10 Movies That Shamelessly Ripped Off ‘Alien,’ Ranked From Worst to Best (& Where to Watch Them)
It was 45 years ago when Alien first sprung from an egg and into theaters on June 22, 1979. Directed by Ridley Scott, the seminal “haunted house in space” movie first introduced us to the Xenomorph, the titular biomechanical menace from the nightmarish mind of the Oscar-winning Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger. Once known as the “Star Beast” in early versions of the script, this acid-bleeding extraterrestrial would go on to be recognized as one of the most inventive, terrifying, and elegantly horrific creatures to ever join the pantheon of movie monsters. Of course, there was eventually a demand for a sequel and one finally arrived with the 1986 high-octane rollercoaster ride that is James Cameron’s Aliens. More sequels of varying degrees of quality spawned throughout the years and the franchise is still alive and well today with Alien: Romulus set to burst into theaters this August.
Another thing Alien spawned in the early ‘80s was an invasion of wannabes and low-budget knockoffs. Sometimes genre films like Alien are so influential that film studio executives and filmmakers want to run out and cash in its success. Much like Jaws stirred up a frenzy of underwater terrors like Piranha and Barracuda, Alien also had its own fair share of copycats — some were simply inspired by the film, others were more blatant, unapologetic rip-offs. With the Alien franchise celebrating its 45th anniversary this month, we decided to look back at the invasion of ’80s sci-fi films about unknown cosmic horrors from the abyss of space (and in some cases, the ocean) that terrorized the humans who stumbled upon them.
Despite what its title might lead you to believe, Alien 2: On Earth has nothing to do with Ridley’s Scott’s Alien. This grindhouse-style Italian horror film had the sheer audacity to capitalize on the title and trick audiences into believing it was indeed a sequel. But even a quick glimpse of the trailer proves that it bears no resemblance to the Alien franchise at all. The film follows a group of explorers who are searching a mysterious underground cave for signs of alien life. Of course, they find a nasty, parasitic extraterrestrial species that has a bad habit of ripping off its victims’ faces. So basically instead of facehuggers, we get facerippers.
Inseminoid
Inseminoid is a low-budget sci-fi romp is about a group of interplanetary archeologists who are excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization on a distant planet. As the title suggests, one of the female crew members is sexually assaulted and inseminated by a horned (and horny) extraterrestrial beast. Soon, she develops a strange link with the alien creature that grants her superhuman strength. Not only that, but she also develops an insatiable hunger for blood to satisfy the alien fetus growing inside of her. Of course, this spells doom for the rest of her crew.
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Parasite
Set in a post-apocalyptic America, Parasite is a 1982 horror flick is about a corrupt organization called the Merchants who force a scientist to create a deadly parasite that feeds on human hosts so they can better control the populace. Realizing the potential threat of what he has created, the scientist escapes but gets infected in the process. These toothy little creatures look like a bargain-bin version of the chestburster from Alien. And much like that creature, they too incubate inside of human hosts and burst out from wherever they can. The undeniable influence of Alien‘s chestburster scene is very visible throughout Parasite. Funny enough, Stan Winston worked on the special effects here and he would go on to work on Aliens a few years later.
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Creature
One thing Alien surely inspired were creatures designs with elongated heads. Take a look at the cranium of the titular beast on the main poster art for Creature and you’ll see what we mean. That toothy dome is clearly inspired by the Xenomorph. Creature is also another one of those sci-fi horror flicks, like many others on this list, with a singular noun title much like Alien. And as you can probably already guess, this is another movie about a space crew exploring the far-off reaches of the universe (in this case, Saturn’s moons) only to cross paths with a slimy, human-killing extraterrestrial. This is one of the few produced by Roger Corman that you’ll see on this list. Do any of the sets look familiar? Sure they do. They’re from another Alien rip-off called Forbidden Planet, but we’ll get to that later.
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DeepStar Six
Much like James Cameron did with The Abyss, DeepStar Six was another one of those flicks that explored the possibilities of unknown life forms in the crevices of the deep — only this one is not nearly as elevated or brainy. Directed by Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th), the flick is about an underwater US Navy crew tasked with installing a deep sea missile base on the ocean floor. Of course, in case you can’t tell from a majority of the plots on this list, they encounter a monstrous arthropod-like creature after inadvertently destroying its habitat. The monster, which is called the Depladon, is basically a roided-out prehistoric crab, and it begins picking off the crew one by one. DeepStar Six is straight-up B-horror flick that doesn’t offer anything new, but it’s ultimately a decent creature feature with a few cool death scenes if you have 110 minutes to kill.
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Galaxy of Terror
Yet another Roger Corman Alien rip-off, this one follows a marooned space crew who are investigating the crash site of another vessel on a mysterious planet. Soon, they are stalked by an alien force that can also take the shape of their worst fears. The film is infamous for a rape scene involving a phallic worm-like creature that had to be edited down to avoid the dreaded X rating. Galaxy of Terror also stars some recognizable horror royalty such as Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger!) and Sid Haig (House of 1,000 Corpses), who would eventually move on to better things. Corman protégé James Cameron also worked on this film as a production designer and a second unit director. Five years later, he would go on to direct Aliens — the Oscar-winning sequel to Alien.
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Contamination
Directed by Luigi Cozzi, Contamination is another Italian horror joint about a former astronaut, a government agent, and an NYPD officer who are investigating an abandoned ship in New York Harbor that’s carrying a cargo of mysterious, lethal alien eggs linked to a Martian expedition. They eventually come face to face with a giant alien cyclops from Mars that results in an explosive and very gooey final battle. And by explosive, we are referring to the films endless onslaught of over-the-top chest-bursting scenes.
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Forbidden World
From the legendary producer of camp cinema such as the aforementioned Galaxy of Terror, comes yet another low-budget, sci-fi schlockfest from Roger Corman. Imagine if Alien went full-on camp with loads of nudity, cheap sets, and swapped out Jerry Goldsmith’s classic score in favor of a synthwave soundtrack. That’s exactly what Forbidden World is. Unlike a majority of the movies on this list, which are about humans stumbling across alien life forms that run amok, Forbidden World stands apart because the scientists here actually create their own extraterrestrial menace but with the best intentions. In an effort to end world hunger, a science experiment involving DNA goes wrong and Subject 20 is born — a flesh-eating mutant that looks a lot like an insectoid cousin of the Xenomorphs — like a facehugger somehow impregnated an arachnid. From the sets to certain creature designs, nods to Alien are aplenty in this trashy, sci-fi campfest — it’s exactly what you’d expect from Corman.
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Leviathan
The unknowns of the deep sea are just as scary as the vast unknowns of outer space, right? Well, Leviathan is basically Alien but set in the abyss that is our ocean — and this one is superior and a little more polished than the aforementioned DeepStar Six. Peter Weller (RoboCop) stars in this underwater creature feature about a crew of deep sea miners who discover a sunken Soviet vessel harboring a deadly eellike creature, leading to a struggle for survival against the mutating organism. The great Stan Winston, who also handled the Xenomorph effects in James Cameron’s Aliens, actually provided the creature design for Leviathan. So there’s that connection, but it’s the plot and claustrophobic sets that also reek of Alien influence. Still, Leviathan is a solid underwater monster movie that many horror fans have a soft spot for.
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Lifeforce
Directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist), this sci-fi horror flick is about a crew of astronauts who discover a trio of slumbering humanoid aliens while exploring Halley’s Comet. After being brought back to Earth, these beings awaken and unleash a plague that drains life energy from humans in London — so basically, they’re space vampires. Much like Alien, the first half of the plot is ultimately about a crew in space who discover a cavernous lair filled with dead and/or dormant creatures of the unknown that are collected and brought back to the ship. Lifeforce’s opening scenes do evoke strong memories of the Nostromo crew exploring the Derelict Spacecraft on LV-426, so it’s very easy to see the influence. Another major piece of connective tissue is that both films involved writer Dan O’Bannon. But after the first act, Lifeforce mostly takes place on Earth and it ultimately becomes it’s own downright bonkers film with a nude female alien and the horde of zombie-like vampires she creates causing most of the chaos.