Xenomorphs, The Death Angels, and Whitespikes: 10 of the most terrifying space monsters in movie history

In the coming days, we will face a real invasion of alien monsters. They have already landed in the heart of Hollywood and is about to fill TV screens. You’ve probably guessed that we’re talking about the long-awaited premiere of the series «Alien: Earth». Critics have already called the new show as the best project in the franchise, second only to fantastic masterpieces Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Xenomorphs — are really cool, but along with them, it’s time to remember the 10 most terrifying space monsters in movie history. We hope that the creatures that may be found on one of the potentially habitable planets will not resemble any of them.

Xenomorph — Alien

Year of release: 1979
Director: Ridley Scott
IMDb rating: 8.5

It is not known whether xenomorphs — arose naturally or were the result of experiments. Either way, their tough exoskeleton covered body, long tail with a spear-like spike at the end, and ability to mimic made them the perfect space monsters that tap into something unsettling in our collective subconscious and sparked a whole slew of imitations in fantastic horror stories.

The Swiss surrealist artist and master of biomechanical horror Hans Giger incorporated many disgusting features into the monsters’ appearance. They have no eyes, an abnormally long head, and an incredible amount of saliva. But the most memorable feature is the inner jaw, which breaks out of the large mouth during an attack and pierces the victim.

No less terrifying is the intermediate form of xenomorph development — facehugger. It is a fast parasitic creature with eight long limbs and a muscular tail. When it senses a potential host nearby, it grabs its head with its spider legs, wraps its tail tightly around the neck and strangles it. Then it inserts an embryo into the poor thing’s throat and waits until the alien is fully developed in its abdominal cavity.

Arachnids — Starship Troopers

Year of release: 1997
Director: Paul Verhoeven
IMDb rating: 7.3

Perhaps the arachnids or beetles from Paul Vergovan’s satirical epic did not attack Earth. Personally, I am more impressed by the version that the militaristic government of the Federation itself fabricated the shelling to start a «small victorious war» and strengthen its power. But one way or another, the enemies of humanity in Starship Troopers are some of the most dangerous monsters we’ve ever seen on screen.

When an avalanche of jeep-sized arachnids with razor-sharp jaws rushes across the rocky surface of their planet to tear apart the troopers armed only with small arms, you can’t envy the heroes. Fast, strong, and shrouded in strong chitinous armor, the monsters are the personification of the worst of human nightmares.

In addition, they have a variety of «units» in their army: jumpers attack from the air, kamikazes explode like grenades, «scorpions» attack with energy beams, and brain beetles telepathically control the offensive and can hypnotize people. If you combine quality and quantity, arachnids are quite capable of displacing xenomorphs on the throne of the main monsters of the Galaxy.

Mimics — Edge of Tomorrow

Year of release: 2014
Director: Doug Liman
IMDb rating: 7.9

In the sci-fi action movie «Edge of Tomorrow», Earth is attacked by a race of hostile aliens called the Mimics. They are extremely fast creatures with numerous matsakas and bioluminescence that makes them look like the illegitimate children of Venom and the robot guard from «The Matrix».

Similar to arachnids, the Mimics from each hive are part of a single collective mind, and are divided into several castes: millions of ordinary warriors, dozens of Alpha commanders, and a single Omega, which is the colony’s brain. But the combined defense forces of the planet are not losing the war because there are so many mimics.

The aliens have a unique trick up their sleeve: the death of any Alpha triggers a chronokinetic reaction that turns back time by a day. At the same time, the aliens retain memories, which means they know about all the plans of humans in advance. It’s almost impossible to win in such a situation, but Tom Cruise’s hero, for whom there are no such things as unfulfilled missions, enters the fray.

The Shapeshifting Alien — The Thing

Year of release: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
IMDb rating: 8.2

«The best alien horror» — proclaims the original slogan of the movie «The Thing». And this is no exaggeration, because if the starship in which the iconic space monster was found had crashed not in the desert Antarctic but among the skyscrapers of New York, humanity would almost certainly have been doomed.

In fact, the Creature — is a perfect imitation organism that can take on any appearance and tries to absorb and assimilate every human or animal around it. Once it gets to the research station, it begins to assimilate the crew one by one, replacing people with their grotesque likenesses.

The true form of the Creature is unknown, it is constantly mutating. At one moment, it’s a head with a tangle of spider legs, and at another moment, it’s a copy of your old friend, indistinguishable from the original. The fear that «Something» spreads is not only the fear of death, but also paranoia from not knowing whom to trust. After all, anyone can be a Being.

Pod People — Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Year of release: 1978
Director: Philip Kaufman
IMDb rating: 7.4

The alien parasitic race from the movie «Invasion of the Body Snatchers» assimilates the physical features, memories, and personalities of sleeping humans and replaces them with emotionless duplicates. «Body snatchers» cannot or perhaps do not want to imitate other life forms. But they do have a significant advantage over the Creature: they can instantly recognize another human pod, which allows them to coordinate their efforts and leads to the complete takeover of San Francisco in just two days.

According to the story, the spores of nomadic aliens drifted in space for thousands of years until they fell to earth. Here they germinated, forming small pink flowers. Once near a sleeping person, the insidious plants entwine themselves with thin sprouts and form a pod in which a copy of the victim ripens.

Interestingly, science is skeptical about this kind of panspermia. For exampleresearchpublished in the International Journal of Astrobiology, tobacco, alfalfa, and watercress seeds were subjected to extreme accelerations and impacts that were intended to simulate the conditions of arrival on another planet. Not a single seed remained intact and able to germinate even at the lowest speeds.

Large-scale aggressor (Clover) — Cloverfield

Year of release: 2006
Original title: Cloverfield
Director: James Gunn
IMDb rating: 6.5

The origins of the giant monster that suddenly attacks New York City in «Monster» are controversial and shrouded in fog. Some say that Clover was somehow born at the bottom of the ocean, where he slept for centuries and was awakened by deep-sea bathyscaphes. But director Matt Reeves confirmedThe story is about a lost alien looking for his mother. And the footage of the meteor falling into the ocean is actually the beginning of Clover’s stay on Earth.

The one-hundred-meter-long Kaiju weighs five thousand tons and has four legs 12 meters long, which is roughly the size of a city bus. Between them are two long external esophagi. They end with sharp teeth and are designed to eat «small» food, such as people and horses — several dozen of these animals were eaten by the monster in Central Park.

Hundreds of dog-sized parasites live on Clover’s bulletproof skin. They are almost more frightening than their host and have ten limbs: six articulated spider legs and two pairs of sharp claws — front and back. It is frightening to see them climbing walls and attacking people in flocks. But the worst part is the parasite’s poisonous bite. Over time, its victim begins to bleed from the eyes, the stomach swells up and the abdominal cavity explodes outward.

The Death Angels — A Quiet Place

Year of release: 2018
Director: John Krasinski
IMDb rating: 7.5

In the sci-fi horror movie «A Quiet Place», the Earth has been overrun by the Death Angels — a hostile species of extraterrestrial monsters that have wiped out most of humanity. Since the aliens have no eyes, they rely on incredibly sensitive hearing, chitinous armor, and the ability to reach racecar speeds — over 300 miles per hour.

The terrifying appearance of the Death Angels is complemented by sharp teeth and claws that can cut through steel like paper. But their most repulsive feature is their front legs, which are longer than their hind legs, making them move like bizarre alien gorillas.

Whitespikes — The Tomorrow War

Year of release: 2021
Original title: The Tomorrow War
Director: Chris McKay
IMDb rating: 6.6

Whitespikes — a species of extraterrestrial predators whose flocks mysteriously appeared in northern Siberia in 2048 and within 3 years, thanks to their exceptional reproductive rate and relentless aggression, reduced the number of humanity to 500 thousand people.

As the title of the movie suggests, the monsters are colored pale white. In addition to their six limbs, they have a pair of long tentacles that are strong enough to turn over cars. And the worst part is that the invaders can shoot bone spikes that can pierce through body armor from a distance of tens of meters.

Interestingly, just like xenomorphs, Whitespikes could be a biological weapon created by a species of interstellar travelers to cleanse planets of local life forms. Another similarity with the aliens is the queen, who is the only one in the hive who lays eggs and maintains a telepathic connection with her subordinates.

Bioraptors — Pitch Black

Year of release: 1999
Original title: Pitch Black
Director: David Twomey
IMDb rating: 7.0

The next monsters in our selection are blacker than night. And no wonder, because flocks of these winged monsters with shark teeth live in the deep caves of the remote planet M6-117, avoiding the light of its three suns. Bioraptors are incredibly light-sensitive, even a flashlight beam can burn their skin. That’s why they only appear on the surface during the months-long total eclipse that regularly occurs on their world.

Anyone who doesn’t find a safe place to hide before it starts is almost certainly doomed. Bioraptors, like xenomorphs, lack eyes, but instead have developed extremely sensitive ultrasonic sensors that can pick up the slightest movement and give them a detailed view of their surroundings. When they find prey, they pounce on it like locusts and tear it apart with the long blades of their claws.

Jean Jacket, or “Stallion Eater” — Nope

Year of release: 2022
Original title: Nope
Director: Jordan Peele
IMDb rating: 6.8

In the film by the pioneer of “smart” horror, Jordan Peele, the owners of a horse farm notice a flying saucer-shaped UFO. During the day, it skillfully disguises itself between the clouds, and at night it descends lower and steals horses. However, the heroes did not wait for the small green humanoids to appear. What they mistook for a UFO turned out to be a predatory alien, an extraterrestrial creature that looked like a giant flying jellyfish.

Peel turned to marine biologist Kelsey Rutledge for inspiration in his search for the shape of his monster. In her work, she combined the qualities of several real animals: the plate-like shape of the sea urchin «sand dollar», the cuttlefish’s ability to mass by changing color, and the ability to unfold, exemplified by the deep-sea large-finned squid with its ribbon-like antennae.

As a doctoral student at the University of California, Kelsey couldn’t leave the monstrous alien without a scientific name. She named it Occulonimbus edoequus, which means «hidden dark cloud stallion that devours horses».