With the release of Alien: Romulus, the Alien franchise is back in the spotlight. It also looks like we’ve got a lot more to look forward to as well, with the upcoming Alien: Rogue Incursion video game and the Alien: Earth TV series, which finished shooting in July. But fans (like myself) are ravenous for more sci-fi madness right now.
Luckily, there are some great movies out there that Alien fans will love, from an alien invasion film to a grim and gritty outer space saga, and even a certain film from a franchise that’s so closely associated with Alien that they (sometimes) inhabit a shared cinematic universe. If you love Alien: Romulus, check out these three movies currently available online.
Prey (2022)
Alien: Romulus decided to go back to basics and return to the story and style of the original Alien movies, with it taking place between the first two movies. It also did a great job at returning to the franchise’s horror and suspense roots. If you loved the way Romulus was a return to form, you’ll also love Prey.
The Alien and Predator franchises go together perfectly. So perfectly that they’ve even created their own franchise, Alien vs. Predator. So, Alien fans will definitely love Prey. Set in the year 1719, the movie follows a young Comanche girl who finds herself stalked through the woods by a Predator.
Unlike the more recent Predator movies, which can only be described as something between a trainwreck and a crapfest, Prey gave audiences a fantastic cat-and-mouse chase. It brought back a good dose of fear, suspense, and action to the series and felt like a true successor to the original movie.
Watch Prey on Hulu.
Sunshine (2007)
In the year 2057, the sun is dying and the Earth is getting colder. Soon, it will be uninhabitable. Humanity’s last attempt at salvation is sending a group of astronauts to the sun. Their mission is to launch a nuclear bomb into the star, hopefully reigniting it.
Directed by Danny Boyle, Sunshine definitely has an Alien vibe to it. Despite the story being quite different, the look and feel of the movie is so similar that you’d think Sunshine is in the same cinematic universe as the iconic xenomorph. That’s no coincidence either. When speaking to Empire, Boyle himself said that 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, and Solaris were three massive inspirations for his film.
Another really unique aspect of Sunshine is that the movie completely changes halfway through. I won’t give any spoilers because the mystery is half the fun, but let’s just say something shocking happens and Sunshine starts to feel less like a typical dystopian sci-fi flick and more like a horror movie. It’s brilliant and unexpected, giving Sunshine a unique edge over other sci-fi films.
Rent Sunshine on Prime Video.
No One Will Save You (2023)
If you’re watching Alien, it’s probably because you love a good alien movie. And sadly, we don’t get many solid alien films. But one recent alien movie that was surprisingly good is Hulu’s No One Will Save You. It centers around a young womanwho is home alone during the start of a full-blown global alien invasion. As the title implies, when she escapes her house looking for help, she discovers the rest of her town (and likely the world) has already been attacked.
No One Will Save You also has a really great twist ending that’s smart, meta, witty, and totally unexpected for an alien invasion film. By the end, you’re not sure if you’re scared or happy, which is a brilliant and startling way to conclude a blood-pumping invasion film. The movie takes a pretty different approach from Alien, going for the classic “little gray men” and abductor-beam flying saucers style of extraterrestrials, but it’s still got a solid story that will keep you hooked until the end.
Watch No One Will Save You on Hulu.
