If there’s one thing we know about Hollywood, it’s that if a storyline works, several concept rip-offs will be made. Alien: Romulus is opening this weekend, 45 years after the original, and if you slept on getting your tickets early and missed a good seat, we say stay home and watch one of these great Alien rip-offs until one opens up.
The infamous tagline for Alien is “In space, no one can hear you scream,” but why stop at space? Clever filmmakers took the monster-on-a-rig concept down to the ocean floors and even onto oceanic oil rigs. The only consistent thing is that a group of men and women must be aboard a secluded vessel where they release a monster that wreaks havoc on the crew. We didn’t include Deep Blue Sea even though it follows the formula because we wanted to keep the monsters mythological.
A lot of the films below are available for streaming, so be sure to check out JustWatch to see where. The Intruder Within is actually available on YouTube.
Life (2017)
Life tells the story of the six-member crew of the International Space Station that is on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As the crew begins to conduct research, their methods end up having unintended consequences and the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected.
Leviathan (1989)
On the dark and forbidding ocean floor, the crew of a deep-sea mission rig discovers a sunken freighter that harbors a deadly secret: a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong. With a storm raging on the surface and no hope of rescue, the captain and his team are propelled into a spine-tingling battle for survival against the ultimate foe – a hideous monster that cannot die…and lives to kill!
Creature (1985)
An expedition to Titan uncovers an alien being, that goes on a rampage.
DeepStar Six (1989)
A team of navy personnel stationed at a temporary base at the bottom of the ocean and tasked with setting up nuclear missiles discovers a huge underwater cavern which houses a giant prehistoric creature.
Star Crystal (1986)
Set in 2035, as missions from Earth are being sent to explore Mars. After two groups of astronauts are mysteriously killed following the discovery of strange artifacts on the martian surface, the crew of the SC-37 go in to try and find out what happened. They soon learn what became of their predecessors when a bloodthirsty space monster begins lunching on members of the crew. Will any of them make it back to Earth alive?
The Intruder Within (1981)
Drillers on an oil rig near Antarctica discover that they have accidentally brought up several prehistoric eggs. One egg hatches and becomes an unstoppable creature. Chad Everett and Jennifer Warren risk their lives to stop it.
Deep Rising (1998)
A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who had already invaded the ship.
Underwater (2020)
A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.