Last weekend, the U.S. military shot down three “unidentified flying objects” in American and Canadian airspace. The most recent, an “octagonal” craft, was taken down over Lake Huron on Sunday. While authorities aren’t saying these weren’t spaceships, they’re also not not saying that either. (In a statement on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there was no indication of life from other planets coming to Earth. Still, we want to believe.)
What to do while we wait for the imminent arrival of our extraterrestrial overlords? You could brush up on your Vulcan — or you could enjoy these last few moments of Earth as we know it with a movie marathon.
Behold, the most out-of-this-world movies about UFOs and aliens, ranked from the most fun to the most frightening.
The plot: If real-life aliens are as adorable as the ones in Steven Spielberg’s imagination, we’ll phone home to them any time. This nostalgic favourite, which tells the tale of a boy’s friendship with a bicycle-riding alien, is a kid-friendly hug in film form. Spot a baby Drew Barrymore in one of her first roles!
Fear factor: 0.5/10 The most frightened creature in this film is sweet, gentle ET, who wants nothing more than to go home — if only those government meanies would let him.
9. “Men In Black” (1997)
The plot: This one goes out to all the ’90s kids who grew up on this utterly zany film — remember Frank the Pug, star informant? Starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as secret agents tasked with investigating unexplained extraterrestrial happenings, this movie would go on to be the ninth-highest grossing film of the decade. It also launched two deeply mediocre sequels we wish we could neuralyze away.
Fear factor: 2/10 Agent Jay (Smith) and Agent Kay (Jones) are on a mission to foil the efforts of an intergalactic terrorist, which is medium scary. Truly frightening? Their vision of a Manhattan where aliens live in plain sight, their existence known only to the secret government agency that monitors them.
8. “Independence Day” (1996)
The plot: The other ’90s movie about aliens starring Will Smith — and a fine Jeff Goldblum — this is an action-packed adventure about a group of extraterrestrials whose preferred way of celebrating July 4 is by blowing up the White House. It’s a classic piece of science fiction that’s aged far better than the naysayers ever thought.
Fear factor: 4/10 The movie starts on a pretty scary footing as aliens attack Earth, with our heroes part of a ragtag gang of survivors who launch a counterattack against the invaders. Ultimately, though, there too many explosions and fantastical plot turns for this to be anything other than riveting action fun.
7. “Signs” (2002)
The plot: “There’s a monster outside my room. Can I have a glass of water?” That phrase still sends chills down our spine, even 20 years after this classic M. Night Shyamalan film hit theatres. Starring a pre-cancellation Mel Gibson, it’s an eerie tale that begins with the sudden appearance of crop circles around the world — and the sudden realization that whatever is going on might be closer to home than you think. The last 10 minutes get a bit silly, but the buildup is deliciously terrifying.
Fear factor: 7/10 Look, aliens living in the fields outside your home and then making their way inside is pretty nightmarish stuff. The green-skinned demonic reptile-types that said aliens turn out to be, however, don’t quite pack the terror they may have been intended to, especially when it turns out they’re less on a worldwide murder mission and more on a weirdly specific, never explained quest to get Mel and the gang.
The plot: In this Denis Villeneuve classic, Amy Adams is all that stands between earth and total alien domination. Twelve spaceships have landed on the planet and all-out war feels imminent — unless Adams’ character, a linguist, can find a way to communicate with these extraterrestrial visitors. Tense stuff!
Fear factor: 7.5/10 As it turns out, the aliens have actually come to help humans, although their motives aren’t entirely altruistic given that they’re doing it because they know they’re going to need humans in 3,000 years’ time. There’s some trippy mind-bending time-space-continuum stuff happening that’s terrifying in an existential crisis kind of way but is also hard to explain. Just watch the movie?
The plot: Another Spielberg-directed entrant to our list, this Oscar-winning film is far more terrifying than a film made within the special effects constraints of the era has any right to be. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, it’s the quest of one man for answers when he witnesses what he is convinced is a visitation of aliens to earth.
Fear factor: 8/10 The things that happen to Dreyfuss’s character are very scary, as is the terror that results when nobody believes him — or even actively works to silence him. But the truly chilling part is that the film is named after real life UFO research, which has a class of alien encounter types, the third being actual contact.
The plot: Set in an alternate-universe 1982 — one in which aliens land in South Africa and are swiftly interned by the government — this is a science fiction film that engages with deeper themes, including xenophobia and racism. In short: the scariest thing about this Peter Jackson film is the mirror it holds up to the human race.
Fear factor: 8/10 The way that the government abuses the insectlike aliens, found in a weakened and ill state, is pure horror, as is the allegory their treatment makes for the actions of the Apartheid-era South African government.
The plot: At this point, “Alien” has become such an iconic piece of pop culture — and spawned so many sequels, prequels and spinoffs — that it can be easy to forget how utterly terrifying the original was. That “chestburster” scene? Forget the thousands of parodies it launched, the original is pure terror.
Fear factor: 8.5/10 This film is so visceral (it’s certainly not shy about guts, gore and indeterminate goop) that it’s more of a gross-out than it is a true suspense film. In a similarly biological vein, the “aliens” turn out to be a sort of extraterrestrial parasite, “xenomorphs” who just can’t get enough of Sigourney Weaver.
The plot: Based on a novel of the same name, it stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien who takes a human’s form in order to roam the Scottish streets and find men to slake her hunger. (There’s a liquid black void to fill at least 12 weeks of nightmares.)
Fear factor: 9/10 This film is profoundly unsettling, an unnerving blend of sex, death and extraterrestrials. The fact that this ravenous alien is just wandering the world, looking like a regular human? It’s enough to make you take a second, wary look at your neighbours.
The plot: This is a Jordan Peele film, which is your warning to surrender all your presuppositions and allow the horror master to blow your mind. Peele’s latest takes place on a horse ranch in California, where siblings (played by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) who train stunt ponies have to reckon with the sudden death of their father — and the very real possibility he was killed by aliens.
Fear factor: 10/10 This movie is gory, although not gratuitously so, and there are jump scares. But, like Peele’s 2017 classic “Get Out,” this movie is mainly scary because it messes with your mind. Given that these aliens turn out to not really have much of a motive at all, it makes you feel all the more vulnerable to a sudden targeted attack of your own.
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