Fun Alien(s) Knockoffs available on BD List

[Kakihara]

These movies aren't classics like the first two Alien movies and most of them are flat-out bad but I've always had a blast with them despite their derivative and/or schlocky nature. I'll start with five...care to offer your picks?

Leviathan (1989)
Event Horizon (1997)
Shocking Dark (1989)
Pandorum (2009)
Galaxy of Terror (1981)

[Dailyan]

Prometheus

[El_Fez]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Prometheus

Originally Posted by Batman1980

How are films from the franchise knockoffs?

Also, Promethius and Alien Covenant are disqualified because the thread header clearly states "fun alien knockoffs".

[Batman1980]

Starship troopers

[AlexIlDottore]

Alien 4
Prometheus
Alien Covenant

[prkchopexpress]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Starship troopers

starship troopers isn't a knock off. that's like saying taxi with jimmy fallon is a taxi driver knock off because they both have taxis.

as has already been mentioned...

contamination. I can't think of a more fun alien knockoff and it has one of the most underrated goblin scores.

[Batman1980]

How are films from the franchise knockoffs?

[AlexIlDottore]

I just went with the content of the OP's post

Originally Posted by Kakihara

These movies aren't classics like the first two Alien movies and most of them are flat-out bad but I've always had a blast with them despite their derivative and/or schlocky nature. I'll start with five...care to offer your picks?

[ramboraph]

I love Leviathan from 1989. It's a great, underrated creature feature with an excellent cast, a wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith, and fun FX by Stan Winston & his team.

I don't get how Event Horizon is an 'Alien' knock-off. It's more of a Haunted House Movie (only if the house was a space ship) and has nothing to do with aliens or anything. Hellraiser has more in common with Event Horizon than Alien.

These are stretches but i could kinda put flicks like Species and The Relic on the list.

I'd put Deep Star Six on the list but that doesn't have a Blu-Ray yet. Kind of surprised that it doesn't. At the same time, it makes me chuckle that Leviathan is the only 1989 'underwater movie' out on Blu-Ray while the 7 or so others (including The Abyss as well as Deep Star Six) are not since Leviathan is my favorite of the bunch.

Shocking Dark (aka Terminator 2...which has nothing to do with terminators and was released before the real Terminator 2) which is an absolute rip-off of Aliens is getting a Blu-Ray.

[Wildcat2000]

I guess I should have stated that I do not agree that Resurrection and Covenant suck. Haven’t seen Prometheus.

[DenOfEarth]

Originally Posted by ramboraph

I love Leviathan from 1989. It's a great, underrated creature feature with an excellent cast, a wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith, and fun FX by Stan Winston & his team.

I don't get how Event Horizon is an 'Alien' knock-off. It's more of a Haunted House Movie (only if the house was a space ship) and has nothing to do with aliens or anything. Hellraiser has more in common with Event Horizon than Alien.

These are stretches but i could kinda put flicks like Species and The Relic on the list.

I'd put Deep Star Six on the list but that doesn't have a Blu-Ray yet. Kind of surprised that it doesn't. At the same time, it makes me chuckle that Leviathan is the only 1989 'underwater movie' out on Blu-Ray while the 7 or so others (including The Abyss as well as Deep Star Six) are not since Leviathan is my favorite of the bunch.

Shocking Dark (aka Terminator 2...which has nothing to do with terminators and was released before the real Terminator 2) which is an absolute rip-off of Aliens is getting a Blu-Ray.

I love Leviathan too since i saw it in theaters as a kid! great fun and Weller had a hell of a time in it.

Vestron might do DeepStar Six.

Event Horizon is more like Lovecraft than alien.

[Kakihara]

I'll add David DeCoteau's Creepozoids. I just saw 88 Films release of it and thought it was a blast. I really hope to see a release of Creature soon.

[Wildcat2000]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

How are films from the franchise knockoffs?

They’re obviously sarcastic recommendations...to say those parts suck.

[FilmFreakosaurus]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

How are films from the franchise knockoffs?

Outside of Alien and Aliens, the rest with the Alien name attached were so much shittier that they're basically knockoffs.

[darkness2918]

Would these count?

Contamination
Alien 2: On Earth

[AKORIS]

[AKORIS]

and maybe this one too....

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

This was my first thought when I saw the thread title.

Here's my movie content review of Forbidden World that I wrote a few years back, and compared it overtly to Alien...


Forbidden World, another glorious Roger Corman production, not only rips off the plot of Alien, but it also rips off footage from a previous Corman release, Battle Beyond the Stars. The fact that this movie is not only watchable, but actually quite fun, is a testament to the abilities of the low-budget film crew, all of whom were quite enthusiastic about the project.

Jesse Vint, who is best known for a myriad of supporting roles during the late 1970s and early 1980s, plays an intergalactic federal marshal who is assigned to investigate problems at a genetics laboratory on an isolated planet. It tuns out that the scientists' plans to engineer a life form capable of feeding the population has spiraled out of control, resulting in a massive mutant creature that turns humans into gross indistinct masses of protein for its own food source.

This plot is basically just an excuse for copious amounts of gore and gratuitous nudity, but the end result is nonetheless entertaining. I love that the two female scientists, played by June Chadwick and Dawn Dunlap, walk around the laboratory in clear stripper high heels and have a propensity to have long serious conversations while washing each other's hair in the shower.

The mutant looks like a knockoff Walmart version of the creature in Alien, but effective camerawork and quick editing make it halfway fearsome during the confrontation scenes.

Years have passed since the last time that I saw Forbidden World, but I quite enjoyed revisiting it last night. It's another example of how even the bad sci-fi movies of the 1980s were still good simply because they were so...so 1980s. If you're a 1980s kid like me, in fact, then you'll remember June Chadwick from her role in the original V miniseries as the blonde alien who is Diana's second-in-command.

[Kakihara]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This was my first thought when I saw the thread title.

Here's my movie content review of Forbidden World that I wrote a few years back, and compared it overtly to Alien...


Forbidden World, another glorious Roger Corman production, not only rips off the plot of Alien, but it also rips off footage from a previous Corman release, Battle Beyond the Stars. The fact that this movie is not only watchable, but actually quite fun, is a testament to the abilities of the low-budget film crew, all of whom were quite enthusiastic about the project.

Jesse Vint, who is best known for a myriad of supporting roles during the late 1970s and early 1980s, plays an intergalactic federal marshal who is assigned to investigate problems at a genetics laboratory on an isolated planet. It tuns out that the scientists' plans to engineer a life form capable of feeding the population has spiraled out of control, resulting in a massive mutant creature that turns humans into gross indistinct masses of protein for its own food source.

This plot is basically just an excuse for copious amounts of gore and gratuitous nudity, but the end result is nonetheless entertaining. I love that the two female scientists, played by June Chadwick and Dawn Dunlap, walk around the laboratory in clear stripper high heels and have a propensity to have long serious conversations while washing each other's hair in the shower.

The mutant looks like a knockoff Walmart version of the creature in Alien, but effective camerawork and quick editing make it halfway fearsome during the confrontation scenes.

Years have passed since the last time that I saw Forbidden World, but I quite enjoyed revisiting it last night. It's another example of how even the bad sci-fi movies of the 1980s were still good simply because they were so...so 1980s. If you're a 1980s kid like me, in fact, then you'll remember June Chadwick from her role in the original V miniseries as the blonde alien who is Diana's second-in-command.

It was a fun movie, Owl. I prefer Galaxy of Terror though. What did you think about that one?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Kakihara

It was a fun movie, Owl. I prefer Galaxy of Terror though. What did you think about that one?

I prefer Forbidden World by a slim margin, but Galaxy of Terror also rocks.

Here is my old review of the film...

Galaxy of Terror, another glorious Roger Corman production that stretches a low-budget to accommodate plenty of crudely innovative special effects, along with helpings of gore and nudity, is another Alien ripoff that nonetheless stands on its own due to a cooly enigmatic storyline. When a rescue ship touches down on a remote planet, the crew discover an alien pyramid and, upon entering it, are all confronted by their innermost fears.

This movie used to air on HBO during my childhood, and one particular scene, where a giant maggot-like creature attacks and rapes a female crew member, was the main topic of day-after discussion among all who watched it.

A young James Cameron helmed the production design for Galaxy of Terror, and the look of this film is uncannily similar to the look of the outdoor scenes in Aliens, which he directed years later. Robert Englund, whom we all recognize as Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street, has a prominent role in the film. Ray Walston, who starred as the title character of the My Favorite Martian television show and as a teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, is great as another one of the unfortunate crew members. Erin Moran, whom we all recognize as Joanie from Joanie Loves Chachi television show, is quite good as one of the female crew members, as is the beautiful Taaffe O'Connell, who should probably get bonus points for keeping a straight face during the filming of her scene with the giant maggot. Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects, Pit Stop, Spider Baby) has a mostly non-dialogue role, but still manages a good screen presence. My favorite cast member in this picture, however, is Grace Zabriskie (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, The Grudge) as an uncannily sexy older female crew member.