Zoom: Academy for Superheroes (2006)
School for Superheroes
Family-friendly superhero film that places more focus on slapstick than superheroics and contains an embarrassing return to the screen for Chevy Chase
UFOs
UFOs are Unidentified Flying Objects and are a real world phenomenon. Originally referred to as Flying Saucers, the phenomenon was first reported in 1947 and was an attempt to deal with reports of unexplained saucer-like objects observed in the sky. This quickly led to a rash of sightings and the speculation of alien visitors as the cause. The flying saucer phenomenon bled through into 1950s Alien Invasion cinema and flying saucers were a common means whereby aliens arrived.
The UFO phenomenon began to take on other aspects. The real-life based tv movie The UFO Incident (1975) popularised the phenomenon of Alien Abduction and this entered the mythology, as did blanked memory and hypnotic regression to recall abduction experiences. Around the same time, there was also the tying of UFOs to Ancient Astronauts and the fringe science claims that many ancient texts and inscriptions depicted alien visitors and UFOs.
Steven Spielberg made the enormously optimistic UFO and alien contact film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and this popularised UFO experiences. After this, UFOs went from metal saucers to glowing lights in the sky. Other aspects soon began to appear from Grey aliens, alien implants, claims of alien impregnation and the fascination with anal probings following Whitley Strieber’s claims of abduction in his book Communion (1987).
Another key element of UFO mythology is the belief that a UFO had crashed at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 and that it or aliens from it are being held by the US government at Area 51 – a number of works purport to depict what happened or visit Area 51. There is also belief in the Men in Black, sinister government agents that cover up evidence in the aftermath of an incident. Much of this extends well into the area of Conspiracy Theories.
These conspiracy theories were wound into tv’s hugely popular The X Files (1993-2002, 2016-8), which explored many aspects of UFO mythology during its run, and in turn greatly influenced other works. There have also been a number of films depicting supposed true-life abduction experiences. Also popular in recent years have been Found Footage UFO encounter films.
Zone Troopers (1986)
GI's, Nazis & Crashed UFO
One of the best films from Charles Band’s Empire Productions, a splendid homage to the GI film with a group of soldiers investigating a crashed UFO behind enemy lines
Xtro (1982)
Mutating Alien Abductee
A British-made copy of Alien that has been construed as a series of bizarre images and scenes that make no real sense – even the title is given no explanation
The X from Outer Space (1967)
Japanese Monster Movie
A wannabe entry in the Japanese monster movie, this has the distinction of featuring possibly the most ridiculous monster to ever turn up in one of these films
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
Wavelength (1983)
Alien Visitors
Modestly made alien contact film that came out not long after Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Warnings (2003)
Crop Circles and Alien Invasion
A blatant copy of M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs even down to the near-identical title and a similar plot about crop circles appearing on a farm presaging an alien invasion
Warning from Space (1956)
Japanese Alien Visitors Film
The first Japanese entry in the great alien invader fad of the 1950s. Nothing great but it does boast the awesomeness of starfish-shaped aliens
Vixen Highway 2006: It Came from Uranus! (2010)
Gonzo Exploitation Homage
Another excruciatingly bad mock exploitation film from Tony Watt, who may well be the world’s worst filmmaker. This mixes killer women, aliens, UFOs, Mafia into an incomprehensible mix
The Visitor (1979)
Satan is an Alien/Impregnation
Head-scratchingly strange Italian film that seems made as a crosshatch of 1970s Devil Child films and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Makes no sense in terms of story but worth watching for the bizarreness of its imagery
Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
Alien Visitor Comedy
A satirical Gore Vidal play is bent out of shape to become a vehicle for the slapstick nonsense of Jerry Lewis, cast as an alien visitor. Lewis is a love him or hate him actor; depending on one’s tolerance for such, this has much fast-paced silliness
The Vast of Night (2019)
UFOs and Alien Abductions in the 1950s
Indie film about UFOs and alien abductions in a small 1950s town. This comes with undeniably eerie effect that heralds a strong new directorial voice. It also has a perfectly realised sense of retro period detail.
V/H/S/Beyond (2024)
Anthology of Found Footage Horror Tales
Seventh of the V/H/S Found Footage horror anthologies, this is one of the best with a number of the episodes venturing into SF and others that feature some genuinely outlandish moments
Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers (1956)
UFO Documentary
Fascinating quasi-documentary from the early days of the UFO phenomenon, made before all the nonsense about Greys, abductions, alien impregnation etc came in, which gives it a sober groundedness than many more polished productions lack
Undead (2003)
Zombie Splatter and Alien Abductions
Appealingly quirky homemade zombie film that launched the career of Australia’s Spierig Brothers. The two demonstrate a considerable inventivity when it comes to the visual and makeup effects, which they created all themselves
Uforia (1985)
UFO Religion
Appealingly eccentric comedy set in the American Midwest where supermarket cashier Cindy Williams gains a cult following after preaching that the UFOs are coming
UFO: Target Earth (1974)
Investigation Into UFO Phenomena
Interest in UFO phenomena peaked in the 1970s with numerous books seriously studying it and twice as many crackpot ones. While there had been various flying saucers in 1950s alien invasion cinema, this obscure and rather dull oddity was the first fictional film investigating the phenomena
The 25th Reich (2012)
Time Travel, UFOs and Nazi-Ruled Alternate Future
Time travel, Nazis in UFOs and a Nazi-ruled alternate timeline, giant robot spiders – ok, I’m sold. A surprisingly good little film where the fact that this is also made on a low budget and with a good deal of conceptual constraint makes it all the more creative an effort
Thomas Mao (2010)
Film About Friendships with Flying Swordsmen and Aliens
Rather odd but amiable Chinese film about friendship between a real-life artist and his model & with flying swordsmen and alien visitors all thrown in for no discernibly apparent reason
This Island Earth (1955)
Abduction into an Alien War
Beautifully colourful 1950s SF film about scientists who are abducted to take part in a war between two alien species
The Thing from Another World (1951)
Alien Invader
The very first alien invader film of the 1950s. Maybe or maybe not directed by Howard Hawks, this has a dramatic urgency and tight tension that makes it stand head and shoulders above most of the films that came after
The Thing (2011)
Shapechanging Alien Nasty
Though pitched as a prequel, this is essentially a remake of John Carpenter’s classic. Alas, this only finds the same phantasmagoric outlandishness as Carpenter did in a couple of scenes that may be moderately impressive for those who have never seen the original
The Thing (1982)
Shapechanging Alien Nasty
John Carpenter at the peak of his career, remaking The Thing from Another World as a wild and phantasmagoric film steeped in paranoia that proved to be the absolute epitome of the era’s fad for air-bladder transformation effects
Ted and Alice (2002)
Alien Visitor Comedy
Amiably good natured if unchallenging comedy where Dawn French engages in a relationship with an alien visitor
Taken (2002)
UFOs and Alien Abductions
TV mini-series in ten two-hour parts that deals with UFOs, covering several generations from the 1940s to the present. An interesting take on UFO encounters with the benefit of some phenomenal performances
The Strange World of Planet X (1958)
Amok Scientific Experiment/Giant Insects
1950s British science-fiction entry that draws influence from the Quatermass films. While the title(s) leads you to expect an alien invasion entry, it is in actuality more of a British copy of a giant insect film. A routine effort that is eventually done in by utterly impoverished giant insect effects
Strange Invaders (1983)
Alien Invaders
Appealingly quirky film that pays homage to the alien invaders genre of the 1950s as filtered through post-E.T. sensibilities where the invaders still live in a fifties timwarp
Starship Invasions (1977)
UFO Invasion
Christopher Lee called this his worst film. Contrarily it is a ridiculously entertaining effort about a war between telepathic aliens in UFOs from beneath the Bermuda Triangle.
Spice World (1997)
The Spice Girls' Gonzo Escapades
The Spice Girls conduct their own version of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, a largely plotless film with them clowning around. Including appearances from aliens.
Sphere (1998)
Crashed UFO Underwater/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton was hot property after the success of Jurassic Park but this was one flop. A by no means uninteresting film about a group of scientists in an underwater habitat making contact with an alien lifeform
The Sore Losers (1997)
Gonzo Exploitation Homage/Alien Spree Killers
Film that seems to be trying to cram in as many exploitation elements as possible from UFOs to spree killers, zombies, Women in Prison and rock’n’roll
Slapstick of Another Kind (1982)
Alien Twin Geniuses/Kurt Vonnegut Adaptation
Another failed attempt to film the works of Kurt Vonnegut where Vonnegut’s ironic pessimism ends up as witless slapstick chaos on screen
Skyline (2010)
Alien Invasion
An alien invasion film that exists largely as a series of dazzling effects set-pieces, although proves frustrating when it comes to plot or explanatory rationale
Skinwalker Ranch (2013)
Found Footage/Unexplained Phenomena
A reasonably effective and spooky Found Footage film set around the unexplained phenomena at the real-life Skinwalker Ranch
Signs (2002)
Crop Circles/Alien Invasion
M. Night Shyamalan delves into the crop circle phenomenon and makes an alien invasion film. At this point his films were predicated on big conceptual surprises and this comes out as a damp squib when we find out what is going on
Shorts (2009)
Magic Wishing Stone
Another of Robert Rodriguez’s children’s films about the wacky chaos caused by the discovery of a magic wishing stone. Nothing earth-shattering but Rodriguez has a lot of fun with the visual absurdities
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
Santo vs the Martians (1967)
Mexican Wrestler Superhero vs Alien Invaders
In this rather shabby effort, Santo (in the sixteenth of his 52 films) takes on invaders from Mars whose entire plan seems to hang on the need to have to defeat Santo in the wrestling ring
Roswell: The Aliens Attack (1999)
The Roswell Incident/Alien Visitors
Alien invasion film set around the so-called Roswell Incident. Faux science-fiction written by cliche the entire way
The Return (1981)
UFO Contact and Cattle Multilations
Influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this is a strange film about UFOs and cattle mutilations. Explanations are not always clear but the film boasts a great cast
Repo Man (1984)
Gonzo Punk Film
Alex Coz’s surreal cult film with Emilio Estevez as an L.A. punk working as a repo driver who gets wound into the hunt for a car with radioactive aliens in the trunk
The Recall (2017)
Alien Abductions
A group of friends at a cabin in the woods are subject to alien abductions. Directed by a production illustrator on a number of high-profile films, this comes with some unique designs and effects
Race to Witch Mountain (2009)
Psi-Powered Alien Children/Disney Remake
Revival of the Disney Witch Mountain films of the 1970s. Now the films have been dragged into the post-X Files era and flashy effects added to negligible result
Purple People Eater (1988)
Cute Musical Alien
An inanely awful film based on the Sheb Wooley song. This is a really lame copy of E.T. in which a young Neil Patrick Harris forms a band with the title alien
The Pumaman (1980)
Superhero Film
Italian film about a superhero that gains animal powers by putting on a belt. A strong contender for the worst superhero film ever made
Proximity (2020)
UFOs and Alien Abduction
Cheaply made and frequently unintentionally hilarious variant on UFO conspiracies that wheels out all the usual cliches – alien implants, the Men in Black, recovered memories etc
The Primevals (2023)
Lost World/Alien Lizard People
A fascinating lost world/alien lizard people stop-motion animated film that has been in production for a record 56 years, eventually pieced together and released by Charles Band several years after its creator’s death
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Alien Invasion/Classic Bad Movie
This has become legendary as the Worst Film Ever Made. Maybe it is but the audience that celebrates its technical gaffes, the purple prose and bizarre bheind-the-scenes stories has contrarily made it one of cultish fascination
PK (2014)
Bollywood Film/Innocent Alien Visitor
Absolutely fascinating Bollywood venture into science-fiction. A comedic variant on the theme of the blankly innocent alien visitor trying to make sense of human culture, this has a daringly ambitious bite in tackling the topic of religion and delivering some sharply pointed barbs
The Phoenix Incident (2015)
UFOs/Found Footage
An earlier treatment of the Phoenix Lights incidents, also a Found Footage film and with an almost identical plot to Phoenix Forgotten. The Found Footage has delved into the alien abduction theme before and this is an average treatment without any notable distinction
Phoenix Forgotten (2017)
UFOs/Found Footage
Film set around the Phoenix Lights, one of the most well-documented modern UFO sightings. Despite being co-produced by Ridley Scott and receiving a theatrical release, this does not seem too different from the standard Found Footage film that novices make for about $2000
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
Nope (2022)
UFO Film
Jordan Peele seems to have arrived at the same position that M. Night Shyamalan was in in the early 2000s. In his third film as director, he makes a film about UFOs that becomes a baffling scratch of the head
No One Will Save You (2023)
Woman Fights Off Alien Invaders
A woman alone in a farmhouse fights off invading aliens. Undeniably, effective, this is an uncredited remake of the classic Twilight Zone episode The Invaders
Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)
Nazis Under the Polar Icecap/Hitler with a Robot Body/Mad Science
Hands down the best film ever produced by The Asylum. How could one not like an entertainingly madcap concoction that features mad scientists, zombie stormtroopers, Nazi UFOs and Adolf Hitler preserved as a head in a jar attached to a robot body?
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.
Mysteries of the Gods (1976)
Ancient Astronauts/Erich von Daniken Documentary
A William Shatner-hosted documentary based on the works of pseudo-science author Erich von Daniken and his claims that various archaeological mysteries were created by alien visitors
The Mysterians (1957)
Japanese Alien Invader Film
Ishiro Honda and Toho, the creators of Godzila, turn their attentions to the alien invasion film – the first Japanese entry in the great 1950s SF alien invader fad – and deliver all the same colourful mass destruction we expect
My Science Project (1985)
Teenagers Activate Time Vortex Device
Disney film about a group of teens who find that heart of a UFO that opens up a time warp at their high school
My Favorite Martian (1999)
Alien Visitor Comedy/TV Series Remake
The big screen remake of the 1960s sitcom about a wacky alien visitor. However, this all of the original’s amusements promptly gets buried under frenetic slapstick and cheap CGI gags
Muppets from Space (1999)
Muppet Movie
The third and one of the better of the generally insipid Muppet movies produced following Jim Henson’s death. This tells the story of Gonzo’s origins as an alien where the film borrows spoofs the then-popularity of tv’s The X Files
Mr. Accident (2000)
Gonzo Comedy
The third and final film to date directed, written by and starring Yahoo Serious where he plays an accident prone man obsessed with alien life
Morons from Outer Space (1985)
Idiotic Alien Visitors/Genre Spoof
Comedy about stupid alien visitors largely construed as a vehicle for popular British comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones. Some witty SF in-jokes among a haphazard script
Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979)
Accidental Messiah Absurdist Comedy
The Monty Python team’s finest hour, a wickedly irreverent spoof on Christianity that contains some of their most side-splitting gags
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
Mindbender (1996)
"True Life" Psychic Uri Geller Biopic
Ken Russell’s worst film, a ridiculously bad biopic of the psychic Uri Geller
Men in Black (1997)
Alien Coverup Conspiracy Agency
A huge box-office hit, this comedy turns UFO conspiracy of
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
Memoria (2021)
Mysterious Sounds
Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a darling of the arthouse and makes bafflingly cryptic films with a very haunted mood. This features Tilda Swinton in search of a series of mysterious sounds
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Animation/Boy's Adventures on Mars
Motion-capture animated version of a popular children’s book. The title suggests a 1950s B movie and the subtext doesn’t bear close examination but the results are engagingly put together
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Gonzo Alien Invasion
Tim Burton makes a film based on the old Topps bubblegum card series about Martian invaders, which becomes an affectionately goofy tribute to 1950s alien invasion cinema
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Film Noir Thriller/UFOs
Coen Brothers black comedy with Billy Bob Thornton as an anonymous barber in the 1940s on the receiving end of life’s cruelties as he becomes involved in a blackmail scheme and murder
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
Love is a Treasure (2002)
Subjective Portraits of Mental Illness
A Finnish art project that consists of five episodes that subjectively depict stories of women with mental illness with strikingly surreal effect
Liquid Sky (1982)
Drug-Addicted Flying Saucer
Culty New Wave film with Anne Carlisle as a model who has a miniature UFO land on her New York apartment roof where it devours her lovers for the opiate in the brain produced during orgasm
Koi … Mil Gaya (2003)
Bollywood Alien Visitor Film
This is the Bollywood version of E.T.. That is if one can imagine an E.T. with singing, dancing and romantic scenes. A simplistic but popular hit that spawned several sequels
Jules (2023)
Senior Citizen Befriends Alien
Likeable comedy variant on E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial in which senior citizen Ben Kingsley befriends an alien visitor after its UFO crashes in his backyard. Few films are made with such an acute awareness of aging
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Alien Body Snatchers
The very first alien body snatchers film. With Jack Arnold’s eerily haunted landscapes and a memorably literate Ray Bradbury script, this is one of the classic SF films of the 1950s era
Iron Sky (2012)
Nazi Flying Saucers from the Moon
Finnish filmmaker Timo Vuorensola makes a conceptually wild film about invasion by Nazi flying saucers from the Moon. Stunning quality effects on a minuscule budget that rival the work of professional houses
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
Teens vs Alien Invaders
One of the spate of teen monster movies of the 1950s, this is a B movie that at least has the benefit of not taking itself too seriously and the creation of some memorable alien creatures
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Alien Body Snatchers
Tobe Hooper’s remake of the 1950s alien invaders classic for Cannon Films has much better effects and more technical proficient than the original but misses any of its paranoid, alienated mood
Invaders from Mars (1953)
Alien Body Snatchers
Classic of the 1950s alien invader genre in which a young boy discovers that the adults around him are being taken over by Martian invaders. Director William Cameron Menzies makes striking use of sets to further a sense of alienation
Invader (1992)
Amok Alien-Possessed Military A.I.
A completely ridiculous film that throws in an incomprehensible mix of an amok A.I.’s that takes over a stealth plane, UFOs, mind control and military conspiracy and proves badly made on every single count
Intruders (1992)
Alien Abductions
One of the earliest works about Alien Abduction, predating the fascination with the topic that came not long after with tv’s The X Files. From genre regular Dan Curtis, the creator of tv’s Dark Shadows
Interstellar Wars (2016)
Alien Invasion/Alien Zombies
Directed by low-budget actress Marlene Mc’Cohen, this is both an alien invasion and a zombie apocalypse film. A film where the skill gap and budget falls well short of what is needed to make a film work
Infection (2005)
Alien Body Snatchers/Dashcam Found Footage
Albert Pyun makes an alien body snatchers film that has been shot Found Footage style and takes place entirely from the viewpoint of the dashcam camera of a police car
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
High Adventure/Alien Artefacts
The fourth of the Indiana Jones films, returning after a 19 year gap to general disappointment. Largely a film about Indy getting old, this tries but the action scenes pale against what the series was in its heyday
Independence Day (1996)
Alien Invasion
The film that made Roland Emmerich’s name as a specialist in mass destruction spectacle. At heart, this rehashes a 1950s alien invasion film on a big-budget and adds blatantly sentimentalised American flag-waving
Incident at Raven’s Gate (1988)
Mysterious Unexplained Events
An enigmatic film from director Rolf de Heer where a town in the Australian Outback is haunted by strange lights and other mysterious unexplained phenomena
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
Animation/Prehistoric Talking Animals
I hate the Ice Age films and their tediously extruded adventures. The opening sequence here and its ignorance of even basic science is the most inane thing in the entire series
Hornet (2018)
Transformer Robot
An Asylum mockbuster aimed to exploit the release of the Transformers spinoff BumbleBee. This has the unique distinction of being a Transformers-type film shot as Found Footage
Hobgoblins (1988)
Malicious Alien Critters
A pitifully cheap copy of Gremlins about alien creatures locked in a soundstage and now accidentally unleashed. One of the worst films ever made.
Heavy Metal (1981)
Adult Animation Anthology
Cult animated film that adapts several stories from the adult fantasy comic-book Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal. These vary but in its better moments that has a trippy cult hallucinatory quality
Happy Feet (2006)
Animation/Talking and Dancing Penguins
George Miller of Mad Max fame makes a motion-capture animated film about a young penguin who sets out to fulfill his dream of tap-dancing. This ends up being a film of unexpectedly winning charms
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
Grey Skies: The Alien Conspiracy (2001)
Alien Invasion Anthology
The first in a trilogy of connected video anthology films that tell stories about alien visitors and abductions
The Green Hornet (1974)
Masked Superhero
The Green Hornet was a tv series based on the radio and serial masked hero. Following Bruce Lee’s ascent to superstardom, three episodes of the series were re-edited as a feature film
The Gracefield Incident (2017)
UFO Found Footage Film
We have had a few UFO Found Footage films, most of which are rehashes on The Blair Witch Project with aliens instead of backwoods hauntings. This is one entry that produces a series of eerie jumps
Good Omens (2019)
Biblical End Times/Antichrist Comedy
TV mini-series based on the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel that spoofs The Omen and Biblical End Times prophecies. The series is very close to the book as though it didn’t want to edit any precious gag
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968)
Body-Snatching Alien Vampire
A thoroughly demented Japanese sf/horror film about passengers of a crashed plane being menaced by a body-snatching alien vampire. Quite unlike any other Japanese monster movie, the colour schemes alone leave you giddy