the best alien invasion movie
 

The first two Invasion of the Body Snatchers are great. Still need to see the third version, by Ferrara. Independence Day is fun, as well.

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

Independence Day takes the giant ship thing and turns it up to 11.
Instead of just having flying saucers, Emmerich had ships that were about 15 miles wide that were part of an even larger mothership and destroyed entire cities like they were nothing. At the time I don't think we'd seen anything like it before.
Independence Day basically set a standard for the action based invasion movie.
Before Emmerich came along, I think the largest scale we'd seen was maybe War Of The Worlds in 1953... and even then it was mainly sets and stages with small scale battles here and there.

Agree with Wyldesyde though on Snatchers. Sometimes the best ones are the low-key low budget movies.
I've always preferred the Kaufman Body Snatchers movie to all the others.
Carpenter's movies They Live and The Thing still stand out too.

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

Does District 9 count?

The best? "The Andromeda Strain", hands down.

" Fire in the Sky" is pretty decent also. But wouldn't really call it an invasion film. More of a capture.

"Independence Day" had some great visuals for sure. Just couldn't get past some of the hokiest dialogue ever put to film.

Attack the Block is a fresh take on the alien-invasion trope, setting the invasion in a low income neighborhood where there are already messed up power dynamics and mistrust.

Honeymoon couches alien invasion in a psychosexual-thriller type mold. Very chilling film.

How could I forget They Live and The Thing? Both good films yes

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

The MCU and DC movies have taken over this genre of late. If aliens from other planets or dimensions are invading Earth, groups of super-powered beings will save us.

Haven't updated it in a while, but I have a whole thread devoted to the "Body Snatcher" subset of Alien Invasion flicks. I prefer those to battles with guns and spaceships. More insidious and psychological.

Clicky HERE.

Aliens is my no. 1 desert island choice, but as far as aliens invading Earth goes, I guess the best I've seen is the 78 Body Snatchers, unless you want to count Close Encounters as an "invasion" when it's really more of a preparation for a visit.


Oh, what abouy Star Trek: First Contact?

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

ID4 really was a special moment in time

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

My fav is Invasion of the body snatchers (1978)




and maybe They Live not the greatest movie but pretty cool

If only we had someone to --- I CAN FLY IT, SIR!! --- fly it.


That's the movie that turned me off of Will Smith.

To the topic, I have to agree on The Thing and Alien/Aliens. Mars Attacks! is great fun too, for different reasons.

I'm not gonna say it's the best but I'm gonna put in a plug for...


I really liked this movie, I felt it had a lot going on and some really interesting things to say before a lot of other movies said them.
Plust, f*cking triffids!

Oooh!
Also I really liked this one:

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

The War of the Worlds (1953)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell (1968)

It's a spoiler to know there are aliens in this film, so be mindful of clicking the spoilered text.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Alien (1979)
The Thing (1982)
They Live (1988)
The Abyss (1989)
Men in Black (1997)
Signs (2002)
Under the Skin (2014)
Arrival (2016)

Re: the best alien invasion movie
 

'Arrival' easily.