Access Code (1984)
Computer Surveillance Conspiracy Thriller
Obscure VHS era paranoia thriller about the uncovering of a conspiracy to use satellites to control the population. Not a very interesting film.
Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy Theories are the belief that behind the facade of the everyday world there is a secret order controlling, manipulating or seeking to control the world and that events have hidden explanations beyond what they appear to do at face value.
Many of these real world theories are built on wild conjecture and shaky evidence. Frequently the people behind the conspiracy are seen to be Secret Societies like The Illuminati or Freemasons, factions within the government, Satanist cabals or invading alien lizard people having taken human form.
The majority of the conspiracies that turn up on screen are ones that have spilled over from the real world. These include anything to do with the cover-ups at Roswell and the belief that the US government is holding aliens at Area 51; right wing beliefs about the left or the UN attempting to seize guns; many theories that Lee Harvey Oswald did not assassinate John F. Kennedy; the now defunct belief in an imminent Communist invasion of the USA; claims about subliminal brainwashing techniques in advertising; beliefs in the Catholic Church’s secretive agenda; belief in the rise of the Antichrist; that key world figures have been replaced by alien lizard people; that the Moon Landing was a hoax; the opposition to vaccination; the belief in chemtrails; QAnon and the belief that the US government is being hijacked by Satanists who drink children’s blood. Fantastic cinema has added a few of its own dealing with alien infiltration of government, Satanist cabals, android duplicate takeover plots and others.
Agency (1979)
Subliminal Advertising Brainwashing Thriller
Lee Majors starring thriller set around the 1970s fad over subliminal advertising. The film fails to generate much in the way of thrills.
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
Alison’s Birthday (1979)
Occult Conspiracy
Australian-made film about a heroine being drawn into occult conspiracies around her that only treads where Rosemary’s Baby went before
Amerigeddon (2016)
Conspiracy Junkie Fantasy of a USA Invaded
Chuck Norris’s son directs spectacularly bad film that acts as a fantasy for every lunatic right wing conspiracy where the UN wants to overthrow the US government and confiscate everybody’s guns
The Andromeda Strain (2008)
Virus from Space/Michael Crichton Adaptation
TV series remake of Michael Crichton’s novel about the attempts to contain a viral outbreak from space. Crichton’s story was a straightforward work, whereas the mini-series has been absurdly overburdened with other plots
Angels & Demons (2009)
The Da Vinci Code Sequel
Ron Howard and Tom Hanks follow up their adaptation of The Da Vinci Code by turning to an earlier Dan Brown novel concerning conspiratorial goings-on in The Vatican but the show collapses amid absurdly contrived plotting
Antibirth (2016)
Stoner Chick's Mutant Impregnation
This has cult midnight hit written over it. It’s a loopy trip into people doing drugs, alien impregnation and government conspiracy that should have been quirky and funny but sort of goes asleep at the wheel
Area 51 (2011)
Alien Nasties Escape from Area 51
Not to be confused with the Oren Peli Found Footage film. Sean Connery’s son Jason directs a film where a host of alien nasties imprisoned at Area 51 manage to escape
Area 51 (2015)
Found Footage/Break-In to Area 51
Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli’s second film – a gripping Found Footage film about a group breaking into Area 51 in search of evidence of the alien visitors that the US government is holding
Baffled! (1972)
Clairvoyant Thriller
A young and dashing Leonard Nimoy plays a clairvoyant racing driver in this unsold tv pilot. The disappointment is that his powers amount to no more than a detective deducing clues in a standard murder mystery
The Block Island Sound (2020)
Mysterious Happenings in a Bay
An enigmatic and undeniably effective film about mysterious happenings where those who journey out into a bay return having been affected in disturbing ways
Brainjacked (2009)
Mind Control Chips
A low-budget film wherein a teenager falls under the influence of a mad scientist who drills open heads to implant mind control chips. This makes a beeline for gory splatter effects
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
18th Century Beast Hunt
From regular genre director Christophe Gans, this is a head-scratching mix of French historical drama, monster movie and imported Wu Xia action moves
Bug (2006)
Disturbed Psychology and Paranoia
One of the last films from William Friedkin, an astonishingly deranged descent into paranoia and madness, featuring an alarming performance from a young, unknown Michael Shannon
Cabal (2020)
Hitman vs Hulking Backwoods Killer
Film from low-budget director Rene Perez where a hitman who wears a beaten steel mask is pitted up against a hulking backwoods killer
Capricorn One (1978)
Faked Mars Mission
The film that launched a host of conspiracy theories in which NASA decides to fake a Mars mission using tv transmissions. A clever and well written thriller that becomes an elegy to the loss of the ideals of the Space Mission.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Comic-Book Superhero
Captain America’s second solo outing feels more like a Mission: Impossible film or an episode of 24 than a superhero film. Lots of Marvel continuity and fanservice and you are taken aback at how political it is prepared to be
The Clone Master (1978)
Scientist Creates Clones of Himself
One of the earliest film treatments on the subject of cloning, this comes with an intelligent and well written script in which Art Hindle creates twelve copies of himself. The original Orphan Black if you like.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
UFOs/Alien Contact
Steven Spielberg’s film about alien contact was every bit as big as Star Wars in 1977. The whole film is the equivalent of sitting gazing up at a starry sky wondering if we are alone and built up to the wondrous climactic appearance of the UFOs
Coma (1978)
Medical Conspiracy Thriller
Flush from the success of The Andromeda Strain and Westworld, Michael Crichton directed this medical conspiracy thriller, which returns to the fear of science themes that runs throughout his work
Coma (2012)
Medical Conspiracy Thriller
TV mini-series remake of the Michael Crichton medical thriller that pointlessly changes and over-extrudes a tight and effective original, while director Mikael Salomon adds absurd red herrings and keys away major surprises well in advance
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Flaky Conspiracy Theorist Comedy/Thriller
This should have been a witty film – Mel Gibson as a conspiracy nut who discovers one of his theories is true and is hunted by government agents – but the result is a confused mess that turns into an overblown action vehicle
Crowhaven Farm (1970)
Occult Conspiracy
TV movie that was an early effort from celebrated producer Aaron Spelling, concerning an occult conspiracy surrounding a couple who inherit a farmhouse
Cube2: Hypercube (2002)
Mysterious Hyper-Dimensional Labyrinth
The first sequel to Vincenzo Natali’s fine conceptual puzzlebox film. This expands out on the idea, having a cube that bends through time and space, and has a certain fascination if not as much as the original did
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Secret History of Christianity/Historical Conspiracy
Ron Howard directed film version of Dan Brown’s best-selling book. This is historical nonsense woven into a fancifully absurd conspiracy theory where Howard does no more than offer an illustrated version of the book
The Devil’s Daughter (1973)
Satanist Conspiracy
TV movie that copies Rosemary’s Baby as closely as copyright will allow with Belinda J. Montgomery encountering Satanists and the realisation she is the devil’s daughter
Disclosure Day (2026)
Evidence of Alien Contact
Steven Spielberg makes a thoughtful return to the theme of alien contact. Rather than the rosy optimism of Close Encounters and E.T. , he seems to have embraced the dark conspiratorial view of The X Files
The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013)
Unexplained Mystery/Found Footage
The Dyatlov Pass Incident has gained a fascination as an unexplained mystery. Here Renny Harlin makes a Found Footage film that heads for full on conspiracy theory explanations
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Nuclear Conspiracy Thriller/TV Series Remake
A film remake of one of the great tv series of the 1980s. A complete betrayal by the original’s director Martin Campbell that strips all the politics and simply makes it into a Mel Gibson revenge film
Endangered Species (1982)
Cattle Mutilations
A modest thriller with sheriff Robert Urich investigating cattle mutilations in small town Buffalo and finding possible UFOs and a government conspiracy to be behind these
Extraterrestrial (2014)
Aliens Attack in the Backwoods
Group of twentysomethings go to a cabin in the woods, are abducted and attacked by E.T.s. I wanted to like this but there is something generic and interchangeable about everything that is happening
Extreme Measures (1996)
Illicit Medical Experiments
Solid and effective thriller in the vein of Coma where ER doctor Hugh Grant finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy involving illicit medical experiments at the hospital where he works
The Forgotten (2004)
Erased Memories
Julianne Moore discovers her late son has been erased from photos and people’s memories eventually leading her to an explanation involving mysterious aliens
The Formula (1980)
International Thriller/Hunt for a Nazi Fuel Substitute
Dull big-budget thriller about Nazi fuel formulas and Big Oil conspiracies. This seems intended as a copy of The Boys from Brazil centred around George C. Scott and Marlon Brando trying to out over-act one another
From Hell (2001)
Jack the Ripper
Disappointing attempt, based on a Alan Moore graphic novel, to depict the Jack the Ripper killings. The film feels over-produced and slides off the cliff by throwing its weight behind one of the more ludicrous and implausible Ripper theories
Futureworld (1976)
Android Amusement Park/Westworld Sequel
A sequel to the original Westworld. Here the cleverness of Michael Crichton’s film is rehashed as a B movie plot about the amusement park now hosting android takeover conspiracies
The Glow (2002)
Sinister Health-Obsessed Seniors
This rehashes the basic set-up of Rosemary’s Baby but with a spin where a couple move into the perfect apartment only to find their neighbours are health obsessed seniors with a sinister agenda
Hangar 18 (1980)
Crashed UFO
In the aftermath of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this was made by a company specialising in sensationalistic tabloid documentaries. Spielberg’s light show is dropped in favour of conspiratorial government coverup view of UFOs
I Origins (2014)
Scientific Research/Discovery of Unusual Connections
Mike Cahill’s follow-up to Another Earth, an intriguingly different work about how research into the human eye leads to a very unusual discovery. As much a relationship drama as SF
Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)
Nazi Moonbase/Alien Lizard People from the Centre of the Earth
Timo Vuorensola’s follow-up to Iron Sky. It is hard to believe that a film with a premise that combines Nazis on the Moon with alien lizard people from the hollow core of the Earth could go wrong
Isolation (2021)
Anthology of Covid Lockdown Horror Stories
Ten different filmmakers from around the world combine to make an anthology of eight horror stories set during the Covid lockdown
The Killing Machine (1994)
Action/Manufactured AIDS Virus Coverup
Action film with Jeff Wincott as a resurrected hitman who makes the discovery that AIDS has been artificially manufactured
Left Behind (2000)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
Adaptation of the best-selling Christian book series about the Biblical End of the World. There is a mini-industry of these films and, if one can stomach the preachiness, this is not entirely bad
Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist (2023)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
A revival of the Kirk Cameron starring Biblical End of the World films and a sequel to the Nicolas Cage starring reboot. Directed by and starring your favourite internet troll Kevin Sorbo
Lunopolis (2009)
Found Footage/Grand Conspiracy Mashup
A Found Footage film that has fun uniting wacky conspiracy theories into a grand unified thesis. The swim of ideas is head-spinning
The Mandela Effect (2019)
Editing of the Timeline/Living in The Matrix
Dramatised film based on the popular conspiracy theory that people are living in an alternate timeline where their memories have been edited and that we are all living in a simulation a la The Matrix
Men in Black II (2002)
Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency
Sequel that turns a witty original into overblown slapstick that never consists of anything more than absurd gags with aliens and technology popping up from behind everyday objects
Men in Black (1997)
Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency
A huge box-office hit, this comedy turns UFO conspiracy of
Monolith (1994)
Cops vs Body-Hopping Alien
Ridiculous action film produced at the peak of The X Files popularity about two detectives against a body-hopping alien and sinister government agency
Moonfall (2022)
Disaster Movie/The Moon on a Collision Course With the Earth
Roland Emmerich returns to mass destruction with a film about The Moon on a collision course with Earth, which heads in some conceptually challenging directions
Murder By Decree (1979)
Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
A lavish and ambitious production that has the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes solving the real-life Jack the Ripper murders, even if the eventual resolution opts for one of the more far-fetched theories about The Ripper’s identity
National Lampoon’s Men in White (1998)
Genre Spoof
An excruciatingly unfunny spoof of Men in Black that was shoved out using the name of National Lampoon magazine. A painful viewing experience.
The Net (1995)
Cyber-Thriller
Film that tried to jump aboard the newly arrived paradigm of the internet but is mostly a cliched thriller about Sandra Bullock trying to recover her erased identity
The Omega Code (1999)
Christian Anti-Christ Film
The Omen and imitators had been exploiting Biblical End Times prophecies for years but this is one that approaches it from a Christian perspective. The film also started a wave of serious faith-based films that employed name actors in order to carry them to crossover audiences
The Omen (1976)
The Biblical End of the World/The Anti-Christ
This is where all the cliches of Devil Children began. A big hit among the 1970s occult boom, this is essentially Sunday tabloid Christianity – a lurid, doom-filled take on Book of Revelation End Times prophecies that moves with a slick polish and a series of schlocky deaths every few minutes
The Omen (2006)
The Biblical End of the World/The Anti-Christ
The classic 1976 Anti-Christ film is given the remake treatment. The production look slick but quickly disappears into forgettability
Operation Avalanche (2016)
The Faking of the Moon Landing/Found Footage
This takes the old conspiracy theory about the Moon Landing being faked by tv and rather hilariously is a Found Footage film being shot by two filmmakers who have been tasked with fabricating the Moon Landing
Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)
Secret Cloning Program
This had its entire plot ripped off as Michael Bay’s The Island. Without Bay’s action overkill, this is by far the better film, working as a fascinating mystery set-up that leads to an ingenious twist
Quatermass 2 (1957)
Alien Body Snatchers
The second of the Quatermass films. An alien body snatchers tale that suggests even the British government has been infiltrated. This is regarded by many as the best of the series
Race with the Devil (1975)
Backroads Pursuit by Satanists
This has been conceived as a 1970s car chase film mashed up with the 1970s fad for Satanism and occult where two couples in an RV inadvertently witness a devil worship ceremony and are pursued
Raging Angels (1994)
Christian Spiritual War
Christian film in which Sean Patrick Flanery is a recovering rock musician who fights to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of a music promoter who is the Ant-Christ
Resurrected (2023)
Resurrection Process
This has a fascinating premise where the Catholic Church develops a resurrection process, before one priest starts to see a darker conspiracy beneath. Shot in the Screenlife process where the film screen becomes a computer screen
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971)
Conspiracy Film/Cloning
This has the distinction of being the first film to depict cloning. An edgy conspiracy thriller where Senator Bradford Dillman wakes in a secret medical facility that clones important people
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Satanic Impregnation
Classic film and one of Roman Polanski’s finest works, the comically paranoid story of a housewife who increasingly comes to believe that the child she is pregnant with was fathered by The Devil
Rosemary’s Baby (2014)
Satanic Impregnation
Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby was a classic film that popularised the modern interest in occult and deviltry on film; this sad remake is something that only parrots the cliches that have set in in the ensuing 46 years and clumsily mishandles all of Polanski’s comically edgy paranoia
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Contemporary Hammer Dracula Sequel
The eight of Hammer’s Dracula, the second-to-last they would make and the last featuring Christopher Lee. This follows on from the previous film Dracula A.D. 1972 in featuring Dracula in the present day and at least does more with the idea than that film did
Scream and Scream Again (1970)
Mad Scientist/Android Takeover Conspiracy
Cult Anglo-horror film with a series of vampire killings that lead to Vincent Price trying to replace bureaucrats with androids
The Second Arrival (1998)
Alien Infiltration and Takeover
Low-budget and fairly indifferently made sequel to David Twohy’s quite good alien invasion film
Seconds (1966)
Secret Rejuvenation Syndicate
An astonishingly bleak John Frankenheimer film in which a disillusioned middle-aged man is contacted by a secret organisation that rejuvenates him to become Rock Hudson
The Sender (1997)
Alien Visitor/Psychic Powers/Action
Action film with Michael Madsen and a mystery alien woman fighting a government coverup of UFOs to retrieve his abducted daughter
Servants of Twilight (1991)
Pursuit by Crazed Cultists/Dean R. Koontz Adaptation
Dean R. Koontz adaptation with Bruce Greenwood as a private detective drawn into helping a woman protect her child from crazed cultists that believe he is the Antichrist
The Shrouds (2024)
Grave Camera Technology
At age 81, David Cronenberg is still on great form with this perversely fascinating work about the development of a technology that places cameras inside graves to observe corpses as they decay
Smiley (2012)
Internet Boogeyman
This is essentially Candyman rewritten for the internet generation about a boogeyman that appears to kill the person on the other end if you type a phrase three times
Something in the Dirt (2022)
Mysterious Unexplained Phenomena
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have become must-watch directors in the last decade. This film, which was shot in their apartment during Covid lockdown, becomes the ultimate conspiracy theory rabbit hole
Spellbinder (1988)
Pursuit by Satanic Cult
Modest 1980s video release that builds with some unnerving effect as Timothy Daly grants shelter to Kelly Preston only to earn the wrath of a pursuing Satanic cult
The Stepford Children (1987)
Android Teenager Replacements
The second of three sequels to The Stepford Wives. I found the original implausible on any level and this is quadrupled when you get to replacing their children with android duplicates. A film that has been generated without anybody sitting and thinking about the premise on a practical level
The Stepford Wives (1975)
Android Housewife Replacements
Ira Levin’s original novel wherein the men of a town replace their wives with subservient android duplicates seems to have its satiric point blunted when it comes to the film adaptation
The Stepford Wives (2004)
Android Housewife Replacements Comedy
Frank Oz conducts a remake of The Stepford Wives, which becomes a broad comedy take on the gender wars in the modern world
Stigmata (1999)
Possession/Catholic Conspiracy
This seems caught between offering an earnest theological debate about Catholicism and being a standard possession film. The results are not entirely uninteresting
The Stupids (1996)
Family of Very Stupid People/Gonzo Comedy
A mind-bogglingly surreal John Landis film about a family who take everything literally. A completely demented viewing experience in watching as they bumble around trying to puzzle over who is stealing the garbage
Subliminal Seduction (1996)
Sinister Brainwashing Plot
Ian Ziering stars in a B-budget ripoff of The Stepford Wives where he discovers that a computer company is encoding brainwashing messages in a videogame
Tamala 2010 (2002)
Demented Anime/Girl Cat's Space Adventures
Grungy low tech anime that comes out like a sarcastic version of Hello Kitty
Target Earth (1998)
Alien Invasion
Alien invasion tv movie that mostly consists of cliches borrowed from the then success of tv’s The X Files
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Illicit Experiments in the Ghetto
A wonderfully paranoid film where drug dealer John Boyega discovers illicit mind control experiments are being conducted on a ghetto neighbourhood and that he is one in a series of clones
The Triangle (2005)
Solving the Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle
An impressive line-up of genre names came together for this big event mini-series that sets out to offer a conclusive explanation for the Bermuda Triangle in a plot that juggles an entertaining stew of wild ideas involving timewarps, alternate timelines and government cover-ups
The Uncanny (1977)
Cat Horror Anthology
A production from Amicus founder Milton Subtosky in the style of the horror anthology that made the company’s name
War of the Worlds (2025)
Alien Invasion/Modernised H.G. Wells Adaptation
An adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic alien invasion novel modernised into the era of mass data surveillance, social media and Amazon delivery drivers. Shot in the Screenlife process where the film screen becomes a computer screen
Wavelength (1983)
Alien Visitors
Modestly made alien contact film that came out not long after Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The X Files (1998)
The X Files Film Spinoff/Alien Invasion Conspiracy
Film spinoff from tv’s hit ultra-paranoid alien conspiracy drama. The film is caught in the unenviable position of trying to give fans what they want and reiterate the basics of the series for new audiences, while giving away no plot details in advance, and as a result ended up pleasing nobody