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.