To get the most out of this list, do not watch chronologically. Instead, curate your playlist by mood:
For fans of the series, this movie bridges seasons 5 and 6. It brings the conspiracy (black oil, syndicate, Cigarette Smoking Man) to the big screen with a massive explosion in Dallas. Essential for UFO mythology buffs.
As the space race progressed, alien films became more varied. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) redefined the genre by treating extraterrestrial intelligence as incomprehensible, godlike, and evolutionary. The 1970s brought a turning point: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Alien (1979). Spielberg’s masterpiece replaced invasion with wonder, emphasizing communication and childlike curiosity. Conversely, Ridley Scott’s Alien fused UFO lore with body horror, introducing the terrifying bioweapon Xenomorph. This duality—benevolent contact versus parasitic horror—remains a central tension in alien cinema. amazing+ufo+and+alien+films+1951+to+2024+mp
Neill Blomkamp’s apartheid allegory. An alien ship stalls over Johannesburg. The refugees inside (the "Prawns") are forced into slums. This found-footage / documentary hybrid is brutal, sad, and action-packed. It asks: What if we were the monsters?
Recent years have seen a explosion of high-quality, weird, and terrifying UFO films. These are the must-watch finishes for your 2024 MP playlist. To get the most out of this list,
Big budgets, CGI aliens, and global stakes.
Bertrand Bonello’s French genre-bender. Part period drama, part sci-fi. An AI that is literally an alien presence transcends time to torment two lovers. Not a typical "UFO" film, but essential for those who want alien cinema to push boundaries. As the space race progressed, alien films became more varied
2016: Arrival
This decade’s Close Encounters. Twelve alien heptapods land worldwide, and linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) learns their circular language—which rewires her perception of time. The twist: they’re here to give us a weapon that is actually the gift of nonlinear memory. Devastating, beautiful.
2016: Midnight Special
A quiet, overlooked gem. A boy who can bring down satellites and melt cars is being escorted across state lines. The “aliens” are revealed as inter-dimensional beings who have lent him as a bridge. Feels like a lost 80s Spielberg.