Best Alien Invasion Films
by cal-53 | created - 01 May 2011 | updated - 04 May 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Independence Day (1996)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell
Votes: 605,952 | Gross: $306.17M
Super special effects and Will Smith make this film a winner!
2. Starship Troopers (1997)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
Votes: 321,384 | Gross: $54.81M
Not exactly an invasion film but they do wipe out a South American city. Super bugs munch on teens turned soldiers. Features a killer soundtrack. Not for the faint of heart!
3. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
Unrated | 83 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Extraterrestrials traveling in high-tech flying saucers contact a scientist as part of a plan to enslave the inhabitants of Earth.
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum
Votes: 9,117
This film from the fabulous fifties features F/X by the great Ray Harryhausen. It has been an inspiration for many films to come.
4. It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Approved | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer
Votes: 11,060
Another fifties great. Watch out for that floating eye!
5. The War of the Worlds (1953)
G | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 38,559 | Gross: $4.36M
Fabulous fifties film will never be out done.
6. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,990 | Gross: $13.78M
The arctic and a a claustrophobic setting, enhances this film about an alien that pits one man against the other while trying to rebuild his crashed ship. One of Kurt Russell's strongest performances and John Carpenter's best.
7. Predator (1987)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo
Votes: 455,175 | Gross: $59.74M
Enjoyable movie about an invisible alien stalking special forces men for their spinal columns.
8. The Day of the Triffids (1963)
Approved | 93 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
After an unusual meteor shower leaves most of the human population blind, a merchant navy officer must find a way to conquer tall, aggressive plants which are feeding on people and animals.
Directors: Steve Sekely, Freddie Francis | Stars: Howard Keel, Nicole Maurey, Janette Scott, Kieron Moore
Votes: 8,931
Space plants that have turned most of humanity blind.
9. The Thing from Another World (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
Directors: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks | Stars: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 33,402
Jim Arness plays a killer veggy in this taut thriller.
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,791
Aliens plot to take over our bodies. Taut thriller still holds up over the years and is probably the best of the series. Who can ever forgot that final scene!
11. The Arrival (1996)
PG-13 | 115 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Zane, an astronomer, discovers intelligent alien life. But the aliens are keeping a deadly secret, and will do anything to stop Zane from learning it.
Director: David Twohy | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Schiff, Shane
Votes: 38,195 | Gross: $14.05M
Taut thriller by scifi director and writer, David Twohy, about aliens slowly changing over our climate for their habitation.
12. Cloverfield (2008)
PG-13 | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, T.J. Miller
Votes: 420,879 | Gross: $80.05M
Shaky camera angles depict a realistic escape by friends from a space invader.
13. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,794
An alien is sent to earth to warn us that if we all don't start getting along and cease our use of nuclear weapons we will be annihilated. It's up to a secretary and her son to save the earth.
14. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,903 | Gross: $24.95M
A slightly differant version of the fifties great. Well acted and extremely creepy. Again who can forget that final scene??!!
15. Skyline (2010)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth.
Directors: Colin Strause, Greg Strause | Stars: Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel
Votes: 92,196 | Gross: $21.37M
Low budget film features unbelievable F/X.
16. Kronos (1957)
Approved | 78 min | Action, Drama, Horror
Aliens from another world send a huge robotic accumulator to invade the Earth and absorb all energy it comes in contact with.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence, John Emery, George O'Hanlon
Votes: 2,055
Aliens use a giant robot to try and steal our energy.
17. The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
PG-13 | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A remake of the 1951 classic science fiction film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith
Votes: 178,584 | Gross: $79.37M
Updated version of the fifties thriller. Though in color and super F/X, not necessarily better than it's predecessor.
18. War of the Worlds (2005)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto
Votes: 475,459 | Gross: $234.28M
Good effort, stellar F/X and Tom Cruise. Somehow less satisfying than the original.
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