One of the most influential science fiction films of all time, Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott is a chilling masterpiece that revamped the subgenre known as sci-fi horror. Many films have adapted Alien's formula of a cast of common characters forced into survival mode as an unseen threat picks them off one by one. Horrifying survival tales, vicious alien threats and gritty, isolated settings highlighted by the landmark film continue to inspire filmmakers to this day.

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Now some may call out certain films for being imitations or blatant rip-offs, but it is important to focus on how each film inspired by Alien attempts to bring a fresh new take on the formula. Some films don't even have to be located in space, or feature anything alien to homage to the sci-fi horror legend, and in the end, Alien is a pretty awesome film to be inspired by!

'Underwater' (2020)

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Like Alien, Underwater finds blue collar characters stuck in and isolated setting and being hunted by an elusive creature. Instead of a spaceship, the setting plunges the audience to a claustrophobic drilling facility at the bottom of the ocean that is rocked by a massive shake, disrupting its systems and forcing the survivors to attempt an escape while aquatic creatures stalk them.

Underwater stars Kristen Stewart in a Ripley inspired role, not to mention fitted in an incredibly designed deep sea suit reminiscent of Alien's space suits, albeit with a lack of hockey pads. The ensemble cast of workers feels cut right out of the crew aboard the Nostromo, not soldiers or heroes, but simply common workers making a living. Critics and fans alike are unanimous in citing Underwater as a homage to Alien given its clear-cut narrative and production design similarities.

'Event Horizon' (1997)

An astronaut approaching the portal in Event Horizon

Event Horizon comes from filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson who repeatedly returns to the sci-fi horror sub-genre that Alien reinvigorated. Anderson himself has stated multiple times that both Alien and Aliens have had massive influence on his career. Anderson would even go on to direct the franchise adjacent Alien Vs. Predator (2004), or AVP, where on the DVD commentary he professes his love for both Alien installments.

Event Horizon is a tale of psychological torment that has garnered a cult following, as a rescue team recovers a long-lost ship orbiting around Neptune that has brought back a sinister essence. In a chilling space haunted house, the ship itself is a character of its own and its anthropomorphic design cues Alien fans to think of the Nostromo, called Mother by its crew. With Alien displaying themes of birth its only fitting their ship be called Mother, while the ship, Event Horizon, hauntingly has a literal mind of its own.

'Pitch Black' (2000)

Pitch Black Vin Diesel

Pitch Black is action packed sci-fi tale with a plethora of special effects flares and a clever premise. Crash landing on a desolate planet a surviving crew, along with dangerous prisoner Riddick (Vin Diesel) who can see at night, find themselves in pure darkness during an eclipse and vicious nocturnal creatures emerge from below the planet's surface. Reminiscent of the Xenomorph, the Bioraptor are an animalistic alien life form driven simply by hunger that only Riddick can see coming from the darkness.

Pitch Black comes from director and screenwriter David Twohy, who would also direct Diesel in the sequels The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Riddick (2013). As screenwriter Twohy was part of the tumultuous production of Alien 3 (1992) providing an early draft of the story. Twohy reportedly had a hand in establishing the prison planet setting and working Ripley back into the story. While Twohy did not remain with the project, there's no doubt his experience with the Alien franchise would inspire the creation of his own franchise.

'Life' (2017)

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Sci-fi horror often dabbles in scientific curiosity going sideways. In Alien, Kane (John Hurt) investigates the wreckage, demanding they must go on, but his scientific curiosity results in him becoming the first victim as the face-hugger Xenomorph impregnates the embryo inside his chest. Likewise, Life sees the curiosity of the crew gleaming as they have found an alien life form nicknamed Calvin. However, their continued interactions soon turn deadly as Calvin unleashes on the crew.

Critics and fans are in agreement of Life's similarities to Alien, and while some may call it a rip-off, there are a lot of intriguing things Life does to remain unique. While the claustrophobic setting, ensemble cast of characters, and space-slasher concept is familiar, the alien Calvin is very different from the Xenomorph. First coming off as a cute and curious single celled organism, Calvin evolves, and becomes more threatening. While the similarities are clear, Life is able to take the Alien-formula in interesting directions.

'The Grey' (2011)

Liam Neeson in The Grey.
Image via Open Road Films

On the surface The Grey doesn't invoke Alien given it's not a sci-fi film, however its narrative has been confirmed by the director to be inspired by Scott's 1979 classic. The Grey follows a group of working class oil-men whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wasteland where they become hunted down by wolves. The film stars Liam Neeson as a sharpshooter hired to protect the oil facility from wolves, who after being stranded in the frigid wilderness kick-starts a long trek to survival with the wolf pack stalking their every move.

During an interview between director Joe Carnahan and Belifenet, Carnahan was asked if The Grey was inspired by Aliens, with Carnahan correcting to say that "No, but Ridley Scott's Alien did", continuing that "the nature of this band of people being pursued and hunted by this unseen threat." Like many horror films, rarely showing the monster is suspense 101, barely giving glimpses of the creatures as they hunt. The wolves in The Grey stalk at night, use the cover of the blistering winds to then pounce in horrific fashion.

'The Thing' (1982)

Kurt Russell holding a shotgun and a lantern in The Thing
Image via Universal

When thinking of sci-fi horror both Alien and The Thing are highly influential, both garnering a legacy of some of the best films of the genre. The Thing owes its existence to Alien for the cultural impact it made, allowing similar films to be greenlit. Indiewire explained how The Thing "languished for a few years until the success of Alien saw it pick up steam again", and with John Carpenter's breakout success with Halloween (1978) history soon followed.

That being said, The Thing has many similarities with Alien, most iconically by its isolated setting and its unseen threat. The Thing also follows an ensemble of blue collar workers forced into extraordinary threats as they come in contact with a mysterious alien that can assimilate its appearance to whatever life form. Distrust and paranoia swirls within the bottled atmosphere and a gorey series of alien attacks.

'The Tomorrow War' (2021)

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The Tomorrow War features a terrifying creatures design inspired by one of cinema's most iconic creatures. Conceptually designed by artist H.R. Giger the Xenomorph was an animalistic predator and survivor, and served as a starting point for the creature design of the White Spikes seen in The Tomorrow War. The film's mission is to travel to the future in a last ditch effort to stop the White Spikes from wiping out all life on Earth in an onslaught of pure hunger and predatory dominance.

Variety gained insight from White Spike creature designer Ken Barthelmey who stated that director Chris McKay "mentioned H.R. Giger’s Alien and Hellraiser as a reference point". It's clear that the Xenomorph was an inspiring start, another key element was McKay wanted the teeth of the White Spikes to be a "dental nightmare" and vicious tentacles and appendages that all call back to the iconic design of the Xenomorph.

'Prospect' (2018)

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Co-director of Prospect Chris Caldwell attributed the films gritty sci-fi setting to classics such as Alien. Caldwell sat down with Space.com where he explained "It's inspired by classic sci-fi films like Star Wars and Alien, that aren't in front of a green screen," continuing, "aesthetically, a lot of it is based on the classics". There is generally two aesthetic in sci-fi, the gritty and dystopian look of films like Alien or clean and idealized like you see in titles like Star Trek, while Caldwell confirms Prospect took notes from Alien's rough around the edges approach.

Prospect stars Sophie Thatcher as Cee, a young girl and daughter of a prospect miner who travels with her father (Jay Duplass) to a forest moon in search for rare gems. Among the poisonous atmosphere Cee and her father are heldup by highwayman Ezra, played by Pedro Pascal before starring as the titular bounty hunter in The Mandalorian. Navigating an uncharted frontier Cee must team up with Ezra as they encounter other unsavory characters in a weathered and working class setting inspired by the gritty sci-fi tales that came before it.

'Sputnik' (2020)

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Image via Sony PIctures

Sputnik director Egor Abramenko, who adapted the feature film from his own short film, spoke about the influence Alien had on him to IndieWire, stating "I saw Alien when I was a kid. I saw just parts of it. Obviously I was a kid, but sometimes it was on TV and I just saw snippets that terrified me," he continued, "I thought, someday, I want to do something like that." Abramenko also broke down the design influences of the alien, with traits of a Komodo dragon, and consulted a team of scientists and doctors to craft a plausible alien threat.

Sputnik follows Tatyana (Okasana Akinshina), a neurophysiologist who is tasked in monitoring a surviving cosmonaut (Pyotr Fyodorov) with a creature living inside him. Rather than a Xenomorph bursting from the chest of its victims, the revealed alien creature slowly, and gently, exits through the mouth of the cosmonaut, the alien symbiotically using the human body as a protective suit while healing the host. This of course echoes similar traits to the Human-Xenomorph interaction as these aliens require a host to survive or reproduce.

'Predator' (1987)

Predator with Malfunctioning Camo

Predator is the action packed sci-fi, pick'em off one by one tale, that shares many narrative similarities to Alien. Director John McTeirnan stated on the commentary track cataloged by Film School Rejects that "producer John Davis developed the script with the idea that it was a Rocky meets Alien". Surely the bulging muscles and bullet flying exploits of action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger inserted a bit more testosterone into the sexually violent Alien premise, but still with incredibly entertaining results.

Predator not only takes plot traits from Alien, but had its franchise eventually tied into the Alien universe, albeit in a canon adjacent universe through spinoff movies and comic book releases. Nevertheless, the two lead aliens, the Predator or Yautja, and the Xenomorph, share a cinematic universe. This was first confirmed in Predator 2 (1990), when a Xenomorph skull can be found on a trophy wall in the Yautja ship. The Predator franchise has shown great similarities with entries in the sci-fi horror genre fans know and love today that Alien inspired.

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