Top 5 Alien Invasions in Movies

Extra-terrestrials have always been fascinating and popular amongst film enthusiasts and film-makers. Aliens in film range from evil, terrifying beings determined to conquer our little green planet and do away with us forever to aliens who come here for the sole purpose of invading our minds and our bodies to wreak severe havoc and finally to friendly, earnest aliens who are nothing but nice. Here we look at the top five alien invasion films.

Spoiler alert!

1.  Mars Attacks! (1996)

The Aliens: The ‘Martians’ are your stereotypical aliens with enlarged brains and human like features. They breathe nitrogen air and our oxygen infused air is of no use to them. Their reasons for attacking planet Earth are unknown.

In this hilarious 1996 science fiction film a fleet of flying saucers surrounds planet Earth with potentially evil aliens on board. They claim to have come to earth in peace but when a dove is released to show that the peace is returned, they destroy it with a laser and begin trying to conquer the planet and killing people. The earthlings attempt to deal with the invasion in comical and peculiar ways.

2. The Thing (1982)

The Aliens:  A sinister parasitic organism that survives and adapts by seizing the identity of anyone it has killed. The Thing is a terrifying and carnivorous alien determined to destroy and capturing any living being.

The 1982 classic horror petrified its audience’s upon release with its ultra-frightening special effects. The story revolves around a group of scientists including the likes of Kurt Russell working in the Antarctic region when unexpected attacks of unknown aliens occur. The surviving scientists are caught in a race against time to discover whose identity the scavenging aliens have stolen before they have a chance at eliminating the inter-planetary threat.

3. Independence Day (1996)

The Aliens:  A species of high-tech terrifying humanoid creatures with enlarged heads and menacing long tentacles attached to their slender bodies. They communicate solely through telepathy and have an insatiable hunger for destruction.

In this immensely impressive 1996 blockbuster, a colossal alien spaceship dominates the sky intending to destroy humanity and devour all of earth’s natural resources. After they eliminate some major cities and annihilate millions of people, pilot (Will Smith) and scientist (Jeff Goldblum) conspire to infect the technology of the evil aliens with a human made computer virus.

4. Men in Black 1

The Aliens: A ferocious insect type creature with a cunning power to disguise itself in human skin to avoid detection by the guys in the black suits. Its sole purpose of landing on earth is to acquire an object called ‘The Galaxy’.

In the first instalment of the Men in Black franchise secret government agents K (Tommy Lee Jones) and J (Will Smith) are ordered to stop an evil alien from stealing a powerful object that could potentially destroy planet Earth.

5. Attack the Block (2011)

The Aliens: A species of unknown alien with menacing glowing fangs and exceptionally black, strange fur. These bushy dog creatures communicate through smell as their eyes are pretty much non-existent. They land on earth to seek out the female mate whose hormones they are drawn to.

In this cleverly put together, strongly British-flavoured alien invasion flick, a group of youths living in a gritty south east London estate stumble across a mysterious meteorite which they immediately investigate finding a miniature alien whom they kill and claim for a trophy unaware that a much greater threat is fast approaching. When murder hungry beasts attack them, they do anything they can to protect their block.