Alien Comedies

If you start seriously thinking about an alien attack on Earth, it might just send a chill down your spine. After all, even the best scientists still know very little about space. Who knows what could happen!

Five of the Best Alien Comedies

Laughter has always been the most effective weapon against anxiety. What if our interstellar visitors turn out not to be terrifying, but hilarious? And no matter how bizarre the aliens may seem, the humans who don’t know how to react to them are always funnier. Especially when a flying saucer lands right on top of them...

Paul

In 1947, a crashed spaceship squashed a dog on a Wyoming farm. Agents who arrived at the scene took away both the craft and its pilot, naming him after the late pooch. In the present day, two Brits—sci-fi writer Clive and illustrator Graeme—arrive in the US to visit Comic-Con and tour legendary UFO hotspots. Things start off okay (though the rednecks are wary of these nerdy visitors), but then, on a deserted road, they witness a car crash—and the driver turns out to be… an alien! Grey, just like in the films. But with a backpack, a cigarette, and excellent English!

At the start, the friends say they’re headed for New Mexico—but never actually get there. Though that’s where the filming took place.

The World’s End

Forty-year-old loser and alcoholic Gary King reunites his old schoolmates. As teens, they attempted the "Golden Mile"—twelve pubs in one night—but their young bodies gave out halfway through. Now, Gary wants to give it another go! His more respectable mates aren’t thrilled but reluctantly join the boozy tour. At one stop, Gary gets into a scrap with some local youths—only to discover they’re robots filled with blue goo! An eccentric old man explains: aliens have invaded Earth…

The eighth pub, “The Mermaid,” was actually a cinema in real life.

My Favourite Martian

Tim O’Hara is a hapless TV reporter, and his boss Channing threatens to sack him if he messes up again. Of course, Tim does just that—provoking a scandal with a colleague, who also happens to be the boss’s daughter. Now jobless, Tim drives down a lonely highway when he spots something flying overhead. It crashes—and out pops a real-life Martian. Tim now has the scoop of his career!

A remake of the 1963 series of the same name, the film is packed with nods to the original.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

It’s 1977, peak punk era in Britain. Three punk lads stumble upon a bizarre house party filled with strange revellers. But true punks aren’t easily spooked—they join right in. John starts dancing, Enn meets the stunning Zan, and Vic hits it off with the dazzling Stella. During their chats, the boys learn these “guests” are actually aliens with a bizarre colonial system. Zan is about to be eaten! But she runs off—with her new human companion…

The band manager Boadicea (played by Nicole Kidman) was meant to resemble the infamously unhinged Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, according to the director.

Absolutely Anything

Aliens are assessing whether humanity is worth keeping—or if it should be destroyed. Their test: can a randomly selected human use ultimate power for good? Enter Neil Clarke, an average schoolteacher. Unaware of his new powers, he jokingly wishes to blow up his class—and does. On his way home, he realises what’s happened and tries to undo it. “Let everyone who died come back to life!” They do. Cue the zombie apocalypse…

Robin Williams’s final film—he completed his voiceover in 2014, but passed away before the film’s 2015 release.