Today we will recommend five alien encounter films and look at what their use of extraterrestrial characters mean.

A Trip To The Moon

Georges Méliès early silent short sees a group of scientists venturing to the moon in a rocket. Where they encounter a not-so-friendly race of moon people. While its aliens have simple designs and lack emotional depth as one of the earliest science fiction films this short showcased that films were capable of presenting other worlds as well as showing our own. It represented progress for cinematic imagination and inspired filmmakers to start dreaming of what extraterrestrial life could look like.

2001: A Space Odyssey

This sci-fi masterpiece charts the human race as it evolves and pursues travel to the stars. Each major event in our history (the development of tools, colonisation of the moon and interstellar travel) is marked by the appearance of a monolith that seems to communicate something. Eventually, when one astronaut finds another monolith beyond Jupiter something happens to him. Is it the birth of a new alien being? A way of communicating with beings beyond our understanding? Or something else? 2001 presents a visually arresting but grounded view of humanity’s technological progress. Additionally, it asks us to consider if our first encounter with alien intelligence will be terrifying, liberating or even conventionally understandable.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Cinema’s ultimate friendly alien. When E.T. gets left on earth he is taken in by the young Elliot. Eliott tries to keep E.T. safe from the government and eventually, with help from his family and brother’s friends, gets him home. A classic tale of bonding that through its fantastic direction, score, performances, and effects shows us the wonder of the world from a child’s perspective. But it also promotes the value of kindness by showing how the bonds of friendship and family are common. Even across the stars. It’s a film that by the end makes you want to be a better person.

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter’s The Thing took the cinema staple of the hostile alien encounter to its most gruesome conclusion. A dog carrying an alien life form reaches an antarctic research station. After grotesquely transforming its host’s body the research team discovers that the alien can infect people through contact and absorb and imitate other life forms. Was anyone else infected by the alien and worse how can the team tell who is still human? The Thing is a great allegory for how viruses affect the body and human nature. But it also gave us perhaps cinema’s scariest alien. A creature that can hide anywhere and transform life into twisted parodies of itself. The Thing is the pinnacle of cosmic horror films and practical effects work.

District 9

If E.T. uses alien encounters to show humanity at its best District 9 uses them to comment on the worst of humanity. After a ship of aliens lands on Earth they are placed into an apartheid system where they are discriminated against and forced into separate houses and systems to humans. From there we follow Wikus van de Merwe, an agent of the company MNU, who through being exposed to something slowly begins turning into one of the aliens. Similar to E.T. District 9 uses aliens to comment on how we view others but this film focuses more on the at-once banal and other times violent nature of systemic oppression and the ramifications it can have on oppressed people. With some fantastic effects work, a compelling story, and poignant thematic underpinnings District 9 is a hard but rewarding watch.

We could honestly recommend many more alien contact movies. These films have been a staple for years because they represent cinema’s greatest qualities. The ability to visualise new worlds and people while reflecting the most human of experiences. If you have any favourites you want to recommend then please do so.

Also Read: Trains of Events: Great Movies About Trains

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About Ariel Phenomenon

“In 1994, over sixty schoolchildren witnessed an unidentified craft land outside their schoolyard. Twenty-five years later, this incident is still fresh in students’ memories. They continue to search for answers – and the courage to speak their truth. In this first feature documentary about the Ariel School UFO incident, a young woman returns to her school in rural Zimbabwe – the place that, at the age of nine, shattered her reality. We meet a respected BBC war reporter who reluctantly covered the event, ultimately leading him to risk his career on the one story that haunted him the most. Jeopardizing his reputation is Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack, whose validation of the witnesses made this mass-sighting impossible to ignore”

Also Read: The Future Is Now! – How Sci-Fi Imagined The Future

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

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This Is Spinal Tap

This is not only one of the funniest films ever made it also invented the “mockumentary”. Directed by Rob Reiner as part of his legendary run of films including When Harry Met Sally and Stand By Me the film follows the ludicrously over the top band Spinal Tap on a less than successful tour. Eternally quotable for it’s discussions around amplifier volume and the colour black it’s also has a who’s who cast of American comedy.

Best Line – the two-word review of Spinal Tap’s album Shark Sandwich “Shit Sandwich”.

A Fish Called Wanda

A classic crime-caper-comedy in which the best thing about this film is undoubtedly Kevin Kline in a singularly great comic performance that was rightly rewarded with an Oscar. Bear in mind this film also stars comedy geniuses John Cleese and Michael Palin who are always overshadowed by Kline. The film revolves an elaborate diamond heist and features too many double-crosses to mention. Kline plays Otto, crazed American assassin/thief who thinks he’s smart but isn’t and shines in every scene he is in, whether it’s dangling John Cleese out of a window or his general hatred towards British people.

Best Line – Otto “You pompous, stuck-up, snot-nosed, English, giant, twerp, scumbag, fuck-face, dickhead, asshole”.

Aliens

It’s important to say that as a work of cinema, Alien is the better film, but the one I enjoy watching more is Aliens. James Cameron’s follow-up might just be the best sequel ever made and an all-time classic of sci-fi action. Not only did it give us the best weapon in science fiction – the M41A Pulse Rifle, it further cemented Sigourney Weaver’s status as a first-rate action hero. Often the addition of a young child to a film is a disaster but the relationship between Ripley and Newt is one of the best things about the film, especially as we learn that Ripley’s own daughter died while she was in hibernation. For an explosive action film, it has some amazing lines of dialogue that are some of the most memorable quotations from the 1980s.

Best Line – Hudson “That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?”

Beetlejuice

This is a film that gets just about everything right – it has a sensational cast where seemingly every actor is perfect, the soundtrack is spooky and fun, the costumes and set design tell you everything you need to know. The assorted ghosts, monsters etc all look perfect and the special effects have a very old-school feel to them. This is Tim Burton at the height of his creepy powers and you get all of this in ninety-two minutes.

Best moment – the possessed dinner party/dance party where they all start singing Day-o.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones is one of the great heroes of cinema, not only a tough adventurer but an intellectual professor who spends a lot of time punching Nazis. In a rare moment of clarity for The Academy, this film was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The film is non-stop brilliance, from the unforgettable opening scene in the tomb to Indy stealing the truck which contains the Ark, surely one of the best action set-pieces of all-time (and contains lots of Nazi punching). There is so much of this film that has passed into our cultural consciousness – the boulder chase, the snake-filled tomb, shooting the highly skilled swordsmen and even the very last of the warehouse seemingly full of dangerous treasures from around the world.

Best Line – Too many to choose – but Indy shooting the highly skilled swordsman is great.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It would be hard to talk about films in the 80s without mentioning John Hughes, who wrote and directed many of the decade’s most memorable films. Perhaps the best was Planes, Trains and Automobiles featuring a pair of comedy greats who normally warrant a single starring role. Often mistakenly remembered as being a Christmas film Steve Martin’s character is actually trying to get home for Thanksgiving. Due to poor weather, his originals travel plans are cancelled and he endeavours to get home however he can but is accompanied be talkative and good-natured Del Griffith. Not only is this a hilarious film but it has a lot of moments of genuine emotion and tragedy.

Best moment – The bit that will forever stick with me is when they nearly get crushed between two trucks and when Martin glances at Candy he has become the Devil.

The Princess Bride

Considering it has one of the worst trailers the world has ever seen The Princess Bride is an amazing film. Another film directed by Rob Reiner but this time written by screenwriting legend William Goldman, The Princess Bride is a story about love and adventure. It is a wonderful film starting with a grandfather reading a book to ill grandson and developing into an unforgettable story. It is surely one of the best scripts ever written with practically half the text remembered as quotable lines. It has what was billed to be the best swordfight in cinema history, a battle of wits over poisoned goblets and to top it all it has Andre the Giant in it. This is a film that works perfectly for both children and adults and due to its fantasy setting has barely aged at all (perhaps in a current telling of the story Princess Buttercup would be a bit more proactive).

Best Line – there are so many but – Westley – “Life is Pain. Anyone who says different is trying to sell you something.”

Also Read: 7 Reasons Characters Die In Horror Films

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