Alien Abduction (2005)
Hospital for Alien Abductees
An early film from The Asylum set in a hospital for alien abductees, which director Eric Forsberg evokes with some paranoia and a great ending
Alien Abduction
Alien Abduction is the term given to true-life claims where people recount, usually under hypnosis, being abducted and taken up by UFOs. There is the frequent belief in these works that the purposes of such are medical, sometimes gynaecological experimentation and even cases of impregnation or anal probing. In other cases, abductees have been left with implants and almost always their memories have been blanked of the experience.
There have been numerous depictions of these abductions in genre cinema. Some of these are based on real-life – which we place under Films That Make Dubious Claims to Be Based on True Stories – and others fictional. The first film account of alien abduction appeared in the tv movie The UFO incident (1975) based on the true-life story of Barney and Betty Hill. Real-life abduction accounts went dramatically up after this entered the public paradigm.
Well before it became part of the UFO experience, alien abduction was a regular occurrence in genre cinema. Although there it was usually not the terrifying experience it is in most of the above accounts. In these films, it is often seen a passport to adventure or else conducted by aliens seeking knowledge about humanity, even in some cases aliens wanting to have sex with humans.
Alien Implant (2017)
Alien Abductee Seeks Revenge
A film about a former alien abductee pottering endlessly about a cabin in order to lure the aliens who took her and take revenge. A film that is about as close to total amateurism as possible to get
Alien Origin (2012)
Found Footage/Alien Encounter
The Asylum’s mockbuster version of Prometheus where they have settled for giving us Predator as a Found Footage film (with a good few doses of Ancient Astronauts nuttinesss)
Altered (2006)
Captured Alien
A fine film from The Blair Witch Project co-director Eduardo Sanchez about the tensions among a group of friends who hold a captured alien in their garage that then begins to affect them
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
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Giant Woman/Classic Bad Movie
1950s bad movie classic with Allison Hayes as a wife made into a giant by a passing UFO who rampages through town after her philandering husband. Painfully bad effects make for show that frequently slides into the laughable
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993)
Giant Woman
The first time we have had a remake of a bad movie – in this case the 1958 film. The title role is cast with Darryl Hannah and the shabby effects gets a much more polished work over
The Bare Wench 3: Nymphs of Mystery Mountain (2002)
Softcore Blair Witch Spoof
Another in the interminable softcore Blair Witch parodies with a group of minimally talented and clothed bimbos wandering around the woods and failing to take proceedings seriously
Battle of Los Angeles (2011)
Alien Invasion/The Asylum Mockbuster
This was The Asylum’s mockbuster take on Battle Los Angeles, a rehash of alien invasion cliches but with modestly more vigour than most of their efforts
Beyond Skyline (2017)
Alien Invasion
Skyline was a modest alien invasion film; this is a long-planned sequel. The new director has simply turned it into an action film and tediously deals with every alien encounter with gunfire, stunts and explosions
The Block Island Sound (2020)
Mysterious Happenings in a Bay
An enigmatic and undeniably effective film about mysterious happenings where those who journey into a bay start to be affected in disturbing ways
Communion (1989)
Alien Abduction/"True Story"
Film adaptation of writer Whitley Strieber’s true-life claims to have been abducted by aliens. I am not sure if the film convinces us of Strieber’s claims but what is interesting is the thoughtful way it examines the phenomenon
Dark Encounter (2019)
UFOs and Alien Abduction
A modestly effective film about UFOs and alien abductions. This follows familiar paths to other films but is conducted with a quite reasonable degree of atmospheric
Dark Skies (2013)
Sinister Alien Visitations
Former effects supervisor Scott Stewart surprises here in producing a carefully restrained alien abduction film that focuses on the incursion of the inexplicable into the everyday
Darkening Sky (2010)
UFOs and Alien Abduction
Low-budget UFO/alien abduction film that mostly this just retreads familiar material, although it does evince a certain interesting state of rubber reality about what is happening
Devil’s Gate (2017)
Alien Abductions
This comes with a great initial set-up as it becomes apparent that law enforcement investigating a missing woman are dealing with alien abductions
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
Fire in the Sky (1993)
Alien Abduction/"True Story"
Film based on a true-life claim about a supposed alien abduction. This probably won’t convince anybody who does not already believe but it is undeniably a well-made film, at its most striking when we go aboard the UFO
Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Alien-Abducted Child Returns
Smart and intelligent Disney film where Joey Cramer play a kid who goes missing and reappears some years later unaged, only to realise he has been abducted by aliens and can control a spaceship
The Fourth Kind (2009)
Alien Abductions/"True Story"
This makes a fictitious claim to be a dramatisation of alien abductions that took place in Alaska. This creates something that is undeniably interesting before shooting itself in the foot by heading into Ancient Astronauts territory
Fried Barry (2020)
Man Inhabited by an Alien
A South African variant on a film like Starman where a man is inhabited by an alien and stumbles through a series of encounters on the seedier side of life
Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Japanese Monster Bash
The fifth Godzilla film, the point where Godzilla becomes a good guy joining Mothra and Rodan to battle Ghidrah. The best Godzilla film from this period with the effects team operating at the peak of their game
God Told Me To (1976)
Alien Messiah/Cult Killings/Alien Abduction & Impregnation
One of the key films in the cult of director Larry Cohen, this throws in a mind-bending mix involving an androgynous alien messiah, random shootings, alien abduction and Catholicism
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
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
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Marvel Comics Adaptation/Space Opera
A triumphal Marvel Comics adaptations that manages to mainline the spirit of the original Star Wars, while in in its wryly, self-deflating culture savvy suggesting a Star Wars rewritten by a 14 year-old Quentin Tarantino
The Human Race (2013)
People Forced to Participate in a Deadly Running Race
Fascinating film about a group of people who are abducted by aliens and forced to run around a course where their heads will explode if they stop or are too slow
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 those involved are making an effort but the skill gap falls well short of the basics, particularly in the story field and budget needed to make a film work
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
Iron Doors (2010)
Imprisonment Thriller/Labyrinth Film
Modest film in which a man wakes up inside a labyrinth of locked rooms and must find a means of escape
Killers from Space (1953)
Alien Invasion
A cheesily bad alien invader film from the 1950s that seems to be trying to throw every element in SF from mind controlling aliens to atomic monsters in to the mix
Meander (2020)
Mysterious Labyrinth
This may be the most claustrophobic film ever made about a woman trapped inside a labyrinth of narrow tunnels and crawlspaces that house a series of death traps
Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)
Adventures on a Planet of Stupid People Comedy
Films about stupid people are rarely funny – this concerns a whole planet of stupid people. Despite reasonable production values, there is little that raises even a mild smile in this comedic take on Flash Gordon
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
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 Night Caller (1965)
Aliens Abduct Models
One of the British sf films that came influenced by the Quatermass series. This has the most ridiculous premise of any alien invasion film – an alien is abducting women from ads for models placed in girlie magazines – but is played with a stone-faced seriousness that defies you to laugh
Osiris (2025)
Alien Abduction/Warfare
Soldiers in the middle of a warzone are abducted by aliens and wake up aboard an alien facility. An interesting set up that dissolves into massive amounts of artillery fire and action
Outer Touch (1979)
Alien Women Abduct Men/Sex Comedy
Bizarre attempt to mix the 1970s SF film with the British sex comedy as a group of people are abducted by three alien women who are ignorant about sex
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
Progeny (1998)
Alien Abduction and Impregnation
Horror director Brian Yuzna jumps aboard the alien abduction and impregnation theme that was popular at the time thanks to tv’s The X Files. All of Yuzna’s films have a fascination with sexual perversity so here the emphasis is placed on the impregnation
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 Recall (2017)
Alien Abductions
A group of friends at a cabin the woods are subject to a series of alien abductions. Directed by a production illustrator on a number of high-profile films, this comes with some unique designs and effects
The Signal (2014)
Possible Alien Abductees/Reality Bender
A film ostensibly about alien abductees that has rather pleasurably been construed as a series of wild head-spinning twists that are constantly pulling everything we think we know is going on from under the audience, even if it eventually provides more questions than it ever does answers
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
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.
The Stranger Within (1974)
Alien Impregnation
TV movie with a script from the great Richard Matheson in which Barbara Eden becomes pregnant and starts to behave strangely. The film seems set to be a copy of Rosemary’s Baby before it is suddenly turns into an alien impregnation film – one of the first on the subject, in fact
Supersonic Man (1979)
Superhero Film
A cheap Spanish-made copy of the first Christopher Reeve Superman film
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 Terrornauts (1967)
Communications from Space
SF effort from the UK’s Amicus Films with an ambitious plot about communication from the stars that manages to prefigure films like Contact and 2001. On the other hand, the film fails is in its pitiful and utterly inadequate special effects
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
Toomorrow (1970)
Aliens Try to Abduct Rock Band
Film that feels construed to blend 60s rock films post The Beatles and an intergalactic trippiness post 2001: A Space Odyssey where alien try to abduct a rock band. From the producer of the James Bond films and the man who created The Monkees
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
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/2 (2013)
Anthology of Found Footage Horror Tales
Sequel to the modest success of V/H/S, an anthology of short Found Footage horror films featuring a different line-up of genre directors. The episodes are competent at best, none standout and mostly forgettable
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
Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman (1975)
Alien Visitors/Pornographic Film
An adult film about aliens that visit Earth to repopulate their own species and abduct women during sex whereupon they stimulate them with the penises that come out of their mouths
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