077 in a world that has been destroyed by aliens. It’s about a senior soldier who has to fight a new alien threat and save the world before he can escape to a faraway colony.
46. War of the Worlds (2005)
Okay, promise this is the last Tom Cruise alien movie!! In this one, a divorced dock worker tries to get his kids back with their mom after aliens attack Earth and start destroying big towns. If you need more proof, Tom Cruise and aliens always make for a good time.
47. Life (2017)
In this sci-fi horror movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, a six-person space group finds the first signs of life on Mars, and to their surprise, the life is not friendly.
48. Cloverfield (2008)
This old but good found-footage movie is about six friends in New York City who try to get away from the huge alien monster that is attacking their city. Also, Cloverfield Lane is great, and even though The Cloverfield Paradox isn’t, you should still watch it for the actors.
49. Super 8 (2011)
This sci-fi thriller takes place in Ohio in 1979 and is about a group of young kids, played by Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney, who try to make a home movie about zombies but end up fighting aliens. Surprise ending!
50. Pacific Rim (2013)
![Pacific Rim - Official Main Trailer [HD]](https://www.wikilistia.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/5guMumPFBag-hqdefault.jpg)
This epic sci-fi movie has sea monsters fighting robots. The idea sounds crazy, but the movie is much better than you’d think. Pac-Rim: Uprising is a great game to play after this one.
51. Ender’s Game (2013)
Even though it didn’t do well at the box office, I will always support the movie version of Ender’s Game, which follows a smart teen to a military school in space to prepare for an inevitable alien invasion.
52. The Endless (2017)
In this sci-fi movie, two brothers who supposedly escaped a UFO death cult ten years ago get a strange video message that makes them want to go back to Camp Arcadia for the first time in ten years. Bring on all the creepiness.
53. Signs (2002)
You obviously can’t have a list of alien movies without including Signs, which is the only movie that makes me afraid of crop circles to this day.
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