5 Movie Aliens That Prove We Should Never Trust Outer Space

Movie aliens are just cool. It doesn’t matter if they’re terrifying, weird, or kinda funny, they always steal the show. I’ve been obsessed with movie aliens since I was a kid, and I think most of us have that one alien scene burned into our brains forever. Maybe it scared the hell out of you, maybe it blew your mind, or maybe you just thought, “Man, that was awesome.” Either way, aliens have been some of the best characters in movies for decades.

Some aliens are straight-up nightmare fuel. You ever see a Xenomorph? That thing is like a giant, acid-filled cockroach that wants to use your body as a baby incubator. No thanks. Then there’s the Predator, who’s basically a walking tank with dreadlocks and a face that looks like it lost a fight with a lawnmower. And don’t even get me started on the aliens from Independence Day—they pulled up in spaceships the size of cities just to flex on us.

But not all movie aliens are trying to kill us. The Heptapods from Arrival were peaceful but still creepy in that “we’re way smarter than you” kind of way. And then there’s the alien in Nope, which wasn’t even a spaceship—it was the alien. That was some next-level stuff.

No matter what kind of alien we’re talking about, one thing’s for sure—humans are obsessed with them. We’re always looking up at the sky, wondering if there’s something out there. But thanks to Hollywood, we don’t have to wait. We’ve got some of the best aliens ever, right on our screens. And trust me, these five? They’re the best of the best. Now let’s get into it.

If you thought regular birth was bad, try having an alien claw its way out of your back. In this scene, one unlucky crew member starts convulsing, and before you know it—bam—a tiny, killer alien explodes out of him. It’s gross, it’s scary, and it reminds you why you never mess with space eggs.

Arnold Schwarzenegger thought he was dealing with just another bad guy—until the Predator took off its mask. The second you see its gnarly, bug-like face, you know things are about to get real. Even Arnie was shook, hitting him with the classic, “You are one ugly mother—”

Aliens could’ve landed, said hello, and given us some cool tech, but nope—they decided to blow up the White House instead. That giant spaceship looms overhead, charges up, and fires a death beam straight through the roof. If you were a kid in the ‘90s, this was the scene that made you terrified of UFOs.

Not all aliens want to fight, and Arrival proves it. This scene shows Dr. Louise Banks meeting the Heptapods for the first time, trying to figure out their strange, circular language. It’s one of those moments where you realize, “Oh, these guys aren’t here to invade, they’re just on another level.”

We’ve seen flying saucers in movies before, but Nope flipped the script. Turns out, the UFO isn’t a ship—it’s a creature. The second that realization hits, the whole movie goes from “spooky” to “oh hell no.”

Aliens might not be real (yet), but at least we have movies like these to keep us entertained—and paranoid.