Summary

• Ridley Scott's Alien has had a major influence on the sci-fi and space horror genres, spawning numerous rip-offs with similar premises and visuals.
• While some movies have been able to pay tribute to Alien in a respectable manner, many American rip-offs have fallen into the B-movie category with derivative characters and campy visuals.
• Some notable Alien rip-offs include Inseminoid, Alien from the Deep, Dead Space, Pandorum, Critters 4, Leviathan, Apollo 18, Star Crystal, The Rift, and Forbidden World. These movies varied in quality, with some delivering intriguing experiences while others fell flat.

Ridley Scott’s Alien has been so influential in the sci-fi genre — and the space horror genre in particular — that it has naturally spawned numerous rip-offs. From the general premise of astronauts being hunted down by parasitic alien lifeforms aboard a spacecraft to specific visual nods like the chest-busting Xenomorph, Alien has provided numerous tropes for subsequent sci-fi movies to draw upon. Even though the 1979 classic can be compared to pre-existing sci-fi and horror ventures like 1951’s The Thing From Another World, Scott’s deft direction and the mature performances of the terrific cast perfectly, and originally, complemented the movie’s groundbreaking special effects and Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic score.

Many movies have walked in Alien’s footsteps, but none have been able to deliver a timeless heroine like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Some movies, like the 1987 horror anime Lily C.A.T., have still managed to pay tribute to Alien in an innovative and respectable manner. Life is another example that used Alien’s premise for a decent, if not too memorable experience. Meanwhile, many other American rip-offs of Alien have managed to walk down the B-movie route with derivative characters, unintentionally hilarious dialogue, and campy visuals. These movies might serve as good guilty pleasures, but ultimately, they just come off as terrible attempts at recreating Alien.

10 Inseminoid (1981)

Released as Horror Planet in the U.S., this British sci-fi horror film sums up its plot with the promo line “A far from human birth." The infamously gruesome chestburster scene from Alien is replicated in Inseminoid but as an awkward case of insemination instead. The plot starts with a team of scientists and archeologists exploring an ancient civilization. But when one of the women on the team crosses paths with an ancient alien, not only does she get impregnated, but she also gets possessed to the point of becoming a cannibalistic predator herself. With so much going on, the cast’s hammy acting offered little respite for Inseminoid.

9 Alien From The Deep (1989)

Despite it definitely being an Alien rip-off, the 1989 Filipino-Italian production Alien from the Deep also seems to borrow a page from The Abyss and Godzilla. Two Greenpeace volunteers are at the center of the story as they discover constant radioactive pollution has created a terrifying alien at the bottom of the sea. Hunting it down in the marine depths forms the rest of the premise. The antagonistic alien named Big Claw is portrayed using an animatronic puppet that could’ve made Alien from the Deep a hilariously campy watch. But what makes it a dull and overbearing film is that it takes itself too seriously with its environmentalist themes.

8 Dead Space (1991)

The original Alien’s spaceship Nostromo gives way for the far-less fascinating Saturn space station in Dead Space, a 1991 sci-fi thriller made in three weeks. With a mutation experiment gone wrong aboard the space vessel, Saturn’s crew of scientists along with a military commander and his robot assistant take it upon themselves to annihilate the virus threat. Before the actual action commences — involving stunt doubles in monster suits — the movie dabbles in dim-lit operational theater sequences (sadly no chest-bursting aliens this time) and randomly placed sex scenes. The only bonus is catching a glimpse of a young Bryan Cranston, who plays one of the scientists on board.

7 Pandorum (2009)

A relatively newer Alien rip-off, Pandorum boasted mainstream stars like Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster and was made at a budget of $30 million. And it can be argued that Pandorum did try to set itself apart from Alien and similar works of space survival horror. The movie is set in a dystopian future when the last remaining humans are placed in cryogenic sleep on a spaceship set out for another planet. But in the middle of their journey, two engers are woken up only to encounter cannibalistic humanoids causing terror in their spacecraft. Psychological elements bloat the story further for a viewing experience that’s intriguing but not that rewarding.

6 Critters 4 (1992)

No matter what the critics would say, Critters remains a cult favorite for fans of 1980s horror comedies. But when Critters ed the horror franchises that went to outer space, the movie series had overstayed its welcome. A darkly comic take on Alien’s general storyline, Critters 4 begins with a space capsule carrying some of the titular creatures’ cryogenically frozen eggs. As this capsule is found by an unsuspecting space station in the future, the alien Krites plan to attack and eat up the crew. While it lacks the self-aware humor of the other Critters movies, the fourth installment is not scary either, leading to a tiresome and monotonous watch.

5 Leviathan (1989)

Released around the same time as underwater sci-fi thrillers like The Abyss and DeepStar Six, Leviathan couldn’t capitalize on its Alien-inspired storyline. After an underwater geological facility starts being hunted down by a mutant creature, the movie takes a fairly predictable route. Considering that many '80s movies have experimented with the thrills of Alien and The Thing even in a marine environment, Leviathan had nothing new to offer. Only the creature designs by Terminator and Jurassic Park’s Oscar-winning special effects artist Stan Winston offer a true sense of terror. But other than these technical aspects, Leviathan has little to still be relevant among modern audiences.

4 Apollo 18 (2011)

The found-footage horror genre reached the point of saturation following the success of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. A prime case in point is Apollo 18, which merges the tropes of these two modern horrors with the space survival elements established by Alien. An alternate take on the canceled Apollo 18 mission to the Moon, the movie imagines how the trip actually took place with the ill-fated astronauts encountering extraterrestrial life on the lunar surface. Fans of Alien will be disappointed with the original’s atmospheric tension being replaced by formulaic jump scares. Not even Apollo 18’s four alternate endings could save it from being panned by critics.

3 Star Crystal (1986)

In the year 2035, humanity ventures out to Mars to explore new life forms. All seems to go well until bloodthirsty alien creatures start killing the astronauts one by one. This is the best way to describe the unabashedly generic concept behind Star Crystal. Released in the same year as Aliens, this rip-off of the original Alien was adorned with an impractical spacecraft design — the astronauts have to literally crawl across compartments in spacesuits — plus a caricature of a Martian for a villain and over-the-top performances from the terrified space crew. The movie is filled with such errors that the crew’s computer misspells words most of the time.

2 The Rift (1990)

The Xenomorphs might pose a threat in outer space, but according to The Rift, the greatest threat underwater can be toxic, genetically engineered weeds. Focusing on this unexpected alien enemy, The Rift crafts a convoluted plot while wasting the talent of R. Lee Ermey. The man who broke out with his performance in Full Metal Jacket yet again played an authoritarian figure in a submarine piloted to recover another missing vessel. But as his crew gets entangled in the weeds, they must unite together to destroy these mutated creatures. The end product is a slightly entertaining but entirely laughable attempt at redoing Alien.

1 Forbidden World (1982)

Produced by low-budget cinema legend Roger Corman, Forbidden World is set in an outer space research facility. In this one, instead of any extraterrestrial antagonist, the creature massacring the space crew is a result of their own doing. As the humans devise a genetic experiment to end world hunger, they end up merging DNA to create an insect-like creature called Subject 20 that harbors a relentless lust for blood. Regardless of intention, there are some decent nods to Alien such as Subject 20’s coming out of its cocoon being reminiscent of the egg-hatching scene around Alien’s “face-hugger." But these aren’t enough for a chaotic deep space adventure like Forbidden World.