00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be counting down our picks for the most frightening times
00:10where aliens either invaded Earth or civilians were alerted to their presence.
00:22Number 10. Travis Walton's Abduction, Fire in the Sky.
00:43It's one of the most harrowing and, depending upon your point of view regarding extraterrestrial life,
00:48most realistic scenes of first contact ever committed to the screen.
00:52The alleged abduction of American log worker Travis Walton was dramatized in 1993's Fire in the Sky,
00:58and it pulls no punches with regards to invasive experimentation committed against the abductee's will.
01:21Scenes of a helpless Walton are juxtaposed against his alien captors, poking and prodding their subject,
01:27while also covering Walton in a disgusting, gelatinous goo.
01:30It's nightmare fuel to be sure, and an example of the darkest imaginings of what might happen to an alien
01:35abductee
01:36who happens to cross their captives.
01:49Number 9. The Spore Lands, The Blob.
02:08The OG Blob from 1958 did a great job at codifying many of the alien invasion tropes from that decade's
02:13successful sci-fi period.
02:15Fast forward 30 years, however, and fans had a new and significantly more extreme example of this space spore on
02:21their hands.
02:28The Blob remake from 1988 not only benefited from a more relaxed contemporary attitude towards horror,
02:34but also of that decade's trailblazing special effects work.
02:38The results were a visceral and gloopy mess, where the Blob's acidic properties were set on screen for all to
02:44see,
02:44an invasion where the body count rose almost immediately.
02:59Number 8. Birthday Party Video, Signs.
03:19The filmography of M. Night Shyamalan feels like there's something for everyone.
03:23Gems that even detractors of the man's undeniably unique work gravitate toward as one of their favorites.
03:27Signs was released only a few years removed from Shyamalan's breakout success, The Sixth Sense,
03:33and featured one of the director's most striking visual moments,
03:35a jump scare for the ages that caught many audience members unaware back when Signs was released in 2002.
03:57The scene occurs as video footage from a Brazilian birthday party is being broadcast on the news.
04:02Then, out of nowhere, an extraterrestrial appears in view of the camera before staring down the lens.
04:07It's a gritty, out-of-focus nightmare that still haunts us today.
04:22Number 7. Not a Normal Pregnancy, Village of the Damned.
04:33This is another horror classic where both the original and the modern-day remake did a great job at underlining
04:38its mysterious premise.
04:40An unexplained phenomenon takes place within the town of Midwitch,
04:43an event of mass unconsciousness which leaves ten women of the town pregnant.
04:47These children grow up with extraordinary powers, however,
04:50and it isn't long before Midwitch is held prisoner by the children's hive mind, Will.
04:54You all right?
05:14The fear here can be seen as two-fold,
05:16since the original Village of the Damned utilized anti-communist themes,
05:20while also presenting how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain truths about their children.
05:25Meanwhile, John Carpenter's remake from 1995 added an anti-authoritarian
05:29and socio-economic themes for a satisfying update.
05:46Number 6. Attack on Jupiter's Claim, Nope.
05:50How's everyone feeling today?
05:54All right!
05:56It's quite a doozy today.
05:57Consider this scene a cautionary tale against trying to control elements that exist beyond your power.
06:02Steven Yeun's character of Ricky Jupe Park in No!
06:05admittedly possesses a tragic backstory as a former child star,
06:08who's attempting to capitalize upon a UFO creature that's given the, well, odd moniker of Jean Jacket.
06:16Uh, uh, stay in your seats.
06:19This is new.
06:20Uh, they're early.
06:22They're giving us a real show today.
06:25That they are.
06:26They're giving us a real show today.
06:28They're ready, we're ready.
06:29There's nothing lighthearted about what happens to Jupe and his family, however,
06:33since a planned appearance at the actor's theme park, Jupiter's Claim, goes fatally awry.
06:37Nobody escapes from Jean Jacket as the attack on the park results in the creature consuming everything in his path.
06:43Um.
06:56Number five, White House down, Independence Day.
07:01Time's up.
07:12it's one of the most striking images from the 90s multiplex
07:15a sci-fi blockbuster that captured the imaginations of millions of moviegoers
07:19thanks to this all-time classic scene
07:21a moment where time runs out for the united states of america
07:24and alien invaders decide to strike a symbol that stood for decades
07:38the white house is blown to smithereens but it's not only washington dc that's left to recover from
07:43the rubble cities across the country are targeted by the aliens flying saucers all with similarly
07:48disastrous consequences independence day may have a happy ending but the cost to get there will
07:53probably never be forgotten
08:02welcome to earth number four tripods emerge war of the worlds
08:29this 2005 remake of hg wells classic alien invasion story does admittedly feel very blockbuster-y
08:35thanks to the involvement of both steven spielberg and tom cruise yet spielberg's film also never
08:40forgets to include moments that underline not only mankind's humanity in the face of peril
08:45but also some surprisingly horrific scenes of interplanetary conflict and collateral damage
08:49the instance where cruz's character discovers that the aliens are harvesting humans is particularly
08:54effective as is that climatically creepy moment where the alien tripods first emerge on earth
09:07it's a nicely nostalgic way to connect the paranoia of well's original story with spielberg's inclusive
09:13style of storytelling
09:14number three they're coming invasion of the body snatchers
09:43the 1970s were a great time for director philip kaufman and screenwriter w.d richard to update the
09:48cold war era themes from 1956's original invasion of the body snatchers that film's undeniably creepy
09:54premise received a hefty dose of 70s paranoia with kaufman and richter's vision also upping the ante
10:00in terms of gross special effects
10:12this idea that one's neighbors family and friends aren't what they seem
10:17means that everyone's a suspect and nobody is safe from alien assimilation
10:21that ending scream from donald sutherland also ties in nicely to how both the original body snatchers
10:26and even director abel ferrera's remake from 1993 chose to go seriously dark with their respective endings
10:32the name of the world's
10:38number two lady liberty's head cloverfield
10:56screenwriter drew goddard director matt reeves and producer jj abrams seemed to know they had struck a
11:01nerve with the promotional imagery associated with their 2008 film cloverfield the image of a
11:07headless lady liberty accompanied one sheets and advertising for the film while the actual
11:11film itself contained a now famous scene where the statue's severed cranium is discarded on new
11:15york city streets it's a powerful image of earth's helplessness in the face of an alien invasion
11:30as survivors are forced to flee found footage style as a giant monster and smaller even more
11:36dangerous parasites attack this shock and awe would continue for this franchise as 10 cloverfield lane
11:41from 2016 revealed yet another side of the invasion
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12:20terrible influence number one barry's abduction close encounters of the third kind this means something
12:31this is important it's interesting to see how different people interpret the ending of steven
12:37spielberg's close encounters of the third kind for some roy neary's decision to travel with aliens
12:42symbolizes humanity's connection with the unknown while others feel that neary's decision to abandon his
12:47family is self-serving and cruel
13:05what many agree upon however is how scary it must have been for roy's wife jillian to know that her
13:10young son barry was taken by aliens granted the boy is seen again at the film's climax but that now
13:15iconic scene where barry leaves through the neary's doggy door is made even scarier when one discovers
13:20that the actor carrie guffy wasn't even four years old during production
13:42does the idea of alien abduction thrill you or terrify you let us know in the comments
