In honor of the 21st anniversary of M. Night Shyamalan's alien invasion film Signs, still famous for those tin foil hats, and Joaquin Phoenix recoiling in horror, we have a list of ten of the most terrifying and funny alien movies. These scary alien films still have an individualistic stamp in common with Shyamalan's films. You can read here at Fangoria about what might be coming next for the filmmaker.
Communion (1989)
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Communion was adapted from author Whitley Streiber's memoir of being abducted by aliens. Streiber is a horror author who wrote The Hunger and The Wolfen. Whether or not you believe in aliens, Christopher Walken gives a chilling and memorable performance as Streiber in the film. His belief in what is happening makes the movie scarier.
Fire in the Sky (1993)
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Dollars to donuts, most of the time when you ask someone for a recommendation of a scary movie about aliens, someone will suggest Fire in the Sky. It is another story about a person who claims to have been abducted by aliens. Travis Walton wrote a book about when he disappeared for five days. What's scary about this film is the seriousness with which it approaches the subject, similar to Communion.
Nope (2022)
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Right down to the title, Jordan Peele's Nope has a very individualistic take on your average movie about aliens. Most of the film is brightly lit and takes place in daylight. The aliens themselves are like nothing else in the subgenre. Even the title is nothing like most films on the subject. Without question, this is a film for people who want nothing to do with aliens.
Lifeforce (1985)
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In Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, the aliens don't have some hidden agenda. It becomes clear early on that they are space vampires on a mission to harvest as much energy as they can from the population of London. This fantasy narrative, which recalls the Quatermass films, and the unearthly beauty of Mathilda May and Steve Railsback make this film so different.
The Blob (1988)
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Chuck Russell's The Blob took the basic situation in the original film, a hungry space amoeba comes to Earth for dinner and piles on the grue. All of the nastiest things you imagined while watching the version with Steve McQueen, and a few that you didn't, were put on the screen to make you scream.
Attack the Block (2011)
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Joe Cornish's horror-comedy is the feature debut of John Boyega, and in it, a group of inner-city kids has absolutely no problem believing the evidence before their eyes. They see aliens attacking and immediately start grabbing weapons to defend their tower block in London. It might not be as overtly creepy as some others, but the humor in the film is reminiscent of Signs. With an Attack The Block sequel confirmed by Cornish on the horizon, there's an extra good reason to revisit this one.
District 9 (2009)
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Neill Blomkamp's District 9 does things differently than most of the films on the list. The aliens are not the bad guys, and the horror comes from humans who won't leave the placid creatures alone and want their technology without understanding the dangers. You might be tempted to think this means that the film is not horrifying, but I was forced to leave the theater after my boyfriend went to the bathroom and fainted from the film's body horror elements.
Kids vs. Aliens (2022)
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Kids vs. Aliens is director Jason Eisener's expansion of his fantastic V/H/S/2 short film Slumber Party Alien Abduction. Instead of focusing on adults, the film is about kids fighting the alien menace. The aliens are still trying to get an interstellar meal, and these ingenious kids are all that Earth has to fight them. Like the kids in Signs and Attack The Block, they are adorable but have their own minds. The alien method of attack is to shoot a gross goop all over you that starts to mutate you and another type that can dissolve your body. Ew.
Body Snatchers (1993)
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There have been many adaptations of the classic story The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. The version in 1993 was filtered through the cult auteur sensibility of Abel Ferrara, and he gave the story things it never had before. The humor within the film is lower-key and dry, but it is there. Instead of simply recreating the classic ending of the 1978 film, Ferrara has Meg Tilly interpret into a version in the middle of the film that is every bit as terrifying but much more strange.
Under the Skin (2013)
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Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin takes all of the ideas of a film where an alien comes to Earth and turns them inside out. Scarlett Johansson's alien has the form of a beautiful woman, and she uses that beauty to lure unwary men to a doom that is not specified. Johansson's performance, which lacks any of the usual human expression of emotion, is frightening in its intentional vacancy. The film drains the typical alien invasion tropes from the narrative and is free to pursue fear from a different source.
