Your favorite Alien like movies
Decs (Daniel Castillo S.)
MemberOvomorphApr-11-2019 11:00 PMHey 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?
Decs (Daniel Castillo S.)
MemberOvomorphApr-16-2019 9:59 PMLone, 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.
dk
MemberTrilobiteApr-16-2019 10:45 PMOf course there Is The Matrix and Equilibrium.
I would not recommend this though:
Decs (Daniel Castillo S.)
MemberOvomorphApr-16-2019 11:11 PMdk, yeah "The Matrix" and "Equilibrium" are both great and despite the fact they're mostly action oriented and not horror/suspense, they do have some "Alien"ish overtones to them (specially "The Matrix").
And I totally agree with "Virus" lol... that's on my list of movies with "Alien" vibes I WOULDN'T recommend alongside others I have already mentioned like "The Relic", "Apollo 18", "The Last Days on Mars", "Red Planet" and "Ghost of Mars" (thankfully along came "The Martian" to somewhat redeem Mars based movies xD ).
ninXeno426
MemberPraetorianApr-21-2019 3:01 PMIt follows...one my favorite movies in recent years. Sphere is decent,though my brother days it's not quite on par with the book. The Descent is one of the best creature flicks of all time. Signs is very underappreciated.
Now here is where I get obvious with movies. The Fly and Fly 2(pretty underrated this one) Both in the same spirit as Alien being body horror. Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049,they need no explanation lol. Total Recall,Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusset had the rights to this before they did Alien. They put it on hold because they felt visual effects of the 70's weren't up to par for their vision of the film. Also my favorite Mars film bar none(I'll be honest...I was underwhelmed and disappointed by The Martian lol....)
Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for
Decs (Daniel Castillo S.)
MemberOvomorphApr-24-2019 8:28 PM“It follows...one my favorite movies in recent years.”
ninXeno426, I loved it too!
“Sphere is decent, though my brother days it's not quite on par with the book.”
Yeah, I found that 90% of the time when people read a book and then see the movie based on said book they´re almost always dissatisfied with it… I mean it’s next to impossible to cram all of the information of a book in a movie, so I always try to judge them as separate things, they´re two very different mediums.
“The Descent is one of the best creature flicks of all time. “
Agreed!
“Signs is very underappreciated.”
Also agreed!
And now that you mention it, it is SUPER weird that no one, including myself, had mentioned “The Fly” on this thread… Definitely a good pick! And coincidentally not long ago I was channel surfing and caught “The Fly 2”, and I had seen bits a pieces before but didn’t remember it well, so I saw it in that moment and I thought to myself “Hey, this isn’t bad at all..” sadly I had to do something and I couldn’t finish watching it, I´ll try to catch it later.
About “Blade Runner”, well yeah, it had things in common with “Alien” besides Ridley Scott, like robots and a dark gritty view of the future. Also, if I remember correctly I read somewhere that in “Alien 3” you can see some building or structure that appeared in the original “Blade Runner”.
About “Total Recall”, I didn’t know about Shusset and O’Banon having the rights to that one, good trivia!
“Melancholia with kirsten dunst was a great movie”
Marvelous, yeah I quite liked it too despite not being a big fan of Lars Von Trier.
setaverde
MemberFacehuggerMay-05-2019 9:59 PM
I never get bored when i watch it.
The Kothoga is an amazing scary Monster that loves to bite.
