The Alien Agenda: Endangered Species (1997)
Alien Takeover Anthology
The second of Kevin J. Kindenmuth’s surprisingly good compilations of video shorts around the loose theme of alien invasion and takeover
Borderland Zones
The Animatrix (2003)
Compilation of Matrix Anime Shorts
To accompany their two Matrix sequels, The Wackowskis hired seven anime directors to each make a short film set in The Matrix universe. The results are often quite remarkable
Annihilation (2018)
Mysterious Alien Zone
Alex Garland’s second directorial effort after Ex Machina. Clearly influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, this features a group venturing into an alien-affected zone where Garland does a fine job of creating a sense of the otherworldly
The Blackout (2019)
Alien Invasion/Worldwide Powercut
An impressively large-scale SF film about a military sortie into an area of western Russian that is all that is left unaffected after aliens create a worldwide power cut
Bubble (2022)
Anime/Mysterious Bubble Covers Tokyo
Anime in which Tokyo is covered by a mysterious energy bubble of alien origin and of a group of defiant youths who live on in its midst until the appearance of a mystery girl
Color Out of Space (2019)
H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation/Mutations from Space
Richard Stanley made one of the most exciting directorial debuts with Hardware. Welcomely returning after a long absence, he is one of the few directors to mainline the essence of H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors
Demon City Shinjuku (1988)
Anime/Suburb of Tokyo Taken Over by Demonic Forces
Anime from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, director of Wicked City and Ninja Scroll, concerning a suburb of Tokyo that is transformed into a borderland zone inhabited by demonic forces
Doors (2021)
Anthology/Mysterious Alien Portals Appear
Multi-director anthology about a series of mysterious portals that appear around the world, this creates a sense of something genuinely alien and otherworldly
The Gorge (2025)
The Guardtowers Above a Valley of Monsters
Scott Derrickson film with a captivatingly original premise – a sniper is assigned to a guardhouse overlooking a gorge filled with mysterious monsters and ends up in a forbidden relationship with his counterpart across the divide
How to Save Us (2014)
Mysterious Borderland Zone
Intensely mysterious film that resembles something of Stalker. This consists of a man venturing into a deserted Tasmania that has been taken over by spirit beings in search of his missing brother
I Still See You (2018)
Young Adult/Ghostly Remnants in the Aftermath of a Catastrophe
A Young Adult film that comes with a highly original premise concerning the aftermath of a catastrophe that has left ghostly figures trapped in timeloops repeating the same moves
The Last Loner (2019)
Mysterious Alien Zone
A homage to Andrei Tarkovsky’s classic Stalker about people venturing into a mysterious alien zone. This is rather fascinatingly filmed inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Monsters (2010)
Alien-Infested Zone
Cloverfield by way of Stalker – a unique and original film about zones on Earth overrun by alien creatures. Director Gareth Edwards creates his own effects that far surpass many big budget efforts
Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)
Alien-Infested War Zone
This offers the expectation of a sequel to the sleeper hit of Monsters; what we instead get is not many monsters and a film about recruits in a Middle Eastern war zone. That said, you cannot deny that what we have is an undeniably well made film
The Objective (2008)
Soldiers Face Unexplained Phenomena
The co-director of The Blair Witch Project makes a film about soldiers lost in the desert encountering mysterious lights in the sky. Essentially Blair Witch but with lost soldiers facing UFO phenomena
Portal (2009)
Motel in a Mysterious Timeloop
Low-budget occult film about guests at a motel trapped in a mysterious twilight zone. A work sits between the cheap and occasionally effective
Risen (2021)
Mysterious Alien Meteorite Strike
Interestingly mysterious film about the investigation into a zone affected by an alien meteorite
Seven Mummies (2006)
Western Ghost Town
Horror film where escaped convicts wander into a Western ghost town where a gold treasure is guarded by mummies
Southbound (2015)
Horror Anthology
Another in the spate of multi-director anthologies that have become popular in recent years – The ABCs of Death, V/H/S et al. This is set around the common locale of a desert highway where all five tales hover in an eerie twilight zone where the everyday world has stepped over into the uncanny
Spirited Away (2001)
Anime/Afterlife Bathhouse
One of the masterpieces of Hayao Miyazaki, a gentle, beautiful work of anime set in an afterlife bathhouse where Miyazaki’s range of extraordinary creatures and quiet tenderness finds something that Western fantasy rarely ever comes near
Stalker (1979)
Alien Affected Zone
One of the greatest of all SF films from Andrei Tarkovsky about a mysterious zone filled with enigmatic alien phenomena at the centre of which exists a room that can grant one’s heart’s desire
YellowBrickRoad (2010)
Mysterious Trail Through the Woods/Mass Insanity
Not much to do with The Wizard of Oz – more like The Crazies by way of The Blair Witch Project, this creates a genuinely unsettling otherworldly mystery before entering into decidedly disturbed headspace