The brand new Emma Stone film Bugonia guarantees to be an unconventional sci-fi alien film dressed up like a darkish comedy. Bugonia follows two conspiracy theorists who abduct a pharmaceutical CEO as a result of they imagine she is an alien. It’s one in an extended line of unconventional alien films that buck the sci-fi development.
Through the years, when most individuals hear about alien films, they consider movies like Warfare of the Worlds and Independence Day, the place humanity fights alien invasions. Nevertheless, via all of it, there are extra cerebral alien films with deeper messages, and these are often one of the best of the style.
Bugonia (2025)
Bugonia is the most recent in an extended line of unconventional alien films, introduced as a darkish comedy about conspiracy theorists who don’t have any motive to imagine what they do. Two males abduct a pharmaceutical CEO as a result of considered one of them believes she is an alien working to destroy the Earth.
That is additionally the newest film from director Yorgos Lanthimos and actress Emma Stone. They labored collectively, a number of occasions, together with when Stone gained a Greatest Actress Oscar for Poor Issues. Issues will not be left to the viewer to decipher as a result of the Bugonia ending reveals whether or not Michelle is an alien.
Nevertheless, it’s also the Bugonia ending that makes this a really unconventional alien film. It is not whether or not Michelle is an alien or not that issues. It’s what she has deliberate, and why these two conspiracy theorists who kidnap her may be the rationale for humanity’s demise.
The Useless Do not Die (2019)
The Useless Do not Die is an odd film, and that’s saying loads on the subject of Jim Jarmusch. He had already deconstructed the vampire style with Solely Lovers Left Alive, however this was much more weird. It is a zombie film, however it’s also a darkish comedy that turns into one thing utterly completely different on the finish.
Adam Driver and Invoice Murray play law enforcement officials in a small city the place a zombie outbreak happens. Driver’s character is aware of what is going on as a result of, as he says late within the movie, he “learn the script.” On high of the film’s meta components, there is a wild scene with Tilda Swinton’s character that reveals why she was so unusual.
Jim Jarmusch took the zombie style, added darkish comedic touches, gave it meta-subtext, and then added an alien second that had nothing to do with the story on the finish. There’s nothing prefer it.
Unbelievable Planet (1973)
Unbelievable Planet is a wonderful animated sci-fi launch from 1973 that places a brand new spin on the alien movie style. The film takes place on one other planet, the place the aliens are humanoids. This places an fascinating spin on the concept, since most films have people encountering aliens.
On this film, not solely are the people the aliens, however they’re at all times at risk because the alien race is continually exterminating them to maintain the inhabitants of “immigrants” low. Nevertheless, some have taken people as pets and need to defend them. It’s a fascinating spin on the concept of an outsider attempting to slot in.
The film is a robust take a look at a number of social points, from animal rights to human rights and racism. This movie is an allegory about oppression and a harsh take a look at civil rights points worldwide, making it excess of a typical sci-fi alien film.
Darkish Metropolis (1998)
Darkish Metropolis is a sci-fi noir by Alex Proyas (The Crow) and follows a person named John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) who wakes up and is advised individuals are attempting to seize him. He goes on the run and has to determine what is going on on this shadowy metropolis. What he discovers is an alien species often known as the Strangers.
The solid right here is stable, with William Damage, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connelly in supporting roles. Nevertheless, the celebs listed here are the Strangers, with names like Mr. Hand, Mr. E book, and Mr. Wall, who appear otherworldly and really creepy. By the point John learns the reality, your complete movie goes over the sting.
That is greatest described as a Twilight Zone episode if it had been shot like a Nineteen Forties Movie Noir film like The Maltese Falcon. Critics praised the movie’s gloomy, fashionable ambiance, however the ending shares extra in frequent with a dystopian thriller like Logan’s Run than with a sci-fi alien film.
District 9 (2009)
District 9 is an alien film the place the aliens will not be an invading species. As an alternative, the aliens on this film are in search of assist and asylum. Very similar to the actual world in the present day, the place so many individuals are illiberal of serving to these in want, the people on this film are additionally unwilling to do greater than the minimal for these aliens.
This movie has apparent allegorical meanings, particularly since it’s set in South Africa and has sturdy parallels to the apartheid racial separation in that nation’s historical past. Nevertheless, with the latest parallels in different elements of the world, this movie has as a lot which means now as ever earlier than.
There are evil aliens on this group, however there are additionally very evil people as properly, exhibiting that it’s not the immigrants who trigger all the issues, as a result of people are simply as brutal and violent. District 9 was a important darling when it got here out, with 4 Oscar nominations, and it holds up properly all these years later.
When John Carpenter’s The Factor got here out, it was a field workplace bomb, and critics did not fairly heat as much as it. Whereas that is likely one of the greatest sci-fi alien films of all time, one motive it struggled was the success of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Further-Terrestrial. Paradoxically, The Factor is a extra typical alien film than E.T.
Whereas The Factor depicted a hostile alien invader intent on killing people, E.T. was about an harmless alien stranded on Earth who was simply despatched right here to discover. E.T. was a scientist, and whereas he could not converse English, he was capable of heat as much as some youngsters and befriend them whereas avoiding authorities forces.
E.T. was a large industrial and demanding hit. Nevertheless, it was very a lot an unconventional sci-fi alien film a couple of being stranded in an odd place the place the authorities there needed to seize it, figuring out that the customer had no rights of its personal. This was one of the crucial standard mild alien films.
Arrival (2016)
Arrival will not be as distinctive as some may imagine, however it’s a good sci-fi film that examines aliens in a really completely different method. If something, this Denis Villinueve sci-fi movie is a non secular follow-up to Steven Spielberg’s Shut Encounters of the Third Sort.
In Shut Encounters, a gaggle of alien fanatics seeks a option to make first contact with aliens visiting Earth. It even had a father who was prepared to surrender his household to lastly make contact and fulfill a lifelong dream. Amy Adams’s linguist, Louise Banks, is prepared to surrender much more than that in her quest.
Arrival is an unconventional alien film as a result of it’s merely about Louise discovering a option to decipher the aliens’ language to study as a lot as she will. That’s the full extent of the story, and her sacrifice is heartbreaking. The movie was a large hit and earned an Oscar nomination for Greatest Image.
They Reside (1988)
They Reside took the concept of an alien invasion and pushed it to the restrict. Most films see aliens starting an invasion. Independence Day sees aliens assault Earth, and people battle again. Invasion of the Physique Snatchers has aliens taking up from the beginning. In They Reside, the aliens have already taken over earlier than the film begins.
WWE star Roddy Piper performs Nada, a drifter who finds a pair of glasses that lets him see aliens parading as people. He quickly learns they’re in every single place, together with in authorities positions and on tv, the place they launch subliminal messaging to maintain people docile and in line.
That is an especially unconventional alien film as a result of it reveals the aliens have already gained and assimilated into society, and people by no means noticed it coming till it was too late. Additionally it is a harsh critique by John Carpenter of subliminal promoting and the federal government and press spreading lies to say management over the narrative.
Underneath The Pores and skin (2013)
Underneath the Pores and skin is a really unconventional alien film, because the alien here’s a lady and she or he is extra of an explorer, attempting to grasp the human situation. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, this can be a very meditative film that requires persistence, but it surely pays off with a superb conceptual storyline.
Scarlett Johansson stars because the alien who will not be harmless. She assaults males on her journey, seemingly sending them right into a void, whereas taking management of their our bodies and studying extra concerning the planet she finds herself on. There are difficult moments, similar to when a toddler is left alone, prone to die. Nevertheless, that is all proven matter-of-factly.
It is a haunting alien sci-fi film that leaves viewers considering when the ultimate credit roll. It’s a visually beautiful and deeply immersive expertise. Whereas the story appears to meander at factors, it delivers a robust message about what it feels prefer to be an outsider and the way individuals react to those that are completely different.
Killer Klowns From Outer Area (1988)
Not all unconventional alien films are deeply considerate or have allegorical meanings. Some are simply meant to be weird. In the identical decade that Stephen King launched the world to an alien posing as a clown who kills youngsters, a film got here out that had a whole alien race that regarded like monstrous clowns.
Directed by Stephen Chiodo, Killer Klowns From Outer Area is a movie that delivers what followers of the title needed to see. This film had aliens that appear to be large clowns arrive on Earth and begin to kill people. The objective was to seize, kill, and harvest individuals from a small city to make use of for meals.
Nothing about this film was meant to be taken significantly, and it was clearly made to be a cult traditional. In that objective, it succeeded on each degree. Utilizing sensible results and make-up, the film is a riot to chortle together with, and it’s nonetheless screened in the present day for followers of traditional cult releases, remaining a beloved, unconventional sci-fi film.